Please supervise your children around the family pet...

[LindsayB]

I got a call last night from one of our good friends saying that they had an eventful night...She told me the had just got back from the emergency room with their 18 month old girl, Amber. Apparently she was playing in her room with their black Lab named Cash when they heard a loud growl and Amber screaming. They walked in and her face was gushing blood, it was pretty obvious what happened. She said that Cash had bit Amber in the face and left two slices on her cheek. Seven stitches on top and four on the bottom. I could not believe what she was telling me. This dog was always perfect around everyone. He had never bitten, never growled, nothing. Her husband wanted to take the dog to the backyard and take care of it himself (which is what I would of done) but they ended up just leaving him in the backyard. I think they are going to take him to a family member that has land or something, and no small children. I'm still a bit shocked that this happened. You always hear about these stories but it never hits home until it happens to someone close to you. So please watch your pets around your kids and look out for warning signs. This could of easily been prevented if they were watching them.

 

[chicks4kids]

That's really too bad...since it's sounds so uncharacteristic for the dog to act like that, he must have been provoked in some way. Wow, what a sad situation.

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

We were watching the news here in Kansas City a couple nights ago and they reported on a baby who had 9 of his fingers eaten off by a ferret before the family got to him.

 

[LindsayB]

I heard about that on the news too. Thats just gross...

 

[LindsayB]

I was reading up on dog behavior and why they may bite all of a sudden...I'm thinking maybe he bit the baby over dominance. They don't discipline their dogs (they have a female chocolate lab as well) so they kind of walk all over their owners. For example- they feed them from the table, they let the dogs clean amber's high chair

, they lay on the couch...ON TOP OF YOU, jump on you when you walk in the door, and when they come in from their doggy door they don't care what or whos in the way. they will run you over. (and they are 80-115 lbs) None of these things are aggressive or seem bad but they actually are. In the dog's eyes, they are the ones in charge.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

Dogs are not human. They should never be left unattended with small children, no matter HOW gentle they are. Sometimes they misread something a child does and even a quick snip can do damage to the child .. to whatever area is eye level with the dog (which is often the face in the case of medium/large dogs). I cannot imagine leaving an 18 month old alone in a room with a 100 lb dog. Sometimes, when I hear things like this (and the ferret) I think perhaps the parents should be taken out back and 'taken care of.'

 

[KristinH]

The really sad thing I that the kids and the animals tend to suffer because of the adults mistakes - like the case o the ferret...for the ferret to have had time to eat the kids fingers he must have been there a while, that not something they can do in the blink of any eye and the kid was likely screaming bloody murder..so where the heck were the parents? And why would you ever leave a child that young alone unsupervised for that long to begin with? From what I read the father killed the ferret by throwing it against the wall. Personally I think the parents should have been thrown against the wall too..now the kid get to grow up with no fingers because the parents were irresponsible.

As for the dog attack..well no young child should ever be left alone with a dog, little kids simply don't know how to 'play' with a dog properly they don't at that age understand how to be gentle and that doing things like pulling ears/tails/fur hurts the dog which can lead to defensive or reaction biting..if the dogs aren't trained and their biting over dominance that too is the parents fault. Now the kid will probably have a scar and the dog looses its home because of the adults and that to me i the saddest part of it all.

 

[FourPawz]

If you treat your dogs like little people in fur coats, then bring a baby into the mix, the dog, being a dog and not a person, will see itself as dominant over the baby. If the dog decides to discipline the baby (and most likely it will at some point) keep in mind the child's face is directly in line with the dog's teeth. Children do not understand dog behavior and do not respond to warning signals a dog gives before it bites, signals a puppy would heed without question. Also, toddlers can "provoke" the dog by merely hugging the wrong animal or getting into what the dog considers its personal space.

Obviously, there are huge numbers of dogs that would never harm a child. You increase your odds of having such a canine if you give it boundaries and if you do not leave small children unattended with family pets.

 

[Ema]

this past june, there was a case where a mother left her newborn baby in the presence of her friends 2 huskies, needless to say one of the dogs attacked the newborn baby killing her. That to me is pure stupidity. I have large dogs and even our most trusted dog was and has never been left alone with the kids. Sorry to say but I guess some people lack common sense. Here is the link to that story I was talking about.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/06/07/mtl-animal-attack-newborn.html

 

[gritsar]

Quote:

If you're stupid enough to leave a young child unsupervised with a dog, don't blame the dog for being what he is, a dog.