Childminder's dog has bitten DD

[Jugglingitall85]

Last week my childminder's dog bit my DD on the face. What would you do? I feel like I have lost trust in their judgement and allowing this to happen.

I own 5 dogs I have 3 grown up children now, my youngest is 15. They all went to childminders and they all grew up with dogs. But any childminder that had dogs kept them completely separate from the children they looked after. What happened your child is completely wrong, not the dogs fault but the owners fault...I know it's not easy to find a decent childminder but your child needs removed from that environment and your childminder needs reported to the relevant inspection authorities. And not sure if you know this your child needs a tetanus shot... although you probably already knew this so no offence ment.

Absolutely ridiculous comment 🙄

The phrase is a way of sanitizing the death of an animal.

I feel really sorry that the dog might lose it's life because the childminder left her charge unsupervised.

A 3 yr old should hopefully be up be up to date on their vaccinations so doesn’t need a tetanus “shot”.

And quite frankly, it is. By three children should know how to behave around pets. Regardless of what happened and why, OP should accept that.

Oh, do stop with this nonsense and victim blaming @grapesstrawberriespleass and @LandSharksAnonymous and anyone elee who thinks that three year olds automatically know how to behave round dogs, especially if they live in a dog free household

A three year old doesn't have the same emotional maturity or mental capacity as an adult. A childminder has a duty of care to her charges, and it wasn't exercised in this case. It is entirely the childminder's fault for leaving the dog and child together unsupervised.

Dog bite statistics show that dog bites are incredibly common. Picking a child minder with a dog does come with a risk.

You need to report it to 111. My dog bite me 4 weeks ago and he guarded his things but I couldn't take the risk he would bite my children so I had to do the worst thing for their safety! I am still deverstated from it but if she is not taking percussion for children she is taking care off, you have a right and almost a responsibility to report that animal/owner. I not meaning to put it on you but I really do not believe she the first time the dog bite or at least almost attacked!

I sent my children to a childminder with dogs and cats they were only allowed to interact under supervision and the dog was put away the cats would mostly free flow but had lots of places to go to there were never any incidents

3 year olds are still randomly rough with babies or their peers or even adults (a friend of mine broke her nose when her 3 year old suddenly jumped and headbutted her) so in no way can they be trusted to "behave correctly" around a dog.
They can't even be trusted next to a road or not to swallow batteries, hence you have a plan in place to minimise any risk.

She is 3 and regardless of the child's behaviour if a dog is nervous or just for security the dog should never have been in an area that your child is in! Children even at 5 struggle with understanding dogs and will still be loud and rough, it's the CM responsibilities to ensure the child is looked after corrctly and getting biten is not!

Your poor daughter, she is only 3 years old so was not her fault at all....at that age my daughter was still pulling dogs tails and whiskers, despite being repeatedly taught not too and she was around old and young dogs from when she was born. Very distressing time from you and your family hope all works out ok.

Can't believe anyone at all is blaming a 3 year old or OP for her 3 years olds behaviour!

The childminder is to blame, and likely is very remorseful.

If the dog was vicious and wanted to rip a 3 years olds face off - that would have happened. A nip that barely broke the skin is a warning.

No it shouldn't have happened.
Yes the childminder should have been supervising.
As a parent I would want to know what had been put in place to prevent this happening going forward. Any safeguarding officer would want to know the same too.

The suggestion she should ruin someone's business and livelihood or the person who said they would kill the dog themselves. Those comments really say more about your own mental state and irrational thoughts and feelings.

I dont think the dog necessarily needs to be PTS I accidentally trod on my dogs paw the other day when we were out walking and climbing over a fallen tree. I weigh just under 11 stone the dog weighs 8 kg he screamed I didn’t realise what I’d done and he snapped at my foot. He’s not dangerous just in pain. As soon as I got off his poor foot he was wagging his tail and jumping up for a cuddle. I’m obviously not going to have him PTS. I’m also hoping somewhere in his dog brain he knew I didn’t do it deliberately. 😀

What difference does it make if it was a small or large dog? I own both and let me tell you my two smaller dogs have the capacity to do horrendous damage with a bite. I'm absolutely sick and tired of the notion that small dogs are fine and large dogs are the enemy. Before giving advice to people get your facts straight and stop pushing this ridiculous mentality.

it's the phrase used by vets etc. and very common.
If people said killed all the time then no doubt they'd be rounded on for sounding too harsh.

personally I think any dog that has bitten a person should be killed/ pts/ made unalive

I disagree. If you have dogs yourself, of course you teach your children how to behave around them. If you don’t have dogs, that’s far harder to do. Yes, you emphasise when you’re out and about and see a dog that you must ask permission before touching etc — but I really don’t see you can blame the OP for her child being bitten by the CM’s dog while in the CM’s care. And I say this as a dog owner.

You seriously need to report to police. They run a childcare business and are putting children at risk. Imagine if it did it again to your child or another child and it killed your child or another, which is easily done, how would you feel? It doesn't take long to bleed out.

Apologies I wasn't aware of your daughter's age when I mentioned the tetanus shot. And you also stated following your initial post that you had been to A&E so obviously you've done everything you should have.

Lots of posts, haven't read them all... but there's a huge difference between an aggressive bite and an 'over-enthusiastic' dog.

This would be critical.

Granted, it doesn't change the common sense solution of not sending your child there again.

You know her and you probably know the dog better than any of the commentators here. Just exercise common sense when deciding what to do. The first thing is a discussion with her about the truth of what happened. My dear old dog bit me on the cheek and had never bitten or snapped at anyone before. Took her to the vet as I knew something must have been wrong. She had a temperature and an infection. Not the dog's fault, she was unwell
If you really want to avoid anything on the future, either she kennels the dog whilst childminding or you have to look elsewhere.

This must be really distressing for you, your child and I don't doubt it, for your childminder too. Nobody sets out with the intent of inflicting or having any involvement in such an awful event.

Do you have a copy of your childminder's policies regarding accidents and incidents or/and access to animals?

What is the process documented for when a situation such as this arises?
Has childminder followed the process?
Have you been asked to countersign a completed accident/incident form?

What did childminder say would happen next?

Has this happened?

If you are unsatisfied which sounds like it is the case here, get your doctor's report on the injuries and photos taken at the time by childminder/you and contact the organisation that registers and regulates childminders in your area. Report the incident and what has happened in terms of actions by childminder since.

If you have lost faith in the childcare setting, you may wish to include a pet free childcare setting in your search for alternative care.

Many years ago my puppy was in his crate in my utility room. A friend went in and having been told that he was wary of strangers, put her hand into the cage to pet him. He bit her fingertip and shocked us all. She was a adult and had been advised to leave him be but did not. He did not bite again for a further three years but at that point he bit my 5 year old three times in one week. I too am a childminder and was unprepared to risk anyone else being bitten, especially a minded child. He (the dog) was rehomed to a couple with no children and has thrived since. No biting, no territorial behaviour. Just a chilled out dog. A vet told me that the overstimulation/noise etc may have contributed to him turning alpha on us.

I really hope you get this sorted to your satisfaction. It may or may not involve changing your childcare

I don’t think you can blame a 3yr

where was the cm

why was dog able to be near children and not locked away via a stair gate

which most 3yr can’t open

ofsted will take a very dim view of that

So if someone hurts a dog (in no way am I saying that’s what happened here) and the dog snaps at them then they should immediately be killed? What happens if it’s a vet tending to a dog’s wound, the dog is scared and in pain and snaps at the vet should they be killed too? It’s not as simple as that. If something causes a dog pain a dogs reflex can be a snap, it doesn’t mean it’s intentional. It’s a reflex and sometimes that snap will catch someone. What about puppies who mouth people’s hands and sometimes it can hurt and break skin, should they immediately be put to sleep?

Now this is the sensible way, rehoming the dog. Not immediately jumping to the death route because sometimes it just isn’t needed. Many times the dog just needs a different environment with experienced people who can work with the dog. Not saying you aren’t experienced but you recognised that that was the best for your dog.

I think we should know what the child minder has done/is doing to rectify this. If the dog is not allowed near the children again then ok although I would be looking for some compensation of some sort for the ordeal for your Daughter and yourselves. You then can decide if her actions are enough. Without knowing what happened I don't think calling for the dog to be PTS is ok. Having said all this I don't think I'd be sending my child back there without some major assurances.