Its Me or the Dog

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RubyR

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Has any one just seen the latest episode of Its Me or The Dog on Channel 4? It was so sad. The family owned two cocker spaniels and one of them had bitten their 4 year old daughter previously. Whilst filming the episode the dog also bit their other daughter (about 8 years old). It had bitten her in about four places. After a lot of thought they had the dog put to sleep. It was so sad seeing the owner crying taking the dog to the vets to be pts. It was very sad, but I suppose when a dog has bitten children twice before (and on the second occasion for no reason) there isn't much you can do. It also shows you that dogs of any breed can be dangerous. I had to give my dogs a cuddle after watching it!!
 
The problem with rehoming is that you are not dealing with the problem but passing it on. If you go to any of the rehoming centres or rescue associations they will not rehome a dog that has bitten but PTS because the dog always remains their liability. So if it does attack anyone else it will be their 'fault'. The average person on the street is lucky and is able to pass them on without that responsibility but if they did they would perhaps be more cautious.

The two options are intensive training (which I assume this programme was about, I did not see it) or PTS.

I know this because of someone recently trying to rehome their dog that had attacked their cat suddenly and then their small daughter.

If a dog suddenly turns nasty like that it can be a sign of a brain tumour as well.

However it is very sad and frustrating for ever is involved.

Emma
 
I agree that rehoming was not an option in this case. Even if you sent it to a child-free home, you could never guarantee it would not come into contact with children visiting, or meet children when out for walks. And who is to say it wouldn't show unprovoked aggression towards adults as well. The last attack seemed particularly vicious - it was not just one nip, it was multiple bites to the hand, chest and legs
crazy.gif
. All I can say is it was lucky it wasn't a bigger, more powerful dog.

It was interesting that the owners had two dogs and only one had the aggression problem - so seems that it wasn't a handling or training problem but something innate in the dog.
 
Yep - wept buckets, very sad for all involved. I did sit there wondering how much of the dog's problems were down to the lack of discipline by the family.

Very sad that it had to be PTS, but totally agreed that it was the only option.
 
Yes, I've heard of 'Cocker Rage Syndrome'. They did mention at the end of the programme that it could have been something neuroligal.
 
it was very sad-it could have been Rage syndrome (idiopathic rage is also arguably seen in Bernese mountain dogs I believe) but this is extremely rare these days.
In this instance, the dog was completely undisciplined for quite a while and had no idea of pack order. A behaviourist friend of mine says that dogs dont recognise kids under about 12 as authority figures. They may get on with them, protect them and never hurt them but the combination of a naturally dominant dog and then lack of training train = asking for trouble.
There was no choice for that dog-it hadnt just snapped at the kid, it had attacked and repeatedly bitten her within the one attack-let alone the other times. As someone said in the SB thread, I got the impression the trainer said that to soften the blow somewhat.
 
What shocked me the most was that the father was really reluctant to make the decision to have the dog destroyed. I love my dog to pieces, bless her stinky little socks, but if she attacked my daughter I would have no qualms having her put to sleep. It would be the responsible thing to do.

The programme did appear to hint at the fact that this dog had bit the children on 3 prior occasions (not just once). What was this man thinking? His children should have immediately taken priorty.

I still blubbered watching it though.....
 
well, if I were him I would have been feeling incredibly guilty about both the child - maybe he was just trying to delay the inevitable? anyway, it got done and I just hope that in future they keep up with the dog training!
 
[ QUOTE ]

The programme did appear to hint at the fact that this dog had bit the children on 3 prior occasions (not just once). What was this man thinking? His children should have immediately taken priorty.

[/ QUOTE ]
They should have,although TBH I can understand him dithering about it in the end.
The thing that shocked me was that they said he had bitten at new year, it was certanly summer when this was filmed so why wait so long to make a start on the problem?
 
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