Baby killed by family dogs

[littleducks]

Cant believe there is another story like this:

news.aol.co.uk/family-dogs-maul-baby-to-death/article/2009020713191350252763

My dogs have never bitten anyone.

Not sure you are qualified to pass judgement on me and my dogs, not that I need to justify myself anyway.

Whatever.

My dog has sat with her tail happily wagging whilst dd's have put hats on her head (whilst we are present, I hasten to add!!).

The dog was not tormented, she was happy.

I have always allowed my children to feed the dog too, although granted not by hand as she can be a little over-exhuberant when she sees treats

My dog is patient and biddable and a real soft sweetie, but I wouldn't trust her alone with my dd's. She is a dog. A lovely dog, but a dog all the same.

Not reading whole thread here.

I actually would not have trusted the Jack Russel more than the Staffy. The thing with dogs is that they are pack animals and having two dogs, one a hunter type, the other a powerful type would never bode well IMO and why on earth would anyone leave a baby/child alone with a dog? I never did and I knew mine were soft/soppy and lovable. It's just beyond comprehension.

Where did I say they had biten anyone? I am not passing judgement, just saying that you can never be too careful!

Anyway, you think I am wrong, I think you are wrong...our perogative. Lets just leave it at that, this thread is about a poor baby, not our disagrement.

Oh and she has been poked and prodded too - not that we have 'condoned' it, as I'm sure ilovemydog didn't either, but it has happened.

The dog didn't react and if she had, she would have no longer been living with us. I would never condone teasing or pestering a dog, but its hard to totally rule out any sort of poking whilst initially teaching a toddler how to be around a dog.

Bangandthedirt is gone .. hi hun.. yeah we have had the dog for four/five years though before DS was born he is and always has been an angel but as a lot of people have pointed out.........babies kick and wimper, ect, i KNOW my dog is protective of DS, and comes to nose or check out every time DS cries ect, do you all know that a dogs natural instinct is to pick up a baby? As a puppy picked up will squeal and grumble but then go quiet, i expect a dogs natural instinct is to do the same with a baby to make it be quiet (i am just speculating) when this does not happen, the dog maybe loses it?
I believe this is the way these things happen as the kids are often unattended with dogs.. and very rarely a dog attacks for no reason (puts tin hat on and prepares to be flamed) , the dogs have picked up the baby as a puppy, lost it, started shaking baby, more noise, next thing you know....

So with this belief and this understanding, i would never leave baby and dog where this could happen. I reiterate that my dog is not vicious, and i do trust him, but i am not complacent, i would not like to lose my baby, i would also be devastated if i had to have the dog put down because of my own carelessness. So they stay seperate. Simple.

My dog has also been climbed on, dressed up, never poked or had his ears pulled as the kids have been taught not to.. he sees the kids as a neverending source of chocolate and yogurt pots, his two favourite foods lol.. but he is a dog and instinct is a terrible thing to underestimate

Just my VHO.

Would like to add also that my dog can be funny with his food..he allows the kids to put leftovers in his bowl but v v funny about his dry food DP spent ages trying to get the dog to stop this, getting to the point of smacking the dog, when i stepped in and told him.. the dog is that way, it is natural to him, the baby will not be allowed in while dog is eating.. my DS1 however can pick up and put down, remove food, and dance the tango with the dog while he is eating with NO reaction ..

However, the dog takes treats very gently from everyone.. so if it is just the food in his bowl issue (and who wouldn't get annoyed with someone trying to take their dinner away? ) then this i am willing to make allowances for.

actually feeding a dog is a very good pack reinforcer. The higher ranking members of the pack will decide when the lower members get to eat, and in pack society lower members submit for food, obeyance of commands being seen as submition...

A well trained dog will allow you to take away its food while it eats. Both my dogs (one retired guide dog and softy of the highest order, the other one working guide dog with a tendency towards dominance) will allow me to do this. he is not dominant as I won't allow it, but he would be given half the chance.
As for breeds, more people are bitten by golden retrievers than any other breed. This is imo partly to do with the fact that retrievers are notoriously stubbern and can be quite dominant, (predominantly because they are also very inteligent), but also because more people own retrievers than the other breeds, so statistically it's more likely iykwim.

Bluesapphire you really shouldn't be giving your dog chocolate - chocolate is poisonous to dogs and can cause heart failure and long-term liver problems. Even a small amount of chocolate can kill a dog.

A friend of mine bought a staffy as a puppy a couple of years ago. She has 4 children. I was a bit that she had chosen that type of dog and expressed my concerns and said she was going to get it properly trained up.....

She went off on a bit of a wild one when her boyfriend left and social services got involved. The first time they came to the house and saw the staffy they told her to get rid of the dog within 24 hrs or they would be taking the children from the house. She went mad saying he would't hurt anyone...but according to the social worker it was a very agressive dog and had tried to bite her.

She finally agreed to get rid and gave it to a friend. She never did take it to any training classes, so unfortunately there are some people out there that just don't take the warnings and think it will never happen to them

I said to my wife yesterday that everyone will focus on the staffy dog and it has come to pass.

Staffylover - i'm not at all suprised by the Jack russell. Staffies in my expereience are easier to train than Jack Russell by far. Still wouldn't trust any dog with kids but i can see your point

Staffylover that focus will be because of its massive powerful jaws and the role those jaws will have played in that baby's death. Hardly surprising.

Any dog can attack but the odds of a good outcome for the victim decrease where breeds like this one are involved. Simple physics.

alphabetsoup So you know the staffy was the main protagonist? Mummywannabe Totally agree dogs and young children do not mix. A lot of children are very cruel to animals in general and it is not surprising that they turn and bite.

sandcastles -- my kids don't dress up the dog. Yes, at times DD (aged 2) has tried to put a hat on the dog as we were going out for a walk as she didn't want him to get cold. And wait for it, she's also put a blanket on him

My friend who is a vet, her kids, have put sunglasses on their dog!!!!

Is the breed in issue? Yes, I think it is. Are dogs safe to be with children unsupervised? Absolutely not.

Not sure how my attitude invites trouble? You don't know me, I don't you, yet you made a personal comment which I feel was totally out of order.

Serves me right though for bothering...

actually it hasn't yet been established which dog was responsible for the baby's death or whether both dogs were. I remember after a similar attack someone posted a link to an artacle where a pomeranian or similar had killed a baby, so it is possible it could have been the jrt.

I dislike staffies intensely, however I do think that one of the issues with staffies is that there are so many similar breeds, pitbul/staffie/english bull terrier, if people are not totally familliar with the breeds would they be able to tell them apart?

Staffies do actually have a reputation for being very good family pets and good with children. But on the downside they have a reputation for being agressive towards other dogs which is why I would never choose to have one.

idobelieveinfaries - are you saying social services threatened to remove your friends children because the dog was a staffy?? i.e was it because of the breed or because that particular dog was thought to be aggressive and therefore a danger?

It was a number of things ceres...mainly because the dog was aggressive and they didn't think it had the right temperment to be around the children as it was never trained. It had destroyed the house..doors, ripped up flooring etc...too much for her too handle. Don't know if it had anything to do with the breed or not.

Her bf was a twat tbh and he definatley got it for show...her kids weren't the best behaved children either so it was the best solution for dog and children all round.

I would just like to point out a few things on here. If the grandma who was lookin after the grandson had got the dogs because she'd had trouble wiv prowlers/prowler this would imply possibly that A] she lived alone and/or B] the dogs may have even been encouraged to act as guard type dogs [overprotection of owner?]. Because the baby was so young this could also point to the fact that this may have been the first time nan had looked after the baby on her own and the baby was seen as an intruder to the dogs. My mum was a great nan when my kids were young but there would be certain silly things that she would'nt see like she'd put the babys nappy on the wrong way round or didnt wind him till he'd finished bottle [silly things that thankfully wer'nt life threataning but that she'd obviously overlooked/got complaciant [sp]about]. I'm sure that in this tragic case nan had probably just thought baby would be o.k. It maybe true that nan was upstairs but she may have been in the bathroom...we dont know full facts yet. yes Staffies are known as 'nanny dogs' I'm good friends with a lady who has judged at crufts and owns staffs as do I. I'm also in touch with Staffy rescue as a friend of the owner the sad fact is that I know he will have his rescue full to breaking point after the publicity surrounding this attack in relation to one dog being a Staffy ALL staffys will be tared with the 'killer dog' tag . I'm not a delusional idiot and know that staffs rotties etc have powerful jaws and should NEVER be left alone around young children [good rescues will not place dogs in homes that have under 5s]. I also owned two staffs until last oct when my 15yr old staff had to be put down with cancer. I still have my 5yr old staffy girl in all that time they have never eaten/bitten my cat or have they even growled at my daughter who has unfortunatly run my old boys paw over wiv her electric w/chair on more than 1 occasion because he was too low down for her to see him . If the Staffy is the most popular dog in most parts of Britain today it then figures that statistics will show that there is a good chance that if there is an incident i.e. attack or bite it will be the staff just like you could say most crime in France would be commited by a French person. As already said here too is the point that the Staff is now being bred with many other breeds like Rotties, Akitas, Mastiffs by these idiots to give a Big, strong 'hybrid breed' but because it's illegal to breed pitbulls they are now being called 'king' staffs Irish staffs or any other mythical 'staff' breed. Dogs are brilliant company for young and old alike but they need to be trained properly and not treated like 'little humans' they need excercise, love, warmth and disapline [sp].. HATE THE DEED NOT THE BREED!

Clearly people with stairs, kettles, electric fires, cars, ponds, bikes, ovens, baths.......and so on should NOT have children. Statistically.

it's with, not wiv.

that poor family! having to arrange a funeral and say goodbye to your wee man.

Pardon me Highhorselander I'm sooo gratefull to you for pointing out my bad grammer....how foolish was I to think I could come on here and just abbreviate certain words without being severly repremanded.

salsmum, I think with that post you just made it a leetle bit worserer! Sorry, but I chuckled

Inex-accusable hobbgoogling but I, have fownd my dicksernary and i'm. Leafing thru it as we squeek?!">

lol

when you have found the cover, you start from inside, left to right okay?