My dog is a savage child eating monster

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

Honest

I'm another who was looking at the cushion

Of course any dog can bite. It would be crazy to deny that. I never lose sight of the fact even though we have the gentlest dog imaginable. And if my dog bit my child so savagely that he needed plastic surgery I don't think I could keep him - I'd be too scared in case it happened again. My kids come first.

However I take issue with those who say that any dog who so much as growls at a child needs to be PTS or rehomed. A dog deserves respects in it's home. All human residents in a house need to learn to treat a dog appropriately. Mistreat a dog and it may well bite - and should not be punished for that.

Agree 100% with Orm.

My dog didn't bite my child 'savagely', he gave a warning nip, a small bite. Unfortunately it was to ds's face and he was only 9 months, so he took off a small piece of flesh that proved very difficult to repair, though the plastics team did an amazing job and now many years later you can barey make out a scar.

If I had a dog that had attacked my child, it would be a different matter.

I see gobbler - didn't know that. I guess I might well do the same in your case. It's the intent that matters perhaps. It sounds as if the intent was to say 'back off'.

It was, The snap did come very fast after the growl. It was possibly one of the worst days of my life, I couldn't believe my dog had done it and I couldn't believe my beautifu baby was hurt.

I do disagree with those who say they know that their dog would never bite, you don't I'm afraid, all dogs may bite, you never know.

Ds was unlucky enough to be bitten again, just before Christmas, by a dog he had asked if he could stroke, the dog was calm, relaxed and off the lead, the owner said 'of course' and said that his dog loved children, as ds extended his hand, palm out and under the dogs chin, so totally non-threatening as he has been taught. The dog just went for his face and sliced his nose in two. It was horrific. The dog was a whippet, not that breed makes any difference, any dog can bite.

Poor ds, he still loves dogs though and is very confident with them, I have a brilliant photo of him taken this year at Crufts with him lying next to a Neapolitan Mastiff that is probably three times his size.

"Lougle Its a dog so do you really think you saying gentle and no teeth is going to prevent an incident."

Yes, I do believe that teaching a dog to be gentle, and teaching it that teeth in play or affection is inappropriate, can help to prevent an incident.

It's called 'bite inhibition'. He has gradually worked his way from being extremely bitey (normal, typical puppy biting) to thinking about his teeth. If he gets too excited and starts to mouth, a simple 'no teeth, Patch' is enough to make him stop, deliberately open his jaws, and lift his mouth off of whatever he had in it. Normally my hand.

The same goes for when he is greeting my 3 children in the morning. He is delighted to see them, so gets excited. They squeal, so he gets more excited. I've been teaching him 'gentle' - get your face away from theirs you big oaf, and 'down' - stop jumping all over them.

Dogs are highly intelligent, you know. They are no different from humans in the sense that they all have moments where they have less patience than others. But in general, I'd say they are far more even-tempered than humans.

Oh FFS!!!!! One minute there are posts from people who never post in the dog house unless it's to bitch and moan (oh the irony!) saying that all the 'dog people' are nasty bitches. Then, when people try and have a light hearted thread (presumably in the light of recent staffy threads and the recent killing of Lennox, who actually, looked a lot like the OP's dogm and my own staff cross) then people who do not normally post in the dog house come in to bitch and moan about how inappropriate it is...

OP, lovely, lovely dog.

gobblersknob you sound like a very sensible dog owner. We also have a system of stairgates, not because our dogs have bitten, they haven't, but one of my DC has Downs Sundrome and so that I do not need to watch him like a hawk for poking/prodding/accidentally hurting the dogs, we choose to keep the dogs seperate from the children during the day.

Awww!!!

Lougle - we had dogs as children and one (King Charles Spaniel) bit a cousin of mine. She drew blood and then continued to be snappy despite us trying to train her. We just put her down in the end, she couldnt be trusted

midori, many of us, including dog lovers have said that the title is insensitive. And it is.

How would you feel about these similar thread titles:

"My dh is a savage woman beater"
"Our scout leader is a rapant paedophile"

Because these are the fair comparisons. Yet if you posted those thread titles you would, rightly, be flamed. So why is it ok to post that your dog is a savage child eating monster when people know full well that dogs have killed children, that dogs have maimed children and that dogs have savaged children? Yes not all dogs are child eating monsters just like not all husbands are women beaters and not all scout leaders are paedophiles. Do you see what I'm getting at?

It was a controversial thread title that spared no thought for anyone else and since the OP did a vanishing act, was probably meant to cause a bunfight. As it happens most posters, even those who disagree with dog owners, have been reasonable and inoffensive in their arguments on this thread.

And for what it's worth GobblersKnob, I would not describe ripping a chunk of flesh from the face of a small child a "warning nip". That must have been some nip to have actually severed the flesh so deeply that he needed plastic surgery.

YY to Rhubarb's last post. And I have a dog.

TheRhubarb fair enough, describe is as whatever you want, however as you wern't there and you didn't see what happened, so it is hardly relevant is it?

Rhubarb, maybe it is insensitive, but maybe also Staffy owners get fed up with people thinking all staffs are dangerous and a risk to children when actually, almost all of them are not.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with a dog as a child and there's no doubt that children being attacked by dogs (or hurt in any way) is not in the slightest bit funny, but really, some people will take offense at anything.

Agree midori, every thread title will offend someone. Savage child eater, beast, devil dog and such like are the sort of shit comments sbt owners have to deal with, this thread title is taking the piss out of those idiots, noone else

That's quite a sweeping DM statement. It was an insensitive title and I cannot see anyone slagging off staffs or any other bred. Only irritation is with feckless owners

we seem to mn at same time

Breed* and meant to add on this thread. Sorry had to adjust dd's latch

No, you are wrong there.

Yes you may well be fed up with the condemnations, of which I haven't really seen much evidence of on this thread but there may well be on others. However do you think that your feelings as owners of SBTs outweigh the feelings of those who have been attacked? Or the feelings of those who have lost their children to dog attacks?

I can understand your anger towards ignorant dog haters, but I cannot understand it when you play tit-for-tat because the people who will be offended are not your average dog haters but those who have been victims, those who have been hurt and I'm pretty sure that is not your intention.

You would have a much stronger argument with a better worded thread title. If you want to remain on higher ground then you need to act accordingly and don't be tempted to sink to their level because that's just taking the bait.

I didn't mean on this thread mama, just in general, I get it loads irl

I remember, as a teenager, walking our massive lollopping GSD and getting stopped by this woman who berated me for not having her muzzled and having audacity to walk her. She was on the lead and soft as anything with people, awful with other dogs. She was a rescue and previous owner was appalling. She ended up becoming a police dog. So I do understand how horrible it is when peoria judge breed. I have to say that round me there are a lot of dogs (in new forest) and there are a fair few owners that are ignorant fuckers here who don't pick up poo and have no control over dog, letting them jump all over small kids etc. But in grand scheme they are a minority but they do give dog owners a d dogs a bad name.

People not Peoria

Rhubarb im not wrong, you're not wrong, noone is right or wrong in this argument. I don't think any of us is going to back down either tbh.

I just think all thread titles have potential to offend someone. The issue has been raised on here, people haven't changed their view, so what more is there to gain by carrying on? (The irony of what I have just posted isn't lost on me btw)

OFGS, can someone please just start a thread with a photo of their soft Staffy looking amiable and docile with their kids, and call it, Look at my gorgeous dog, or something equally uncontroversial so we can have some Staffy love in the Dog House without a bunfight breaking out?

I will also accept 'Look at my beagle doing obedience training!' or 'Look at my Labrador refusing a second helping of dinner on account of his waistline!'.

OK hipper!