Dog really hates toddler DS

[TheHolyGruel]

I have posted about this before. I have two dogs (staffs) and a toddler DS who is 20mo.

My older dog (male) really dislikes my DS. He growls at him constantly and it is just getting worse. We had problems with this dog being dog aggressive but this has been overcome somewhat by walking him on a muzzle and walking the dogs separately. The dog has been checked by a vet, other than a recent worm problem (now sorted) there is nothing wrong.

We sought advice from a dog trainer/rescue person who we had a couple of sessions with. His advice re the toddler/dog situation was to put the dog down, as if something did go wrong then not only would it be a dreadful situation for us, but dreadful for staffies everywhere (another story for the papers etc, another crack in the BSL nonsense defence - I fully believe that BSL is bollocks and that the problem is not because he's a staff, but I'll talk about that in a moment). But I don't feel I can do it. In the meantime, any attempts to unite dog and DS are failing. DS is instructed to offer dog treats, to sit nicely and pet nicely, not to run up to dog, not to touch anything belonging to dog, etc. I make an effort for the dogs to be in the same room as DS as often as possible, but I am becoming worried for DS safety, as dog is really sounding at the end of his rope.

I honestly believe it is because the dog has been usurped from his position of 'first born'. The other dog displays no such issues, and is very fond of DS. The problem dog has always been the established top dog.

DH works away from home sometimes and has his biggest stint of the year coming up next month. He is away for a month, and I am petrified of how I will cope with this situation alone. It is so stressful.

In the first instance, does anyone know of a way in which I could find a foster carer for my dog, initially for this upcoming period, or is this unrealistic? He is fine with dogs smaller than himself and with older children (all children aside from DS it seems, in fact).

Can anyone offer any other advice or solutions? I think ultimately he will need rehoming, but I also know it's not that simple...

It will be heartbreaking, but for your dcs sake you must re-home him as it is not worth taking the risk.
We have a staff but she is immensily friendly, licks everyone and has never so much as growled or bite but if she was ever to show aggression then i would re-home asap.
Its very sad, dogs are like family members but you must let go

Ahh l know Holy - l love staffies too. Do you think it is possibly (or is that an urban myth too? ) that if a staffie or similiar dog turns they can do a lot more damage more quickly than many other breeds. My exh was bit by a rescue staffie once and l wont say what injuries he sustained as may out myself but the damage he did with one split second bite was horrendous.

This is a genuine question btw - l honestly dont know but have always presumed that to be the case. l mean you dont often hear of these tragic cases where a child is savaged or killed by the family lab or collie or jack russell do you ? Though l do vaguely remember one about a labrador recently,l think ?

Or maybe that's because the papers only like to sensationalise attacks by certain breeds so dont report others ?

I wonder if it's to do with the jaw shape? You know, a wider jaw allows for a bigger grip/more bite intensity? Although being bitten by any dog that means it hurts like a bastard, I imagine.

D0oin I would never normally come into the Doghouse, but this thread popped up in Active convos. I didn't even realise whihc section it was in. I'm not a dog fan and whilst I think it'd be sad to have a dog pts, I wouldn't hesitate for a second if one of the DCs were in danger. Surely that's what anyone would do?

Sorry - I meant all above as the possible reason why staffies etc have such a bad reputation btw.

There are more Staffies in existence than of any other breed, so it stands to reason that they are involved in more attacks. Purely because there are more of them than Labs for instance.

Plus the kinds of people attracted to the breed are not the same kind of people who are attracted to Labs. They don't give them the same care or training.

Papers make things up. Whenever any bull breed or x breed is involved in an attack it is almost always described as a 'staffy type' or 'pit bull' type.

Surely the name 'bull terrier' comes from the fact that they were originally bred to bait bulls. I think the jaw can lock so that the dogs hang on to whichever part of the bull they bite until the bull collapses through blood loss and exhaustion (in days of yore). I have a greyhound and when she yawns she has very big teeth and jaws, but there is no way she has the crushing power of a staffie or other bull terrier type.

Yes chicken possibly. Maybe they are no more likely to attack than any other dog but are capable of more damage if they do ?

Am sure someone will be along soon to put us right !

I read in dogs today that 10,000 staffies are bred every year. Is that true Dooin?

Do their jaws lock, though? I thought that was a myth.

Id guess that other breeds attack much more often but don't do as much damage, or make as good a story to go with the Google image snarling sbt they like to bore us all with. I do agree sbts are very powerful dogs so can do more damage but IME they are by far the best natured breed as a whole.

Also its worth considering that there are a vast number of sbts in general now, id be interested in the ratio of sbts vs attacks to say number of labs to attacks. Id bet my arse its lower for sbts.

Or something.....

They are capable of more damage, of course they are, they are powerful dogs. Not as powerful as some other breeds, mind you and lock jaw is a myth.

They are, arguably, less likely to attack than other breeds because of their history and natural affinity towards people.

They have a bad reputation because they are/were the choice dog for the numpties. It used to be dobermans, then it was the GSD, then the staffy. They are now moving onto northern breeds like the Husky and the Mal and soon enough they will be over bred, badly trained and their reputation will be in tatters. It is not the dog that is the problem. You are looking at the wrong end of the leash if you believe otherwise.

How do they record dog bites? Do they differentiate between an actual 'attack', and a dog that has been backed in to a corner and protected itself iyswim? And a dog that bites once because it has been startled/stood on is surely different to a dog that 'goes for the throat' and has to be beaten off. Is that distinction made?

I love staffies, they are no more likely to attack than any other dog-the media have caused the reasoning behind peoples anti-staffie attitude.
Other dogs attack too, rottweilers, german shepards, labradors etc but the media doesn't highlight this
The problem with staffordshire bull terriers is that once their jaws lock that is it-so in the case of the op the dog needs to be re-homed to a childless person if possible or pts as her child is at risk as her particular staffie is showing aggression towards her child.
I for one think ALL dogs are potential killers and should never, even for one moment be left alone with a baby/child.
Staffies get bad press they do not deserve but in this case ops dog is dangerous

Oops sorry Doin l see you already have.

I am amazed by that - that there are more staffies than labs, really didnt know that, so yes it would stand to reason and of course if certain 'types' are attracted to them for the wrong reasons - as in - 'look at me, l'm 'ard and mi dog's ard aswell' and encourages them to be aggressive, even putting them up for fighting etc then they are going to be aggressive dogs l suppose.

Oh I'm no expert but I'm pretty certain my dogs jaws lock! It took a good 15 minutes to get him off another dog once, thankfully because he had just pinned the dog and held on in one place rather than a frenzied attack the dog escaped with puncture wounds with no stitches needed and no rips.

For the record he was dog friendly before this incident and the dog in question had attacked him.

I didn't realise it was a myth

The difficulty is that some people are so obsessed with fucking dogs that they are prepared to see children put at serious risk in their own homes.

And I would not normally bother about whether someone has pets or not when they have small DC but this is a case of an aggressive dog behaving aggressively, regularly, towards a small child. This dog is a danger to this child and therefore should be dumped in the nearest RSPCA rescue and if it gets put down, well, better that than the kid scarred for life. Or dead.

Oh x posted! So why is it so impossible to open their jaws and get them to release?

solidgoldbrass-i do agree that ops dog is dangerous but you have a completely heartless attitude, this dog means something to its owners and im sure op will do the right thing but please do you have to be so blunt with words.
Have some sympathy

In most cases, though, the dog does not become aggressive, certainly in the case of the staffy, it goes against their nature and historical breeding to be aggressive towards people. This is why the numpties get bored and dump them in rescues, or mostly dump them on the streets, where they end up in the pound with a lucky few making it to a no kill rescue.

Only a small handful ever become aggressive due to poor treatment. That's the reason it makes it to the news. It is rare. If a report was made every time a well behaved Staff hugged a child or stood calmly outside a school gate, there'd be no room for any actual news.