So I was in PETCO today with Meka and we were looking at new treats to help her with her digestion problems. Meka was sitting at my feet like she always does when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a hand at her tail. A little girl maybe age 5 or 6? came over and pulled Meka's tail. Meka immediately turned and nipped at the girls hand. The girls mother came running over and said I should not bring "those kind of dogs" in a public place. What the heck?
She threatened to call the police but left before anything escalated. Shouldn't she have been watching her daughter so that she doesn't walk up and grab random dogs tails? Or was Meka in the wrong here?
(Maybe I am being overly defensive of Meka)

Tyler, in my view you and your dog were guilty of absolutely nothing, whatsoever.  "Those types of people" shouldn't let "those types of children" run around unsupervised.  

I firmly believe that even "those dogs" that may be aggressive or reactive have a right to be out in public controlled and on leash....not that your dog fits this bill, just saying.

Your dog REacted.  The child ACTED.  

The mother of that child has 100% of the guilt here.  

I'm sorry that happened to you.

I totally agree with Jeff. Meka reacted naturally with surprise to something pulling on her tail. I'm certain she wasn't being aggressive whatsoever. She reacted the same way a person would if someone snuck up behind them and poked them in the butt.

The mother is at fault here for (1) not controlling a young child in a store where people regularly bring animals of all sizes and dispositions, and (2) not educating herself on dog behavior enough to where she could go into a pet supplies store and understand why a dog would react that way to her unsupervised child. Then she made matters worse and overreacted by threatening to call the police, which could have been disastrous even though you and Meka did nothing wrong.

This is why many dog parks do not allow children under a certain age into the park. Too many dogs are ordered to be put down because of instances like this.

Some people can be so ignorant. The situation could have been so much worse if the cops were called because of her neglect, and now her child probably thinks they didn't do anything wrong. I'm hoping she realized she was in the wrong since she decided to leave it be. So many people just reach for Klaus when we are in a pet store and I wish they would ask, especially when they walk up with their children as I'm worried he might jump on them and he'd be to blame.

I have one here, Avalanche, and grabbing his tail is an invitation to play ... he'll turn around and grab the offending hand but has never broken skin - because it is play. When we go over to the Crisis (read Community) center, he's everyone's favourite to play with because he's a big teen ager at heart. The only person he's "bitten" is my vet who insists on using intranasal bordatella - and avalanche does not like anyone messing with his snout. Vet tried to "inject" and Avalanche grabbed, vet pulled hi hand back (expecting a bite) and scraped the back of his hand.

That said, there are dogs who react playfully (Avalanche), some who react with a warning (Meka) and some who'll react aggressively. The child was wrong but hopefully someone will educate her before she gets hurt; the mother was dead wrong and the threat to call the police was assinine - but could have been problematic. I have to agree that you and Meka did nothing wrong; the child was not overly at fault (but at 5 should have known better); the mother was over the top! As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss ... until ...