Would you have your dog put to sleep after he bit your child?
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M$23 Answers
Then there are older children who should know better but mistreat their dog anyway. Kids who won't treat dogs right shouldn't have one, and in that case the dog should be removed from the home. Just because a dog nips at an ornery child, it doesn't make the dog dangerous, it's just setting limits.
Some breeds have a natural tendency to dislike kids' noisy, rowdy antics and some dogs, like Labs, will put up with about anything kids will dish out. When you're going to have dogs and kids in the same family, parents need to choose the breed carefully and make sure that the kids are taught that if they bother the dog while it is sleeping or eating, or if they pull it's ears or tail or otherwise mistreat it, that they are likely to get bitten. The dog and the family need to be a good fit, and choosing a breed just because it's the latest fad breed or you like the breed's appearance or temperament is a bad idea. Whether to get a dog, and which kind is best for your family, is something that should be carefully considered, and doing so can prevent a lot of heartache and injury!
Dog owners also need to realize that they can't treat their dog like one of the children. The dog will assume the children are his littermates and treat them as such, including nipping them when they play together. The dog needs to be taught that he is at the bottom of the pecking order, and the owner must take care to train his dog to know it is a dog, not a person. Otherwise, they end up with a dog with "Small dog syndrome," which is a condition that is not only confined to small dogs, but owners are more likely to overlook bad behavior from a small dog than they are a larger one (such as nipping and jumping on people). I believe a lot of dog behavioral issues are actually created or reinforced by owners who love their dogs but just don't know how to train them correctly. A dog who knows the owner is the boss and that the kids are his superiors is less likely to become uncontrollable and dangerous.
Now, if the dog actually attacks a child with little provocation, that would be another matter. It may be that the dog just needs to be rehomed with a family without children, or at least with a family with calmer, older children. Of course the family should be aware of the potential problem and be willing to deal with it. If the first owner is pretty well convinced the dog is dangerous, then perhaps putting the dog down would be the best option, because they certainly wouldn't want to give the dog to a family and have someone else severly injured. Also, they might consider giving the dog to a dog rescue agency where dog professionals may be able to retrain the dog so he can be placed in another home. I really hate to see a dog put down because he's been raised wrong, but some dogs are truly psychotic and leave little choice in the matter.
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M$If my dog bit my -or any- child, I would certainly try to figure out what happened, but unless the dog is particularly vicious, no dog will bite without being challenged.
Young children think they can play with a dog like they can play with any toy. They will poke its eyes, pull its tail or hairs, anything to get a reaction. If they try hard enough, they will get that reaction, but it will be usually be a growl, or worse.
So, the trick is to never let this happen, and I will definitely teach my child that a dog is NOT a toy, and not to be 'played' with, without asking me first. I'll teach my child that a dog likes to be stroked gently on the back, but that the head and tail are no-go areas. That way, I'll be able to greatly lower the chance of anything serious happening.
When other children visit our house, I always ask whether their child is accustomed to dogs, and I never leave the two of them in a room alone. So far, nothing ever happened, and I tend to keep it that way, if I can help.
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M$
"No dog will bite without being challenged" That is a little loose. Nobody knows what a dog will consider "Challenging" it. I work for FedEx, and fed a dog treats several times and had no problems with it. Showed up one day, tossed him a treat and he bit me. He just felt like biting me that day.
I am not believing so many people saying that dogs will not attack unprovoked! Have you never read the news? It seems every day there is a child or person somewhere that is attacked by a dog who just shows up out of nowhere and chews them to bits. Tell the parents of children who were simply playing in their yards, and were attacked viciously by some rott or pit bull that had gotten of its leash that dogs don't attack for no reason. For that matter, ask ME what reason the chow who bit me at age 9 had to do it.
Randy,
I don't know exactly what happened, but even in your situation, the dog will have had some incentive to bite.
Biting, or being aggressive in general, is simply not an effective course of action in nature. Hardly no animal will attack without being provoked. This is simply because often an attack puts the attacker in danger.
However, you are right about the definition of 'provocation'. What we call provocation may not equal provocation to a dog, or any animal. Mailmen are a notorious case, as a mailman can be seen as an intruder, that invades the safety area of the dog, and the dog might feel forced to defend. It may seem unprovoked to us, but for the dog, it is a natural course of action.
So yes, there is always reason to be careful around dogs.
Dogs don't bite because they "just feel like it." Dogs run on instinct. You obviously did something you don't realize you did that provoked it.
For example: Never stare a strange dog in the eyes. That's how dogs show aggression toward each other. Never back a strange dog into a corner he can't get out of. This is, in nature, a survival instinct.
Good, thoughtful answer you have there. One of my current dogs is a German Shepherd mix; I adopted her when she was 1 year old and boy, she was a wild child at first. She wasn't mean-spirited but easily excited, played too rough, got a bit snappy, etc. Having a calm home and plenty of attention worked wonders. She is going on 10 now without ever having harmed anyone. She didn't even react when an elderly guest in our home walked up behind her and patted her while she was eating. She was startled, but simply turned around to look and then went right on eating. (Even grown adults don't listen to me when I tell them up front not to do that kind of thing to a dog.)
Also, there are people who are able to work with dogs that have come from terrible situations and bring them to the point where any aggression is very much minimized so they can at least live in homes without small children. I have seen shows on television about this. Some don't improve, of course, and in that case it is very sad.
The doctors gave them no hope that he would survive. That boy is eighteen now. He had a stroke while in the hospital, a few days after the attack. The number of surgeries he's had number in the twenties or thirties.
That dog was put to sleep. It doesn't matter what caused the dog to attack. I would not want a dog capable of doing this around my own kids or other kids.
If was a case of the child pulling on the dog's ear a little too hard that resulted in a little 'nip' that stopped there, then that's different. Children need to be watched around all animals, not just dogs. Children who are constantly supervised around animals can then be taught how to properly handle them.
When kids understand not to touch their dog while they are sleeping or eating, potential dog bites can be avoided.
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M$
Unfortunately, after 101 Dalmations, a lot of people bought their kids dalmations, despite warnings by animal professionals that they were not suited to young children. There have been many attacks on children by dalmations, and now there are hundreds of abandoned dalmations all over the country that can't find homes.
Sounds like a family who wasn't appropriately prepared for dog ownership. So many families go out and get a dog because, I guess, they feel that's just what families are supposed to do, without any forethought as to the breed of dog, how big it will get, responsibilities. It's sad when men's ignorance causes an animal to lose it's life through no fault of it's own.
The picture makes me all soft and goeey inside. Especially the dog.
Wow, what a horrifying story. I'm glad the boy was fine in the end, but still so many surgeries after such an unnecessary accident. I asked the question, because when my younger son was 2 he wanted a puppy, since his older brother, then 8, had a little pomeranian. Since my husband and I didn't want to spend a huge amount of money on another small breed pup, we decided to adopt an 8-week old doggie from the Humane Society. Well, all was well until one day, when he puppy was about 6 months old (and a pretty large size already, since he was a Lab-Australian Shepherd mix) jumped up at my 8 year old son while he was feeding his dog and bit him in the face. My son had told us that the Lab had tried to get into our Pomeranian's kennel and eat her food, so he pulled him out by his collar, at which point the Lab snapped and bit. He made my son's cheek bleed heavily and left a one inch scar (which thank goodness did not need stiches). He was only a puppy and neither my husband or I had ever imagined he would be capable of such behavior. We called the Humane Society and the vet to see if we could find him another family, but both places told us that once a dog becomes violent, they would not be able to take him back. The vet advised us to have him euthanized.
A tragic story, and I'm so sorry for the boy and his family. But this just validates the point I made in my answer. Dalmations became popular when the "101 Dalmations" movie was out, but Dalmations are one breed that are not generally suitable for families with kids. As a breed, they are not fond of them, and too many families brought them into their families without doing their homework. Dogs can be dangerous, any dog, when they are not the right fit for the family.
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I would probably start by trying to find the dog a new, child-free, home, especially if the behavioral problems paralleled the arrival of the child. Failing that, I would have to consider having the dog put down or given to a shelter. I have to say, though, that this would be an absolute last option. I love my dog like a child, and the situation would have to be extremely tenuous for me to consider destroying him.
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M$I would kill the dog myself.
Guess I'm just old fashioned that way. Don't get me wrong, I have two great dogs, and they are wonderful with my little girl. They play together, and they are very protective. But one slip is all it would take.
Unlike what many people think, dogs will sometimes turn. To defy that, is to defy evolution. Dogs are domesticated, but they do still have their base carnivore instincts. If your dog does turn on it's family, then it is your responsibility to ensure the dog never does it again. Unfortunately, that means putting the dog down.
What amazes me are people who would keep the dog around. If it was a rat, you would kill it. If it was a raccoon, you would kill it. If it was a monkey, you would kill it. Now, when I say kill it, I mean to do it yourself, or have somebody else do it. Why not the dog? His innocent face? No, it is because you tell yourself it was your fault, and not his. You say he needs to be at a farm, because dogs on farms don't bite.
It simply is not true. If they begin biting, they will continue. Because they revert to a more feral set of instinct, where teeth make the rules.
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M$
One more thing - if it was a raccoon or rat or anything else and I got bit, no, I still wouldn't kill it. I would laugh at my stupid a** for putting myself in a position to get bit and run the damn thing off my porch. I absolutely would not kill it unless it showed symptoms of being rabid, but then, I'm a country girl and know how to deal with animals. I grew up on a farm. I've been around all kinds of animals, including dogs, my entire life. Yes, I was bit and guess what? My parents asked me what I was doing to provoke the dog, like good parents should, and I told them I was tormenting it with a stick. They scolded me, sent me to my room, and guess what? I didn't engage in that behavior anymore and in all my 35 years on this planet I've never been bit again. It's a matter of the intelligence of the human being, not the lack of intelligence of the animal.
To those people voting 'unhelpful', please note that 'unhelpful' is not the same as 'I disagree'.
That's because it IS your fault and not his. And why kill it? Is killing always the answer? Let's just kill everything that gets in our way, shall we? Kill, kill, kill! A dog doesn't turn without provocation. All it takes is some intelligence to understand what will cause a dog to be provoked. It's realy very simple, but, alas, man is so full of fear they just want to kill everything they don't understand.
BTW - I was not one of the people who voted unhelpful. Those votes were there before I even read your answer.
Thanks, @Mithrandir2.
@samid Animals do revert to a feral state. It happens. It is not always the humans fault. Yes, there is always a reason. one of those reasons could be that the dog has gone feral. Yes, I was bitten as a child. I had half of my face torn off by a collie. I hold no malice towards the breed, nor dogs in general. I love dogs. And I hold no malice towards the dog who bit me, as my father put the dog down as soon as we got back from the hospital. When I was bit, I was doing nothing more than petting him. My father was with me, and it happened in a blink. But it did not happen again.
Now, I am not talking about a nip. I am not talking about a light snap. When I think of a dog bite, I remember being mauled. The reason I say it happens, is because it happened to me. And if it happened to my child.. well.. I would do the same thing my father did. Prevent it from happening again.
I was so young that I have no memory whatsoever of the bite, or even of the dog for that matter. The only physical evidence is a small scar on my cheek. I was told that I had approached the dog while it was eating and put my hands on it, so I'm guessing it felt threatened or I startled it.
This still crosses my mind from time to time, and it fills me with discomfort and sadness that an animal lost its life over something that apparently was not a vicious attack or part of any disturbing pattern of aggression.
To this day I wish my family members had never specifically told me where my little scar came from or what happened to the dog, and I sure do wish it had been given a chance at life and love somewhere else, perhaps with a childless couple.
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M$
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M$
Depending on severity:
Didn't break the skin, scared the kid- a good whack on the rump a stern word or two and sent outside for a day with no play time. Dogs crave attention, ignoring a dog is considered punishment.
Broke the skin, minor bite, showed fear afterward as if knowing it slipped up and was in BIG trouble. More than a whack or two, no more indoor privileges for some time.
Broke the skin, showed no remorse. Re-home, find a child free environment and warn them the dog doesn't do well with children.
Attack, savage. I'd shoot the damn dog in the head. Attacking a child in a violent way no matter what was done shows mental instability and indicates a dangerous dog. The only instance a dog should attack this way is if an intruder has entered the house or you are being attacked by someone. By allowing it to live you only risk it hurting someone else.
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M$An adult dog that bites is a different question. It will bite because it feels it is the leader of the pack. If this happens it probably means that 'play biting' when the dog was young has not been corrected. What seems like play bites is actually the dogs way of establishing dominance. An adult dog that bites can be trained to stop, but it will probably require the help of a professional dog trainer. Giving away a dog tat has bitten a child to a childless couple is handing over a problem to someone else. The dog will still perceive itself as the pack leader and will still dish out punishment when it thinks pack members are acting up.
I would have an adult dog that bit a child euthanized immediately. While the cause of the problem will (almost) always be that the dog has not been socialized properly and ultimately the owners responsibility, a biting dog is a great liability that you can not risk having around.
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M$
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If the dog is otherwise a compatible breed, size, age, and has no health problems that prevent it from being a valuable addition to a family, then you should consult a veterinarian to determine the cause of your pet's behavior, and the best course of action to retrain it.
If the dog has social valuable as a companion animal or pet, but is otherwise not suitable for your family, you should seek to find a new home for it rather than put it down.
Lifetime owner of multiple dogs and AKC training.
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M$
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M$
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How old is the child? Was the child injured? Did the child provoke the dog? What kind of dog? Has the dog been aggressive before? Is the dog trained? Is he otherwise well behaved? Has he been altered(assuming he is male)
All the above are critical to making a good decision. You don't just put an animal down because he bites someone, many times it is the fault of the owner or person handling the dog.
Can you give us anymore info?
Without additional info I'd have to say no, I would not put the dog down.
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M$
The dog just show one sign of aggressive attack, I will put him to sleep. I won't take chances .
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M$
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M$
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
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