Neighbourhood kids keep throwing large sticks at my dog and their parents don’t take it seriously

I’d like to start with some background to give the situation more context. I live in Australia in a area that is heavily populated by people who’ve migrated from South Asia to study and start family’s. I love my Street and have never had any issues with neighbours until I adopted my dog 9 months ago who’s an ex racing greyhound.

Many of my neighbours have told me they’re scared of dogs because they grew up where there’s packs of wild street dogs. Some of the first generation kids who haven’t grown up in the same situation though seem to really hate dogs, they’ll spit and yell at him while we’re walking.

My dog is very large for his breed and I completely understand how he could scare people. Because I know people around here don’t like dogs I always make sure I move my dog and step to the side of the pathway while passing people. He’s really well behaved is always on his leash of course and doesn’t go near anyone.

There’s a park a few houses down that’s dog friendly (has dog bowls on the base of the water fountains etc). It’s always crawling with kids but my dog is much more interested in sniffing the ground than them. Today while I was walking my dog in the park a girl around 5 or 6 picked up a large stick and threw it at my dog but missed, she then picked up the same stick and threw it again and hit my dog hard in the stomach. My dog jumped and cowered in fear. This isn’t the first time she and her brother have done this but never this hard and they usually miss my dog thankfully.

I ended up yelling at her and asked where he parents were. I went up to and asked the only adults in the park who the girls parent was and one said he was. I told him what happened and that it had happened previously and he and his friends called the girl over but just kind of laughed and smiled at me. I just told them it wasn’t ok and left to make sure my dog wasn’t hurt.

I’m not sure what to do honestly but I have a right to use the park alongside them, it’s the only park in the area that isn’t a half hour walk away.

Written By: Monkeys-paw
Source: http://bit.ly/2ZrBnQR