[drugimpotence]

Yesterday I took my son Julian to the beach with our little Diesel ( 15 weeks old ) on the leash of course my son is walking him. This man with a couple of kids walks past us and my dog the pup that he is goes toward the little girl thinking she wants to play but the little girl starts screaming like the pup is killing her. The man looks at my son ( 8 yrs old ) and started to curse at my son before I got in his face and said a couple of choice words. The whole situation got me so upset cause it was clear that diesel is a pup and he has nothing but good intentions. Needless to say I'm the one who had Human Aggression and had to restrain myself. Ignorance is bliss!!!

[lomonel]

You have to grow a thick skin. That won't be the last time someone does something ignorant. Consider the source. Your pup didn't do anything wrong and neither did you.

[Spisivavona]

lol. Way to stand up, some people are just sad. I normally get the young guys that bark at my dog.

[Sillaycheg]

Yes, welcome to 'Life With a Pit Bull Type Dog' - thick skin recommended

[Zptmsemk]

There is no right or wrong in this situation. 8 yrs old is not old enough to develop sufficient cause and effect reasoning for me to allow someone of that age to be in control of any dog around other people. Do you know the past experiences of the girl encountered and know for certain she hasn't either been or witnessed a serious attack which may have scarred her pretty deeply? Walk away and try to prevent it again in future. That's all you can do.

[YpbWF5Yo]

No adult has the right to get in the face of an 8 year-old child and curse at them. If it was my child, I would not have just walked away.

[Deseassaugs]

Sometimes you have to be the adult in the situation. No, no adult should curse at a child, but getting into a hissy fit is just proving them right.
By being a mature, responsible adult, they have nothing to fire off at and you, in turn, win.

[YpbWF5Yo]

I will say again, no adult will get in the face of my 8 year-old child for walking a dog on the beach and curse at him. I don't care who would be considered the winner, as soon as he spoke to my child in an untoward way, it would be me between him and my child.

[robinthesearchmasterh]

Definitely have to have a thick skin to have this breed. I always try to "kill 'em with kindness" remember, you attract more flies with honey, than you do vinegar.

I know it's hard to be in that situation and not go off, but in the long run, you'll come closer to proving them wrong about the breed if you handle it in a more positive, calm way. If this happens again, try something like this.....

"Hey, why do you think my dog will hurt you/your dogs? Have you been bitten by a dog before? (if so) What happened? I bet that was scary. (if not) Then why would you think my dog would hurt you, you've never seen him before, why would he want to hurt you? Tell me more about how you have decided that all dogs of this breed are bad, was it from the news? (if so) you know, most dogs that end up on the evening news, have irresponsible owners that don't keep up with their dogs and let them roam loose. As you can see, I have my dog on a leash, and he's well behaved.... not all people that own this breed are bad people, and not all dogs of this breed are bad dogs... why not see for yourself, would you like to give him a treat? (make sure you have a few treats in your pocket so you can provide them), Now, make sure you have him sit before you give him a treat." ........

Trying to handle it that kind of way, might have a better outcome on how they see the breed, then letting them take over your emotions and getting up upset. When that happens, you walk away frustrated, and they walk away thinking that all our dogs are bad, and all owners of the breed are bad as well. If you try to handle it like the scenario I gave, they might just walk away thinking, "you know, I was wrong to judge all dogs/owners in a negative way, they aren't all bad".

[YpbWF5Yo]

Honestly, once this has escalated to an adult verbally attacking my child with no cause, I'm more concerned about the effect on my child, than what some idiot thinks about me or my dog.

[Deseassaugs]

I will say again, no adult will get in the face of my 8 year-old child for walking a dog on the beach and curse at him. I don't care who would be considered the winner, as soon as he spoke to my child in an untoward way, it would be me between him and my child.

So put yourself between them, and ask them kindly not to speak to your child that way. They'll then begin to spit nonsense at you (possibly literally if you're close enough). Eventually they'll run out of breath, and you'll be standing there, no worse for wear (other than possible spittle on your face).
Once they've exhausted themselves you can then do what MN said.

[YpbWF5Yo]

Well, I'd definitely be between them. This does not appear to be a rational person. They were walking a 15 week old puppy, not an 80 pound bruiser. We would like to think we can talk and reason with everyone, but that isn't always the case. At the very least, the child has to be removed from situation first.

[Deseassaugs]

Obviously keep the child out of danger, hence placing yourself between them, but acting like a fool isn't going to help matters, and in fact enforce their belief that we're all blood thirsty lowlifes. Regardless of whether or not they're rational, you have to be the bigger person, because the way they view you will be reflected on how they view all 'pit bull' owners. So, regardless of how much you want to deck them, you have to be the adult. When you get home feel free to punch a wall.

[YpbWF5Yo]

I'm not sure where the "acting like a fool" or "decking them" comes from! From the beginning, the only statement I made was placing myself between the abusive adult and my child. You are incorrectly inferring your other comments.

[Deseassaugs]

Ok, well my mistake, then we're on the same page.

[VZF74G0M]

i have no sense when it comes to a adult curseing at my child thats a automatic black eye

I hate that grown people are like that what i do at the beach is when i see people coming my way i walk away from them a good bit that way they walk between me and the water i like to be about 50 ft away from them to prevent crap like that

[nushentelve]

At that point I wouldn't be worrying about representing the breed, just ripping him a new one for cussing at a child. His support I could do without.

[Unlopssesuj]

Not everyone wants a puppy or dog for that matter going towards them to lick them, jump on them, or whatever its intentions may be, teach your kid how to properly walk the puppy to avoid future altercations such as this.

[Deseassaugs]

To me, it's more about representing myself than the breed, the breed being a byproduct. Facing irrationality with more irrationality is just going to create a volatile environment, hence YOU are creating an unsafe environment for your child.
By simply remaining calm and remaining rational, you protect yourself, your name, your breed, and your child. If you act out and 'rip him a new one' YOU are the only one to blame for whatever follows. If you act calmly, however, and the situation escalates, then as long as you remain the bigger person you still have the upper hand.
Maybe it's only me here who would calmly stand their ground and stay sane. Stooping to their level does nobody any good.

[TopcigsCOM]

Not everyone wants a puppy or dog for that matter going towards them to lick them, jump on them, or whatever its intentions may be, teach your kid how to properly walk the puppy to avoid future altercations such as this.

I would have to agree.

While the adult should never have spoken to your child like that, your dog should not have been going over to those people.

Imagine if your child had a serious phobia of dogs, one that went so far as to send them into panic attacks, and some stranger allowed their dog to go up to your child, triggering an attack. It would be your instinct to defend your child regardless of how irrational their phobia might be.

Please respect other people's space in the future to avoid altercations like this one. It is easily avoidable.