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.

Lol
come on. A dog and a human are two different things.

And if you really want to go down that route, then you might also want to kill humans with cancer/most chronic illnesses, like we do with dogs? No? Why is that? Seeing we wouldn’t put a dog through that….

Very unhelpful comparaison.

Jfc the amount of people placing blame on a child who is not even preschool age for being bitten by the childminders pet is shocking.. I wonder how many of these people have dogs.
They are a child.. They were with an approved childminder.. The childminder should know better than to have an animal around very young children.
Yes she should be reported as next time it could be a baby that gets bitten.

I agree with you @Jugglingitall85
Three year olds are unpredictable and of course they can't apply adult reasoning.

I’m not sure why you have quoted me in this comment?

I agree a bite from a small dog can be horrific. However, there is a massive difference as most people and older children could defend themselves against a small dog as opposed to a large one. If I had to go into a room with an aggressive Chihuahua or an aggressive Dalmatian, I would choose the Chihuahua every time. It can make the difference between life and death.

obvious exception with vets but any dog that deliberatly bites shoud be pts

But it’s not just a vet that can cause a dog pain. There’s been a few posts on this thread in regards to this whereby someone has an accidentally hurt the dog and the dogs reflex has been to snap. Sometimes that snap can catch someone. It’s a reflex, I’m not saying dogs don’t bite more that it’s not as simple as that. People presume aggression and go immediately to thought of killing the dog.

Yes, if a dog has bitten then consideration needs to be taken on what actions someone will take. Often, a dog will be rehomed to an experienced person who can work with the dog and is usually an adult only household.

Why was the child even able to go in the room the dog was in? The child is the victim here!

Then childminders should not have dogs- no risk is acceptable

You’re blaming the child? That is disgusting ! The “ poor thing” could have deformed the child for life or worse.

as a cm I agree

It was not your fault. It was the fault of the dog’s owners

If a small dog gets anyway close to your face they can go for your neck very easily and kill you. They can jump up easily and get hold of an artery which could also cause death. As a few examples here there are many more. You never underestimate an dog, large or small and I would never be under the notion that I could fight off any aggressive dog...small or large, not a choice I'd make.

I can’t see how animal bites are minor OP. When my daughter broke her leg at nursery they had to report it to ofsted and did straight away. They also produced a revised risk assessment and had an accident form ready for me to take to A&E when I picked her up.

Your child minder should have made a report but if you don’t think she did you should absolutely call ofsted as a minimum.

While the OP has taken a decision to use a childminder with a dog, the onus is absolutely on the childminder to create a safe environment for babies and toddlers. That responsibility does not lie with the child.

The op has done nothing wrong. She entrusted the care of her child to a childminder, who, sadly, let her down.

Dog bit child who was in the care of a childminder. Shouldn’t have happened. That is the story. No need to know more.

The ofsted guidance is seriously weird on this point. I’m not sure how they can consider animal bites a normal part of growing up but a fracture a serious incident. I know many more kids who have had innocuous accidents resulting in a fracture than an animal bite.

Minor injuries: Ofsted considers small bumps, scrapes, sprains, strains, bruising, cuts, grazes, wound infections, minor burns or scalds, minor head or eye injuries, and insect and animal bites (unless the child is hospitalized for more than 24 hours) as minor and a natural part of growing up.

I think there should be a rule that childminders cannot have dogs on the premises, plus any pets like likely to cause harm should be inaccessible.

The OP isn't at all to blame for someone else's dog biting her child while her child was in that someone else's care.

Any suggestion that she is at fault is ludicrous and distressing.

To the argument "well, she should teach her child how to behave around dogs", she may well not have a convenient dog at home to do this 🙄. We don't. When my child is around dogs and I am in charge of them, I watch them like a hawk and ask the owner's permission to pet the dog gently. My child would not get within touching distance of a dog without the owner's permission and me next to them, ready to intervene. And I would expect the dog's owner to take responsibility for the actions of their dog.

So regardless of whether dog or child is "to blame" here, it's ultimately the CM's fault. She was responsible for supervising both.

I love dogs, more than I like most humans.i have two myself but i would be furious. Even if the child was winding the dog up (which is something I hate), the CM should have been aware of this and stopped it immediately...it shouldn't be allowed to happen in the first place. Kids will quite often not understand when a dog needs to be left alone especially if they're not familiar with dogs, so it should be something she's aware of, planned for and stopped.

I wouldn't be sending my child back. Not because of the dog,but because she clearly either doesn't supervise closely enough (which is even more important when mixing dogs and kids) or has shit judgement

I have to agree with this.
When I was looking for a childminder many years ago, I visited one and discounted her because she had a dog and I suspected someone in the house smoked. I could smell tobacco even when she had the kitchen extractor on.

You are absolutely correct. It’s the adult to blame, always in a situation like this. I am a parent, and always understood this.

In this situation it’s the childminder who’s in charge, you gave her that responsibility, and you should have been able to trust her.

Of course accidents happen ( have to me) but she should have owned her mistake, guaranteed it wouldn’t happen again, and explained the measures in place to guarantee that ( always being in the same room when dog is there as an example ). You might still have chosen not to return your DC but you’d have known it was being taken seriously.

OP, this needs reporting to the police ASAP. The minder should have done this herself but you absolutely need to do so. Our dog has bitten somebody and it was the first thing that we did, but with no victim report they will not even look into it. And ask for her policies around the dog so that you can make a formal complaint.

As an ex-childminder her making excuses for the dog utterly horrifies me tbh. My first move would have been to get a behaviourist in and change my policies surrounding the dog immediately so that it was never in contact with the children again (not that I would have let that happen to begin with, but I know some minders are fine with it).

Lots of risks are acceptable. Tricycles, climbing frames, slides etc. If you become too risk averse you end up with an overweight kid in front of an iPad who doesn’t want to leave the house.

Report - SSD, OfSted, police.

Do not let your child through the door ever again.