Hoping for some kind advice please. We have a 9 year old Dalmatian and have had him since he was 6 months old. We now have a little girl who is 15months old. Our dog has never liked other dogs (especially big dogs) it’s like he feels threatened by them and always barks and lashes out at them when he’s on the lead. We keep him away from other dogs so that it doesn’t stress him out and always walk him on the lead. He can be a handful as he needs lots of attention, lots of walks and generally barks a lot at noises outside but he is a well loved and happy dog who loves human interaction. Our 15 month old daughter adores him and we never leave them unsupervised as she is still learning how to interact safely and gently with him.

So here’s where I need some advice...our dog was in a quiet field yesterday so we let him off the lead to have a run, he never goes far and we watched him closely. A large dog then came into the field with its owners and it all happened so quickly we didn’t have chance to get him back on the lead. He ran over and started to attack the dog, there was lots of shouting and the dogs owner was kicking our dog to get him off, it was so upsetting and the man said that he was going to report us and if this ever happened again he would kill our dog. Everyone left quickly so I don’t know if the other dog was injured but we are so upset and disappointed with our dog. We now keep him away from our daughter but don’t know what to do. It breaks our hearts but we are honestly considering finding him a new home as we dont trust him anymore and our daughter must come first. It’s difficult as he is always so gentle and patient with kids and the only thing we have to tell him off for around her is stealing her food. We are worried though as I know dog attacks on children are increasing and what sort of parents would we be if we didn’t prevent this at the first signs. I just can’t imagine life without our dog though but I can’t bear the thought of him hurting my little girl.

Thank you so much if you have read this and I’m hoping someone out there has some advice or kind words to share. Thank you xx