“Getting ANY adult dog breed is strongly NOT recommended”

[tallulahtoo78]

From a dog expert interview on LBC discussing the utterly awful, tragic death of the 17 month old little girl.

Gundogs and hunting dogs aren't the same things.

Gundogs like retrievers and spaniels flush/retrieve, are soft mouthed and can be trained not to kill the critters they flush out.

Foxhounds, otterhounds, beagles will all hunt and kill prey, as well as the little terriers whose ancestry was as ratters. Sight hounds (such as greyhounds Salukis etc) have strong prey drive too, as do Rhodesian ridgebacks and huskies

I agree that this is the parents fault entirely. Who would introduce a large adult dog into a home with young children? Some of the stuff in this thread though is rubbish. People don't buy big dogs to look Hard. I have a doberman - i presume that makes me look hard? Particularly when i am walking her with her brother - a chihuahua? I jest not
I have two children - we did extensive research and bought the big dog from a breeder with a good reputation. The doberman has a fantastic temperament and is great with my kids and others but i never would buy an adult one. You need to know the background of the dog and you need to bring it up from a puppy imo.

@RoseAndRose
That's and unusual size/shape for a collie
Their breed maximum is 22 inches, weighing 19kg
Labrador is to 24.5 inches and weighing 34 kg*
You are basing that on the KC standard for pretty show dogs.
My collie is from working lines, she’s tall and fine boned.
My neighbour also has a working line collie who is about the same size and a lady at DDs school has a collie, also out of working lines and also roughly the same size.
I don’t know the weights of either of their dogs but height wise, the three dogs are about the same.
Proper working labradors tend to be smaller than the KC show standard too

I'm just reading back through the thread now and have seen the term "nanny dog" cited a few pages back. This is a very dangerous myth that needs to be put to rest.

thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.com/2010/08/nanny-dog-myth-revealed.html

@mrsmolks

How old were / are your children?

Because advice is clear

* The Doberman Pinscher Club of America warns that young children and Doberman puppies are not a good mix. It is not a good idea to get a young Doberman puppy if you have babies, toddlers or young school-age children. “Young Doberman pups are very high energy bundles of sharp toenails and teeth*

As a prospective dog buyer, I just can’t imagine doing my research - coming across such a accepted stance on so many sites and dog owner forums AND having children and STILL thinking

Hell yes, I’ll get a Doberman

[quote ZoeCM]I'm just reading back through the thread now and have seen the term "nanny dog" cited a few pages back. This is a very dangerous myth that needs to be put to rest.

thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.com/2010/08/nanny-dog-myth-revealed.html[/quote]
Look like a anti pitbull site . Not sure I'd believe what on there

I had a brief look at how many attacks there actually are (under a sleeping baby so not in loads and loads of detail!)

Since 2020 I found 9 fatal dog attacks in the UK.
7 of these were either stated as an American bully (multiple dogs per attack in some cases), a bulldog (again groups of dogs in some cases) or a SBT. The other 2 were a chow chow and a husky.
So 7/9 some degree of bull breed.

Between 2010 and 2019 there were 27 deaths, 18 of which I saw were classified as American bull dogs, pit bulls, SBT or a generic type of bulldog. The others were a Neapolitan mastiff, a presa, a GSD and 2 terriers.
Again 18/27 bull breeds, only 9 of the attacks were not a bull breed however 2 were mastiffs and one a presa so in the same sort of category.

Statistically then i would argue that they do account for more deaths than other breeds. I couldn’t see a single Labrador, collie or poodle despite them being just as if not more popular. I’m not saying number of bites, specifically deaths.

The information is out there to find very easily.

Statistically then i would argue that they do account for more deaths than other breeds. I couldn’t see a single Labrador, collie or poodle despite them being just as if not more popular. I’m not saying number of bites, specifically deaths
I agree.
When it’s a death, it’s pretty much always a bull breed.

Death
Shouldn’t be the benchmark

All the children that have been bitten but it’s never made the papers

Death is a pretty significant outcome, if we’re “benchmarking”. What does it tell us if 99% (made up stat) of bites causing injury are by labradors but 99% of bites causing death are bull breeds? That there’s a problem with both breeds but the outcome for one is significantly worse than the other.

Don’t give a hoot either differentiation between the breeds

The point of the OP was re taking on an adult dog with children

And I wouldn’t take on an ADULT lab rescue or indeed any adult rescue

Why? Because I have children

And that should be the same for any and everyone

@sylvester78

Death Shouldn’t be the benchmark

All the children that have been bitten but it’s never made the papers

Well, yes…because death is pretty much the worst outcome and a tragedy.

And that should be the same for any and everyone

Even those of us without children?

If no-one should take an adult lab, what will happen to retired guidedogs if the assisted person cannot live with more than one dog?

Does the person not get a new guide dog until the old one dies? Or does retirement have to equal death for the dog?

Rather than the situation now when there are way more offers of homes than there are dogs available, and they go on to lovely retirements as much wanted pets

@RoseAndRose

If no-one should take an adult lab, what will happen to retired guidedogs if the assisted person cannot live with more than one dog?

Does the person not get a new guide dog until the old one dies? Or does retirement have to equal death for the dog?

Rather than the situation now when there are way more offers of homes than there are dogs available, and they go on to lovely retirements as much wanted pets

No one is saying that adult dogs shouldn’t be taken in but the criteria should be

No children under 12
Extensive dog ownership experience

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

And that should be the same for any and everyone

Even those of us without children?

That poster was clearly saying “everyone” with children!

* Why? Because I have children*

And that should be the same for any and everyone

I took the everyone to mean everyone. Especially on a thread which started out about no rehoming of adult dogs at all.

If it was meant to be everyone with children below a certain age, then that's quite different.

Though of course retired assistance dogs can be the most childproof dogs there are (withdrawn ones not necessarily so)

[quote ZoeCM]I'm just reading back through the thread now and have seen the term "nanny dog" cited a few pages back. This is a very dangerous myth that needs to be put to rest.

thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.com/2010/08/nanny-dog-myth-revealed.html[/quote]
They were introduced as that to a massive Crufts audience on a display I saw.

Even if the Nanny dog term wasn't from the olden days and has just come around in last 70 odd years it's still come about as the SBT is known for its patience and kindness towards children.

Anyone who knows the breed and has interacted with the breed knows they are drawn to kids. It's not something that can be rubbished or denied because the odd dog out of millions that have lived in family homes over the decades have gone and attacked.

If you looked at the statistics of 30 years days of Staffies in the home v staffie attacks the % would be something like 0.0000001

It's like lining up 1 million men and 1 in the group being a murderer so you say all men are dangerous

It's madness to make such a assumption when the actual statistics are so low.

They are labelled nanny dog because 99.99% of them who are kept in the correct environment are loyal family pets.

@RoseAndRose

The op states that the specialist didn’t say no one should ever rehome an adult dog

She says

* Not just homes with young DC. Unless extensive experience with raising dogs - getting any adult breed is irresponsible according to the interview*

So adults with extensive experience is fine

[quote implantreplace]@RoseAndRose

The op states that the specialist didn’t say no one should ever rehome an adult dog

She says

* Not just homes with young DC. Unless extensive experience with raising dogs - getting any adult breed is irresponsible according to the interview*

So adults with extensive experience is fine[/quote]
Sounds like good advice to be honest.

I have always had rescues and worked for a rescue for many years. But due to primary aged kids we got a puppy this time.

If you take anything but a puppy into the home you are ultimately testing the dogs temperament.

Agreed

So adults with extensive experience is fine

So that would still rule me out as I doubt the fact that we had dogs (all rescue) when I lived at home would count. I don't want a puppy, so if it was down to this so called expert I wouldn't be able to have a dog on account of the stupidity of other people.

@implantreplace

* Lets save the debate for another day. *

And what happens in that in between period when other children age vulnerable to utterly reckless parents taking on banned dogs / adult dogs

Just seen this on the BBC website: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-60931620

another case of a child killed by a dog