Is a dog that attacks another dog safe to be around kids?

[Mila24]

I’ve had my dog for just afew weeks, spaniel and she keeps going for other dog outside the house. She’s fine with my other dog but she has bitten my neighbours dog and she went for a dog at the beach when it ran up to us. I have ordered a muzzle but I have a toddler so now I am worried. I don’t know what triggers her. I was told my her previous owner that she was fine with kids, but I was also told she was fine with other dogs.

My dog is dog reactive but loves humans.
I still won't allow him to be left near my children unsupervised though 🤷‍♀️

My dog hated other dogs when she was off lead but was fine on and absolutely doted on my kids. Never growled or snapped at either of them, but snuggled in bed with them or let them snuggle up with her on the sofa, but I had had her from 12 weeks old and an incident occurred that caused her to distrust other dogs (she was fine off lead with all dogs up until that point). I knew her full history (apart from those first 12 weeks) and knew she could be trusted with my kids and all humans. You don’t know the history of this dog, you only know what you’ve been told. I’d be wary.

Is it a red cocker op?

Only asking out of curiosity. Every spaniel I've ever encountered with any type of aggression is a red cocker. They're too common, often overbred and underestimated.

On your op - I wouldn't have any dog around a young child that showed un-provoked aggression, whether to a person or another dog. I would try and re-home to an adult only household.

Get help from a breed rescue OP, don’t just pass her on yourself. She’s been let down enough.

Dogs can react to different things. Well done for looking into a muzzle, I wouldn't make any assumptions about whether your dog is safe around toddlers - all dogs are capable of hurting or reacting to a small child and so they should always be treated as a risk.

Please don’t feel bad if you decide to rehome the dog, your child’s safety is paramount. If you do decide to rehome, please contact spaniel aid uk. They will do a thorough assessment before allowing the dog into another home.

Rehome. Not worth the risk

This is not good unfortunately OP. You are doing the right thing to ask the hard question. Is it possibly fear aggression? If so I would not the dog around kids.

You are irresponsible. You have an aggressive and nervous dog and don't know how to handle it and you have a child.

It's an accident waiting to happen.

One day your toddler will hurt or scare her and she will go for it. Your toddler might not even do anything and she will go for it. And when that day comes, it will 100% be your fault.

OP, you tried to do a good thing, but it’s not worth your child’s safety. The dog would be better going to a spaniel specific rescue, if possible. They are working dogs and need to be busy- the rescue could find an appropriate home where the dog would be happy.

No. And I worry about all the ‘reactive’ dogs on here around children.

Return this dog. If you don’t have the money to pay a decent breeder or the skills to take on a dog from a decent rescue then don’t get a dog.

Seems like the poor thing has been passed around.

red or golden cocker?

every single one of those ive met has aggression/issues

I always advise people with children to avoid private rehoming no matter how 'nice' the people (or dog) may come across- loads of people lie just to get shot of their pets.

Either go through a well researched rescue that assesses the dogs, or a well researched breeder who knows their dogs.

These 'fancy' decent breeders often have waiting lists, so you would have time to save up for a dog.

They also deserve to be recompensed for the time, money & effort they put into breeding healthy, temperamentally sound dogs that are suitable for the roles intended in their new homes.

It sounds to me more like you just jumped at the chance of a cheap dog, so a case of caveat emptor.

To be fair to OP, there’s lots of ‘reactive’ dogs on here living with children. It’s easy to complain about other dogs but being responsible with your own dog is harder.

Dogs that are aggressive with other dogs can absolutely be fine with humans, including children.

But, you have a dog that you don’t really know, with unknown behavioural issues and you’re clearly not hugely experienced... that’s a fairly big gamble with a toddler around.

I've got 3 dogs. At various times they get annoyed with each other or take against a different dog in the street and have an argy bargy

At no point have any of them looked askance at a human - they would never bite a human

One of my dogs doesn't like big dogs, one doesn't like black dogs (she's a racist), one doesn't fluffy dogs as she thinks it's a cat 🤷‍♀️

I think op you need to address the root issue here.

Your first port of call is another trip to the vet for a full check over to ensure she's not in pain, in heat, pregnant etc. My parents dog only became reactive when he lost his hearing so you need to be sure there's no physical cause that could be treated or managed.

Secondly I'd be working with a behaviourist ideally one with experience working with reactive dogs. You need to have your full family (bar small kids) involved in this process so everyone is being very consistent and I'd ask for advice on teaching your little one how to be safe around dogs as they grow up.

Your dog needs proper socialisation training and you need to be working on this very consistently and in partnership with a trainer.

Personally I'm of the opinion that no dog is safe with a toddler. My dog has never bitten and is well trained and very gentle but I'd never leave them together unattended and I'm very very closely supervising. In your case I'd be limiting their contact where possible until you've worked on the dogs other issues. If you can't do that consistently then it's probably best to rehome since you can't have eyes in the back of your head.

If you can’t afford to go to a reputable breeder, then either adopt from a rescue or don’t get a dog. Reputable breeders will have health tested the parents, will have properly socialised the puppies as much as possible before they leave, and will offer a lifetime of support and advice.

I was just about to ask this myself, purely anecdotal obviously but of all the cockers I've met it's the red/golden ones that have had issues with aggression.

To answer your question OP, no, I wouldn't trust this dog around a toddler and certainly not unsupervised. I would be looking up breed specific rescues to see if they can offer any help re training and socialisation and if needs be help with rehoming the dog to someone more experienced. This dog has been let down enough by people. Someone needs to put in the work.

Red genes are linked to temperament problems across many breeds other than spaniels, but while eg fox red labradors and vizslas are suddenly so popular (and golden retrievers, the dogs nobody expects to bite), then irresponsible breeders will keep churning out puppies from terrible bloodlines and selling them to those who just want that puppy at any price.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1489216448600436?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V

If you weren’t worried, you wouldn’t be posting. You have concerns about this dog and your child’s safety, so take heed and take action. Re-home the dog or your toddler.

I have a dog-reactive rescue dog, but she is reactive, not aggressive. She will lunge and bark if an unfamiliar dog gets too close, but has never bitten another dog. It's more of a strong "go away" from her.

She has never even looked at a human wrong. She's had to have several painful surgeries and the staff at the vets have been besotted with her, at how gentle and cooperative she is. She is great with children but she is getting on a bit (actually she's terminally ill), so if they're too much for her she just moves away.

This is a very different scenario from the one you describe.

Your dog isn't just dog reactive, she's also been reactive to people. Someone will accept her and love her and train her, but it shouldn't be you, with a toddler and another dog in the house and no experience of reactive dogs. The fact that you had her off lead running around with a strange dog makes me cringe. Please hand her over to a rescue who will be able to properly assess her and find her the right home.