1 year old dies after being attacked by a dog

Well personally I would lock the door and take the key with me, but again its a matter of how vigilant you are. If you are a person who is likely to be forgetful when something that big is at stake perhaps the best idea is to not have the dog? Or (put on riot helmet) a child..?
 
Once again I agree. I just don't think that all of the people in the world who have commented on this story are really being truthful to themselves....of course this is just based on what I have viewed in person with people I know who have said how awful it was that the child was left with the dog.....when the child wasn't even left with the dog in the house (like their children so often are for very short periods of time); particularly as the dog in this case, was outside.
 
I was occasionally left unattended with the dog we had when I was small. She never so much as snapped although at times she was provoked. We were taught from a very young age that we were not allowed to touch the dog if she went in her basket or behind the settee so when we anoyed her, she would just go there. Of the 4 dogs we have at the minute, we would not leave any of them unattended with a child; although 2 would probably be ok, 2 are definate no no's as they can be snappy.
 
I suppose it depends on your doors - mine are difficult enough for an adult to open, let alone a small child!

Returning to the original story, I think the problem was leaving the seven year old unattended with the baby, regardless of the dog situation. Even if the dog had not been there she could have dropped the baby, caught its head on something hard, tried to feed it something inappropriate, etc, all of which could have put the baby at risk.

If the case was truly that the 16yo had briefly popped upstairs to answer a call or nature, then it terribly tragic that the 7yo chose that very brief space of time to pick the baby up and carry it outside. If, however, the 16yo was upstairs for a significantly longer period of time, then I personally feel it was negligent to leave the 7yo and the baby alone together.
 
Yup, our lab used to baby sit me when my mother popped into the shop etc, and i know I was left alone with the dog on hundreds of occassions before the age of 5! he was a great dog and knew I was something to care for/protect. Our new lab is a big bouncy puppy despite being 8 - I would never leave him alone with a child, he would never deliberatly hurt one, but he could accidently, just by his sheer size, and the fact he isn't very used to children. That said, the first time he met children (3 of my friends kids) this big bouncy thing just lay down and allowed himself to be stroked, prodded etc - he knew that he had to be gentle with them.

What amazes me here is the number of unleashed dogs on public trails etc, now I have nothing against a dog running, but when you see people you call it to heel. I am not fazed by dogs, but so many people are - just a few days ago I was walking on the Bruce Trail (well used trail in Ontario) and two lovely (but very big!) dogs bounded up to me at full tilt. Now I come from the naive 'assume they are friendly' school of thought, and it's second nature to say 'hello, pup what are you up to' as they approach. But so many people would have been terrified. I find far more loose dogs over here than I did in public in the UK, despite more exensive 'leash laws' here.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Aren't all dogs larger than a pug potentially dangerous?

[/ QUOTE ]

Why ban everything that is potentially dangerous?

[/ QUOTE ]

ALL dogs are potentially dangerous. Size doesn't come into it. Horses are potentially dangerous, cars are potentially dagerous (depends what kind of driver they have
smirk.gif
) you could go on for hours of things that are potentially dangerous but should we ban them?

I can't believe I just agreed with Giles.
grin.gif
 
Only just gotten round to reading (most) of this thread and im so saddened by it.

You can't ban every potential risk from our lives; its not feasible

My parents bought our first rotty when I was in my early teens. We researched the breed carefully and opted for a bitch. When my parents divorced, neither were in a position to keep sally and so, she came to live with me. I lost her in June of this year to cancer. That dog was the sofest and most gentle animal ive had in my life; with the possible exception of a goldfish i won at a fair.

I would never leave her with someone she didn't know. Then again, id never leave my other dog with someone she didnt know either. I can also say hand on heart that my husky would be of more danger to anyone than my rotty would and in comparison, my husky is smaller than most sheepdogs

Sally was always leashed, not for other peoples' safety, but for her own. I would never have risked people accusing her of x, y and z. I always said if we moved somewhere more built up, she would have been muzzled (incidently, the husky is always leashed too and the same rule would have applied with the muzzle).

What i did find so heartwarming was the number of people who did meet sally and commented on what a darling of a dog she was. In relative terms of course, it was a very small number of people compared to the population but i just hope that the opinions of those who did meet her were influenced for the better.

The problem is not these dogs at all, its some of the people who are buying them. Dog licensing - how exactly do people envisage this working... you pay for a piece of paper? Or do you have to take a test of some kind also to prove your worth as an owner? How long before theres a black market in forged licenses?

Ban any breed over the size of what... a collie? PTS any in current existance to destroy the lines completly? What gives us any right to do that and what a completly devastating and authoratarian move to make.

Consider that we DID indeed do that. Would the dog attacks stop? of course not. Theres many terrier breeds notoriously snappy and nippy and dont be naieve, these breeds can still kill a young child. Of course, it would then be THESE attacks that the press would pick up on. No longer would they have the rottweiler to expose as our undercover murderers. So how long until we ban all dog breeds? Kill the lot of them as a potential hazard to human life.

Theres some pretty common sense rules need applying to dog ownership and given the apparent intelligence of the human race, i dont think its asking too much for them to adhere to.

Dog licensing is unlikely to help. If we're particularly pinpointing the type of people who buy such breeds and then chain them up finding their then developing vicious natures to be amusing; dont be stupid enough to think they wont get around the licensing laws. The only thing it would do is create another form of tax for the genuine people out there. The ones who buy these dogs out of a love for the breed itself.

Banning certain breeds is futile as once the uproar has died down, another breed will just come into profile that should be added to the black list.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Aren't all dogs larger than a pug potentially dangerous?

[/ QUOTE ]

Why ban everything that is potentially dangerous?

[/ QUOTE ]

ALL dogs are potentially dangerous. Size doesn't come into it. Horses are potentially dangerous, cars are potentially dagerous (depends what kind of driver they have
smirk.gif
) you could go on for hours of things that are potentially dangerous but should we ban them?

I can't believe I just agreed with Giles.
grin.gif


[/ QUOTE ] Lets not forget that humans are potentially dangerous - especially men. Human men attack, kill and mame far more often than dogs! A fasicious point? Yes, but also true!
 
Yes the UK used to have Dog Licences. They were abolished back in the 80's and they cost 37p. Total waste of time as all it was was a registry for the local council....ie a tax on competent dog owners and a help to those who lost dogs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top