Is it wrong to for an adult to kick a dog thats threatening the children?

[kimba]

The other day we were in the park, when a man was playing a throw and catch game with his toddler daughter.

 

A dog then came charging up to the toddler and father, the toddler was then frightened and ran to its father. The dog then began circling the pair and the little girl became increasingly frightened (the dogs owner was not too bothered about this - as he was texting away).

 

The father of the toddler then kicked the dog pretty hard in the dogs face, to which the dog startled, ran back to its owner, to which the dog's owner then began ranting about "calling the police".

 

I kind of understand why the father kicked the dog, but then surely the dog should have been controlled by its owner. It seems to me the dog took the punishment due to its owners negligence.

 

What would you have done in this situation

2 rottweilers not on leads walking with the owner set about my Mastiff dog that I had on the lead, I shouted for the idiot to grab his dogs but he just looked vacant at me, so I un clipped my dog so it could defend itself and then I set about his dogs with the heavy chain lead that I had been walking my dog with.

Needless to say once he saw me smash both his dogs about their heads to get them off my dog he decided to try get control of his dogs.

I clipped my dog back up and told him he was lucky I wasn't smashing him about the head with the lead as it wasn't his dogs fault as had they been leashed they would not have been able to 2 my dog up.

 

If it had been one of my kids I had been with I would no doubt have killed him or his dogs because I considered them to be that dangerous.

 

Im not putting this to sound clever in anyway, but because I really think there is a time to throw caution to the wind about things like this, if is it wrong or not, and just do what seems natural to get you out of the situation you find yourself in and worry about the conciseness after.

[0742Sheff]

I will admit that i have kicked a dog in the head and i kicked it as hard as i could. It did the job. It stopped the dog (a German Shepherd), ripping into my daughter who was still in her pram at the time.

 

The dog attacked for no reason at all. We were only walking through the park. It took one look at us and just casually trotted over to us. About 20 feet away it's entire manner changed. I knew straight away it was going for one of us. As i was the one pushing the pram i immediately dragged it behind me and the dog did it's best to get around me. It's eyes were fixed, it's ears were pointing forward and it was snarling.

 

When i kicked out at it i had totally lost control. All i wanted was that animal gone and i didn't mind how i made it stop. The moment it walked off i was raging at it's owner but she totally refused to even acknowledge i was there. It was as if she couldn't understand me.

 

This is what makes me wonder if the man described in the OP instantly lost it as i did. I know my experience was a lot more severe but who is to say at what point someone feels that fear and goes into self defence mode?

[holly11]

I must admit - I did agree with the bloke for kicking the dog, however wondered what sort of a person that made me? agreeing to an adult kicking a dog.

 

Must admit, I would do the same if I had to

[I1L2T3]

The bloke protecting his daughter did what he needed to in the circumstances. Not an ideal thing to have to do.

 

Thankfully most dog owners are responsible but some don't have a clue. Was out running the other week and a dog came tearing after me. I thought keep running and it'll stop and back off. It didn't. It was right on my heals trying to get me. So I stopped, turned round and chased it away. Then it came back again. So I chased it away again. The owner just stood there for most of it with no idea how to control the dog, 'come on chip, come back, leave the man alone'. I'd lost my rag the next time it came for me and shouted to the owner I was going to kick the dog in the head unless she brought it under control. That seemed to sort things.

 

Bottom line is some dog owners can't control their pets and shouldn't be surprised if people get pee'd off and give an aggressive dog a good decking from time to time.

[willman]

It's called preventitve action or are you one of these who think that the parent or child should have to be actualy bitten first.

Maybe you shold look more into the Tabloids and see what damage can be done to adults not just children, go tell the postman who was very nearly killed that if he'd had some means of defence he's have benn wrong to use it before the dog attacked.

 

So would you like to beat every youth up - just in case they might attack you whilst sat on the tram?

 

The op never said the dogs were attacking or were being aggressive - so why the need to kick the dog?

[willman]

These people are typical of those who are more concerned for the criminals than the victims.

 

Dogs can't be criminals.

 

Although your defending someone for committing an offence on a defenceless dog.

[gularscute]

It sounds like the dog kicker acted automatically to what he reasonably considered to be a threat. It worked.

 

It's not like he killed the dog but then again I wouldn't condemn anyone for doing anything to anything that was threatening their child.

[ECCOnoob]

There are quite a lot of dog owners who seem to be a little 'overprotective', of their little pooches, and it is quite reasonable for a parent to be protective of their child when a dog comes bounding towards them....dog v child....not even an argument !

 

Im sure you are right but that still does not excuse any reason for booting a dog in the face when its done nothing wrong. Unless the OP can state that it was barking, snarling, attempting to bite or being agressive in any other way I will not have any different opinion.

 

How about picking up your child and moving out of the way as a start. Being a little bit more vocal to the owner to drum into the moron that they need to control their dog....... oh no, of course the preferred option is to kick it for absolutely no reason. Did you agree with the woman thowing a cat in the bin too?? Perhaps she was scared it was going to turn agressive too

[ECCOnoob]

........threatening their child.

 

Who said anything about threatening a child??? Did the mutt go up to it with a knife? god sake. All it did was run up and circle around. Thousands of dogs do that when they are excited or playful.

 

Talk about overdramatic.

[kimba]

Im sure you are right but that still does not excuse any reason for booting a dog in the face when its done nothing wrong. Unless the OP can state that it was barking, snarling, attempting to bite or being agressive in any other way I will not have any different opinion.

 

How about picking up your child and moving out of the way as a start. Being a little bit more vocal to the owner to drum into the moron that they need to control their dog....... oh no, of course the preferred option is to kick it for absolutely no reason. Did you agree with the woman thowing a cat in the bin too?? Perhaps she was scared it was going to turn agressive too

I believe your entitled to personal space and anyone or thing invading that space should be perceived as a possible threat and act accordingly.

If some person was to come right up to you in your face would you not consider it as being an act of aggression, even if no verbal threat was made ?

 

Sometimes you cannot take the risk. If your not sure then you should take affirmative action to remove the possible threat before the situation gets out of hand, a dog making one snap at a child can make a right mess and can be fractions of seconds, you just can't afford to be wrong in a situation like that and safety of people should be paramount over an animal.