Urgent help needed please - dog bit toddler.

[WheresMaHairyToe]

Rescued my dog 7 months ago, he was a stray and is between 3 and 5 years old. Lab/ lurcher type mongrel.
He has been wonderful - quick response to training in the home, not quite 100% on toileting but getting there, fantastic with my kids (all over 8.)
Today, we were at the beach for a couple of hours with my 3 plus 5 assorted niece and nephews. Dog completely fine.
Got home, everyone settled, kids playing in garden. Dog took himself to bed in another room. 2 year old niece followed. Nobody witnessed what happened, but niece was bitten on the face. Small cut and bruising - bad enough!
My brother wants the dog out of my house. He isn't insisting on PTS. I rang 4 shelters, all said he was not able to be rehomed, so would be destroyed.
I've put him in kennels to give us all some breathing space, and am waiting on two shelters calling me back. He had never shown a single sign of aggression before this, but apparently did not growl before biting. My brother got to him seconds after the bite, and said he was also aggressive to him.
I got home about 10 mins after bite to a very unhappy dog.
I am heart broken, I don't know what to do. I am considering building him an outdoor run and muzzling him when he's near children, but that seems awful.
Sorry if this is incoherent. I'm in a bit of a state!
Please help with advice if you can! Or if you know of a no- kill shelter anywhere in NI.

You need to rehome him.
Sorry.
It is sad but the dog can't deal with children.

Why was 2yo alone with the dog? After a day at the beach with many DC, maybe the dog wanted some time alone. If the dog bit the girl on the face, what was she doing? Pushing her face to his? Did he feel crowded?

A toddler should never ever be left alone with the dog.

Don't be top quick to blame the dog here, you don't know what happened! It could be that the dog reacted to being poked in the eye or similar - hardly the dogs fault- but if you keep him you HAVE to ensure he is monitored with children and vice versa

*A dog. A toddler should never be left alone with any dog whatsoever

Do you have children? Is your brother just visiting?

Why on earth was a toddler left unsupervised with a dog, especially one that had been out and surrounded by loads of kids all day, and had taken himself off for some peace and quiet? She could have trodden on him, put her face right in his, grabbed his head, anything.

Children and dogs should never be unsupervised together and dogs should never be disturbed when eating and sleeping.

I hope that your Niece is ok But your brother should have been supervising her properly.

A snap does not mean that your dog is aggressive - toddlers are unpredictable and the dog was likely over-tired and wound up from an exciting day out (google trigger-stacking)

This thread has some useful resources
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/2956670-Useful-resources-for-common-questions

In particular you and your brother should read:
imnotamonster.org/any-dog-can-bite/

doggonesafe.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/tip-of-day-supervise-kids-and-dogs-be.html?m=1

PTS. You can never know the full background of a rescue dog. It has bitten one child, that is one too many. The shelters are just being realistic.

Also many dogs don't growl if suddenly startled/scared - and often dogs are punished for growling which means they're less likely to use it as a warning

No toddler should be alone with a dog. Especially not a relatively recently rescued dog with an unknown history.
Nobody witnesses it? So nobody knows what caused the dog to bite.
Fault is with the (non) supervising adult.

You need to rehome him.
Sorry.
It is sad but the dog can't deal with children.

I really disagree with this. The poor dog is still settling into your family, he had a busy (and possibly stressful from his point of view) day at the beach which he coped with well. He got home and took himself off to his bed (a sure sign that a dog needs peace and space) instead of respecting this the adults allowed a young toddler to be alone with him and invade his personal space.
It would be a real shame if you have up on him over this op,

I'm not surprised your db is upset, but talk to him when things are calmer, come up with a plan of action which involves keeping the dog completely away from toddlers and supervising older children carefully and get the advice of a dog behaviourist as soon as possible.

I know what I'd do, but not what everyone else on this thread would.

Toddlers do get free, accidents do happen and doors get left open.

What triptrap and monster said. Poor bloody dog. Destined for yet another home or to be PTS because feckless adults don't supervise enough.

Dog needs benefit of the doubt here. He has removed himself from the environment with children and been followed, and possibly disturbed at rest. She should absolutely not have been alone with the dog, and could have done all manner of things that would arouse a defensive reaction in a sleeping/resting animal (fallen or trodden on him, poked him, yanked tail etc). If dog was asleep the reaction may have been even more uninhibited.

It's unreasonable of us to expect dogs to be bomb-proof with children of all ages in any situation. It's our responsibility to make sure young children are never ever alone/unsupervised around a dog.

Dont just blame the dog,as already stated,the 2 year old should never have been left with the dog, the dog probably had enough of all those children, and needed some quiet time, hence why he went into the bedroom out of the way,
I hope you can resolve this without getting rid of the poor dog
Also of course hope your niece will be ok, she could have pulled his tail,or just annoyed him in some way, she would realise at her age

PTS. Utterly irresponsible to rehome, you should meet some children with permanent facial scars if the decisions difficult. Youve been very very luck the damage wasnt worse, but of course it utterly disregards the fact said toddler will now always have an issue with dogs. For life.
No its not to be 'expected' and then accepted at any level, and ridiculous to say its your lack of supervision. You didnt have any advance warning. But you do now.
Millions of dogs happily co-exist with tiny tots pulling their ears, poking their eyes out, pinching, grabbing and any other number toddler behaviours, whether in their beds, next to their food bowls or in a room full of screaming little party people. Sadly your dog isnt one.

Not a popular mumsnet opinion but in this situation I certainly wouldn't rehome let alone PTS. Years ago my mums dog bit a 5yo after they tried picking a wart on her eyelid, she's never bitten since. Still loves children she knows but is shut away if 'new' ones visit as she isn't comfortable with them.

Don't rehome the dog if he seems happy and don't get hysterical. Much like humans, believe it or not dogs get pissed off if they can't settle and have some piece. It's not his fault, it's the adult that was in charge of the children. Give the dog a break and mostly some respect and don't expect him just to tolerate everything thrown at him.

If the dog wanted to maul the child then you'd know about it. He gave the child a " leave me alone, I've had enough "

Chucking him in kennels has just confused his m more I'm sure.

I started my response with don't rehome him and now I'm thinking yes, send him to a home where he will be understood and not expected the impossible from.

.....is anyone concerned on here about the bitten children? Good grief, its like an embarrasing side effect that needs to be hidden under the carpet. Poor dog

We used to have responsible dog owners in this country, now we have animal therapists finding excuses and tutting at the news of yet another fatality. Responsible dog ownership means taking the difficult decisions. Theres a reason rescue centres, the very heart of animal compassion, have a zero tolerance to any dog biting any human. They do it again.

I seriously hope all the people saying PTS don't own dogs.

"chucking" him in kennels gave me the space and time to talk to the child's understandably upset parents. They are dog owners. Their dog is very, very placid. I thought mine was too.
My kids are devastated, I feel sick. There is literally no good course of action here.

Yes there is OP. Keep your dog and tell your brother to supervise his child better.

The best course of action then is you responsibly rehome him and give the next owners all the info including the fact he may have been totally overwhelmed by children. That way he can be placed with the correct family.

It's not all bad, yes you'll miss him but at least if he goes somewhere where there aren't young children, he'll be happy and less stressed.

I'd be very surprised if you had some psycho dog on your hands. We just take it for granted that they will cope with any circumstance.