Is having A DOG with very young kids ....?

Question

taking a risk ... a bit like drink driving..?

I feel an ad campaign coming on... but seriously... in answer to my last question..Ifelt that some people were a bit over-protective of their pets... and were blaming young kids for not knowing how not to provoke an animal...

c'mon.... how are they to know better...???

Miss B.ITCH..have I touched a nerve..? sorry ...

Answer 1

I would never blame the kids in a situation, I would blame the adults for leaving the kids and dogs together. Kids don't know better, and dogs do what come natural, unsupervised this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Answer 2

Some people who have a dog or dogs may not have a lot of visitors & when the holiday season comes around they get more visitors than normal. Combine that with fireworks which seem to be going off most nights where we live, & possibly children do not visit often - all these events can contribute to an attack.
Last New Year a little girl was killed by her Uncle's dog & this was due to several factors too.
The recent death of a 1 year old child was probably due to a lot of little factors too that culminated in the attack & subsequent death of another child.
We own a Cocker Spaniel that we got from the Dog's Trust 18mths ago. We have 2 grandsons who do not visit us with their mother because we do not know what Sally is like with children, our grandsons are boisterous little boys (ages 8 & 7...the youngest had his birthday today), & we only live in a small house. We do not believe in shutting Sally out in the garden or locking her in another room because she could equate "little people" to her being put out. Our daughter understands this & accepts it. Despite them having a dog of their own we would still not like to take the risk with our dog. She is old & can get grumpy with us at times.
The responsibility for the dog is the owner, the responsibility for the child is the parents but unforseen circumstances come into the mix also.
Our hearts go out to the family whose child died & hope & pray that there are no more deaths.

Answer 3

I am very nervous about having dogs around small children. My older daughter was attacked by a neighbor's dog when it slipped its collar and went after her. All she did was say hello to the girl who was walking it. My younger daughter was bitten in the face by a relative's dog when she was a baby. We were visiting and were told the dog didn't like little children so I did my best to keep her away from it. I made the mistake of allowing her to crawl on the floor and the dog ran over and bit her. She was nowhere near it at the time. Then when I was a child, my parents had a dachshund that never liked me. I couldn't walk into the room without it growling at me and if I got too close, it would try to bite me. I'm sorry if I offend anyone but I just don't trust dogs.

Answer 4

I wonder what the statistics are for these types of attacks or even lesser ones.When you consider how many households have dogs and the numbers of years those animals spend around families then my guess is dangerous attacks are relatively uncommon.
It comes down to choice.There's a chance any dog could do something unpredictable at any time.There's just no getting away from that.If you are prepared to balance the extremely small risk with the pleasure that having a pet gives then you must also accept the consequences of your choice.

Answer 5

It depends on the dog, and you need to teach the children from a young age not to be too rough or tease the dogs. My son has been around dogs periodically since he was just over a year-old. We do not have pets ourselves but when he is around them we observe him and make sure he is not pulling their tail, fur or ears, and his not hitting or petting too rough. Our son is now 3 and we will be getting a small dog soon. We even tell him to be nice to his stuffed animals by not hitting or throwing them because we don't want him to think he can do that to a real dog. It has more to do with the responsibility of the parents than the dog themselves. I had the same dog for 14 years and she NEVER bit me and I was my son's age when we got her, but she HATED my brother and used to bite him all the time because he teased her.

Answer 6

Its a hard question, at the end of the day a dogs essentially a wild animal and as such is never completely predictable, therefore there is always an element of risk involved. However i myself was brought up within a house full of animals and never had any trouble with them, i wouldn't think twice about bringing children up with pets around.

Answer 7

It's perfectly acceptable to have both kids and a dog, if you are a responsible person. You can have both but you must train the dog and you must either watch small children, ensuring they are never alone with the pet, and teach older children to respect animals.

Nine times out of ten, deaths by dogs are down to poor training of the dog and kids taunting the animal.

Answer 8

I think it's about knowing your children and your dog. I have two young children and a German Shepherd dog. When kids were babies they didn't get together at all. Now my eldest is 4 they play a little together and go for walks together, but she's still too little to handle or control or play games where the dog would see it as a challenge.

My son is only 2 and the dog (who is incredibly gentle) is only allowed around him for short periods when they are supervised. Partly because 2 year olds poke and prod and pull at things dogs don't like and partly because she's too boisterous for a small child.

That said. I know her temperament, I watch her, I train her and she knows her rank. If I had a slight doubt I would have her destroyed. NO CHANCES. I love my dog, but my kids are my life.

Answer 9

I think that if you already have a dog and then a baby comes along the dog feels threatened as it thinks the baby is taking it's place. In the animal world all animals fight for position in the hierachy as that is nature that the strongest survive through it's bloodline and animals will fight to establish themselves. My opinion is that this is what the dog is doing when it attacks children.

Answer 10

well it depends
it can be an agressive animal and hurt them
or it could be a tolerant animal thats protective
it depends on how you look at it

generally, kids, young even, aren't really
much for provocation,
some are

if you are worried just make sure that your dog is separated
from your children
MOST dogs are protective over young kids
depends on the breed, age size, etc.

:)