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 don’t think dogs should be around babies or small children without appropriate supervision. I have the loveliest Labrador but wouldn’t leave her with baby.

Some parents and children should never be arounds dogs.

No one has said other breeds don’t bite ….

These comments are wild 😂 the fact that there’s a list that says staffs/pit bull types show the narrative of the article (Staffordshire bull terriers and pit bulls are 2 completely different dogs)
I guess the old saying is true that you can’t educate pork.
The breed does not come into it, no dog should be left alone with a child. My sister in law is missing part of her lip because she was bit by a border collie as a toddler. This is not down to breed it’s down to bad ownership. End of story

@shivbo2014

I don't know how people still say its not the breed of the dog. In these cases it's always a similar breed of dog who carry out these attacks.

I'm not saying that staffies etc aren't more prone to aggression than other dogs, I don't know if they are or not, but I do believe the reason the fatalities caused by these dogs is much higher isbecause of how popular they are with certain types of people. They want them vicious to a certain extent. They're not trained properly, and they certainly won't be looked after properly (let's face it if they were having input from social services before their baby was even born, they weren't likely to be looking after the dogs well). Also these dogs are really powerfull. Their bite force is incredible, and their strength is too. The most aggressive dogs I've ever met are Shiatzu or shiatzu type dogs. I've know loads of people who have or had these dogs and so many of them are vicious. The difference is, I could kick one of them off probably quite easily, I couldn't kick a staffie off. There was a story a while ago about a woman who had rescued one. She hadn't had the dog long, it had never shown aggression before (well as far as she was aware) She had her little girl off school one day ill, mum left the room, dog attacked the little girl (think she was around 8) apparently the mum could not get the dog to let go, even when she got a knife and stabbed it.

@ginghamstarfish

ALL dogs, not just some breeds. Extremely stupid and irresponsible, and yes, any attack on humans should mean the dog is destroyed immediately and the owner prosecuted. No exceptions.

Why is it that the article rarely reads "your average non-problematic well-off people with white collar jobs and a properly trained dog...."

That is because usually it's deprived neighbourhoods with people who have all sorts of issues before they factor in the dog and the child.

Of course disasters happen.

No well educated healthy and mentally capable person with a well-educated dog would A) leave them together when not actively supervising and B) take sleeping pills and fall asleep with baby on a couch next to them.

It is devastating, but not fault of any kind of a dog. It's owners, back-yard breeders and system that is to blame.

@OhWhyNot - it's really not the breed, it's the owners.
Sadly, staffies and other bull breeds seem to be the breeds of choice for low-lives because they're relatively low energy and don't require lots of mental stimulation while looking dangerous, even though they may be the biggest softies ever - you rarely see a Dobermann or a Rottie with them, for example, because that would be way too much work.
They're seen as a status symbol and just left to their own devices. I really feel sorry for them as they are truly gentle dogs if well bred and trained.

Studies suggest that dogs involved in fatal attacks are most likely to be (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073820304540?via%3Dihub):

• Uncastrated males
• Body weight >23kg

There's a certain type of owner that chooses to keep a dog intact, and there are certain breeds that are in that weight class and are very popular in the UK. Any dog can be broken through bad ownership, but the most affectionate breeds are the most vulnerable to emotional neglect. The dog being pushed aside in favour of the new baby is not an uncommon scenario.

It very naive to think a dog that has never hurt anyone can't. I have always had Staffies and would never leave them alone with young babies but the mother were I live loved how over protective he was of kids. Even when I met her out he would sit in front of the pram to let the world know they had to get pass him to get to them. But as my friend did with her cat even you have to get them used to the idea of new babies in the home that are needing a lot of attention, follow expert advice and I would say more than a gate. Cats are known to attack babies as well and older kids can get jealous of newborns because of the attention they need. My late staffie could jump brick walls as high as a gate and was old so young dog could jump a gate of they wanted to.

I have a Staffy - an ancient, rickety one but a Staffy nonetheless!

She is loving and adorable, just loves doting on humans and I would trust her almost 100% if she wasn’t, you know, a dog. She has never in her life so much as looked at a human in a way I didn’t like but I would NEVER allow her around a child or someone she didn’t know unsupervised. She’s always on a lead on walks - very often kids will come up and ask to pet her and I always say no as I can never risk that being the day she decides to bite. She’s my dog and my responsibility is to keep her and everyone else safe.

Some breeds are more disposed to have a prey/attack drive, yes. However in my lengthy experience as a dog owner and observing other dogs with their owners out in public, the vast majority of problems are caused by owners who just do NOT take their responsibility seriously. The sheer number of dogs who bound, leash free, up to other dogs and children is insane.

It just takes an irresponsible owner and a poorly trained dog to end in tragedies such as this.

If it’s nothing at all to do with breeds why do we not hear of other dogs killing children

There must be something in the way they attack. Other dogs bite all dogs can bite but why do these breeds attack in such a way

Dogs can act out of character as humans can. Instinct can take over that nature you can not change that

If other breeds were being reported I would think the same for those breeds but they are not

staffies and other bull breeds seem to be the breeds of choice for low-lives... you rarely see a Dobermann or a Rottie with them, for example, because that would be way too much work.

I don't agree with this, I've seen far too many totally irresponsible owners with these two breeds. They don't care about the amount of work required because whatever the breed they're never going to put the effort in.

There seems to be two types of bull breed owner; the type who are fully aware of the breed reputation and do everything they can to be responsible and the type who love the breeds reputation and treat the dog in a way which causes it's behaviour to match it's appearance.

If you leave any dog with any baby or small child you are too stupid to be in charge of either. My dog loves people but because I don't mistreat him I have no idea what is threshold for biting is, it could be low or very high, I don't take any chances. If my dog bit someone he would likely be PTS and a person would be injured; no one responsible wants that.

@OhWhyNot

If it’s nothing at all to do with breeds why do we not hear of other dogs killing children

There must be something in the way they attack. Other dogs bite all dogs can bite but why do these breeds attack in such a way

Dogs can act out of character as humans can. Instinct can take over that nature you can not change that

If other breeds were being reported I would think the same for those breeds but they are not

Because the sort of people who want a slightly threatening-looking muscular status dog because they want to portray a “don’t mess with me or Tyson here will get you” image aren’t going to buy a cocker spaniel or a basset hound, are they?

@DogInATent

Studies suggest that dogs involved in fatal attacks are most likely to be (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073820304540?via%3Dihub):

• Uncastrated males
• Body weight >23kg

There's a certain type of owner that chooses to keep a dog intact, and there are certain breeds that are in that weight class and are very popular in the UK. Any dog can be broken through bad ownership, but the most affectionate breeds are the most vulnerable to emotional neglect. The dog being pushed aside in favour of the new baby is not an uncommon scenario.

That's interesting

A proper Staffie would be well under that (up to about 17kg) but a Staffie/pitbull could of course be that size.

Staffie and Staffie/pitbull aren't really the same.

And I do agree with the points about certain types of owners being attracted to the 'hard' dog.

I don't understand how news claim that dad found the baby yet he was asleep in the sofa next to his sleeping mum. How can mum not heard the cries and try to do something? It doesn't say anywhere that she was injured.

In any case, much too many Facebook videos of dogs snuffling next to babies and how cute it all is making it a very normal part of life. I too wouldn't let any little ones anywhere near dogs without very close supervision.

Are you claiming that all these type of people you are suggesting only have these types of dogs ?

There's also the fact that there are proportionately lots of staffie mix dogs out there. If, for arguments sake, you say that statistically 1 dog in any 1,000 dogs will bite. Then you have 10,000 staffie mixes and 1,000 labradors. You would end up with 10 staffie bites and 1 labrador. You could mistakenly assume that means staffies are more likely to bite.

Staffies are one of three breeds recommended by the Kennel Club to be good with children.

@shivbo2014

I don't know how people still say its not the breed of the dog. In these cases it's always a similar breed of dog who carry out these attacks.

I agree. Some breeds of dog should not exist. Nobody "needs" a pitbull type thing, just get a different breed.

@OhWhyNot

Are you claiming that all these type of people you are suggesting only have these types of dogs ?

I’m drawing out the correlation between people who want to portray a particular type of image, and who are therefore more likely to a) choose a dog with looks which fit with that image and b) are less likely to train it well and reward it for being docile.

So all these rough people you talk of only have this type of dog

Never do they have other types of breeds of dogs

@Beamur

There's also the fact that there are proportionately lots of staffie mix dogs out there. If, for arguments sake, you say that statistically 1 dog in any 1,000 dogs will bite. Then you have 10,000 staffie mixes and 1,000 labradors. You would end up with 10 staffie bites and 1 labrador. You could mistakenly assume that means staffies are more likely to bite.

The vast majority of fatal dog attacks in the UK are staffie/bulldog types. They are nowhere near the majority of the dogs in the country. If 95% of dogs in the UK were staffies you might have a point...

@OhWhyNot

If it’s nothing at all to do with breeds why do we not hear of other dogs killing children

There must be something in the way they attack. Other dogs bite all dogs can bite but why do these breeds attack in such a way

Dogs can act out of character as humans can. Instinct can take over that nature you can not change that

If other breeds were being reported I would think the same for those breeds but they are not

Maybe because a dachshund would need a ladder to get into a crib?

Three things to be born in mind:

Reporting bias. There are no official statistics for dog attacks by breed. The statistics collated on Wiki and the like are put together by volunteers from newspaper articles. Identifying a dog as a Staffy or pitbull type creates a more sensational story.

Breeds popular with families. Some breeds are more popular with families. Staffies are one of the most popular breeds in the UK.

Under-reporting/awareness of non-fatal/near-fatal attacks with life-changing outcomes (sorry about the Daily Heil link) www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2988084/Eight-year-old-girl-left-eating-syringe-attacked-park-springer-spaniel-tore-lip-bit-cheek.html

Reporting bias on children being mauled to death by a dog

Oh please

It’s always these types of dogs and when ever it happens people say it’s the owners. Yes it it but it’s the combination of bad owners and these breeds. Personally I think that they should bring back dog lice cont and make it hard to get any dog. The more hoops you have to jump through, which inevitable weeds out shit dog owners.
I also thing these types of breed should be looked into being limited going forward, but it won’t happen because of all The whatabouterry.