Dog bite story - who is at fault?

[ArtichokeAardvark]

Heard a story on the grapevine today - friend of a friend of a friend scenario. Family with young daughter go to the house of an older couple (no kids) who have a rescue dog. Daughter is nursery age.

The couple know that their dog isn't safe with children so secure it in another room, and warn the girl and her parents not to go near the dog. Fast forward a couple of hours, adults are all chatting and there is a scream from the dog's room. The girl has gone in to pet the dog and been badly bitten.

Who is at fault here, morally but also legally? It's obviously an awful scenario but I feel just as sorry for the dog owners as for the girl... They will likely lose their dog now and they did everything right. You can argue it from every angle but I think the fault is with the parents for not supervising their child in a strange place... 😣

Parents, they should be watching their child. They are in a house with no children so the house is unlikely to be childproof with out adding the dog.

I am not sure that I would expect the owners to put a latch in over expecting parents to supervise their children or not bring the kids to a house where there is a dog can bite.

The parents. They were told, dog put in a safe place. Child entered that space unsupervised

I would say all of the adults are at fault. They all knew that the dog and the child being together was a risk, yet they all allowed the child to be out of their site.
Although I think more blame falls on the parents to be fair, the dog owner put a boundary in place to stop any problems, the parents did not ensure these boundaries were respected.

I hope the child is ok!

The owners - no-one should get a dog that is not safe around people, whatever their size.

I do actually agree with this. I think the mistake that was made was letting the family into the home in the first place. The owners were the ones who knew how high risk the dog was. The child’s parents might have had no clue how risky the situation was.

Ultimately the child was the parents responsibility. They were warned that the dog wasn’t child friendly and it was up to them to watch their child.

The owners of the dog did their duty by warning the parents about its nature and removing it.

It was the parents decision to go/stay in the home with the non child friendly dog and to not be making sure their child didn’t enter the room where it was being kept.

If they knew the child was going to visit then yes they should have something more secure. Or they should have said sorry it isn't safe for you to come in because we don't trust the dog.
I think both the dog owners and the parents are at fault.
But we weren't there so don't know the full details

If you own a dog that will bite strangers, you make damned sure that dog is locked/bolted/secured completely away so no one can walk in on it, accidentally release it or otherwise access it.

If doesn’t matter if it’s a visiting child, a cleaner or your gran. If you have a pet that is a danger to others you take action to secure it before allowing anyone in your home.

‘Secure it’ doesn’t mean closing the dining room door and hoping no one opens it.

Dogs who badly bite children should be pts. It’s the dog owners fault. It’s really sad that they couldn’t take steps to prevent this. Behavioural therapy, Training, muzzle etc.

The toddlers parents are also at fault for not supervising and protecting their dog but even if they had the dog got bite a child on a walk or escape from the house/garden so needs to be pts.

I’m a massive animal loving vegan btw but there is no place in society for dangerous dogs.

I agree. It’s sad but it’s still a dog which bites.An accident waiting to happen.

It's all the adults fault. They all took their eyes off the ball.

Since when is it OK to let kids of any age wander around someone's home unattended?
I had an eight year old visitor in my home. It was me who had to keep turfing her out of nosying in bedrooms. Her family did nothing.
The child's parents knew the dog was in another room so should have kept her with them.

A dog that bites isn’t necessarily dangerous, though. Often they bite because all their other signals have been ignored or because of poor management - not because they’re genuinely a risk.

Theres also a difference between a dog that snaps and accidentally makes contact with skin, and a dog that bites with the intent to actually cause harm to someone.