Childminder's dog has bitten DD

This is the route I’d be taking. Find new Childcare and report officially to Ofsted.

Have you given notice at the CMs yet and if so, what has she said?

My son was bitten on the face, similar injury to your little one. The hospital HAVE to report dog bites no matter the severity. SS will contact you so will local police. also the childminders.

Hope your little one is ok x

I was a childminder for 12 years pretty much all through my DC's younger years. I was desperate for a dog but knew it wasn't compatible to childminding in our house. I looked into it and dogs had to be physically separated from mindees so this exact sort of thing is avoided and my house wasn't big enough to do this.

I would be furious if this happened to my child and wouldn't be sending back or as you've said paying notice.. I would be asking what steps they are taking to ensure this doesn't happen again and it that means paying for doggy day care on childminding days to save dog being pts I would expect this.

You should never have allowed her to be at a childminder with a dog unless it is a certified therapy/assistance dog.

The child was in the care of the childminder. The childminder is in the wrong for not supervising the child around the dog. Had she been doing her job properly, the child wouldn’t have entered the room unsupervised and this injury wouldn’t have happened.

My 3 year old hasn’t been around many dogs and is a gentle boy but no way in hell would I risk leaving him unsupervised with a dog. My classmate got her leg mauled as a child by the family dog, completely unprovoked.

This is one of many reasons I wouldn’t use a childminder. I’ve been to many a playgroups and seen the kids of childminders be completely ignored while they sit and gossip. I was at one playgroup where an older kid kicked a baby in the head and the childminder was in the other room nattering. She would have been completely unaware hadn’t other people witnessing it and telling her.

I used to be a dog walker and one of my clients was a childminder. She had children in her care as young as 4 months old. She had a lovely easy going Lab but I never felt comfortable knowing he was around young children. As a lifelong dog owner I know only too well how the most docile dogs can turn at the drop of a hat from something as simple as an ear infection and old dogs are no exception.

No childminder should be in business with a dog in their house unless it is securely kept away from the children.

Sorry this happened to your dd and I hope it doesn't scare her off dogs in the future.

@LandSharksAnonymous that’s just total BS. Three year olds are unpredictable and even if they have been schooled in how to behave around animals, children are excitable and forget things and are in an environment with other children having a good time and shouldn’t be relied upon to remember how to behave perfectly around animals . None of this is the child’s fault or the OPs fault or the dogs fault. The CM is totally to blame, no child should have access to an animal unsupervised as dogs (like children) are unpredictable and not trustworthy. Personally I’d be outraged and report it for the same of other children that might be in her care, now or in the future.

And this is why I would never use a childminder. You won’t find a dog at nursery, you won’t find a random stranger or friend of the teachers popping in for a visit. And those who say, they are not allowed, how would you even know? Also older kids who bring their friends over? Children of different ages and different needs? I would just place your dd in a nursery. Hopefully she is ok now!

Can you speak to Ofsted? I'm not sure how that could work but I don't think this can be consdiered a safe environment for children and it's going to happen to another child if steps aren't taken.

Your right the dog is not a fault neither is the child or the parent the CM is at fault for allowing the situation to arise.
My young dog is a herding dog he would chase/herd livestock we’ve got livestock everywhere and so I’m super vigilant when I’m out. If he did chase then it wouldn’t be his fault or the livestocks fault it would be mine. I have a friend her dog also chases livestock she less vigilant than me and her dog chased cows the other day (she owns the cows) she was cross with the dog because he disobeyed the training shes doing but IMO it’s completely her fault dogs (horses and ponies) and 3yr olds are not machines you can teach them things but none are “bullet proof”.

Sorry this CM needs reporting to Ofsted. If she has a dog, it should be locked out of the way whilst children are there in such a way that the children can't get to it. Ie a locked room.
She is failing to keep the children in her care safe. The situation could have been so much worse.
I'm glad you are not allowing your daughter to return. Please don't pay any money to her for notice period, as she has created the situation.

Absolutely batshit. If a 3 yr old child was at nursery and fell out of a tree even if the parents had taught him to when to climb a tree and how to climb trees properly the first thing a parent would say was why wasn’t the 3 yr old properly supervised? Apparently the ratio of supervising adults to 3 yr olds is one to 4 this is because children cannot be trusted to always do the right thing ALL THE TIME.
@LandSharksAnonymous My children were brought up around horses (and dogs and cats) from birth they have literally ridden before they could walk and were told from a very early age how to be safe around horses. But I would never have left a 3 yr old unsupervised around a pony (or a dog) even for a minute. Neither can be trusted 100% of the time. You own dogs and have taught you’re children to be safe around them although I think your delusional if you think a 3 yr old can be left unsupervised just because you’ve told them how to behave around dogs. Butt many parents don’t own dogs and I dont believe it is there responsibility for them to teach their children how to behave correctly around a dog (many parents don’t know themselves) the responsibility lies with the dog owner to not put their dog in a situation where it might bite a child especially a CM. And let’s face it many dog owners dont know how to behave around their own dog’s hence the rise in the need for behaviourist and endless TV programmes about badly behaving dogs. Many owner are unable to read dog body language and the line between dog and human has become increasingly blurred over the last few years.

I guess it depends if the dog bit or was asleep, she startled it and got hit with a tooth (which has happened to me). If there is a single mark then that is probably the case.
If it bit her then that's a no brainer, but if she startled it and got in the way of a normal reaction then it's a lesson learned.
I know this is a controversial view but sometimes it's not the dog's fault and the dog shouldn't have to pay the ultimate price for a child blundering into them

Without question I would

Report to police.

Report to ofsted.

Ensure my child is attended to by an appropriate health care setting and thd dog bite is recorded on their medical records as happened in childcare setting by childminders dog.

Seek appropriate compensation through legal channels (childminder should be isured)- particularly if there is scarring to the face as you won't know what long term effects this may have on your child going forward

I would absolutely absolutely sue.

That is shocking. It needs to be reported. It is a serious matter. She could lose her registration. You could sue her as she should have insurance.

We left the CM. The bite was light. The parents of the toddler decided to remain with the CM

What was the outcome?

Something very similar happened with DS’s childminder years ago. The dog got spooked while the children were playing and bit a toddler.

It wasn’t the dog’s fault (they’d bought the dog fairly recently and it wasn’t used to children jumping around) and it wasn’t the toddler’s fault. It was 100% the CM’s fault as she wasn’t supervising properly.

How you choose to risk assess your own dogs and your own children is down to you. This is not the case for an Ofsted registered business—they must follow the strict guidelines at all times.

It’s the same principle as kitchens—we can make our own hygiene risk assessments in our own home kitchens, but as soon as we’re running a business that serves the public, we must adhere to the food safety laws.

This is one of the most batshit things I've ever read on here

@beardediris actually, I breed dogs and have kids. At one point I had a litter of puppies, three adult dogs and two kids under five. So I do know what I’m talking about when it comes to kids and dogs.

And it may be a shock, but my kids have never been bitten nor been hurt in anyway. Part of that is teaching my kids how to act around dogs from when they are incredibly young (which OP has failed to do) part of that is vigilance (which the childminder failed) and part of that is just being a responsible adult and not setting a child up to fail (which both failed).

It’s awful what happened to OPs child - and I do not deny that - but OP does have to admit to her share of the blame.

I don’t agree the OP might be teaching her child how to safely cross a road but I doubt t she’s sat there and asked the CM if she’s supervising her child when crossing a road or continuing them teaching how to cross safely. It’s basic common sense stuff. Ditto dogs assuming the OP knew she even had one then I would have thought that it’s entirely reasonable to assume that the CM at the very least properly supervised dog and child or at best kept them apart at all times. Anyone who know anything about dogs knows that even the best trained dog can do the wrong thing and so can 3 yr olds.

So what was the arrangement around the dog supposed to be? Was it supposed to be kept outside while DD is there? In a room she can't access? I'd be asking why whatever the arrangement was supposed to be wasn't kept to