....to be sick and tired of hearing/reading about dog attacks on children??

[M0naLisa]

I probably am going to get flamed for this so I am donning my hard hat for this one but I am sick of hearing or reading about dog attacks.
And I know I could 'turn the channel or just not read' but why should I?

When will people realise a child especially a young baby/toddler cannot I repeat cannot EVER be left alone with a bloody dog!!!!!!

2 in 2 weeks now! It's getting bloody out of hand!
A dog origins from the Wolf family - not that I need to remind anyone.

Why are some people still blind to the fact that any dog whether it's a Rottweiler or a Yorkshire Terrier or a poodle can turn on their heel and KILL a young child!!!

Rant over!!

Alis - how exactly is the OP on this thread more balanced than my, albeit less ranty, OP on the other thread on this, started yesterday?? just curious?

I'm going to repeat this:

Just reading about how many children are killed by their parents on the nspcc site.
One every 10 days on average in England and Wales.
One child every week killed by another human being.

What HadABadDay said...

Quite a few people responding on the other thread said things like ' the dog was here before the children..' as justification for keeping a potentially dangerous dog. How sad!

minifingers - a ridiculous yet common response!

whats the point you are trying to make kitten, im confused. Not being snipey at all btw!

Xena - a Jack Russell - the family pet - did kill an eight day old baby in 2012. Post mortem found baby died from a single bite. Dog had squeezed through a stair gate apparently.

Hickory - perhaps that the hysteria is misplaced?
Where's the thread about the mother who it was reported today killed her child?
if people really want to protect children, rather than have a little bit of a dog hating rant, maybe they should rant about the major issues.
Risk to children from dogs - minor.
Risk to children from human beings - major.
Human beings, in my opinion aren't in a position to throw stones.

kittens, So what if more babies are killed by their parents or even by common childhood infections, drownings etc, than by dogs. There are more humans than dogs so of course this will be the case. OF COURSE it is awful and tragic, and every incident is one too many. But this thread is about dogs & the point is that ANY child killed or badly injured by a dog is ONE TOO MANY. with a bit more common sense and a bit less "my dog would never..." irresponsible attitude, these things would not happen. Have dogs if you want them. Have children too. Train and care for both very well, treat both respectfully and DON'T leave them together unsupervised.

or in other words the number of children killed by dogs is very low because MOST people are responsible parents and responsible pet owners. In the same way the overwhelming majority of children are NOT at risk of harm from their own parents.

I wouldn't leave a young child alone with a dog. But I'd probably be better to keep them away from other humans.

I just dont like this hypocritical lynch mob hysteria.

*needstobe" It doesn't surprise me as JRTs are ratters and couple that with a dog which has a nasty temperament it's a recipe for disaster. Like I said I put a door between my old and lovely JRT and my baby if I have to leave the room just because you never know do you?

Nedtobediscreet, I'll answer your question if you like - because you asked "why anyone would have a dog as a pet in their home?" which is a knee jerk and bun-fight inducing question, that makes people defensive.

Whereas this OP has ranted about stupid owners leaving defenceless children alone with dogs, which the way most of us feel.

Can I also suggest that parents never leave children alone with a balloon either, as balloon choking accidents kill more kids every year than dogs.

A PP mentioned the Kennel Club representative who was on the news today. She was very clear. She said dog should ever be left alone with a baby or young child. She detailed what the PP said about dogs interpretation of the cries of a baby or young child. She went further and said a large dog should not be near a baby even if adults were present. Makes sense. I wouldn't fancy my chances restraining a husky that turned on a baby tbh.

She also recommended that ideally, if people want a dog they should have a baby first then introduce a puppy or young dog rather than the other way around.

Not all dog attacks on people of any age result in death but often serious injuries and disfigurement occur nevertheless. A children's nurse responded on my other thread giving her experience of dealing with many kids attacked by dogs. Many attacks aren't reported either.

Of course, people are responsible for both their children and their dogs but I am struck by the denial about the risk that some dog owners display.

I also posted on the other thread a US research paper which found that the peak age of children attacked by dogs is 5 so it's not just babies we need to worry about.

I agree that licensing of dog ownership, as with anything, wouldn't tackle the real problem end of the spectrum who would ignore whatever law was in place but that doesn't make it worth considering.

Show us the stats on balloon choking deaths minifingers? And stats on the maiming and disfigurement caused by balloons?
(FFS!!)

Is the balloon thing true?!!

So many people have dogs but are irresponsible. I walk half a mile to my son's pre-school and the sheer volume of dog poo we have to dodge is staggering ) people let their dogs shit right across the school gates. It seems a lot of people don't want to accept the hard or unpleasant aspects of dog ownership so they just don't. I am sick of living with the consequences of these types of owners - the mess all over the pavement, the dogs running wild through the park, dogs barking and jumping up at us in the street. Yes, there are irresponsible and abusive parents as well but that doesn't mean we should ignore bad owners of dogs. I imagine cars cause more injuries to children than dogs or parents do but we don't say 'let's ignore abusive parents because cars do more damage overall'.

Dog ownership should be policed in some way because so many owners are causing them to be antisocial menaces. Although I'm not a dog person I can see how they can be enriching, valuable, loving and loved members of many families but the minority of idiotic owners cause them to be a big problem in society and, in extreme cases, a very real danger.

Well said Jelly!

And I always carefully supervise my son with balloons, it's one of my neurotic fears that also means I will be chopping up his grapes until he is in his thirties...

Quote from Fisher-Price:

According to the National SAFE KIDS Campaign, each year over 100,000 children under age 4 are treated in hospital emergency rooms for toy-related injuries, and 17 children die. Approximately one-third of the deaths result from choking; and one-third of the choking deaths result from latex balloons

A child part of a pack? That's plain silly.

A dog is a pack animal. A human is not.

It is interesting how in Spain and many other countries they are absolutely fascinated and repelled that Brits keep dogs actually inside their houses.

Are those stats US or UK LtEve? Just asking due to differences in population size.

People are pack animals. Look at football crowds and gangs. the Spanish are repelled by us are they? Guess we are repelled by their abuse of animals. In actual fact, although the dog was the instrument this child was killed by her parents are surely if they have been drunk drivers in a fatal crash, or druggies who gave her their dope. And that does happen

England stats from Health and Social Care information centre in 2013 ( can't post link as on phone)

• more than 200,000 people a year are estimated to be bitten by dogs
• annual cost to nhs of treating dog bites is approx £3 million
• hospital admissions due to dog bites have risen steadily over the past five years (over 6000 admissions in 2012-13)