My dog bit my child, not dogs fault.

[CollyWombles]

She is okay first off, cut her lip a little and just under her eye, gave her a terrible fright. She is 13 and for some unfathomable reason, blew on his ear.

My dog is a rescue. I got him when he was 10, he is now 13. He has never been a huge fan of the children, however he has never bit any of them. The children have all been brought up to be respectful towards dogs and respectful to him in the three years he has been with us. I cannot think why she took the notion to do that.

My stance is that he bit for a reason. It wasn't unprovoked. My husband however, wants my dog put to sleep. My daughter does not want the dog in the house.

I adore my dog, he isn't everyone's cup of tea, he had it rough and I think how he has come on is amazing. I don't think he deserves to lose his home, or his life for biting for a reason.

In the same breath, my children come before any dog and it feels like I can't win no matter what I do. I'm either a bad parent or a bad dog owner. Please help me work out what is the right thing to do for my dog and also for my family.

[OrcinusOrca]

What rescue is it OP, a breed rescue or like an RSPCA place? I'd have more faith in a breed rescue finding a lifetime foster slot.

[captainproton]

If your dog can’t tolerate being around children who by dint of being children sometimes overstep a dogs personal space, then you need to separate them. If your dog is a rescue can you not contact the shelter you got him from?

My father rescued a nervy lurcher who was daft as a brush but not a dog I’d leave around children (we were all grown up). But the rescue said the dog was technically theirs even though we had him. I think In case of any issues, he had killed a sheep with a previous rescue owner after they let him off muzzle and lead, the police took the dog back to the shelter and a few months later dad ended up with him.

Do you think it might be worth your dog being rehoused somehow?

[CollyWombles]

The dog being unsupervised is not the problem. He is my shadow, follows me everywhere. He was possessive of me when he first arrived however I had the children walk him with me beside them and feed him, play with him and so on. He was then more of a family dog, just a grumpier old dog that prefers to engage with them when he wants rather than when they want.

[ChardonnaysPrettySister]

Also, if you have him PTS then your daughter will know it's because of her and might feel guilty about the for years. Not a good thing.

[Enwi]

I also agree with another poster- if he was asleep when it happened he probably responded before even realising it was your daughter.
A similar scenario is my sister trying to put her headphones in my ear during a car journey. She wanted to show me the song she was listening to and thought I was lookin out the window rather than asleep. I startled awake, swiped at my ear and accidentally smacked her in the face. It was instinct and not the same thing as a dog biting your daughter because he took his toy etc

[CollyWombles]

I will also add, the dog has his own space in the kitchen and the door is stair gated. When he is in the lounge, he is always with me. As said, he was with me when it happened, just at my back.

[musicposy]

Get advice from the vet. The dog could be in pain or have an issue you don't know about, given its age. Our dog who we'd had from a puppy suddenly bit DD when dog was 14 - she got close to his face and he bit her nose quite badly. We were devastated and chatted to the vet. Upshot was he was old, often confused and likely to react badly if surprised. Vet didn't suggest we put him to sleep - it would have broken our hearts. Vet suggested we were all more careful and respectful around the dog. Which we all were, and he lived to 15. But my DCs were teens and I could trust them to be sensible.

I think a lot depends on whether your DC can be trusted not to do something so stupid in future. Despite what the MN jury seem to think, any dog will bite given the right provocation.

[greendale17]

Your dog was provoked. He responded defensively and bit your daughter. But, as another poster has pointed out, he responded with great restraint as I’m sure if he had wanted to he could have done far more damage. It probably took him totally by surprise and his natural instinct, particularly given his past, was to respond aggressively.

^I agree with this post

[Scoopofchaff]

Oh this is a very very difficult one.

I know this probably sounds nuts to non-doggy people, but my answer would be (if the dog is not generally aggressive)to put the dog on probation and make a judgement after three months, IF you feel it is safe to do so.

(And your daughter has to learn from this too of course.)

We have rehomed a dog who had a very difficult youth. There are three of us in the family and he has bitten all of us once or twice when we have inadvertently done something to upset him. All the incidents happened in the first year and a half we had him and he has never bitten us since, now we have learnt his "language".

In our case, our dog was giving out signals which were very subtle (he didn't growl just became slightly still) but we either did not see them, or didn't interpret them correctly.

Having said all that, the thing that is slightly worrying here is if this is the first time the dog has bitten - ie it's escalating aggression not settling in aggression - then you might have to have him pts (once you've checked with vet for pain etc or another underlying cause of course).

Signs of escalating aggression are general standoffishness, a lot of licking lips (stress signals) , growling (sometimes), increased territorial behaviour over food and toys etc, stiiffness and still Ness of body (not relaxed and floppy movement).

[DistanceCall]

A dog is not a person. It's an animal.

The dog attacked your daughter (even if it was provoked, it doesn't matter). It can do it again.

There would be no doubt in my mind. You might want to try and rehome him, if you like. But I would have the dog put down.

[Bloodyhell2018]

You dog does not need putting to sleep, it was provoked and caused a minor injury, presumably by a single warning "nip" at her face. It didn't randomly attack, and it wasn't a prolonged attack. Your DD and all your other children will hopefully have learnt a valuable lesson on how to behave near a dog.

My dog bit DH nose when DH totally misjudged the situation, went up to our sleeping dog (in his dog bed) and put his face near him and woke him suddenly from a dozing near sleep state without realising that dog had a bone tuck behind him that he thought was being stolen. Normal Dog behaviour, lesson learnt. Any children will be clearly taught not to approach dog in his bed...it is his zone, dog is never left with a bone anymore, he either chews it or it goes back in the cupboard.

We blow in our dogs ears, pull his ears, tail and feet, and generally harass him as part of his play time and have done since he was a puppy, he loves it.

[Frequency]

It's not escalating aggression, it is a response to provocation. Lots of dogs would snap if someone blew in their ear. Dogs ears are very sensitive.

Don't blow in his ear again and he won't bite again. If he is showing signs of stress or fear, it might be worth getting a behaviourist in to help you out. If this is a one off incident and he's otherwise happy, a vet check and not blowing in his ear again is enough.

[Scoopofchaff]

Correction - meant provoked aggression not settling in aggression - in post below.

[Quartz2208]

As someone who got cellutis from the smallest of nips from a dog (a puppy accidentally ran into my leg and his tooth caught it and took a small amount of skin) please get a GP appointment in the morning

[SilverDoe]

My parents dog is a rescue and he bit my hand once because I was trying to get into my dad’s bedroom without letting him in and he is insanely protective of my dad. We had the emotive “we have to put him to sleep” conversation afterwards as I was very frightened and have small children.

He’s the sweetest dog ever and has never bitten anyone, adult or child since. He has that one particular trigger and even that isn’t an issue now.

I actually think it’s mean and immature to end the animals life because of one provoked reaction. If he had wanted to attack your daughter out of aggression he would have bloody maimed her, wouldn’t he?

I think ending the dogs life is very harsh, especially if you don’t have any children younger than 13.

[Doilooklikeatourist]

Get rid of the dog
A human child is more important than a full grown animal
In my opinion

[gillybeanz]

I'm sorry OP, but your dh is right.
You can't chance it going to another family and doing the same.

I have seen this a bit recently with friends/family and rescue dogs, you have no idea what you are getting.

Find a good breeder, a good friendly breed, and start with the pup.

[chickedychicked]

I wouldn't suggest putting the dog to sleep but you sound like you're being very defensive of your dog. only you know exactly how he reacted and how he usually is.
I would not risk my child getting hurt again. you could just make sure that he's away from your children and be super careful and of course your children need to resort the boundaries too.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

[SirVixofVixHall]

He snapped, he didn’t bite, there is a difference. I am horrified at the posts saying he should be put down. He is an old boy, he’s had a rough past, and something happened that hurt him, so he snapped. I have a friendly dog, had her since she was a pup, could I guarantee she wouldn’t snap if this happened to her ? No I can’t. None of us can. Dogs are not toys, they react when hurt or frightened. Teaching children what not to do around dogs is as important as training a dog. Any dog can snap in the right circumstances .

[Thesearepearls]

There is a fair amount of madness on MN at the moment about dogs

If you get a rescue dog, you can assume that it may not be well socialised

I still bear the scars from one of DM's rescue dogs and I can assure you that I did nothing to provoke him

Yet your dog was provoked as you have acknowledged.

Either you want to rescue dogs or you do not. Myself I have had my own dog from a pup and he would never bite a living soul. I admire people who rescue dogs. They are really good people who are prepared to take the rough with the smooth.

I think it is an abominable thing to do to kill a dog that (a) has been rescued and therefore its temperament is uncertain and (b) that has been provoked.

[UpstartCrow]

If you keep the dog it could damage your marriage.

No qualified behaviourist will tell you to keep the dog, he is now a proven liability, and they need their insurance to practice. If he bit again you could potentially sue; and they'd have it on their track record and conscience.
Most trainers don't even work with cases of aggression. They aren't qualified and don't want the risk.

I don't know how you want to deal with your daughter but she isn't mature enough to be trusted with animals. Whatever you choose to do, there will be fall out from this and your other children may not forgive her easily.

[ChardonnaysPrettySister]

Starting with a pup won't change the fact that OP's daughter has been irresponsible.

[gazeintothesky]

I’ve been bitten by a dog before.
And I was a similar age to your dd. Went to kiss the dog when he had a bone next to his mouth. The dog growled. I did it again, he growled again. I did it a third time and he nipped me taking a chuck out of my lip.
Entirely deserved to be honest.
He was 2 when he did that to me, he’s now 12 and never shown aggression ever since.
You can play tug with him, tickle his feet, rub him all over, kiss him, cuddle him, but I was stupid enough to kiss him when he pretty much had the bone in his mouth, ignored his growls twice and got nipped.
We are very careful now not to give him high reward treats. If he does have a bone, maybe once a year then it’s behind a stair gate until he’s eaten it.

[sleepyducks]

I wouldn't put the dog down, he reacted on instinct to your daughter provoking him. A similar thing happened between me and my siblings with our family Dog. The dog reacted instinctively to a situation that wasn't its fault. It never happened again and lived with us into old age.