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Finally someone wrote it as it is

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  • gettingready
    gettingready Posts: 11,330 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Mist Blue - it may be a blog but what is stated there are facts not stories...

    Personally I like facts.
  • GwylimT
    GwylimT Posts: 6,530 Forumite
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    We have a bulldog at the moment, he is very mouth focused and will often lay by you and chew your hands and feet. I don't think he would attack a child or person, but I don't really want to risk that, so generally little hands and feet are out of bounds, no matter how cheesy they are. As far as my daughter is aware (she is 4) if she annoys the dog he will bite her, but being four, she doesn't exactly have much self control so we tend to avoid leaving them alone together, mainly for the dogs sake! She also knows that if she annoys a strange dog he/her will probably bite her and so she should always be careful, ask to stroke a dog and then let the dog smell her, so when we do meet strange dog she knows what to do.

    I know I can pull his mouth around to check his teeth are okay, I can move his eyelids around to check his eyes and do various things I know he hates, but it still isn't a reason to let my daughter annoy him (and she would) by doing similar. If I let her pull his mouth about, hit her him etc how can I then be surprised if he does attack her or snarl at her.

    My grandma has a labrador with a love of biting, she sometimes breaks the skin, but when she does it it does seem to be playful, but still, she doesn't take appropriate measures with the dog, she is elderly so she couldn't force the dog back during a walk, but refuses to use a muzzle on him. While he does nip, I trust him, but like my own dog he isn't allowed alone with my young children and if let off the lead during a walk I personally would have a muzzle on him.

    We have had various breeds, bulldogs, boxers, staffies, a labrador, we have never had an aggressive dog, we still however don't take chances. When my son was younger we had a boxer who was a bit of a wuss, one of his favourite things to do was to lay on you with his head on your neck, but it isn't something I would let him do until my son had grown up a bit.
  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    edited 20 February 2014 at 5:21PM
    More contentiously I think, in meeting their needs the point about breeds and body type aside and those needs met, I wish the point about socialising needs and meeting their social needs had been specifically covered.

    While I accept that many do great jobs with dogs who have had very poor experiences the posts here and real life experiences suggest many owners simply do not recognise normal social dog behaviour.

    Dogs are NOT humans. They do not introduce them selves by nodding politely and saying ' how di do' . They should know that this is all that is all that is safe and acceptable on lead but dogs that are allowed to socialise and play's of properly' are IMO happier dogs. Tbh, if more dog owners allowed their dogs to socialise I might not have bought my latest dog. I don't want, yet, to be left with one dog, people are so reluctant to allow social play. :(
  • zaksmum
    zaksmum Posts: 5,529 Forumite
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    Couple of months ago my 11 year old grandson, who loves dogs and has one of his own, spotted an elderly female Japanese Akita with her owner who's known to me.

    The lad asked if he could stroke the dog. Owner said yes, she's fine.

    My grandson suddenly squatted down to the dog's level, grabbed her face and started kissing her.

    The obviously startled dog growled as I grabbed my grandson out of her way while the owner screamed "NO!!! DON'T TOUCH HER FACE!"

    I was left shaking and asked the owner why he'd said it was ok to stroke the dog when clearly it wasn't. He said stroking her was fine - grabbing her face was most definitely not!

    I did accept that my grandson shouldn't have got in the dog's face and made sure he knows this for the future. Dogs can see that as a challenge or confrontation and I do agree any dog can turn.

    I'd never ever leave a kid alone with a dog and my grandson won't be allowed to get in any dog's face again, that's for sure.
  • gettingready
    gettingready Posts: 11,330 Forumite
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    Zaksmum - I have to say I do not get your post above.

    Child asked is he can STROKE the dog, owner says ok, child GRABS the dog's face and you say:
    I was left shaking and asked the owner why he'd said it was ok to stroke the dog when clearly it wasn't.

    Owner was absolutely right saying:
    He said stroking her was fine - grabbing her face was most definitely not!


    And if your grandson does not know the difference - better explain to him and fast - and grasp it yourself too.

    EDIT - Just realised the child is 11 yo (!!!)
  • thorsoak
    thorsoak Posts: 7,166 Forumite
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    zaksmum wrote: »
    Couple of months ago my 11 year old grandson, who loves dogs and has one of his own, spotted an elderly female Japanese Akita with her owner who's known to me.

    The lad asked if he could stroke the dog. Owner said yes, she's fine.

    My grandson suddenly squatted down to the dog's level, grabbed her face and started kissing her.

    The obviously startled dog growled as I grabbed my grandson out of her way while the owner screamed "NO!!! DON'T TOUCH HER FACE!"

    I was left shaking and asked the owner why he'd said it was ok to stroke the dog when clearly it wasn't. He said stroking her was fine - grabbing her face was most definitely not!

    I did accept that my grandson shouldn't have got in the dog's face and made sure he knows this for the future. Dogs can see that as a challenge or confrontation and I do agree any dog can turn.

    I'd never ever leave a kid alone with a dog and my grandson won't be allowed to get in any dog's face again, that's for sure.

    Your grandson is 11 - and still did not realise that he should not grab a dog's face? He -and any siblings - need educating - fast!

    I've owned and bred dogs for 50 years, I trust them implicitly - with me. But I have never, ever, trusted them alone with children and similarly I would never trust my young children with any dogs - despite having grown up with them. Both can be unpredictable.

    I cringe at each and every "cutesy" picture of dogs and babies together - I see disaster in each one. We have disneyfied dogs far too much.

    No dog - be it a yorkshire terrier or a south africa boerbal - should be allowed unsupervised access to a small child - especially a tiny baby.
  • Misty_Blue
    Misty_Blue Posts: 876 Forumite
    PPI Party Pooper
    edited 20 February 2014 at 9:03PM
    Mist Blue - it may be a blog but what is stated there are facts not stories...

    Personally I like facts.


    Twice, a Charles Dickens fictional novel containing a fictional dog is used as a "source."
    zaksmum wrote: »
    I was left shaking and asked the owner why he'd said it was ok to stroke the dog when clearly it wasn't.


    But your Grandson didn't stroke the dog, he behaved completely inappropriately and was lucky the dog was good enough to simply react with a warning growl. The owner is not at all to blame. I'm sure if you'd asked if it was OK for your grandson to shove his face into the dog's and manhandle the poor thing, the owner would have said no!


    I have an Akita (she is an "American" Akita, not Akita Inu - there is no Japanese Akita in the UK any more), and exactly the same thing has happened to us. A father and son stopped and the father asked if he could stroke her. My boyfriend agreed, and the father than crouched down to the dog, put his face right in hers and grabbed her face at either side, shaking her head back and forth, while saying to his son: "Dogs really like this!"

    My very well mannered dog growled to warn him, and the bloke jumped back a mile. I then told him in no uncertain terms what an idiot he was to approach a strange dog that way, and how I hoped he taught his son a bit more common sense.
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  • peachyprice
    peachyprice Posts: 22,346 Forumite
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    Misty_Blue wrote: »
    There's a good reason that a nickname for Staffies is "Nanny dog". :)

    No dog should ever be considered a 'Nanny Dog', not a Staffie, a Rottie, a Yorkie, a Poodle, a Labrador, a GSD and on and on. They're all dogs and can all turn at the drop of the hat. To suggest otherwise lulls people into a false sense of security that leads to the kind of tragedy we are hearing about regularly.
    Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear
  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    edited 20 February 2014 at 8:57PM
    Fwiw, when I am asked if someone can stroke my dogs if I am minded to say yes and its a child or someone not dog confident and frankly, most other people, I talk them through it HOWEVER dog wise they say they are.

    Whether or not its true I say 'she's quite reserved, just hold your hand out, see how she feels, if she sniffs it and is happy stroke her shoulder gently. )..


    I'd rather patronise someone. I always try and remember to thank people for asking.



    Few, I do have one dog who still jumps up and we work and work on it and I always thank people who say it doesn't matter by saying 'thank you, that's kind of you, but it does' As some one who hasn't owned a small dog something I hadn't appreciated was how other people ask and encourage your dog to jump up all the time,
  • No dog should ever be considered a 'Nanny Dog', not a Staffie, a Rottie, a Yorkie, a Poodle, a Labrador, a GSD and on and on. They're all dogs and can all turn at the drop of the hat. To suggest otherwise lulls people into a false sense of security that leads to the kind of tragedy we are hearing about regularly.


    100% agree with this. My point was more that there is a false perception of certain breeds as being innately human aggressive, which is not true. The Kennel Club makes specific reference to how good Staffs are with children; that's not to say that they should be left alone with them, or that children should be allowed to pull them about or "do anything with them," as so many parents seem to proudly claim about their dogs.
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