Family fall out dog incident

[violashift]

I didn't see this happen but it has caused a massive extended family fall out on what was a lovely bank holiday.

At cousins house ;my sister and Bil are there with nephew age 5. He is playing in the hall with his brother.
The dog comes in initially wagging tail but within seconds the dog is having a go at my nephew who is about dog height.

My sis filmed all of this as she was filming the kids playing in the hall but dropped the phone when the dog went close to her son.

Pics attached. Brother in law kicked the dog in panic and pulled nephew away.

It all kicked off after that my cousin blaming the brother in law for kicking the dog and refusing to except anything was wrong saying the dog wouldn't hurt him.

Guess I am asking for advice on the next steps. Sis is shaking thinking the dog could have nicked an artery and cousin is annoyed the dog got kicked.

We have all left.

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edited by MNHQ - images removed by request

Just red marks. He was growling and barking a bit like when a dog puts another in its place.

I wouldn't put this down to playful behaviour though.

My sister's dog was a very good doggo. Never hurt a fly. Grew up with my niece. Then turned around and bit her on the face when they were watching tv with no warning nor provocation. Required stitches (which has left scars) and dog was put to sleep within 24 hours. Could have been alzheimers or a UTI, but that risk cannot be tolerated around kids (and why I won't have a dog whilst DS is young, even though I love them. You just never know.)

@Aquamarine1029 a pitbull?seriously? Looks like a lab to me but regardless of breed it actually looks like the child was leaping around and the dog was leaping around and joining in. Dogs will get excited if children do that, that's why it's better to keep them away from children if it's likely to get noisy and play could get excitable. It doesn't look like the dog is being aggressive to be honest.

Growling and barking OP isnt putting another dog 'in it's place'. It's showing signs asking the other animal to back away as quick as possible and get out of it's space. If dog is over 8 or 9 it could even be going a bit senile and will show that behaviour even if it is the dog its self that walked in to the other 'animal's' personal space.

The neck and legs are agression points for animals. Like shoot to kill points, basically.

The face and other dogs muzzle's are the 'warnings' like when they nip puppies.

This dog has gone for the neck. It is dangerous.

Redemption Your post is correct, most dogs cannot tolerate the noise of young children, especially if they are not used to being around children. Also, if the weather was hot where the incident took place then the dog would have been particularly stressed.

There is no way of knowing from those two stills what the dog's intention was.

All dogs and children should be actively supervised when near each other. That means adults who are doing nothing but watching them together, prepared to interrupt/act if needed.

I love dogs but a parent kicking a dog because they fear for their child is understandable. Playing or not, I think I'd react if I saw a dog reach towards a child's neck with its mouth (and I am typically Team Dog).

The dog's owner should not have put their dog in that position. They need to take responsibility.

Then your cousin is in the wrong - he kicked the dog to prevent him harming his son (which is in my mind different to kicking him afterwards) as a defence mechanism and potentially stopped something worse/ Was your cousin there as I assume he nipped then went in for a second attack

Next steps - is the skin broken as they need a doctor trip and really looking into why it was as it is a huge risk now. I certainly would not be taking children there

A lab Staffordshire cross not that breed matters.

Cousin was in the other room. She ran in drunk screeching apparently.

I think BiL just panicked.

The dog should be put down, what are you waiting for? a corpse?

There are literally millions of dogs out there, get a dog that knows its place in the pack order.

Harsh but having seen what a dog is capable of, only a fool would ignore this behavior.

Dog and child should never have been left unattended together.

When my niece visits our young dog is always on the lead - a) because he's still young and bouncy and b) because he doesn't live with children and isn't used to them. It wouldn't be fair on either of them to let them loose alone together.

However the above was ignored and now the dog has bitten. I don't think it necessarily needs to be put down, but it should be kept on a lead and muzzled around visiting children in the future.

It always happens doesn't it? Any thread like this and out they come - 'what was the child doing?' (code for 'it must be the child's fault for provoking the animal).

If I saw a dog go for a child's throat I'd have kicked it as well.

Ok as someone who's toddler almost lost an eye to a completely unprovoked dog bite from a friends 'safe' breed family dog (they have a similar aged little one). Unprovoked as in ds was stood looking out of a window with 4 adults, on the other side of a large open plan living space and dog ran over to bite, no warning, no nothing; I would a) never leave my child alone with this dog again and b) report it, or at the very least I would send cousin the video with a message saying if she won't take the threat seriously and ensure her dog is always leased and muzzled then you will report it using the video as evidence.
Most importantly if you ever see/hear of the dog having contact with children without these precautions (not just supervised, it happens in a second) then you must must must report it. Even if its not fatal a nip in the wrong place can have life changing consequences!

You've all now had a very clear warning. That dog is a ticking time bomb and if your cousin continues to ignore the real problem then she'll end up in jail when it does serious damage to another child. Because she won't have any excuse next time. And there will be a next time.

@MumofTinies

Good grief!

@violashift you're cousin needs to get her head out of her arse and accept responsibility here. Your BIL feared for his child. Is the dog used to being around children? The dog I was referring to earlier I would never, ever have said she would snap as she did. She is the biggest sop going and is such a people dog - but she still snapped. You can never trust ANY dog 100%. When you own a dog you have to take responsibility for the bad as well as the good.

Take pics of nephews marlks to his neck before they fade and the Cousin starts saying he never bit his neck. The dog needs to be PTS.

@adaline they weren't unattended together? The boys Mum and Dad were right there when the dog came in

Ok, so firstly the dog (any dog) is a risk around small children. And I say this as a Mum who has always had dogs. They are incapable of reading each other so the unspoken messages are confused giving room for possible disasters.

A dog that isn't used to being around children should be in a secure place when there is a family gathering. Ours always are, for their wellbeing and any children or adults who aren't dog savvy.

Assuming it reacted without provocation I would be very concerned and expecting them to seek professional medical / behavioural input at the very least. The dogs stance in the photo appears totally wrong for 'play'.

I can understand them booting the dog, as a parent your instinct overrides moral standards and normal accepted behaviour. It's not ok, but was a primal response to his child being in danger.

The owner needs to apologise and demonstrate that they are taking it seriously. Child's parents need to consider if the lad needs to be seen at a&e for antibiotics.

Witsendagain Same happened to my DS. He had a puncture wound right in the soft 'bag' bit under his eye. He was extremely lucky. It happened completely out of the blue. The dog came in happily enough and as he walked past DS he suddenly lunged at him. Thankfully DH was right beside DS when it happened.

The owners had the dog put down the same day.

Both the dog owner and the adult responsible for the child are at fault here.
Dog owner for letting his dog near a small child.
And parent/guardian for letting child that small near a dog that big.
Small children arent able to comprehend how to act around dogs. No matter how friendly the dog. Things like this really piss me off this incident should have never happened. Could have been far worse outcome for both child and dog who would have ultimately been destoyed all because the so called responsible adults couldnt apply some BASIC fucking common sense. Thank God the child didnt suffer a worse injury.
And not that its massively relevant, it looks nothing like a pitbull.
People think of labs as family dogs but stats show fair amount of dog bites. Staffys when well trained are usually great with kids. But to reiterate you NEVER allow a small child and dog of any size to encounter that close without an adult extremely close by ie with hand on dogs collar or guiding child to pet the dog correctly.

mydogmylife why good grief? The dog has (seemingly unprovoked) bitten a human child. It is dangerous.

Cousin is texting calling brother in law all the names under the sun

I would sincerely hope that you have texted back to stand up for bil and tell her she is in the wrong.

If you know a dog is a risk to a child you act accordingly; either the dog is muzzled, kept entirely separate from all children for the remainder of it's days or it's put to sleep. There can be no grey areas when it comes to dogs and children.

We have two dogs and two DC. I'd never let our younger dog (who is under 12 months so still very puppy-ish) join in games bouncing about or playfighting with the DC simply because he's a puppy and needs to know that the DC aren't his to bounce all over. He's delightful and I seriously doubt he'd ever harm anyone other than with licks, but as an owner it is my job to train my dog away from DC and to train my DC away from rowdy behaviour near the dogs. People who don't take that seriously can't complain when their DC get bitten.