To think some dog breeds should never ever be around babies and children

[Redburnett]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-59953038
Such a sad case where the dogs had apparently never shown aggressive tendencies previously.

I have had dogs for most of my life, and brought up three children alongside them from babies BUT they were always kept separate with stair gates and never left unsupervised together when the children were small.

These parents had been advised to do just that, were warned of the risks, and somewhat predictably given there were concerns before the poor baby was born failed to follow the advice and safeguard the child. I do agree though that some breeds are less suitable than others with small children.

My children are all adults now and I currently have three small dogs, but I will have stair gates and keep them separate if I have DGC as even a small dog could inflict terrible injuries.

@longwayoff

Any dog can damage a child. They should never - big or small dog - be left alone together. Dog owners who won't acknowledge this are either stupid or wilfully ignorant.

This

For the love of God would people just keep dogs away from babies and small children. So sick of these horrifying stories, and sick of seeing 'cute' photos and videos on social media of dogs sleeping with tiny babies or toddlers climbing all over their pets. Sickening.

Having read the article, the people responsible for the childs death are the social workers. This was another tragedy wating to happen and they did nothing to prevent it.

The dogs were noted as being "unpredictable" and the child protection plan said the dogs had to be kept away from the baby, which they clearly weren't.

There's going to be a huge backstory to this, and none of it logically leads to the idea that bull breeds as a whole should never be around children.

It can be any breed though, our collie tried to bite our baby out of nowhere while my husband held the baby. Leapt across the room and tried to snap at her.

She was rehomed with the lady from the rescue centre who had her brother and had hand reared her. Although we loved the dog, we couldn’t ever trust her again.

@user313213521

The dogs were noted as being "unpredictable" and the child protection plan said the dogs had to be kept away from the baby, which they clearly weren't.

There's going to be a huge backstory to this, and none of it logically leads to the idea that bull breeds as a whole should never be around children.

I’m sure I’m going to be flamed for being offensive, but whenever these cases make the news, the dog is never owned by a nice, middle class professional family living in a nice part of town with their pet - though plenty of Staffies are owned by people like that perfectly uneventfully. The families involved in these cases are almost invariably somewhat chaotic, dysfunctional types in deprived areas with far too many children between them, with the sort of physical appearance not too dissimilar from their squat, muscular dog itself. The breed isn’t the common denominator.

It’s never a poodle or Labrador is it

I don’t understand why people choose to have certain breeds of dogs around young children. Dogs can (as humans can) act out of character. Their suffering which may lead to them acting out of character may not be noticed

They were always lovely dogs until something happens

@CoffeeDay

YANBU. Since DD was a baby we had a rule of not letting any type of dog close to her, even those from friends. If we're outside or about to pass someone walking a dog someone will pick her up beforehand.

The few people we know who were bitten by dogs were all from their own or a befriended person's pet. Obviously circumstances made a huge difference, one case was a child trying to pet a sleeping dog who lashed out upon waking. But still, dogs are not people. Dogs are animals and humans can never 100% control an animal's behaviour. I think people who treat their pets like humans lose sight of that.

As an aside You are instilling a fear of dogs in your child which is not helpful to her.

Children need to be taught that dogs needed to be treated carefully whether you have one or not. They also need to learn how to interact with them safely even if that only means to put distance between themselves and the dog.
Too many children are likely to run away or display panicked behaviours around a dog which is the last thing they should do.

This case is absolutely tragic and a disgrace.
It should never have happened. More stupid ignorant selfish non parenting.

Bet the dogs were never leaked, to never trained and cooped up in there with those fuckers for hours on end every day.

@Sirzy

No dog should be near a baby or young child unless closely supervised. They are too unpredictable and it only takes a second.

Absolutely Dogs AND small children are both unpredictable and driven by instinct so a potentially disastrous combination

My dog has and never is left alone with any of my children. She only interacts with them when I am present at all times is never present when they are eating and is not left alone with them

It is your obligation both as a responsible parent and pet owner to manage this risk and if you can’t be bothered then get rid of the dog for its sake

@OhWhyNot

It’s never a poodle or Labrador is it

I don’t understand why people choose to have certain breeds of dogs around young children. Dogs can (as humans can) act out of character. Their suffering which may lead to them acting out of character may not be noticed

They were always lovely dogs until something happens

Exactly.

Yes, Labrador, OhWhyNot. Acquaintance's 3 year old granddaughter lost half her face to a lovely cuddly Labrador whilst in the 'care' of her stupid father. ANY DOG.

Any breed can be dangerous. And I'm going to get shit for saying this, but I'll say it anyway - the 'dangerous' dogs always seem to have owners of the the same type of person. That's the issue here.

A two week old baby was left on a sofa (the mother was there but had taken sleeping pills) with at least two dogs in the room. The baby was placed on a child protection plan before they were born.

This was about the parents, not the breed of the dogs. Leaving a two week old baby unsupervised and easily accessible to two dogs is incredibly dangerous.

I knew there would be someone on MN who knew someone who knew someone

We are discussing children being killed by dogs

Next will be how dangerous cats are

’Sick of seeing 'cute' photos and videos on social media of dogs sleeping with tiny babies or toddlers climbing all over their pet’

Absolutely. I love dogs. I can’t stand those videos. Dogs sitting there showing all the indicators of stress because a tiny baby has been propped up against them, while the idiot filming goes on about how good they are with the kids.

The breed is a red herring.
It's always about a failure to manage the risk.
You can never leave a baby with a dog, or an unattended baby that a dog could conceivably get access to. However brilliant that dog is normally, you can't accommodate for the animal being unwell or spooked by something.

They were advised to keep the dogs in the kitchen, and never to leave the child with the dogs unsupervised, but it does sound as if they were very unlucky - when dad nipped out, both child and the dogs were asleep, but mum wasn't. She probably assumed dad would be back in before the sleeping pills had any effect.

Poor family - or rather, ex-family, as apparently the parents have now separated.

@HacerSonarSusPasos wrong, they are different breeds

Potato, yam 🙄

I wouldn’t leave my cat alone with DS as a small baby let alone a dog. Some people are just utterly reckless and sadly this little baby paid the price for that. And I 100% believe that some breeds are more of a risk then others, I am absolutely terrified of English bull terriers for this reason.

Take a wild guess at what? They are nanny dogs 🙈

Are there any cases, like even a single one, anywhere, of a family with Labradors or similar dogs having them savage babies to death? Obviously they should never be left alone regardless.

BUT the big risk factors are hugely breed specific, it's the thug bulldog style dogs, including staffies, that were literally BRED FOR FIGHTING. You see the pictures all the time of parents trying to prove how nice their staffies are by letting them sleep with babies--every single one of them should be done for child abuse. Because, as we see in the news constantly, their heavily snapchatted staffie tears their baby apart randomly some day.

I honestly believe all of these similar breeds should be banned and should be put down. They're dangerous (I've seen unprovoked attacks from them on people and animals multiple times, in public!!) and unfortunately also seem to appeal to people who are particularly irresponsible dog owners. Seemingly who get some thrill out of owning a thug pet.

Here's a charming story of a staffie who saved a man's life when he was having a heart attack. So cute! Then later went on to maul him to death. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4358340/Staffie-owner-mauled-death-BBC-TV-crew.html

@Deadringer

For the love of God would people just keep dogs away from babies and small children. So sick of these horrifying stories, and sick of seeing 'cute' photos and videos on social media of dogs sleeping with tiny babies or toddlers climbing all over their pets. Sickening.

As a dog owner and mother of a toddler I totally agree. They are kept separate. The best training advice I received was to teach them to ignore each other.

No dog is safe around children. The breed is irrelevant but certain breeds are overbred and bought cheaply by irresponsible people which gives the impression that certain dogs are more aggressive. Anyone who has dogs and babies mixing is placing all their responsibilities on the child and the dog to behave.

Very sad start for life for this poor little soul, all the odds stacked against him.

I don't think it was the breed so much as that this dog was noted as being jealous and unpredictable, and the child safety plan stated that it should be behind a safety gate and not unsupervised with the poor DC.

And that is precisely what the parents failed to do.

Quite why the parents kept a dog which posed that much of a threat is beyond me.

Dogs and small children need constant supervision - which doesn't mean just watching, it means interposing a barrier or yourself within arm's length between the dog and the child

My dogs are so gentle, but I would never leave any child alone with them.
Its rubbish that certain breeds should be banned around little ones, as for some it would mean they will take their eye off the ball to other breeds.
All the staffies I know are really happy, kind dogs and yet the few yorkies I know are spiteful little devils, BUT, that doesn't mean all staffies and yorkies are like this at all.
You have to realise that dogs get things like dementia, so become unpredictable, can have pain so will snap and even mental problems....etc.....