About a childminder with Staffordshire terriers

[chilled7up]

I thought I found the perfect childminder for my son until I realised that she has 2 staffs at home. They were friendly but now I'm worried and confused. What would you do?

TouTou it crawled up my sleeve and started winding around my neck and then sank it's teeth into my jawline, missing my jugular vein my millimeters. I don't blame the ferret. I would happily keep one as a pet even now and regularly played with friend's pet ferrets afterwards, even sneaking them into my bedroom. It was one of those nightmarish but very rare incidents. It was my fault for playing with it so closely after it had been wound up by hunting for rats.

DoesBuggerAll - the benefits of owing a pet dog far outweigh the tiny risk of them ever biting - which as I said can be negated almost completely with responsible parenting and pet ownership.

My children spent Saturday afternoon running around a local country park and insect watching because the dogs had to be walked.

They spent four hours on sunday visiting different parts of our local beach and Marina and parks along the way and had great fun teaching the terrier how to swim and watching the whippet do zoomies around the harbour. They made a new friend whose parents own a westie called Spud. A local fisher man told them all about crabs after the showed him the crab claw they found. The dog rolled in a pike of rotting crabs, that part was not so fun.

If we hadn't had the dogs to think of they'd likely have been sent to the park or given a video game to play because I had things that needed doing in the house, but as it is, we do have dogs, they have to be walked. The other things had to be out on hold.

That was one of the many, many reasons I choose to keep dogs.

hysteria

is that the hysteria that follows the factual new that yet another child has been savagely attacked or maybe even killed by a staffie/sbt

that is noy hysteria that is shockign and terribly sad news you can not make it sound worse that what it is

LeBFG, thanks, I am .

My ex-friend not so much, her first question when I announced I was pg with DS1 was "what are you going to do about your dog, you cant have a SBT with a baby". She would only come to my house if the dog was taken out by DP, not just put in another room. So tbh the friendship got very one-sided. I had to go to hers all the time and when I mentioned it she said she still didnt feel comfortable coming to mine even with the dog locked away. Id understand if she had a fear of dogs in general, that wouldnt have been a problem at all, but she didnt, she just bought all the rubbish about them and apparantly having two closed doors and a flight of stairs between her and the dog wasnt enough

So yea I got rid of her as a friend. Too high maintenance and too much of a drama queen. Ive got enough draining people in my life.

That sounds frightening Dooin!

I think ferrets look adorable, I fell in love with one that turned up one day under my parents porch, (it went to a ferret rescue centre in the end) but blimey they stink! I think also because of the fact they do have a very bitey nature by virtue of the way they hunt they are a group of 'adorable but potentially dangerous' pets on my list.

I agree with the health benefits of dogs. I've noticed since my PILs whippety/JRT died they both seem a bit more lethargic and I wish they'd get another dog.
But I also wish that around playground that dogs would be kept on leads.

Freudian - a lot of stories are about "SBT Type" so probably pitbulls or pit x . SBT type fits in with the hand wringing brigade though and those who want this breed banned for some bizarre reason.

And as is always said on these threads, "SBT LICKS TODDLERS FACE" doesnt make the news because its not hysterical enough.

Mine are kept on leads in children's play parks. The fluffy white terrier who looks much like a child's stuffed toy has fear issues and I wouldn't feel safe with groups of unknown children crowding him or winding him up. If we go to play parks I always sit along the edge and the dog is made to sit at my feet, although generally we choose to avoid children's play areas. I am not as fond of others people's children as I am of dogs.

The whippy one is kept leashed for her own safety. She is literally a child magnet, but her skinny little legs and neck could easily be broken if a child got too rough with her or accidentally fell on her. She's also the kind of dog who would just cope with children hurting her in exchange for a little cuddle or a nibble of their sandwhich afterwards.

I am very careful of where I let them off. Whippy's recall is more reliable so she is allowed off leash in the off lead area of the park. The terrier not so much. He is allowed off at the off lead part of the beach, where should he choose to try and bolt he can take his pick from scaling the 12ft high seawall or swimming the channel.

We don't really have a big issue with people having off lead dogs around children's play parks. In fact I've only ever seen it once. A huge GSD was running loose around the adventure playground. It ignored us completely and only bothered with it's own children, much to the disappointment of my children.

Im surprised CM's are allowed dogs too. I'd have thought it wouldnt have made much profit for them regardless of the dog incase a child becomes allergic to the dog hair, fearful of the dog or even if the dog is fearful of the child. Personally i wouldnt have a cm with a dog. DD's godmother has a staffie & hes daft as a broom but ever so lovely HOWEVER godmother wont allow staffie in the same room as DD when she is over. Not because she doesnt trust him with DD but because there is always that niggle in her mind that if she turns her back for 1 min & DD goes to stroke in the wrong way it could turn horribly wrong.

& to cover myself, parents have a newfie. I never leave DD alone in the room with him & hes like a teddy bear.

FGS - this thread has become ridiculous (and this Staff paranoia is so 2005. Shouldn't you handwringers at least be onto Akitas as devil dogs by now?)
OP - you're clearly not 100% confident about your CM situation, so why not use another CM?

Staffs are fine. They're not halo-wearing 'wonder dogs'. They're generally tolerant and good natured; they're also terriers, so quite intense, and very, very strong. Sometimes, dogs of any breed become unwell/frightened/jealous, etc... or it migt be that there's been some thoughtlessness in their training.

Being bitten by any dog is horrific for anyone - particuarly a child.
Many breeds of dog have done a great deal of damage to children.
There's a tendency for the press and some people to describe any short-haired, bulky dog as a Staff.

Now do please pulls yourselves together.

Good posts, Emmielu.

I dont let mine off in play parks either, have done a few times when its just me and Ds in there. Too many screeching kids wanting to pet her with their sticky chocolate hands, plus shes a git for wanting to go on the merry-go-round and I have to stand there pushing her round on it

Also what you have to remember is that there are far more SBTs than of any other breed.

Say you have an island and on that island there are 200 white men and 100 black men. If 10 of the white men kill someone and only 5 of the black men kill someone does that make the white men more dangerous?

The media forget to mention in their reports that staffies outnumber other breeds. They also don't give the same amount of coverage to attacks by other breeds because it doesn't sell as many papers. Nor do they ever print anything about the thousands and thousands of SBTs that happily go about their daily business without ever attacking anyone.

i know some of the attacks have been from dogs that are not sbt

but many have been you can not make a sensational story about a child being attacked or worse killed it is horrifying whatever the breed and far too often it is a sbt

and as we hear it so often many do question why anyone would choose to have this breed of dog around young children, i do and i will over and over again why because of its strength and why does this breed attack in such a way (is it down to what it was originally breed for bear baiting?) as i said before all animals (and humans) can act out of character and can no matter how well you train your dog you can not change that

Freudian - Staffs as a breed were originally developed after bear and bull baiting had been outlawed.
They were used in the nineteenth century as all purpose terriers, so used for ratting etc. and also sometimes dog fighting. (Needless to say much has been made of their being used as fighting dogs, probably because there are several ratting breeds and fighting sounds more glamorous and distinctive.)

I seems to remember being told that the breed most likely to bite children are in fact Labradors (very protective about their food, apparently). Have you seen the posts above about how the press rend to describe virtually any short haired brred as a Staff?

Glad you found it a compliment hairylemon.

Appologies if already mentioned, but SBT and what I think of as a classic pit bull are very similar breeds. One is licensed (or banned? not sure which) the other isn't. One is a 'family' pet, the other isn't. To my mind, the breeds are not that different, so why are we making out SBT are so safe given their similar breeding history?

• seem to remember (I am not a Cockernaie flower seller.)

but there are more SBTs so attack incidents will be higher. And plus the papers do so love a nice juicy SBT-type horror story and Id bet my life that for every SBT attack story they could run 2 or 3 about other breeds but again that doesnt play into the hands of those who want to froth about this breed, and plus they love printing that pic of the sandy coloured gnashing SBT-that-looks-nothing-like-a-SBT pic

If you genuinely want an answer to your question - I wanted a SBT because I knew one day Id like children, and I wanted a dog that would be loyal, not need too much exercise or up keep, wouldnt mind having a bit of rough and tumble with the kids and me and one with a good temperament and nature, oh and one that doesnt moult like a bastard. Ive only ever known SBTs to be all of those things and much more so when we were deciding what dog to get SBT was the only choice and always will be. As I say I cant wait to get another one but Dp is making me wait.

To have a fair hand, I also think young labs are pretty crap with young children too. Very bouncy, some times snappy (makes me think of border collies too). Why not have something soft, small to mid-sized, not too muscular? Everyone goes for the striking (long legged dobermans or boxers) or exotic (husky) nowadays. What's wrong with little pooches?

are you saying that a vicious dog attack (not a bite an attack) where a child is serioulsy injured or worse killed only makes the news if it is a sbt (or a few other breeds)

do not think it would make the news if it were a king charles or labrador

My understanding is that SBTs and Pitbulls belong to the same family ie 'bull breeds' and are related to bull dogs at some point in their history (IIRC)

But to say a SBT and a Pitbull are similar is like saying a JRT is similar to a SBT because they are both terriers to my mind.

Im saying that given media space to print 2 attack srtories, one from an SBT and one fromm a Retriever, then the paper would print the SBT one. Without a shadow of a doubt.

I'm a childminder. I have a huge, hairy gsh x. He hates strange men and is afraid of them but is utterly bomb-proof with children. Not that he ever comes into contact alone with my minded children as I have a stairgate on the lounge door, as well as being able to shut it if any children aren't keen on him. Any contact is supervised.

It's not the dog you should be worried about, it's the owner, and as a cm she should have policies and procedures in place to ensure that any animals are supervised when in contact with the children.

The mindees I have all love our dog. He was laid on the floor letting a 4yr old "doctor" him today. This involved listening to his heartbeat, pretending to cut his nails, giving him a brush, looking in his ears and examining the end of his tail. The children are taught how to be respectful of animals, when to leave them alone and how to behave with strange animals we meet out on our walks. I think these are all valuable lessons to learn! All of my parents are happy that I have animals as it stops their children nagging them to get a cat/dog/fish as they have plenty of time with mine.

PlumpDogPillionaire don't start on Akita's unless you know what you are talking about, clearly you don't so back in your box there's a good girl

hairy - you are right (and FWIW, SBTs and JRTs are in fact related...)
'Pitbulls' in the UK are in fact a 'type', rather than a breed - and interestingly enough, one of the breeds most likely to contribute to the Pitbull 'type' (because of size and build) is (you guessed it...) the Labrador!
So when you read of 'Pitbull' attacks, you may, in fact, be reading of Labrador-cross attacks. Yep.
(Mixed up old world, ennit?)

I've no intention of starting on Akita, Barred. Perhaps you should read my post again?