Dangerous dogs with children

Sue-UU

lostinrates wrote: »

The dog's lack of training is a sad state of affairs and, although I feel harsh saying it, if they can't house train a dog how great a parent will they be?

I think in thier situation I would have dog PTS too. I've known some sweet staffies.:(

I love my dogs and my cats, they ARE my family, but I will not leave a baby alone with them if I have a baby. However much faith I have in them who knows what the baby could do to them to excite or upset them.

It's very, very sad, but I have to agree with lostinrates, but far more thought should be given to what's involved with dogs before people buy them and if they can't even be bothered to train the poor thing......! What more's to be said!

Sue

MrsTinks

tbain wrote: »

shelley_crow wrote: »

I have no owning experience of them and to be frank I would not want to compramise the welfare of my toddler in any way by owning one. Ifyour childless then fine, but why risk having one otherwise!I am not 'short sighted 'and regardless of what the Kennel club says about these dogs the point I was trying to make is how can you or anybody say there are no better dogs for children when there is evidence via the media showing cases where children have been attacked by staffys and other lockjaws? Would you have the gall to say all that to a mother whose child had been attacked by one? Oh by the way, you just made a 'sweeping generalisation' about Staffys by saying what you just said !

Because the cases in the media about staffy's and rotties is by to not only irresponcible dog owners but down right irresponcible and incapable parents.
The dogs have not had the basic training and socialisation and then to top it off they have allowed in many cases unsupervised time where the baby/toddler is alone with the dog.
I agree there are some cases where the child hasn't been unsupervised (and being looked after by an 11 year old does NOT count as supervised!) and dogs have attacked. I think far more of these attacks take place than are reported but who's going to report a JR or "cute" small dogs for attacking a child? Despite them being more likely to bite. No it's the breeds that so sadly often are bought for image that suffer!
My dog is a GSD/BC cross and we're planning a family - whilst I have no fear she'd bite a child because of the training I have put in and her reaction to our god daughters and the children on our estate then I am not willing to accept her reaction to other dogs, she could easily pull me over when I get pregnant for example and so I've chosen to pay £170 for a trainer to help me resolve that problem.
Although I don't think the dog would EVER bite a child then she would never be allowed on her own with a baby or toddler, no dog should be despite breed or size EVER.
However don't blame a breed for the owners mistakes - as they say: Punish the deed, not the breed!

Hawthorn

tbain wrote: »

shelley_crow wrote: »

I have no owning experience of them and to be frank I would not want to compramise the welfare of my toddler in any way by owning one. Ifyour childless then fine, but why risk having one otherwise!I am not 'short sighted 'and regardless of what the Kennel club says about these dogs the point I was trying to make is how can you or anybody say there are no better dogs for children when there is evidence via the media showing cases where children have been attacked by staffys and other lockjaws? Would you have the gall to say all that to a mother whose child had been attacked by one? Oh by the way, you just made a 'sweeping generalisation' about Staffys by saying what you just said !

You obviously know very little about terriers in general. Are the media not known for whipping up a good scare to instill panic in folks? Tabloids aren't the greatest source for reliable information, you know.
It's NOT that these dogs are more vicious generally. It's the amount of pressure they exert when they bite that is the problem.
A labrador is more likely to bite than a Bull terrier of any form is. ALL dogs can bite, and ALL dogs can do serious damage.
Tragically, because of the poundage these type of dogs exert when they bite, they have been used in dog fighting. Terriers as a whole are very tenacious. Note I said tenacious and not vicious. They are also fiercely loyal to their owners. The Terrier dog is immensely popular. There are thousands upon thousands in this country alone. You are probably more likely to die in a car crash, than at the hands of one of these dogs. Never going to get in a car again? Didn't think so. Going to get rid of your car?
If you choose not to own one, then thats absolutely fine, but please be informed before you spout rubbish. There is enough of that in the terrier world and it does cause problems for the dogs.
I wonder if this topic was about poodle,labrador or spaniel there would be this response. In fact, I wonder if it would even have been mentioned at all if it was one of these dogs.

Deed, not breed.

lostinrates

Hawthorn wrote: »

tbain wrote: »

Deed, not breed.

I agree with points on both side, especially a lot in the post 've partially quoted above....

until this quoted bit.

It is true tht breed have developed unfair reputations because of mishandling and imo poor breeding BUT breeds DO have characteristics that mean, while thee will always be exceptions to the rule the breed can be charaterised. The behavioural traits in the groups as well as the breeds, are as imortant as the physical traits in doing the jobs they were bred to do.

I would say it is importnat to judge the individual by deed in repsect to his breed.

elsien

Going back to the original post, I would say that they should not even consider having a baby is the same house as a dog with the behaviours that the one mentioned has.
My dog has nervous aggression ( she snaps and has never bitten and locked her jaws) and she would never intentionally harm anyone. I have put a lot of time and effort into socialising her, and have not been able to overcome the problem. She does not go near children, ever, because she would hurt them without knowing what she was doing. The staffie mentioned sounds more aggressive than my dog, and even if there was the possibility of it being socialised in the long run ( which may or may not be possible) they do not have time to do this before the baby is born. They have to rehome or have it put to sleep.
I know how hard a choice that must be - my dog is my family and it would break my heart to have to have her put down, but I also know that there are circumstances where people do have to come first, and if something happened where I couldn't keep her or safely rehome her, there really wouldn't be any other decision to make.

lv1109

I have 3 SBTs and 2 step children. My dogs get on great with the children, sometimes better than they get on with me. My youngest dog Henry is there straight away when my DSD sits on the floor - he likes to sit on her lap for a cuddle. He is like a big teddy bear! I too would never leave the dogs unattended with the children, even at their ages of 10 and 12. This is common sense and nothing to do with the breed. I would do this with any dog.

I am like the pied piper when I walk my dogs around the park, it takes me ages to get 5 mins down the road with all the kids wanting to say hello and stroke my soppy mutts!

In my area SBTs are owned as "status" dogs and this I wholeheartedly disagree with. A dog is a pet, not a weapon! These people are mostly to blame for SBTs reputations and this upsets me everyday. Especially when small minded people are quick to judge the breed as a whole because of these dog owners.

However, going back to the original post, if the dog has shown a tendency to bite before he may do again and this is just not worth the risk. As sad as it is to euthanise, it may be best for this dog. As someone above said, it will get him away from his demons and he will be at peace.

emma12345

I have a staffie who's been brought up with young children and is fairly obedient. However I wouldn't leave him alone with a child for one moment, the risk is too high.

Staffies are less likely to bite than most breeds but on the rare occasions they do, their bite is so powerful they do incredible damage. That's what makes headlines.

Even my staffie who's grown up with children got jealous when my daughter was born, the hair on his back used to stand up among other things! A dog that is used to having full attention from its owners is going to be very put out when the baby is born and I fear for the baby the OH mentioned.

tncm

hi. i totally agree with you tbain. Staffs are known for biting, its a proven fact, you could have a child for 7 years and nothing, then 1 day, bang, it just happens with that once sweet little dog that even tho its a staff, wouldnt say boo to a goose. i wouldnt have one and if i couldnt trust my dog 100% alone with my child i wouldnt have a dog.
a yes, i have a dog. a ckc. man i get scared when shes shows her big teeth!

Hawthorn

I don't think any dog can be trusted alone with a child to be honest.

A friend of mine had a Bull terrier. Great with kids, etc etc. Then, they left dog alone in the garden with a friends kids. Friends kids were apparently shoving stuff inside the dogs ears and pulling her tail. Really tormenting her (according to the owners young uns)
The dog, to her credit, didn't bite. But, from that day forth was very anxious around kids, and an anxious dog is an unstable one. They had to rehome her with someone who didn't have kids.
My parents, when I was younger, had a border collie. Beautiful dog. Flighty, but beautiful.
He got out one day, and wanting to play, chased a girl who was my friend. She kicked him. He reacted and bit her. She had a lot of scarring on her arm from it. The dog had to be put to sleep, obviously.
It's not just dogs that can't be trusted around kids - kids can't be trusted around dogs, either.
tncm, I love king charles spaniels.....is that what yours is? I'm not sure what a ckc is

tncm

hi. i have a cavalier king charles. i think youre right. if a child torments any dog , the dog has to react. after all, we would if a human tormented us like that. the teeth are the dogs main weapon, its just a shame it has to use them. (apart from eating of course).