Stop chasing me! Toddler repeatedly slams dog with plastic bottle, then flees when he finally loses his cool and lunges at him
- The dog didn’t react at first, but the toddler kept hitting harder
- The muscular dog snapped, but luckily the owner had grabbed his collar
- Footage of the incident went viral on social media, dividing commentators
An unnerving video of a toddler narrowly escaping a mauling after repeatedly hitting a dog with an empty water bottle has sparked a storm.
The clip, shot on the streets of Beirut in Lebanon, shows a muscular dog dancing on its hind legs for its owner.
A curious toddler runs up to the dog and gently hits it on the head from behind with a plastic bottle. The mutt didn’t respond and instead looked up at his owner, waiting patiently for another command.
But the toddler quickly circles back and continues to hit the dog from behind with increasing ferocity.
The dog remains unperturbed at first, but after four or five strokes it suddenly growls and turns growling and barking at the boy who was spared by the quick-thinking owner who managed to grab the dog’s collar just before he lunged.
The clip, which has garnered millions of views, has caused division among social media users.
Some argued that the child was not acting out of malice and was simply learning about his environment and developing motor skills at such a young age, calling for the owner to keep the dog on a leash in a public place.
“They are guilty of putting this animal in a situation…the dog is capable of serious harm…not for running loose and in public,” one user commented.
‘Wow, it’s unbelievable how people put the responsibility on the child. The child doesn’t look a day older than 2…kids that age don’t listen, they just investigate and are very curious…kids can’t judge danger,” added another.
However, many others argued that the boy was at fault and hit his parents for allowing him to recklessly beat the dog without intervening.
It’s unclear if the boy’s parents were present, though the clip shows a woman in a pink jacket and jeans walking away giggling as the boy runs off to follow her.
“That kid should have stood next to his parents, with a handheld and said, ‘Look, don’t touch,'” read one comment.
“Here’s a kid doing something stupid that kids do, and the parents don’t seem to be anywhere. They can easily lose a child to a dog that becomes violent.”
The clip, shot on the streets of Beirut, Lebanon, shows a muscular dog dancing on its hind legs in front of its owner when a toddler comes after him and hits him with a plastic bottle
At first the dog is unresponsive, but after four or five hits, the dog snaps and barks at the child while the owner restrains it by the collar
“How can such little kids run up and cause trouble without their parents or guardian tearing them out of their shoes? Is that this boy’s mom who’s just giggling and running in the background?’ one person asked.
“The dog was fine until the boy hit it. Would you be happy if someone kept hitting you with a water bottle? Try disciplining your kids,” said another.
“And… they’ll blame the dog. That boy is lucky that pup is better behaved than he is,” someone else chimed in.
It was unclear whether the dog in the video was a pit bull or a Staffordshire bull terrier.
The former has a reputation for being broody and easy to bite and attack, while the latter is known as a “nanny dog” for its gentle disposition, despite being built similarly to pit bulls with an incredibly powerful bite.
