dd was bitten by a dog at a kids party today

[Moomin]

The dogs were kept indoors for most of the party then someone let them out towards the end. Dd1 who's 4 loves dogs and was stroking them in the garden. At the end of the party she went indoors to use the toilet. One of the dogs was standing in the kitchen from what we can gather and dd went to stroke her again and the dog went for her and bit her face.

dh found her crying hysterically and realised what had happened. The skin on her cheek was punctured in one place and was bleeding a bit, the rest of her cheek was swollen. He came out to tell me carrying her and i think i was in shock. The parents of the kid whose party it was were apologetic but not horrified. They have 3 kids under 4 and apparently the dogs have never done this before. I think i was in shock. we decided to go home not to hospital as we had the baby with us too and i rang nhs direct when we got in. Her tetanus is up to date but Dh took her up to primary care on the advice of the nurse on the phone and they prescribed antibiotics just in case.

the dad rang dh to see how dd was. I think i still can't believe how close she came to being really badly hurt i feel quite numb. I was so angry when we left i could hardly speak. It was all so fucking middle class, dh saying to them not to worry and them saying oh dear but not too loudly in case we spoiled the end of their ds's party (well that's what it felt like)

Moomin,I think you should report this.

If my dog bit a child I wouldn't hesitate in having her put down,although we would be devastated.

If I was the parent of the next child who will be bitten and found out it wasn't reported the first time I would be livid.

Moomin, feel very bad for your little one

Yes, definetely report it & never take your daughter there again. They should have made sure the dogs were safely confined, particulary as small children where around.

Personally i think all dogs should have a muzzle on - when I was very young an alsation clamped his jaw on a poodle. 33 years later & I can still picture it in my mind. Note to depressedogowner - terriers do tend to be highly strung - I too would report a dog to the police if it bit me.

How would you feel if you later hear that the dog has bitten another child and caused serious damage? You would probably wish that you'd reported it this time.

Please report it. It bit a child when it was unprovoked. What sort of damage could it do if, say, a child pulled its ear or tail?

This is awful - it really should be reported. Next time might be so much worse and no one can say that there won't be a next time. We're v paranoid about dogs in our house after ds2 was mauled in his buggy by a sniffer dog at Brisbane airport.

Amber ... thanks for directing me to your post re. Staffies. My friend's dog is very young still and is a lovely lovely dog, if you like that kind of dog but the problem is is that I don't trust them and my kids don't like her . Today we went to another friend's house and she has a young cross (the same age as my other friend's staffie) ... it is impossible to tell what breeds she has in her but clearly very little terrier ... and my children, after initial shyness, where patting her and playing with her - she is so gentle and lovely, DS even climbed over the fence to play with her. Afterwards we went to my best mate's house (with the Staffie) and my children were rigid with fear and poor Staffie had to be locked up in the hallway for us to be able to relax - sigh ....

Anyway, sorry to hijack ...
Moomin, I understand why you and your DH don't want to report your friend's dog but I think for me the dilemma would be - what if that dog bites another child somewhere further down the line? I would be mortified I hadn't done anything ...

hannahsaunt ... mauled by sniffer dog? That is awful!

I think you need to report it. Going through my head is always the "what if it does it again...and I hadn't reported it". I couldn't live with that. I know it is what ifs. Reporting the dog and its owners does not necessarily mean the dog will be put down, but atleast it will be on record that this dog has bitten before. A bite to the face, especially of a child, IS very serious. The owners seem very irresponsible.

BTW, I don't think it is a class thing. I just think they are really irresponsible and obviously just not a particualrly caring of children people by sounds of it. Some people think animals are more important than people.

Have you taken some photos of your DD's face. Might be worth it, especially if you are going to report it.

sorry to the staffy owners but I don't like them at all and would never trust one around my ds. My dog was attacked by a staffy 5 years ago. The attack was totally unprovoked, she's a guide dog, I came out of my house with her, she was in harnass and this dog came running across the street and launched it at my dog and hung on to her throat. It was horrible, and because my dog was in harnass she was totally vulnerable. I have to say I became totally histerical but luckily for me my DH was there and he bashed this dog over the head with his laptop. Just then the neighbour whose dog it was came out and calmly called her dog who ignored her. I went belistic. After that she was very apologetic, it wasn't actually her dog she was looking after it for her parents, she then preceeded to tell me how wonderful this dog was with children but how it just didn't like dogs. Well sorry but I just don't buy that, any dog that can launch itself at another dog like that could hurt a child, if a child had come between it and the other dog it could have been badly mauled, tbh after the event I did say that I'd regretted not trying to pull it off my dog so it could bite me and I could then have ordered it be destroyed. Ironically the neighbour has since had children and never lets them near this particular dog.

Moomin though tbh I wouldn't go directly to the police, I would try and speak to the owners of the dog and say that you're not happy with the fact this dog attacked your dd, and that your gut instinct was to report it but that you feel they are responsible (even if you don't think they are, saying this might make them feel more guilty), and think they should potentially think about whether they should keep a dog that could bite a child?

What hte hell? How is this a 'class' thing?

THE DOG BIT HER FACE AND THE PEOPLE DON'T SEEM TO CARE!

Report them now before another child gets seriously hurt or worse.

I'd report it.

It doesn't mean the dog will be put down, but it does mean that the owners might take a bit more care about ensuring the dog never has the chance to do this again.

Get your DH to explain to them why you're reporting it -it's about ensuring that the dog doesn't do it again, not about punishing them.

update: i have now reported it and the police are sending an officer round in the next day or so to make a full report and see dd's face. They will talk me through the options and report it to the dog warden before visiting the family with the dog. Dh and i talked about it again last night and he has at last come round to seeing it from my point of view. I think he realised how awful it was as he was telling his brother about it and suddenly he saw just how close dd had come to being seriously hurt. It doesnt matter now that he didn't see it to start with, he does now and that's the main thing. I definitely know i've done the right thing and i feel loads better. We have taken some photos of dd's face as well.

The reason i said i thought it was a class thing is that they seem very doggy people, like the dogs are part of the family and when dd was bitten it was almost as if they felt it was just 'one of those things' almost as if it had been one of their kids that had attacked dd and we would just have to put up with it! It reminded me of the french and saunders sketches about the two posh old fat ladies who accidently shoot themselves and ignore the injury, just putting a tea towel on it. Sorry if that doesn't make sense...

good going moomin - you're acting in the interests of your kid as she was hurt & you're making sure no other child will be attacked by this dog. imho - It's not a class issue it's an issue of irresponsible animal ownership plus that family not giving a toss for your daughter & your family. Well done for sorting this out - hope your dd gets better soon xxx

Moomin - I immediately thought of that French and Saunders "stuff and nonsense" sketch as well, so totally get where you're coming from.

As the owner of a dog who bit a visiting kid, I am glad in a way that you have reported it. But only in the sense of making people more aware of this danger.

We thought we were caring responsible parents with friendly family dogs until something went wrong. the trauma and anguish this caused to the innocent kid, my own children, my dh etc, is something that will haunt me for ever.

As the owner of 2 large dogs I think you have done the right thing. Mine are ex guide dogs and specifically trained to be good with children, have never shown any aggression even under provocation, and there's still no way I would allow them to be around a busy party full of young children and food (unless I was there able to focus 100% on the dogs the entire time - and how practical is that if I'm hosting a party?). It's not such a hardship to send the dogs to neighbours or friends for a few peaceful hours, where they'd have a much less stressful time anyway. If they had to be in the house, considering people would have been wandering around they should have locked the door where the dogs were.

If we have one or two sensible children over we keep them with us but always watch them like a hawk and I would not leave any children and dogs in a room on their own, largely for the dogs' protection! We do consider our pets an integral part of the family but that doesn't mean being naive about the fact that they are animals.

These people's attitude seems to have been far too complacent. Best wishes to you and your dd, who sounds like she is dealing with it amazingly well.

Glad you feel better about it now Moomin - how's dd's face the morning?

Well done Moomin, I would like to offer you my total support in the choice you made to report the dog.

Whilst it easy to acknowledge that people love their pets and think of them as an important part of their family, I am always amazed by how people anthropormorphise their animals.

A dog doesn't have a reason to bite in the sense that we know it.

We knew an RAF dog handler with an Alsatian who was trained to the ultimate degree as an RAF dog.
It still turned round one day and bit clean through his hand for no "reason" though.

If any dog ever bit my child or me in any I would insist it was put down.

I think you did the right thing moomin. My mum is a dog breeder & psychologist. I've lived with hundreds of well-trained dogs but would never leave DD alone with one.

In fact, I went to meet mum at a dog show for the first time when DD was around 20 months and was completely petrified - these were all well-trained dogs but I just didn't trust any of them. They're pack animals after all, no matter how cuddly.

I also completely see where you're coming from with the class thing - an attitude. They should have had those dogs completely shut away - any animal would get over-excited with all the children running about.

expat - only reason I used the class word in my post was in response to Moomim, who had already brought it up in her posts.

I have just read this from start to finish and I am soooo relieved you have taken steps to report them Moomin.
Sounds to me like the owners have a problem accepting responsibility for their dog's actions, so they need some help in doing so.

As an aside, I was recently in paediatric a&e and there was a little boy with a horrendous bite on his nose. His mother said the family pet "an American Bulldog" had done it. What is an American Bulldog you might well ask? Its a re-branded Pit Bull Terrier. People are just cut and dried plain stupid about dogs sometimes.

moomin just wanted to let you know what the law is and what will actually happen. I am actually defending someone on a dangerous dogs case right now so I'm pretty up to date. Basically biting another dog is enough to warrant a dangerous dogs charge whether or not its ever bitten before. Biting a human is an aggravated offence and the court HAS to order a destruction order UNLESS the owner/defence can call expert evidence to show that the dog is not a danger to public safety. This is what I am doing at the moment. I have a dog behavioural expert who is preparing a report for me. If the court believes that it really was a "one bite" then they can order a control order instead and cite the terms themselves ie. permanent muzzling etc. but its by no means certain they will buy that explanation. My case is different, the dog bit a grown man who got in the middle of his dog and this one fighting, and it bit him on the leg. Your daughters face is much much more serious and they would have hard work convincing the court to give another chance.

I really do think you should report this to the police. But know that the owner will also be sentenced. Our guy is going to have to do some unpaid work in the community and pay compensation.

Squarer - no, an American Bulldog is a totally different breed from a Pit Bull. They don't even look alike. She may have owned a Pit Bull illegally (as they are a restricted breed in this country) or just a vicious AMB. IMO the breed is neither here nor there, there are aggressive individual dogs and irresponsible individual owners. People have funny ideas about what breeds are more dangerous than others. You are statistically more likely to be bitten by a golden retriever than any of the supposedly naturally 'vicious' breeds. The press has done a great job of spreading ignorance and fear while actually making it more dangerous - I'm fed up of strangers letting their kids hurl themselves at my dogs because 'oh they must be OK, they're labs'.