children do not naturally know how to interact with dogs (or any other animal). IMHO all children under the age of 12 should not be left alone with a dog. They (the children) are too immature to understand that a dog has only a few lines of communication - it is up to us as parents to teach them how to interact with other species - otherwise, WE have failed (not the child or the animal).

Animals do not attack anyone "without reason" - they attack because they feel threatened (without any other avenue of escape - just as we humans do), because they are hungry, or because they are desperate - also similar to ourselves. If someone seems to be attacking you, would you not defend yourself? Unfortunately, dogs and other animals do not have words, we do - and supposedly we have the ability to think and reason (but that is doubtful in many situations I can think of in human interactions).
Signature line > "You can't fix stupid"