Owners Of Large Powerful Dogs - Do Not Let Your Kids Walk

[labadore]

So I was out walking my 5 year old black lab boy last night and decided to walk a route we used to walk quite regularly, but due to recovering from a back injury from a fall down the stairs at work, have not walked it in awhile as it takes a little longer than my injured back could cope with. However after months of treatment and gradually increasing our walking distances, I reached a milestone last night to be able to return to this other route. We were both enjoying our return to our old familiar walking route as it felt so good to be able to walk this distance and on our way back around 8.45pm, my boy went into alert mode as we were walking out on the path out of a reserve to the street frontage, so I scanned left and right to look for another dog as my boy's stance indicated the presence of another dog.

To our right, a little distance away, I could make out a couple of people and a child and a large black dog and to my horror I saw the kid was the one with the lead walking this large powerful dog. As we were going to cross the road, I wrapped my boy's leash tighter around my hand and we started crossing the road and I picked up the pace to keep the distance between us as in the distance I had noticed the dog's body language change and had recognised this dog as we had encountered him and his owner on previous walks when we used to walk in this area and this dog did not like my boy and vice versa, both similar in age and both intact, so we always made efforts to keep a good distance between our dogs. I was extremely concerned that his kid was walking this dog and next minute out of the corner of my eye, I could see this huge powerful dog running towards us and he launched an attack on my dog . I was screaming and trying to keep my boy behind me and trying to stop this dog from attacking my boy. My boy is a big, solid strong boy who will not back down if attacked and the owner was running up the road towards us calling his dog who just ignored him, cars were stopping as were in the middle of the road (albeit on a walkway on the road), people were coming out of their houses to check on the commotion and the owner was having trouble trying to get his dog and get him under control. I was getting tangled in the lead and getting wrenched around with my boy trying to defend himself and me trying to keep the other dog at bay until the owner could get hold of his dog and I was on the verge of letting my boy's leash go as I thought I was going to faint as my back was sore, I had a splitting headache and finally the owner got hold of his dog and pulled him to the other side of the road and I pulled my boy to the opposite side.

The owner was profusely apologising and very shocked his dog attacked mine as I was berating him about allowing his small kid who would have been under 8 yrs old to walk this big powerful and extremely strong dog. The owner was saying he has been allowing his kid to walk the dog under his supervision for awhile now without incident and being able to walk past other dogs without any problems. I was still screaming at him about how irresponsible he was, in allowing this and he should know better as he knows how strong his dog is and that dogs can be unpredicatable and you have to be prepared everytime you go for a walk with them and particularly at night. I told him that I would come looking for him if my dog has been injured in anyway as I just wanted to get him home and check him out. A lady in one of the cars that stopped to check on me offered to give me and my boy a ride home as I was pretty shocked over the incident, but then a couple that also came out from the house closest to where we were, asked me to come inside their garage which was already open with lights on so that I could check my boy for any injury and they gave me a glass of water and offered me a seat inside and another lady and her son who also witnessed what happened came into the garage to check if we were ok as they were so shocked with what happened. After checking my boy, who luckily had no visible injury, I was able to gather my thoughts, calm down and profusely thank everyone that came to my aid. The husband of this couple offered to walk me home, but I declined the ride and offer by husband to walk me home as I just wanted to unwind and get over the shock on the way home, which was only about 8 mins walk home and let my boy enjoy the rest of his walk home.

Just thinking of all that could have gone horribly wrong with this incident (i.e. dog dragging kid onto the road, kid and or dog being hit by a car, my boy being injured etc) made me feel quite ill when I got home. I still can't get over this guy letting his small kid walk this dog, which is a big, powerful and very impressive Rottweiler. I won't even let my 10 year old grand-daughter walk or hold the leash of my 5 year old black lab boy, as he is a very strong, solid 40kg big boy, particularly when other dogs come into view as most of the time he just wants to meet and greet them all and there is no way she would be able to restrain him. As strong and big as my lab boy is and whilst he won't back down when he is being attacked by another dog, I know he will come off 2nd best when a Rottweiler who has at least 20kg on him is involved. They are a big and powerful breed, particularly the males and as such need strong leadership and management and should never ever be walked by kids. It upsets me greatly that my boy was attacked and I know the owner of the Rotti was equally upset and shocked, but I am angry that he put his poor kid and dog in such a position, particularly as he is an experienced Rotti owner with many years experience owning multiple pedigree Rotties over many years. He kept saying they have never had any other incidents with any other dogs and had obviously become complacent about letting their kid walk this big powerful dog and I told him (acxtually screamed at him) that he was totally irresponsible in letting his kid walk this dog and very dangerous at night and that as dog owners walking big dogs we need to be particularly mindful of other dogs and their owners as dogs can be unpredictable around other dogs when you least expect it, no matter how much training, no matter how much you think you know and trust your dog.

I am also very upset for the little boy as it was obviously very traumatic for him to witness the dog he loves and plays with and probably thinks is a big teddy bear, break away from him and launch into a very scary attack on another dog, god only knows what psychological damage that will do to this poor little boy and how he now views his dog .

The owner of this dog isn't some dickhead owner who has a Rotti as a status symbol. I have spoken to him on a few occasions when meeting/passing on walks with his stunning Rotties and I passed on my condolences to him when he lost his beautiful 13 year old boy, a couple of years back. He loves the breed, only buys them from reputable breeders having learned over the years, exercises them daily and seems to take very good care of them and seemed so responsible and definitely in control of his dogs during their walks. Obviously during the time I have not been walking in that area, he has become irresponsible in letting his little kid hold the lead and walk the dog with no problems up until last night. Hopefully he learned a valuable lesson last night that it is not ok to let a little kid hold the lead and the walk such a powerful strong dog. It could have ended disastrously for either my or his dog and/or kid. . The 8 or more witnesses to this attack last night will now have negative opinions on an already much maligned breed thanks to this once responsible owner becoming irresponsible in allowing his kid to walk this dog single handedly.

I am so peed off about another one of my Labs (3rd one) being attacked whilst out on a walking in completely different areas minding their own business, with no posturing, no barking or antagonising the aggressor, who just launches a speedy unprovoked attack on them The three different breeds responsible for these attacks are all much maligned breeds, one with a dickhead owner, the other two with supposedly responsible owners with many years owning and knowledgeable with their breed who both committed irresponsible acts that resulted in their dogs attacking mine in front of their children and wives and in one case, my senior boy (14.5 yrs old) has his ear savaged/torn and arthritic body injured from being jumped on and knocked to the ground by this vicious beast (and yes this dog was vicious and not even trusted by her owner who actually told me she couldn't be trusted and never let offlead and he takes her and the male dog to a park full of children, other dogs and people and lets the male dog (who was friendly by the way) off the leash in an onleash park who rushed up to my boy to say hello and consequently the owner, wife and kid rushing up to us with their other dog on lead who subsequently attacked my old boy :mad .

Off to physio to get some treatment on my back and neck as injury aggravated with the incident last night and pounding the pavement will be off the agenda for a week or two, so back to the dog parks until I can pound the pavement again, thankfully the dog parks have been a godsend during my back injury recovery.

[silentchild]

I am so very sorry this has happened to you and I really hope your back heals well and has not suffered any more damage. And I hope your boy will not have suffered any psychological damage as a result of the attack too.

[Bjelkier]

I'm really sorry this happened to you.

Young children should never, ever, be allowed to walk a dog of any size IMO, even if the parent is supervising. They are so lucky this situation didn't end in tragedy.

[Leah82]

I really don't understand how "Supervising" is supposed to work as a backup to a dog that could easily take off with the kid in tow before anyone has a chance to react

As far as I'm concerned supervising a child walking a dog means you also have a hold of the lead

[labadore]

I am so very sorry this has happened to you and I really hope your back heals well and has not suffered any more damage. And I hope your boy will not have suffered any psychological damage as a result of the attack too.

Thanks :) I think my boy is fine as when the other owner finally got a hold of his dog and pulled him to the other side of the road and I took my boy to the other side and then we went into the people's garage to check him out, he was his normal happy self, loved getting pats and attention from all these new people that came to our aid and was his normal happy confident self walking home, which is one of the reasons, why I declined the offer of a ride home and being accompanied on our walk home as wanted to see how my boy handled the walk home apart from giving me time to unwind and get it together.

[labadore]

I'm really sorry this happened to you.

Young children should never, ever, be allowed to walk a dog of any size IMO, even if the parent is supervising. They are so lucky this situation didn't end in tragedy.

Thanks :) Couldn't agree more, dogs can catch us adults offguard in the blink of an eye, but at least the majority of the time we can recover quickly enough and hold on to them, a poor kid has no chance. They are so so lucky it didn't end in tragedy, which has been playing on my mind since I got home last night

[Rozzie]

Reported it?

[labadore]

I really don't understand how "Supervising" is supposed to work as a backup to a dog that could easily take off with the kid in tow before anyone has a chance to react

As far as I'm concerned supervising a child walking a dog means you also have a hold of the lead

Exactly. I think his definition of supervising is being in the near vicinity of his child and dog

[labadore]

Reported it?

No I haven't. I did think about it, but decided not to as think the whole family got a big enough shock with what happened and even though letting his kid walk the dog was a serious lapse in judgement that could have ended very badly, I think he actually is a responsible dog owner and all other times I have encountered him previously, he has always had full control of his dogs and they are always on lead which has been held by him and from our quick chats as we passed by, he always seemed so responsible and considerate of other dog owners. Hopefully he learns a valuable lesson from last and I hope I don't get to regret my decision not to report it.

[YippeeGirl]

I look back now and think how lucky I was that our previous dog (she was very strong and powerfully built) never did anything with me while I was out walking her. I was about eleven at the time, but have always been very petite. I went everywhere with her and my best friend and thankfully she was a good babysitter.

Just recently I saw a very young girl walking a big husky down the main road while there was a festival with lots of people, loud noises, dogs etc. going on in the nearby park. Her mum was with her, but even the best dogs are still dogs and can have their moments. I doubt if that husky had gone after something she would have had the strength to hold it back.

What a terrible experience for you and your boy. It's just so terrifying when dogs rush you like that.

[denali]

I am so sorry to hear about your ideal

And totally agree with the statement.

However, also did see a small grown woman being pulled along by a large mastiff or dane cross type dog, and thought the same thing..

Her dog was definitely walking her!

I used to see a dog out walking that wore two leads. One so the child thought he was walking the dog, the other held by the mother. I thought it was quite clever.

[Little Gifts]

Simple way of dealing with this is the adult has a longer leash on the dog while the child has the shorter leash. I do think it is important for kids to learn responsible pet ownership but the adult owner couldn't safely supervise this situation when he had no real control over the dog. What could he have done if the opposite happened and a loose dog attacked his dog? The son could've been in a very dangerous position. If his dog had've run off unexpectedly the son could've been dragged along the ground behind it. Better not to take the risk and put the dog and son in a position of failing.

Very sorry you have this experience.

[poodlesrule]

How terrible and very scary for you. Like you said it could have had a much worse outcome. I won't let my 12 year old son walk my male std poodle for the very same reason as he doesn't have the experience to react in a situation like this.

I worry every time my 81 year old mother goes out walking her mini poodle (always on lead) that something like this may happen to her.

[mita]

I'm so sorry that you & your dog had to go thro' this. But I totally agree with every word you wrote.... especially how even what seems like the best dog, owned by usually responsible owners, can act unpredictably. And your subject line warning is spot on...about not letting kids walk large powerful dogs....or really dogs of any size... that they'd be powerless to control when something bad happens out of the blue. I hope your experience that you've described so spot-on will be read by lots of people as a cautionary tale from real life.

Edited November 20, 2014 by mita

[Stressmagnet]

This was a sobering read. I have stuffed up - I HAVE been letting my 12 yr old daughter walk Ernie (7 months) our labrador as he adores her and does anything she asks.

But I hadn't thought about other dogs she might run into. Ernie is very submissive but that won't put off a big aggressive dog.

Shame on me.

[BarbedWire]

At what age is it okay for a child to be responsible for an on-lead dog? Our local obedience club allows child handlers from twelve years old.

Sorry about your distressing experience OP.

[Loving my Oldies]

Shame on me.

Not really, Stressmagnet. You have taken all this on board. We can't know what we don't know we don't know. There is so much more to dog ownership than a lot of people realise.

Dreadful experience all round, Labadore and I do hope there aren't any lasting repercussions for anyone concerned.

Unfortunately, it seems to be getting more common in my area. Recent arrivals into my street send their strong cattledog mix off with their two daughters who don't look old enough to be walking on their own let alone with a dog.

And no one will be at all surprised when I say that Council isn't at all interested :( to be told that there are more and more children walking dogs over whom they have little or no control.

Edited November 20, 2014 by Dame Danny's Darling

[grumpette]

I am so sorry that you had a really bad incident while on your walk. I hope that your back settles down again and you and your boy can go back to enjoying your walks.

I totally agree that children should not be in control of dogs, especially medium to large breeds. And on dusk. What the hell was the father thinking.

[Little Gifts]

At what age is it okay for a child to be responsible for an on-lead dog? Our local obedience club allows child handlers from twelve years old.

Sorry about your distressing experience OP.

I don't think it should be age based at all and would add that if a large dog was being walked by a frail elderly person the risk is going to be similar. If a child, adult, elderly person has the strength, knowledge, reflexes and expertise to control their dog under a range of circumstances in public and in private then they have what is required to handle it under normal circumstances in public. Unfortunately we can't always rely on how well trained a strange dog is and we can't control our external environment so have to be prepared to respond to some unknowns as well as accept personal realities and physical limitations.

As for the obedience club and child handlers I guess I would consider it a suitable/controlled environment for kids to learn more about being a good dog owner/handler. But out in public I still think there is an unnessecary risk in some instances. Even if it was a SWF how is a child going to safely save it from an attack? If an adult is supervising it must be controlled supervising. You wouldn't teach your child to drive while sitting in the back seat where you couldn't reach the steering wheel or pull the hand brake on. Common sense stuff.

[hankdog]

I hope your back is ok and your boy isn't negatively affected.