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

Deary me what a load of hysterics on here, so a couple of under 5 children, drunk adults, shrieking etc, this all sounds ideal, dog probably over excited. Everyone needs to take responsibility here, cousin needs to train her dog better; it doesn’t need to be killed, you keep your kids safe and away from the dog - everyone survives. A red mark is not a bite or the dog stacking him, if it had it would have bit immediately, can MN please try and educate yourselves about dog behaviour.

It stops them being able to get right into things to sniff at them... because there’s a barrier and a gap

I guess it depends on the dog and the breed, most dogs do not need to actually press a nose against a scent source to be able to smell it, a couple of cm's doesn't make much difference to them, otherwise drugs/explosive/etc dogs wouldn't be able to do their jobs surely ? That is a genuine question by the way

My old collie had to wear a muzzle. Although dogs can drink through them, he didn't put the muzzle close enough to water to drink, maybe he didn't realise he could? He couldn't play fetch with his toys, he'd try to eat a treat and it would fall out and be difficult to pick up again. He would scratch at his nose and try to get it off a lot.

I was also very aware I had taken his ability to defend himself away from him if another dog attacked him.

It's not nice but it prevented him from biting and gave him a longer life than he otherwise would have had. Maybe other dogs adapt better to muzzles than he did.

The drunk adult shrieking was afterwards. It was all civilised before with the children playing in the hall way with parents and grandad. Not sure what they did wrong there.

Would you not panic if you saw your child face to face with a dog?

“most dogs do not need to actually press a nose against a scent source to be able to smell it”

They don’t need to, most of them like to though - they like to stick their face right in and have a good old snuffle at stuff

I muzzled mine because he was really reactive and the benefit of knowing he couldn’t bite and people being able to see from a distance that he wasn’t likely to want to meet their dog was worth losing out on snuffling, playing with toys and easy access to his mouth to give food rewards... it was absolutely a no brainer because of the extent of his behavioural issues.

But with a dog with a less severe behaviour - I might not muzzle them, it just depends.

Cousin sounds like a dickhead. Report it.

@violashift
I wouldnt have had very young children running about with an excitable dog no. I work with dogs and have a responsible attitude, all the adults here were irresponsible, the child was not bitten, excess overreaction on this thread, the dog doesn’t need pts, owner needs to be sensible as do the parents, nobody comes out of this well.

BellyButton85 you think I should be euthanized for my comment? Aren't you delightful.

When was the last time a small child savaged a dog to death?

Oh wait - I've got that the wrong way round, haven't I?

I'm pretty experienced with dogs and animals. Your photos dont appear to show a dog playing. If anything I'd guess that slight uncertainty and lack of experience on the dogs part is the saving grace for this child, and I also would probably have kicked the dog away instinctively as the fastest way to protect the child.

I wouldn't let children anywhere near this dog again.

Book worm they were playing in a hall separate from the dog. Not sure how the parents could have done anything else.

Maybe not gone at all because there was a dog?
Well I guess they won't anymore.

The dog should be put down. Obviously.

Cousin is 100% in the wrong. She sound like a dreadful excuse for a human being and is an absolute shit dog owner.

If I saw an animal (or a human) attacking one of my children, I'd kick it too. It needs to be put down. I highly doubt this is the first time the dog has done something like this, or if it was surprisingly the first time, then it'll be just the first of many if it's allowed to live any longer.

I'd report the incident or police or whatever the relevant authority is in your area.

The dog’s owners are deluded and I would never to go back. Unfortunately I do think this sounds like it will be a long standing rift but hopefully your mum and aunt will sort things out.
My boxer was attacked by a staffie by it biting her neck and latching onto it. Thankfully it got her collar. Also my step brother has a staffie which will never meet my little dog or children. He’s huge and muscly, bouncy and impulsive and killed the neighbours cat.
I know people say they’re friendly but the ones I’ve met are all very very strong dogs with a huge amount of energy.

Dog should be put down.

Not read the full thread so apologies if this has been covered but is it the dogs house or the kids house?

I ask cause if it's the dogs house then imo the parents need to be keeping their eyes on the kid at all times. My mums dog is fine until someone who's not my mum or dad goes to his food bowl, then he becomes a possessive wee shite. Might have been a similar situation here.

On a side note anyone kicks my dog in my house then I'd be booting fuck out of them.

It seems like you haven’t even read the OP as the child was being watched and wasn’t going near the dog, its food or anything else. He was playing and the dog jumped up at him from behind.
How else would you get a dog possibly about to cause huge injury imminently off very quickly?

How else would you get a dog possibly about to cause huge injury imminently off very quickly?

Well personally if I was bringing a child into a dogs house I'd be ensuring they weren't in a situation where this could happen and if that wasn't possible I wouldn't bring my children.

And in this actual situation I'd either just pick up the child or put myself in the dogs path. To me, kicking the dog is inexcusable as that could cause "huge injury" to the dog and as far as I'm concerned the dog had as much right to not be violently attacked as the kid does.

I know that's an unpopular opinion but I despise the way humans treat animals in general and fucking hate how we think we have the right to inflict violence on them because they don't do as we want 100% of the time but that's a completely seperate issue.

as far as I'm concerned the dog had as much right to not be violently attacked as the kid does.

If a person is violently attacking another person, then those around have a right to use reasonable force to stop them. On the basis of your own argument, the same must apply to a dog. When a dog is going for a child's throat, speed is of the essence and kicking it is an absolutely reasonable response.

Well he had to act fast as the dog had already made contact with the child’s neck and he was going on instinct. A kick to a large muscular dog is nothing compared to jaws clamped around a small child’s neck. It’s an understandable reaction. But also agreed the dog owners clearly don’t understand or can’t manage their own dog so it would be best to keep children away completely. Though when you go to someone’s house with a dog in it, you trust the owner to know their dog and manage the environment; I’m sure your dog would be kept separate if it was at risk of attacking a child for whatever reason.

Well personally if I was bringing a child into a dogs house I'd be ensuring they weren't in a situation where this could happen and if that wasn't possible I wouldn't bring my children.

imo the onus should always be on the dog's owner. the law says so as well.

Well personally if I was bringing a child into a dogs house

This is where it all goes wrong, its not a "Dogs house" it belongs to the human owner, the dog is way down the list and should know its place.

A dog is not a human being but too many owners seem to look upon them as just that or even a surrogate child, hence we get this poster stating they would boot shit out of someone defending their child from be mauled by their dog.
People like these should never be allowed to have a dog.

fwiw i once kicked a loose dog like a football after it grabbed my DD by the leg while we were out cycling, the owner than had a go at ME !

What planet are you all on a dogs teeth should never be that close to a child's face ever regardless of if the child did anything to provoke. Who cares who's at fault just never visit again if you want to protect your child.

Given your updates, your cousin sounds like a real twat and a shitty dog owner. Your BIL kicked out of panic, not ideal but it happened. The dog attacked a young child. One doing nothing but walking passed it. Next time it could be a smaller one or injuries could be worse.

It needs reporting by your BIL and DS. The dog could be becoming aggressive or it could be very ill leading to altered behaviour. Given how shit an owner your cousin sounds, she's not likely to accept that and get the dog checked by a vet is she? So if it is ill it will get sicker, potentially much more aggressive. And if it's becoming more aggressive it could easily attack again as your cousin refuses to do anything to help the situation. So they need to report it.

Anyone supporting the drunken, abusive text sending cousin attitude needs to seriously take a look at themselves. It's the worst kind of attitude for any animal owner: aggressive, denying, unapologetic and unaccepting. Leading to an even worse situation with an aggressive/poorly dog.

Frankly I'd be honest with the cousin, refuse to go there any more and given you say she's got a pattern of bad behaviour then treat this as the last straw.