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.

Cm should have alerted ofsted about the serious incident by law

How do you know she hasn't? OP hasn't been back!

What did your child do to the dog?

This. I absolutely would not trust my child anywhere near that dog and that child minder ever again. And I would report to Ofsted and the police immediately.

Did you know that the dog was allowed to mix with the children?
I have and love dogs would never let a child be around dogs that were unknown to me in a childcare setting.
Whether it was a serious bite without cause or a protective snap on a child that was allowed to crawl all over it would make a big difference to if I felt the dog was an issue. But would absolutely not trust the childminder again, she has shown she isn't capable of keeping your child safe or properly supervising them around animals.

I don't think the poster is being nasty. I agree with her. Having had my own baby boy mauled by a dog when he was 6 months old (in his pram in a playground) the fact that a child minder - someone we trust with our child's safety- allowed this to happen... she has no business looking after children. Imagine if this happened in a nursery!

The only thing that matters is that the child was bitten, no matter the context!

Doesn’t matter!

I agree. There is no circumstances where it is okay for the childminders dog to bite the child in its care, ffs!

I wouldn't go for all the posting/shouting/exterminating etc. of some posters, but...

no way on planet Earth would my child ever go there again. Even if I lost my job and had to live in a car and feed urban foxes after midnight.

This

I don’t agree @Bignanna. If say a child poked a dog in the face, or teased or injured it, bite is not unlikely. Now we don’t know what’s gone on here, but the context DOES matter.

Surely no one would make up another vicious dog story about a dog biting a child just to get posters frothing? 🤨

not sure what that's got to do with anything

No dog should be left unsupervised with small children, and the circumstances around the biting incident are important, for instance was your child allowed to approach the dog whilst eating, having a treat, was the child being too rough and there was no one around to intervene.
I wouldn’t be clamouring to have the dog put down immediately without being in possession of all the facts.
its needs reporting it to Ofsted amd to the police and I would be asking how on earth such an incident had taken place if adequate supervision was as it should have been.
Both childminders we used when we needed them had dogs, the dogs were allowed to mix with the children in certain areas of the home, never at meal times, the children weren’t allowed into the dogs room, where they would be popped after a walk etc to have their sleeping, chews etc both dogs were very well trained and have lovely temperaments.
We have dogs ourselves, our children have never been allowed to pull them around, clamber on them, sit in their beds, go near them whilst they are eating or tired after walks.
To be fair to the dog it may have been put in a situation where its warnings, a growl etc were ignored and its has resorted to snapping, and unfortunately a child’s face is about the same level as a medium size dogs height.
This incident is solely your child minders fault, either she’s got a dog in her setting that is unpredictable or she’s allowed a situation to occur where the dog has reacted for whatever reason and your child has been hurt, I hope the injuries are not too severe and your little one is soon on the mend.
I wouldn’t be using her services again as I wouldn’t be able to trust her judgement at all and would be making sure that all relevant authorities are aware, although she should have reported it herself.

I don’t think there’s enough context given to be sure what I would do tbh - at the absolute very very least I would be making certain CERTAIN that the dog is not in contact with my child or any others and is secured elsewhere at her house… I would think she is doing this anyway surely. I would have lost my confidence in her that’s for sure. Was it an actual aggressive bite or is it possible your child was poking dog and dog snapped at her? I am not minimising the risk of children-dog interactions and these should not happen imo at all- there should be no contact between her dog and the children in her care anyway - but it’s very rare for a dog to suddenly bite and injure. Dogs issue many warning behaviours before they resort to a bite- where was the childminder and what was the lead up to this? It would make me think that she was either not present (not acceptable) or that your child was interacting with dog badly whilst under supervision; both are clearly unacceptable. Any other children there apart from yours?? How well do you know the childminder and the dog??

the context doesn't matter because it's in a childcare setting. If the dog bit, the childminder does not have a safe space for children. It doesn't matter what the context is around the bite.

I don't know, where is the context? We had a dog that bit a child in the face once, she was a little poodle, child literally jumped on her, it was totally our fault because we actually didn't know that the dog was sleeping on the sofa, dog never bit anyone before or after, it was just a reaction. Childminder is responsible for allowing dog in the same space as child, you cannot trust any dog or child to be respectful of dogs, they just don't know.

Odd the @Jugglingitall85 hasn't been back?

I wouldn’t have sent my dc to a childminder with a dog to begin with. I have a dog. A very lovely good dog who loves and protects my dc. She can still be bouncy and playful and you cannot have your eye on them all the time, especially with multiple children to care for.

Anyway, I would report at least to Ofsted/local authority. It doesn’t sound like this is a safe set up as a childminder and I would hope they would shut her down.

My dc would not be going back there and I would expect to be released from my contract.

So if it was last week, what action have you taken so far?

No it doesn’t, it only matters that the child was bitten, not whether the dog had a funny turn or was provoked.

Just a reaction? Could be a fatal reaction! Once that has happened the dog should be pts, it can never be trusted again.

This is hard to answer without any information on the incident. My dog bit my son in the face when he was 2 or 3. She was sleeping on the carpet and he tripped over her and fell on her. She just snapped backwards as a reaction and grazed his cheek with her teeth. No puncture wound from an actual bite, but her tooth scratched his face quite deep.
She has never been agressive before or after that. It happened when she was 8 years old and she was still with us until recently when she died at 16.
It was just an accident, nothing malicious from the dog or my son. I should have been more alert and i was definitely more careful and keeping an eye on the dog at all times when she was near my son.
But she never showed any aggression or anything towards him.

No there are other childcare options out there…