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.

If you have been to A&E then the police should have been informed. They should seize the dog and keep it in for an assessment to see if it's dangerous.

OFSTED should also be informed. I'm not sure what they'll do but it doesn't sound like the dog should definitely not be around anymore when she's childminding. Old dogs can become more grumpy and snappy.

Yeah great , plaster someone all
over social media. Very mature. And possibly have her house attacked , attract all sorts of online attention, risk her family’s safety.

YANBU and I am a dog owner.
I wouldn't be sending her back or paying the notice.

Dog might well have never done this before but old dogs can get grumpy and more likely to startle. Not the dog's fault, hers for allowing the situation to happen.
I was bitten om the face age 3 by a darling labrador on a lead. The owner was asked if I could stroke it. I went to. And it chomped me. Owner was horrified and very apologetic. No scarring luckily. It doesn't matter if the dog has never done it before.

100% this. ^ Hope your little girl is OK @Jugglingitall85 The bite was so near her eye! She could have lost sight in one eye if had been a bit further across!

This needs to be reported to police and OFSTED as the poster says. It needs going down on record, (officially) and the childminder needs reporting. I think you may be able to report her to the council too. She either needs to quit childminding, or get rid of her dog.

Don't let this go.

how does she know what happene if she wasnt in the room somethhing doesnt add up

it should be reported so it doesnt happen again

I think the fact that she didn’t actually see it happen is annoying me as well.

This is a red flag. No dog should ever be left unsupervised with children. I would definitely report to ofsted.

The childminder didn't see the bite just announced the dog had been startled though ?

& Yes OP your right to not send her back but unless you filed/file the police report & go through the proper channels to sort this out you will need to pay notice as it's all your word against hers

Have you informed Ofsted? I think this should be thoroughly investigated.

I have an old dog who has just started snapping when people rush towards her suddenly. She never used to be like that - I think as she finds it hard to see and hear, it frightens her. I'm not trying to excuse anything - just wanted to say it could well be true that the dog hasn't done it before and it's an old age thing. If it is that, it's likely to happen again.

Need more context.

An overexcited pug accidentally doing it as a one-off is different to an XL bully.

Equally, your child running into the room and accidentally scaring a dog is very different to a build up where the child has been antagonising the dog and stressing it out for several hours and then runs in and taunts it and it reacts defensively.

😱

I would report this to the police, and I would consider suing them depending on the extent of my daughters injuries and how traumatised she was, God forbid. She would never step foot in that house again

I would contact the regulatory agency myself.

i would also reach out to all the other parents.

the circumstances don’t matter. It should not have been possible for your child to get access to the dog. Even if the dog was in another room, the security was insufficient. This is negligence pure and simple.

If I was the parent of a child attending I would pull them immediately and I would expect to owe nothing on my contract. As far as I am concerned, the childminder has broken the contract from their side.

I think the fact that she didn’t actually see it happen is annoying me as well.

To be honest, this is the most concerning part..

An old dog, who is startled, trod on or grabbed hold of from behind (?), may swing round and snap instinctively, it doesn't mean he is an aggressive dog, but no one should be leaving their three year old alone with their dog, so this is a HUGE safeguarding problem seeing as she is a bloody childminder FGS.

I wouldn't be sending her back, but I don't think the dog should be destroyed either, but she should definitely be keeping the two things separate anyway, especially if she is not actively supervising, it's a recipe for disaster.

Our 4YO grabbed our dogs tail as he was passing last week and he instinctively swung round, because of where she was his quick swinging motion clouted her in the face, but there was no biting or aggression, it was just an impulsive reaction to someone hurting him, most dogs have that instinct.

If she looks after other children you owe it to them to report it.

I think the fact that she didn’t actually see it happen is annoying me as well.

This is the major issue and something that should never have happened.

What had the CM said to you? Have been given a proper accident form? Has she told you her plans going forward with the dog? Has she informed other parents of the incident? Had she reported herself to Ofsted?

How the CM has handled it would depend on how I handled it? A one off error that she was genuinely apologetic about and the dog removed from the setting and I'd remove my child and move on.

If she still had the dog in contact with children I'd be reporting to Ofsted and making it very well known to other parents.

The dog should have been kept well away from the children. It's totally unacceptable that this was allowed to happen.

I had an absolute nasty bitch of a childminder (took me a while to realise unfortunately) many years ago and even she kept her two dogs well away from the children.

I didn't even know she had a dog when I engaged her services.

The fact of the matter is that it should have been impossible for any child being minded to be in contact with the dog.

I don't understand why anyone running a childcare business would take the risk of letting their pets into the same space as the kids.
Little kids don't understand the way animals react, it's just stupid to take the risk.

I Would not go back there, not sure what level of publicity I would seek

I’ve just checked and apparently animal bites are minor don’t need to be reported but as this was around her eye, does that make it serious?

Out of curiosity OP, was it a single puncture wound or several teeth marks left? I know you've told the minder's account, but also said that she didn't see it happen. The only reason I ask is that when we were kids my sister was sat with the dog and she 'bit her' leaving a single puncture wound just below her eye.

She didn't bite her though and my mum witnessed the whole thing. A fly was flying around and the dog instinctively went for it, unfortunately it was by my sister's face and one of the dog's canines caught my sister's upper cheek.

The bastard that was my dad had that beautiful dog PTS and I hated him for it, even though my mum protested. I even resented my mum for a while for being so bloody weak to him and for not saying 'No, the dog is not going to be PTS'.

I hear what you're saying, but - whatever happened - it was the childminder's duty to make sure that none of her charges were in contact with the dog.

The dog might well be blameless, but the childminder certainly is not.

Oh yes, I don't disagree with what you are saying, but it seems like some PP are condemning the dog to death when it could be something other than a mauling by Cujo.

Perhaps the kid was tormenting the dog. In which case would you kill the kid?
You sound ridiculous.