1 year old dies after being attacked by a dog

Again, great minds, great minds!!
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As an owner of a large breed dog i feel they are being given a really bad press. I am aware that my dog looks intimidating to others, but as a single mum who has been broken into (PRE_dog)that was one of the reasons i got him. However i am experienced owner & reseached this breed exstensively. My dog Is our protector, my kids love him, i trust him with my family. How many families out there over how many years have had dogs who have been nothing but faithfull family friends. A few bad stories concerning rogue dogs/bad owners and all of a sudden every dog is a potential killer. By the same tolken we could say as mothers one of us somewhere is currently raising a child who will become a killer/murderer. A fact unfortunately tho none of us may wish to accept it. Bad things unfortunately will happen & i am so sorry for the poor lad along with all the other people in the world who have died in unjust tragic circumstances. But no one is ever going to make me believe that my large breed dog is anything other than a much loved irriplacable canine friend.
 
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why do these incidents always seem to happen when a baby is left with an innapropriate person, I do wonder (!)

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I agree with this - however I'd be more inclined to take it one step further and say that these incidents generally seem to occur with inappropriate FAMILIES.
An 18yr old with a 1yr old, with 3 other kids in the house and a dog all of which are being looked after by a 16yr old KID. Irresponsible family in my opinion, where are the real parents?
Any dog can be dangerous if put in a threatening situation, the actual problem is not the breed but the sort of people that purchase them for their 'status symbol'.
Molineux, your Rottie is lovely!
(sorry if this has all been said already, I haven't read the whole thread!)
 
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I wouldn't trust any child to be left alone with my dog. He totally adores people and has never shown aggresive behaviour towards a human BUT children(and yes some immature adults) tease and have no concept of enough is enough until the dogs warns or bites.

Regarding muzzling dogs in public areas, well I think that responsible owners will comply and the custard owners won't and it is my opinion that the latter are the ones with messed up dogs that are more likely to attack.

My very bright dog has a high prey drive that was made worse by his selective deafness
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so I chose to fit him with a stimulation collar to aid his re training.
It worked BTW.

I appreciate not all children are like this but I am not going to risk my dog being PTS because of an irresponsible child or parents/carers/babysitters behaviour.
 
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Why? At 18 she is perfectly old enough. The child was being babysat.

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At 16 she'd be old enough - quite obviously not responsible enough.
 
I've got to agree with you - we own two collies and I wouldn't trust EITHER of them - they are never allowed in a situation where something could happen - Neither are left with children - or for that matter any people who they don't know - and even then I warn people and tell them to ignore the dogs - It's about knowing the animals and their capabilities - I think people who think their dogs incapable are being a little bit niaive.
Normally I don't comment on things like this but it's quite an emotive subject.
Kate x
 
At the risk of my mother being branded irresponsible, she used to leave our Lab tied to the pram handle to guard first my sister and five years later, me. The dog looked after both of us when mum was in another room or when we were playing in the garden. He was much more trustworthy than passing strangers.
 
Shoving my two penn'orth in on this one....dog attacks tend to be so much nastier when certain breeds of dog are involved, but hand on heart, I don't think that any particualr breed is more prone to mauling humans than any other.

What I DO think and absolutely believe, is that a certain type of bad dog-owner is always attracted to the same small array of breeds. These bad owners get dogs PURELY on the basis of them being scary-looking or intimidating, don't train them properly, and encourage them to behave in an anti-social way even at home. These people ALSO tend not to "train" their children to behave properly, either around animals or other people, so their children are more likely than other children to provoke the badly-trained dog.

Certainly in this case, and in 99% of these pit-bull-eats-toddler cases, its bad ownership at the heart of the problem, rather than bad breed.
 
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Shoving my two penn'orth in on this one....dog attacks tend to be so much nastier when certain breeds of dog are involved, but hand on heart, I don't think that any particualr breed is more prone to mauling humans than any other.

What I DO think and absolutely believe, is that a certain type of bad dog-owner is always attracted to the same small array of breeds. These bad owners get dogs PURELY on the basis of them being scary-looking or intimidating, don't train them properly, and encourage them to behave in an anti-social way even at home. These people ALSO tend not to "train" their children to behave properly, either around animals or other people, so their children are more likely than other children to provoke the badly-trained dog.

Certainly in this case, and in 99% of these pit-bull-eats-toddler cases, its bad ownership at the heart of the problem, rather than bad breed.

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Very true.
 
Echo Trundle. I own a rottie - and for whoever said earlier, no, I am not a sad person with something missing in my life!! I was given him by a friend who DID buy him for the wrong reasons (the look, the stereotype etc) but luckily was intelligent enough to realise his mistake and gave me the dog after a few months. Now, my dog is 4 years old. I would happily licence him, muzzle him etc if that was the law. I don't NEED to as he has never even so much as growled/raised his hackles at anyone/anything, but if the law required it, I would happily comply. But then I like to imagine that even if for example tests/home visits were introduced, I would pass....the problem isn't with owners of rotties like mine, and molineux's, and I imagine most of the others on this forum. It is with the owners that buy them or PBTs or shepherds or any other bull terriers etc as status symbols, don't walk them, don't train them, keep them in little yards etc. That is when danger occurs, and sadly these are usually the people who leave their dogs in a position where they could attack a child.
Even if we did have a ban on Rotties (which IMO would be a tragedy), well, we have a ban on APBTs and yet how many of them do you see, all over the rougher areas of most of our cities! Pretty easy to see how well THAT ban is working I'd say. And, even if the bans did work and were effectively implemented, well, that 'type' of owner would just get another dog!! It would likely be german shepherds next, then we'd have calls for a ban on them, then god knows what the 'fashion' would be? English Bull Terriers? Whatever they can get, they will still have dogs. It would just never end, so sadly banning any breed would not IMO work. I'm afraid I don't have any better suggestions though!

PS However much I trust my dog, I would never leave him alone with a child. Even though I don't THINK he would ever hurt anyone, I'd never be able to live with myself if he did, because it would be my fault. And all sorts of accidents can happen!
 
Just to add.....many people who meet my dog don't believe he is a rottie....the image of them portrayed by the press is some kind of slavering monster...which is far rom the truth in my experience! And he's not actually that big, same size as a friend's weimeraner, and smaller than the golden retriever that belonged to an ex boyfriend of mine years ago.
He also once allowed someone to break into my horsebox and steal my handbag which he was sitting on....think his guarding gene must have been bypassed somehow...!
 
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god knows what the 'fashion' would be? English Bull Terriers? Whatever they can get, they will still have dogs.

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I really, really like English Bull Terriers. I like their funny triangular eyes and their great big noses. Not relevant to the original discussion at all, but i just thought I'd throw that in.
 
Trundle, my rottie's best playmate when he was younger was an EBT, he was fantastic....his name is Winston! He's ever so funny. He can be pretty boisterous though and my life is he strong!!
There is a girl at our yard (though not for much longer!) with one though and they have managed to get us all to have to keep all dogs on lead even if they have been fine before, because her EBT went for a horse....dare I say it in public though - that is a case of owner rather than dog being to blame
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sorry, completely wrong IMO. 16 is the legal age for babysitting, you have no idea why the 7yr old was left alone with the baby, maybe the other one threw up? Don't tell me kids are never alone in a room of the house!
I think it's wrong to make an assumption on her parenting skills based on her age since she wasn't even there at the time...or next thing you will be saying she should never have left the baby in the first place?
 
Going to play devil's advocate here.....guessing that TSH is (quite rightly IMO) disputing that people are assuming that the 16 year old couldn't be responsible because of her age.....fair point, but therefore why should we assume that all rotties are vicious because they are rotties? Not saying that everyone is, but there are some people who do!
Now obviously I realise that rotties/all other dogs are animals not people, and that there are rotties who are dangeous, but then there are some very very irresponsible 16 year old babysitters/18 year old mums. And equally some very nice rotties and some very responsible young carers.
Unfair to make assumptions in ANY case, be it human or animal in my opinion.
 
I have to say; I actually really like Rotties. Every single one I have met, and there have been lots in my life, have been the softest and loveliest dogs imaginable.

At least 2 times in our life (when we lived in England) we have considered buying a Rottie, however because we have always lived in the middle of farmland, and because my dogs ride out with me, we have always felt it was a risk that the dog may be shot by farmers just for being in a field full of stock....therefore our chosen breeds have traditionally been collies or springers.

Over here I have dogs to do a job which is why I carefully researched and chose the breeds which compliment our lifestyle.....exactly the same reasoning as I did when choosing the breed of dogs we had in England.
 
I am going to really stick my neck out and probably get stoned for it

BUT ......

I have left kids alone with my doglet, as a child i was left alone with our dogs .. shock horror ... regularly.

I hope, when i have kids i will be lucky enough to have the type of dogs that i can leave my kids alone with, be it in the garden, sitting room or walking.

Maybe i'll be a terrible parent ... maybe i wont, my mum certainly wasnt.

Anyone else out there willing to own up to leaving people/kids alone with their dogs???



*edited to add my doglet is a terrier and mums dogs were working gun dogs - spanials mostly*
 
In my eyes it wasn't an assumption it was a fact, an 18YO with a 1YO child left it with a 16YO, who then left one of the kids alone for whatever reason and then the baby got killed by the dog.

Yes kids can be alone whenever they like, though not usually with an admittedly viscious dog outside. That spells either a bad mother or a bad baby sitter to me, and certainly a bad dog owner.
 
I don't but that's because my dogs live outside.

To be honest; I would wager that almost every single person who keeps dogs and children INSIDE their home HAS in fact left their child/ren unattended with the dog at some point in their lives. Quite unbelievable to me that the claims that children and dogs have never ever been in the same room together without adult supervision every single time....sorry if this is not the case with a handful of people here, but I just don't believe that this is not the norm for most people with dogs in houses.

I doubt anyone would leave a baby in a room unattended, but that would be the case whether or not they have a dog surely? But 3 or 4 year old children? Nah I'm not buying it.
 
Ah now what I heard on the radio was the dog was kept outside because it was a bit snappy...just goes to show how different stories can be.

I still dont think Id be happy to leave my kids with the dog in that way though, because of its propensity to cause so much damage.
 
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I doubt anyone would leave a baby in a room unattended, but that would be the case whether or not they have a dog surely? But 3 or 4 year old children? Nah I'm not buying it.

[/ QUOTE ] I can say quite categorically that I never left my daughter alone with the dogs at that age, even if I was popping upstairs briefly. I think children that age are probably more at risk than babies, as they are much more likely to provoke the dog with their actions.
 
So did your daughter go to the bathroom with you every time you needed? And did she go into the kitchen with you every time you made meals? And is the telephone in the room where the child and dog are?

These are not specific questions to you TGM - more rather questions that have just mulled through my mind. I know a number of people who tell me the exact same thing "no I never leave my children unattended with the dog".... well from what I have viewed from these very same person is that oh yes they most certainly do! It may only be for 1 minute whilst they go out into the hallway to answer the phone or the door, but that is my point.
 
The dogs would be put in the kitchen or the garden if I had to leave her, even if it was just to go to the bathroom. Admittedly I was extra careful because one of them was unpredictable.
 
Then you are one of the handful I mentioned.
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My experience of others has been that most are not as careful as you are.
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I agree; however do people lock the doors of the house when they go to the loo? Could a child of 3 or 4 not just simply open the door and go outside to the garden with the dog in the absence of the parent in the loo, or answering the door or phone?
 
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