Our dog has bitten our son on the face, am devastated

[Bobothebuilder]

No flaming please as it is impossible for anyone to hate me as much as me right now.

This evening our family dog (known to be a placid easy going breed, not a 'danger dog') bit our two year old on the face. We have been to hospital where
he has been treated. He will be scarred for life

Our guard dropped for literally one minute, I though P had popped dog out into her 'area' and he thought I had. Tis is how we keep things safe during busy times when we. Might not be supervising both children at every moment.

Heard a scream, little man came out crying and oh my fucking god the dog has bitten hm on his cheek, leaving three wounds. Not bad enought I need sticking but they will scar, the reminder will be with him for life.

I am in such a bad way, almost collapsed when I saw him, the guilt and anxiety is overwhelming. He has been accident prone and already has a few little scars, am hating myself to such an extent now, he has to bear these scars forever, all due to our mistake. And the dog who was I being a dog either has t be. Rehomed or destroyed.

Has anyone been through this. Any kind or helpful word would. E massively apprieciated.

Bobo

The child will/might be scared for life!

"Our guard dropped for literally one minute, I though P had popped dog out into her 'area' and he thought I had. Tis is how we keep things safe during busy times when we. Might not be supervising both children at every moment."

Does not sound to me like the dog is very placid at all if there is so much palaver to keep dogs and kids separate.

So sorry to hear this, bobo, my thoughts are with all of you, that must have been terrifying.

Please don't beat yourself up about this, though. Accidents do happen. You had a routine/procedures in place that you thought would keep everyone safe, but just as people may accidentally not quite shut the stairgate, or leave a bowl too close to the edge of the table, or not notice something lying in the middle of the floor that a child could trip over, an accident and some mis-communication happened and your dog wasn't in her usual place.

Hope your DS is feeling better soon. Don't make any knee-jerk reactions about your dog. There might be some training or classes, perhaps, for behaviour management that might help?

Bobo, so sorry to hear about your little boy. But just to say, our ds4 was scalded when he was around 18 months old, the top of his head and his face were burnt by a cup of tea that I had left within his reach.
He looked awful and doctors and nurses said he would probably scar but his face is absolutely perfect. And he actually pulled scabs off his face!
It might not be as bad as you think.

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Oh OP this really is just one of those total accidents that is nobody's fault. There isn't a single parent on here (or anywhere else) who hasn't dropped their guard for a split second/thought their dp was doing something when their dp thought they were doing it

it happens all the time and mostly we get away with it. I feel so sorry for you

Don't believe the "scarred for life" thing 100%, they tend to tell you the worst case scenario and children often heal much better.

I am not going to comment on what I think should happen to the dog as I don't think this is the place. Are there animal behaviourist/vets you can consult for advice on this sort of thing? I'm not a dog person so I wouldn't know.

Scot Allow me to just manipulate your message a little so you can see how daft it sounds.

"I have views (personal experience as a small child and as a pre teen) that cars shouldn't be driven with children in at all, just for safety. The amount of times people drive cars in the family, defend them unquestioningly and then a baby or toddler gets killed or injured. Why take the risk? I will never ever understand it. People may flame me for these views but inevitably this year yet again there will be another tragic news story about a child victim of a car crash. Those are the facts."

OP Sadly you will never know what happened it probably was an accident but dogs and children should always be watched together especially when the children are so young and do not know how to treat an animal with respect. Rehoming the dog to someone either without children or with less on their plates stress wise would be best for everyone. I hope your little boy is OK now and that you are too.

Are the hospital not insisting the dog be destroyed? I used to work on a ward where we treated children with dog bites and the dogs were always destroyed. Infact we had to ring social services if they weren't. I've seen some nasty dog bites.

Like I said peachactiviaminge I'm not wasting my breath on your ridiculous manipulation of my post. I didn't bother reading it either :)

OP I hope your little man is better today xxxx

I don't think this is the right thread to be debating the rights and wrongs of owning dogs with children, is it?

I'm sorry about your son OP. I was badly bitten by a ferret when I was young. I'm not traumatised or scarred. I find the whole thing mildly amusing tbh.

Young skin heals well.

I would echo posters who have advised you take some time to calm down before making any drastic decisions.

PTS is overkill. There is no reason at all why your dog could not find a nice child free home. A decent rescue would asses him fully and and ensure he got all the training he needed, an experienced foster home would be able to make sure all the correct precautions were taken to make sure the dog and the general public remain safe.

If you decide rehoming is the right thing to do, then feel free to PM me, I'll do my best to help you find the best possible place for your dog.

Vitamin E and bio-oil are supposed to help with scar healing, OP. I believe you can get vitamin E in an oil, in little capsules, and you can cut them open and put them on the scar, once the wounds are fully healed.

But please don't blame yourself for this. It was an accident.

I was bitten by a child (9) badly in the face and required plastic surgery. That dog had already bitten a childs ear, but they decided that the dog was provoked as they were playing with a ball at the time. I was savagely attacked when I went to say hello to the dog ( as i had done numerous times in the past). It just went mad. That dog was put to sleep (seriously we are talking MAJOR attack). The point I am trying to get to, is that your dog has crossed the line, and therefore can not be trusted. Rehoming would be a sensible option - if your dog is a registered breed then most of them have a rescue service to help with rehoming.
That being said - I still love dogs - I was at crufts last week! but I now know that they must be respected, and treated as dogs to ensure they know there place in the pack. Don't beat yourself up its not your fault. I know when my mother saw me, she was in a terrible state and I was the one comforting her.

OP, I started a very similar thread a couple of weeks ago. In a split-second my 3yo tripped and fell onto my sleeping dog, who woke and snapped. I agree, it is such an awful and distressing situation. Just the thought of my child bleeding from the face makes me feel weak.

But the responses on that thread were different. I'm not sure if it's because I saw the incident and could verify that it wasn't the dog's fault...but nobody mentioned killing the dog. By the next day we had all calmed down and felt much better.

(actually the entire family was comparing notes about the different types of animals who had bitten us over our lives, which was interesting. Ostrich was the oddest.)

Bobo it was with much regret and a heavy heart that we rehomed our 16 year old JRT a month ago as we had two near misses where she almost bit my 3 year olds face. Fortunately, she was rehomed with my parents, a home she has known all her life so that made things a bit easier. Its just so difficult because she would normally leave him alone but when antagonised she just snaps. Its so sad and I really feel for you.

My DH was bitten as a teenager by the family pet. His chin was scared for life, but TBH that isn't really an issue. The fear and distrust of dogs is what impacts him daily.

oh gosh, what an absolute nightmare :( Poor you, poor DS and poor dog.

I think you probably do have to rehome the dog, as you say the worry will drive you mad. I had a very similar situation happen. We had a rescue rotweiller, DD1 was 16 when we got him, then along came a surprise baby - np, we had some issues with the dog but they were sorted, he was lovely. Then one day my worst nightmare came true - my dog bit my DD1. It wasn't his fault, she trod on his foot when he was asleep, but he bit right through her foot :( Obviously with DD2 being so young (she was about 8m at this stage) i knew i would have to rehome the dog. I had time because DD2 wasn't that mobile yet so felt i could garuntee to keep them separate. I set about trying to rehome him - but it was taken out of our hands, it turned out that the the leg that DD1 stood on was hiding an osteosarcoma (bone cancer) I can only imagine the agony my poor dog was in, that was why he bit.

So, whilst i agree with you, you don't really have a choice but to rehome, do please take the dog along to the vets to see if there is a reason for his out of character behaviour.

Sad for you xx

For the person who said that millions own dogs who do not bite, there are 6,000 children bitten badly enough by dogs to require hospital treatment every year. Comparing this to car accidents is facile - people do not need dogs in order to go to work, or to do the shopping, or to take their children to school. Dogs are dangerous, and children and dogs often, sadly, do not mix. However, there is something that you can do about it - don't have a dog if you've got kids. There, that's better.

DOG, that's exactly what happened with ds4 but my tea WAS mint tea and he did get scalded.
Luckily dh is good in a crisis, stayed calm, and hosed his face and head with cold water from the shower head. He still blistered but it could have been so much worse and there is no scarring.

Ds2 was bitten on the face by our dog when he was 18 months old. He still has a slight scar, but you wouldn't notice unless you knew. He doesn't remember it at all. Ds1, on the other hand, was 4 and witnessed it; he is now terrified of dogs.

Hi all

Wanted to come back and update, and thank everyone who posted and were so supportive, it really really helped especially onnthursday night when I was in an absolutely terrible state.

Well we have decided to Rehomed the dog, luckily she is a fairly unusual pedigree and their is a rescue system. Obviously she will not go to a home with children and will not have access to children either.

We felt that to pts was not an option we could warrant. The dog is eight years old and has never ever demonstrated any aggression whatsoever, we believe that ds did in fact do something which either scared or hurt her, he is not the gentlest.

The blame with this incident does lie with myself and DP, and we will bear the blame and guilt forever. As I posted initially we have, for the seven years since Dc 1s's birth, been the most careful and diligent of parents and this just goes to show that you only need to drop your guard down for a few seconds for the worst to happen.

We will not be getting another dog (obviously) and I can only advise others with young children and dogs to be as careful as humanly possible, as the most gentle of dogs can lash out if provoked.

Thankfully ds's face is looking better than it did. He has two relatively small lacerations on his cheek and small puncture wound a bit higher up which the Dr has said should heal well with little scaring, thank god. I will be using the bio oil that others have recommended once it has healed completely.

Thanks again to all.

Oh, I am glad to hear you sounding less distraught, Bobo .

Sounds like your DS is on the mend and that you have found a solution that you are happy with.
Wrt scarring: once the broken skin is healed in a week or 2, the scars may still look quite obvious and red/purplish. Depending on skintype it can take one or 2 years for a scar to mature. In that time it will get thinner, paler and generally contract. Toddler skin does this superbly well. So don't get upset every time you look at him.
As others have said when faced with hurt children: You'll never forget this; he won't remember .

Thanks for giving an update x.

That's great news Bobo. I'm really glad to hear your DS is on the mend. That sounds like a good plan for your dog, I hope they get a lovely new home.

Really positive update Bobo, and a good reminder that the most reliable, placid dog is still not to be trusted around children.

And what Pacific said about the healing power of toddler skin, it is amazing.

My little brother was bitten on the cheek as a 5 year old and still has the scar. I don't think dogs and kids mix.

Accidents do happen though...it could have been anything. Life isn't risk free