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)

dogs should not bite. it is the owners responsibility if a dog bites. unfortunately and sadly for dogs it is the dog that pays if they do bite.

a dog that bites a child on the face in this way should be destroyed.

it is tragic for the dog and absolutely the owners' responsibility.

i'm really sorry for what has happened to your dd moomin.

i'm staggered at some of the complacency on here.

Moomin, I was talking to dh today about this (even though I haven't posted) and he said as your dd's face is swollen you really should take her to your GP. I know you said her tetanus was up to date (and I told him that) but he said dog bites are notorious for causing infections - dog's mouths are full of bacteria, especially something called pasteurella (sp?) Whenever they get a sample from an infected dog bite in the lab (he's an NHS microbiologist) they invariably find that and other icky things (those are my words - not scientific terms ) She may need antibiotics.

Fwiw, I think you did exactly the right thing and I'm glad your dd seems to be handling it so well.

thanks marthamoo, we already took her to the hospital on saturday night on the advice of nhs direct. and she's on antibiots now.

Sorry, did you already say that? Long thread

yeah on one of my initial posts when it first happened and i was rambling and ranting away! Thanks anyway

It's in the first post. How dopey am I? Still, at least it seems dh knows what he's talking about (he says he does but..well, you never know, do you?)

Not that I'm on the dogs side or anything because I think that a dog that truly bites should be destroyed, but children have to learn to respect dogs too. I never leave my DSs alone with my dogs despite the fact that DS2& 3 would sit on the floor as babies and as they began to doze the german shephard would curl himself around them to stop them falling and if they fell asleep on him would not move until they woke up. I have seen dogs have their fur pulled, their ears yanked, their lips stretched by children and parents sit back and watch, then have a go at the dog when it growls. I'm not saying that your DD did that but if that is what the dog is used to, then it could associate little people with pain and it reacted. If the owners were not shocked sounds like it may not have been the first time!

Moomin, my oldest stepdaughter had her nose and part of her mouth ripped off by a dog (small, terrier type) when she was a toddler. My dh is understandably extremely cautious with all his other children around dogs now. As a result my two are somewhat afraid of dogs and certainly would never ever go up to a strange dog and touch it. I have been told that they are "too afraid", but as far as I'm concerned, much better safe than sorry. Personally I don't think it matters if a dog has bitten before or not. I treat all dogs as potentially dangerous animals. Because they are. I have even asked people to secure their dogs before I entered their house with my children.

It's inexcusable that this family did not have their dog properly secured during a party where children were present. You did absolutely the right thing in reporting it because they obviously aren't responsible pet owners and could very possibly do it again.
I'm glad to hear that dd was not too traumatised by the experience. My stepdaughter is now 17 and her scar is virtually gone, so if they said that your dd's bite won't scar, I'm sure they are right.

This is too long to read the thread but as a fellow dog bite survivor this makes me sooooooooo angry. Your poor dd.

Has anyone suggested that you report the dog? -will you?

And please keep a careful eye on the wound on your dds face, there is loads of really nasty bacteria in dog saliva, if the wound isn't cleaned properly it could get infected.

Rainbow - no disrespect or anything but please read my own posts if nothing else before making comments like that. I'm all for hearing the other side of the argument (from dog owners' points of views) but you've totally ignored the circumstances of this incident.

The dog warden phoned me today; he's going round there tomorrow morning. Dh also spoke to the mum of the family who the dog belongs to when he got home from work. He asked if she had gotten his message to say the DW would be round and she said yes. He asked her if she understood why we thought we'd had to take it further and she said yes again. Dh said she sounded deflated but compliant. (apart from her commenting that 'the timing wasn't brilliant' ie as tomorrow is her ds's actual birthday - yes, next time i will arrange for my daughter to be attacked on a more mutally agreeable day! FFS!) She didn't argue at all at least, but dh said he still thinks they would not have taken any action without our intervention, which is rather shocking still. The DW will ring me tomorrow when he's interviewed her and tell me what's been discussed.

[SofiaAmes!!! - sorry didn't see it was you! hope you are all well]