Feel bad about this, but didnt know what else to do at the time, wwyd?

[laloony]

firstly i cant begin to explain to you how terrified of dogs i am. big, small, it doesnt matter, i feel sick, shake and feel terror utter utter terror if one comes near me.
i cross the road if i see one, always been like this.
so pils have one.

went to pick ds & dh up from there last week, knocked on the door, and it began to bark, its head off.
sweats started, stomach churned, began to shake.
dh answered the door with the dog behind his legs barking like mad. he turned a held the dog by its collar but it jsut went on and on barking.
i could not go round it without it touching me as it and dh were blocking the doorway. so it told him i would wait int he car.

i dont got to pils for many reasons, but one of which is the dog.
so mil came out and although was nice, was obviously gobsmacked that i wouldnt come in the house,
i appologised and explained, but she clearly wasnt happy.
i just cant be in a room with a dog, i cant.
a room with pil & a dog....then hell no, but they dont get it.feel a bit bad about it.

I wish you could see me rolling my eyes.

As I have already said, "I would call the stories stupid sensationalist nonsense. However, it is horrifying AND tragic whenever a dog OF ANY BREED attacks and god forbid, kills a child."

Which means, the STORIES are sensationalistic and the journalists select specifically the stories about staffies and NOT the stories about labradors or JRT or yorkies. I've been bitten by dogs a few times when I was younger, one of them quite seriously, all of them were my fault as I was annoying the dogs. Two times I've been bitten by labradors and one time by a mongrel/Heinz57. I've known and been around staffies my whole life and annoyed them just as much as I annoyed these other dogs and guess what? The staffies had the most patience with my young stupidity and just played back and when I got too much for them, they moved away and went to fetch their owners. My son has poked my friends staffie in his eye (accidentally of course) and the dog just licked him, very dangerous.

On the other hand my aunt has a JRT and my son went up to stroke it and the dog growled. The dog got a severe telling off and got put outside away from everyone (which it hates). I now don't let that dog out of my sight whenever my son's around and it's NEVER anywhere near my son. More dangerous I'd say.

JRT can do a HUGE amount of damage in a very short space of time. They have one of the strongest jaws relative to their size, if you've ever played tug-of-war with them you'll know that.

I will try my best to visualise you rolling your eyes if that makes you feel any better? Meanwhile, you could always ask MNHQ to create an eye-rolling emoticon, just for you?

I did read you post properly and it was that which I responded to, your repetition was not needed. If the incident is tragic, then how can the story of the incident not too be tragic?

Why would a journalist choose to publish a story about a Staffie over a story about a lab, for example? Do you honestly think that the media are out to get staffies put down?

Sorry, I just find this difficult to believe.

"Why would a dog be put down unless it had actually hurt someone?"

because owners of staffies get panicked that their dog has to be a killer because the media says it is. Takes it to the RSPCA for rehoming. Can't be rehomed because there are too many of them, more and more each day, and potential owners have also been influenced by the media. So poor dog gets sent to the kennel in the sky regardless of whether that particular dog is a risk or not.

Ormrenewed, are there any statistics on that?

Oooh don't know. But I saw a Panorama program about it (I think). Will that do?

No, sorry . I will hard evidence before I am convinced on this one.

Here you are!

Very sad. If you happen to like dogs.

My Gran has a staffie and she is the biggest softie with DS I have ever seen and if she doesn't want to be around him, she just walks away

That said, I never leave DS alone with her because he is only 4 and doesn't quite get the hint when she walks off and will follow her so I'm always on hand to make sure he is respecting her space

Would be the same with any other breed though, not just staffies - its common sense imho...children can and do wind dogs up without realising it

charlie - that's bollocks. If there were stories about labradors and poodles tearing the faces off children then the newspapers would print them. there aren't.

jack Russells are responsible for many bites and this does get reported. However as they're only small they can't do nearly as much damage as a German Shepherd, Rottweiler, staffordshire or Pitbull...

Ormrenewed, thanks for the link. I can't watch it all now- don't have time but I read the intro. I got the impression that it was saying that the reason there are alot of these 'Staffie' types being abandoned is due to them being 'aggressive status' type dogs. The owners get one for the wrong reasons, hence probably lack the commitment that caring for a dog requires.

Staffies do attract a certain type of owner don't they? Maybe that type of owner is less likely to be responsible, long term, and keep the dog.

I suppose the media reporting incidents involving staffies would put people off wanting one. That is a shame when a dog is a nice dog. But, and this is my main point really, if a staffie was to attack, it can be lethal, you literally cannot get them off. There is no way I would ever want one around my child unmuzzled.

I know there is a risk of any dog biting but not all dogs can do the damage a Staffie can.

Charlieknows, the thought of you letting your son play with your friend's Staffie has me worried. Whether you're nearby or not doesn't hold much weight for me.

Do you really think you could get it off before much damage was done if it did attack?

Supercherry, if you're that nervous around dogs (any breed) then you shouldn't let your child be around them whilst you're there. I'm not suggesting the child should be unsupervised, just that a responsible adult who knows dogs should be around instead of you. I'm not trying to be a twat, it's just because the dog will pick up on your nerves and react.

My friend is a dog trainer, I have complete trust in him as he is also my sons godparent and adores all kids. His staffies are used in hospitals to visit kids as therapy where they're a firm favourite and he also has 2 nephews and 3 nieces of his own that his 2 staffies have been around since day 0.

Also, as my son is only 2 I wouldn't let him be around ANY DOG OR ANIMAL unsupervised - sorry if I didn't make that clear.

Although Staffies have been bred to fight unfortunately, they were also bred to live in the house along with the family. I think someone else mentioned they were known as Nanny Dogs years ago because they're so good with kids.

I'm suprised so many of you have so much trust in the media, especially since there are so many threads on here about stupid news stories regarding parenting etc.. The media are a business, they want to sell stories, the most newspapers, be the most popular news channel, the most visited website. I'm not suggesting they make stories up, but they do select which stories they can sensationalise the most and when it comes to dogs at the moment, that's staffies or other "dangerous breeds".

I truely believe there's no such thing as a dangerous breed, only stupid and sadly dangerous owners.

A lot of the staffies that are brought into centres are not brought in because they're "siezed" and forceablly rehomed, they're brought in by the very idiots who try to train them to fight because they're no use at it, they're not agressive enough.

I used to work at a rehoming centre and that's what I overheard a chav telling his mate when he thought noone could overhear, I suppose at least he was brining the dog into the centre and not just dumping it, it's a start...

Sorry for the long reply!

Thanks Charlieknows, but I'm generally not nervous around dogs. Despite all my posts about Staffies, I do like dogs.

We had a Border Collie when I was 13- he's still with us now (my mum's dog), and I'm 29! He's a lovely dog, never shown any signs of aggression towards the children, but I still wouldn't leave him with them unsupervised. I am also totally confident I could easily pull him away if he did snap at one of the children.

It's a Staffie's potential to do serious damage that makes me nervous. But, I'm not nervous around Staffies, I avoid them on the park and I don't know anyone who has one.

This thread'll have legs. All the dog people will get on and say that there is no chance at all that their staffie, rottie, pit bull etc will definitely never harm anyone. It's just a few chavs making them all look bad.

Yawn.

Yes, the potential for a Staffie to harm a child is there. As is the potential for ANY BREED of dog to cause harm.

And the media do choose exactly what to put in their papers. They choose what sells, and what sells are stories that reinforce stereotypes. There are statistically more attacks on children by labradors than any other breed. Of course, there are more labradors in families than other breeds, but the fact is that they can still harm children. Why are there no stories about these attacks? Again, there is more 'value' in a story about a staffie or rottie. The stories sell papers.

I am a dog lover, though don't have a dog at the moment as DD is still too young. We will get a dog when she's old enough. I am very careful with both my kids around ANY breed of dog, or any unknown animal.

If there are no stories about labs harming children in the media then how have you heard of labs harming children?

LL, I have 2 dogs and I think YANBU.

I do think therapy might be helpful, because it would make it easier for you to walk past a dog in the street, for example. I imagine that by having therapy you could then be introduced to a dog - perhaps a small dog or a puppy - in a controlled environment where you dictated what you were comfortable with and the contact with the dog was controlled by your wishes.

I do not think people should be attempting to get you used to a dog by having it barking at you or by bringing it into a room against your wishes.

Ineedmorechocolate - there are no offical statistics on dog bites by breed.