....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!!

Balloons are actually listed on ROSPAs info on children & choking - extract from their site follows

"A child dies in the UK every month from choking, and hundreds more require hospital treatment. It can happen quickly, and it can happen to anyone. Babies and toddlers are most at risk because they examine things around them by putting them in their mouths. Here are some things you can do to help reduce the risk.

1. Keep small objects out of reach:

• Coins, pins, screws, beads • Button batteries • Balls smaller than 1¾ inches (4.45 cm) • Deflated balloons or pieces of a burst balloon"

think about it - a small piece of balloon, cling film etc inhaled into the airway, is going to inflate downwards with each breath the child tries to take, is going to be a very snug fit like the balloons medics insert to open up arteries etc

I hate seeing parents let their kids bite on balloons. they are also a danger to pets too BTW.

I support raising awareness of the danger of balloons as well! But I don't feel you need a license for balloons as they don't shit all over the street. Those hard lollies? Ban the fuckers, I'd welcome it! Every time I fish them out of a party bag I get the rage. But just because there are other dangers to children doesn't mean that irresponsible dog owners aren't a problem for us all, for many reasons and that we shouldn't address that.

Yes, Children die or are maimed by lots of things. Should we do nothing about any of it, then? I think we should tackle one at a time. I wouldn't have. Dog seeing as I have two small children, same as I don't let them play with batteries or balloons. One thing doesn't negate the other.

of course humans/babies are pack animals! we live in family groups! we look after our less able, we have a pecking order etc etc. why would you think we were not pack animals? is it because you think that's a negative thing to say? yes sometimes "packs" (eg football crowds, protestors, gang of youths) can be a negative thing but pack mentality (ie going along with the crowd), is not the same thing as being pack animals. A dog absolutely needs to know that a baby is part of the "pack" and that it (the dog) ranks lower down the pecking order than all the people in its (the dogs) family.

Child death statistics up to March 2013. Doesn't make great reading, but puts dog related deaths in perspective. HERE

Yes - a bit more perspective would be nice.
But that's not what some people want. They just revert to being a baying lynch mob.
Let's face it - the main problems in the world are not caused by dogs.

You are not silly jellyandcake, I still chop my son's grapes and he is 9 years old. I also don't let him have cherry tomatoes in his lunchbox. I got slated for that on here

My understanding on why the malamute hasn't been distroyed is because one of the reports states the police haven't actually confirmed that the dog was in fact responsible. It was found wandering the street in a docile state by a neighbour and handed into police with no signs of blood on it despite being largly white, soon after the alleged attack.

I am suprised at the amount of people on this thread reffering to lock jaw which is a scientifically proven myth.

Many dogs these days are not half as well socialised as they would have been several years ago by default in many cases. I remember the days when most pubs had a resident dog and dogs were always welcome, you could go to shops and take dogs in, hell you could even take them to work and have them under your desk so they weren't home alone for hours and I'm not even that old. These days dogs are banned from most pubs, shops and work places meaning they are not getting those opportunities to socialise in favour of being left at home more and more, this coupled with more and more people buying for looks or designer labels from people out to make a quick buck with no ethics on breeding for health or temprement and without fully researching the traits of both breeds to check they can accomodate the worst traits of both and of which you could have any combination, is a recipe for disaster.

I am glad someone here raised the squeaky toy issue as well. One of the most popular and common toys in the uk are ones that squeak. By using squeaky toys you are teaching a dog to bite squeaky things, these same people then wonder why their squeaky baby has just been bitten seemingly unprovoked. Isn't that what you have taught it to do!

Licences are a nice idea but unfortunately they didn't work first time and they won't work again. With cuts becoming more & more there just isn't the man power to police it and will only serve to penalise the already responsible. They banned breeds and just look what good it did, they are still around and still causing harm and why, because the only people adhearing to it are the responsible ones who would have probably have nice mannered ones to start with and thus just proving to be more appealing to those looking for status for those who want to look hard with their badly bred black market banned breed. Huskys are actually becoming more highly saught after as bait dogs rather than status dogs.

Statistically you are also far far more likely to be bitten by a labrador than a bull breed. The difference being that owing to what the dogs were originally bred for a bite from a lab although far more common would be less severe as they are bred to be soft mouthed for retrieving and so tend to be a bite and release often going for arms & legs. Bull breeds are far less likely to bite (staffys used to be known as the nanny dog for a reason) but when they do will naturally bite & hold going for face & neck because thats what they were were bred to do - to bring things down.

I don't think there is anything wrong with mentioning balloons in the same thread. It doesn't mean you should ignore the danger posed by dogs at all!

I had a row on another forum years ago with a woman who insisted that it was fine to let her small child climb on/poke/prod/pull her dog, because it was ever so tolerant and didn't mind.
Also, apparently it was fine because she had a very small front room so she was only ever an arms length away from child/dog, and so could separate the two quickly if ever there was any trouble.
Stupid doesn't even cover it.

Oh and before anyone posts about dominance, pack theory, the dog needing to know who's in charge etc it would be great if they looked up some UP TO DATE research so that they didn't end up posting rubbish.

YANBU

of course all dogs are capable of killing but why have dogs when you have young children that have the strength to overpower an adult there is no need to have these breeds of dogs, why not jsut get a dog that does not have the strength/history of attacking

it is easy to say well they are never left alone but at times many will forget despite their intentions

YANBU - our family dog was lovely, friendly and gentle, an old English sheep dog. Then one day he went mad and bit everyone in sight.