Is there a thread about the poor 5 week old baby yet? [warning, distressing content]

[thewinehasgonetomyhead]

Standing in the kitchen with my two DD almost in tears:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-46565175

Wordthe many more men hurt and murder children than dogs. Should no mother live with a man?

Your hyperbole is getting silly.

It's a massive load of combined issues. I grew up with a German shepherd who was fiercely protective over me. I was playing when a man approached me and she stood over me growling at him

Breeding - my grandad bred pit bulls and said breed shit, get shit. Don't breed from crap dogs!
Environment - how you bring them up and the training you do
Home - do they have somewhere to get away, are they being constantly pestered by a toddler, are they crate trained
Supervision
Exercise - so many over fed and under exercised dogs

You can minimise the risks a LOT. By watching all of the above and supervision. I honestly don't think the breed matters - I've been bitten by a collie. And incredibly frightened by an Akita, they're the only dogs I won't go near and I'm a huge dog lover
I find smaller yappy dogs more aggressive sometimes as people aren't as quick to train/discipline as "they're cute"

Wordthe many more men hurt and murder children than dogs.

Good point

Dogs don't "blindly respond", they have thought processes, they are just dog thought processes, which are not the same as human ones.

I would suggest that dog thought processes are so unlike human thought processes that they ought not to be in the category 'thought processes'

or in other words you are stretching the definition beyond its breaking point

But I do understand how difficult it is to avoid anthropomorphism, so it's not really your fault that you think like that 🙂

I would suggest that dog thought processes are so unlike human thought processes that they ought not to be in the category 'thought processes'

Please, tell us more about your experience in dog training and behaviour

It saddens me that this is something that still happens, everyone has read a story like this too many times, were these parents not warned by HV/anyone! they managed to keep that baby safe for a whole 14 days..

I don't see what is the relevance of leaving the child alone with the dog. If a powerful dog attacks a baby or small child right in front of your face, there isn't much you can do.

Of course it's relevant, as pp have said you can look out for signs the dog is getting agitated for one.

But it IS to do with the breed: obviously not all of them, and not all owners, but the breeding to get aggressive traits is the problem

Well quite, if breeders are deliberately breeding aggressive dogs (say with rage syndrome) to get aggressive dogs then obviously that's a problem.

They are not SBTs... I mean if you squint a bit, they’ve got some in there somewhere...

A SBT would fit underneath them while standing tbh.

Poor dogs Isadora? Are you being goady on purpose or what?

No, my sympathies are ALWAYS with animals, not humans...

Also @GreatDuck I'd trust a dog, over a human any day

Pretty disgusting comment Isadora given that a newborn baby has died because of being attacked by a dog.

I'll stick with my previous assumption if you don't mind.

Some very insensitive comments on this thread

it's the sheer strength of some dog breeds which worries me.
My MIL had a gorgeous staffie. She never hurt anyone, but when she came up to see me, she was so strong she almost knocked me over! She had a huge, wide very strong jaw and whilst she was lovely, if she'd wantted to overpower a child, she could very easily. Our dog is a tiny breed and weighs five pounds. She's snappier than the staffie, but if she was aggressive with my children (she never has been to date) the kids would easily be able to kick her off or throw her off. They wouldn't have been able to do that with MILS staffie because she was very solid and heavy with an enormous mouth

I have two SBTs. KC Reg. Bred for temperament & health. My eldest has been attacked by another SBT, a Collie and some Poodle x that bit me when I was breaking it up.

She has never attacked another dog, but she will not back down.

Both of mine are fantastic with children, especially my autistic step son, but I would NEVER leave them alone with the children, ever.

Parental responsibility to keep their children and animals safe.

Well @ GreatDuck I'm afraid that, as Judge Judy so often says , I don't give a Rat's Behind what you think [grin}

That's nothing to laugh at ffs. Have some thought for the baby that died

Omg people really blaming staffies? The reason it is often staffies is because it's the same type of idiot owner who buy these dogs to seem 'hard' don't train them or train them to be aggressive, then leave them with a baby because they're incompetent parents. It would be the same with any breed if they suddenly became fashionable to these low life's that use them as a status symbol. I've never actually met an aggressive staf.

The beautiful baby that died