Originally Posted by himespau

My 6 year old was playing the neighbor girl from a couple houses down in their front yard. When I went to get him for dinner, I was still a house or two away when their dog came around the corner completely nuts barking and growling at my son and then bit him on the thigh, tearing through his shorts and drawing blood with 2 puncture holes (not deep but it was bleeding and he's been scared all night long). When I went up to their front door to see if her parents were home (they weren't) to talk about what had happened and make sure their dog was up to date on the shots, the little girl's dad started yelling at me through their Ring to get off their property. The dog was still snarling and barking the whole time (it's been a mean dog in general whenever we walk past their house ever since they moved in a couple months back), and I got pissed (and scared for my son) and yelled back at the dude about how it was unacceptable to have a dog if you couldn't train it properly to not bite people (yelling at someone through their Ring is about as ridiculous-looking as it gets, I'm sure). As I turned to leave, the dog lunged at and bit me (fortunately, I turned and it mainly got my pants and didn't get through them and then I got big and loud and scared it back). By that point, I'd lost my cool and was yelling that their beast was a menace and I'd be calling animal control (not my finest moment, especially for neighbors who didn't know what was going on and saw me yelling and the only one visible around besides 2 dogs going completely berserk was a little girl as no one could see the dad on the Ring I was arguing with). I'd hate to be the reason a family loses a pet (or an animal loses its life), but all the houses around have little kids and we can't have a dog that can't be controlled going off and getting someone really hurt. I don't know...

My cousin was about my son's age when one a boxer at one of his neighbor's houses burst through their screen door and attacked him while he was walking by on the sidewalk. He still apparently has bad scars on his back and was afraid of dogs and wouldn't go near them until he and his wife bought one 4-5 years ago. I don't want that for my son, but I have a different relationship with dogs than the rest of my family. My wife (and with her my kids) will go pet any of the neighbors' dogs up and down the street if they're in their yard even if the owners aren't present. Even though I love dogs and have had a number growing up, I do not approach a dog (even one I know) if their owner isn't right there.