Why do parents keep "dangerous" dogs around their kids?

Find out what kind of dog your neighbors are going to get?


Because the kind of dog tells the whole story right?
Just like, I don't know, you can tell about the kind of people, just by looking at them?

I wish the world were that easy a place but it isn't and it is irresponsible to lead people to think it is.

All dogs can be dangerous. All dogs.
All dogs need to be treated with respect and supervised with children.

They are not a toy, or a nanny.

If you really want to protect children there is a lot of work to do.

Understand where dogs are coming from, responsible breeding or puppy mill? How they are socialized - do personality assessments. Takes time and costs money. And that is just the beginning. Have them seen regularly by a vetrinarian and supervise, supervise, supervise.

Of course, it would be whole lot it easier if you believe that there is only one or two bad breeds.
There aren't.

Before judging any breed of dog do a lot of research. Just like before you get any breed of dog.

Spaniels, at one time, have been considered one of the worst for problem biting.

Years ago it was Collies, after that Dobermans. For awhile Dalmations were a problem dog.

There is no one bad type of dog.
There just isn't.

Reply

Well, I have been following this case, as it did happen close to home. The mother has been arrested and is being held for charges. You can't just say that it was the puppy's fault. You truly have to ask the mother what she was thinking when she put the puppy (which at that young age tend to teeth) in her child's crib/bassinet with her child in it. The poor child has to live with another malady and the poor dog was put to sleep for being a chewer. If given the proper toys and time this would have never happened if the puppy was raised right. Truly this is on the mother, sadly. But at least the baby is safe for a while.

Reply

I just have to add my own personal experience to this.

I was attacked by a pit bull when I was a child. The dog was the pet of a family we knew - they had 3 children and the dog was trained and had never had a single problem.

One day, I was walking home from school with my grandmother. We walked past their house, and the dog lunged through their glass storm door, and attacked me. I was lucky enough to swing my back pack around and hit the dog in the face, and about 5 neighbors came and attacked, pulling it off of me. It tore my bag up trying to get to my face, and ran when everyone attacked it. By the way - the owner was a professional dog trainer, working with the police.

My aunt was also attacked by a pit bull mix when she was a child, and was actually maimed (It tried to grab her throat - she was fighting so it grabbed her chin instead. That probably saved her life.

Of course there are probably tons of wonderful pit bulls out there, who are great with children, would never hurt a fly, etc etc. But I don`t care how wonderful they are with THEIR families. I don`t care how much training they receive that they are on the bottom of the FAMILY totem pole. I have personal experience that says that doesn`t matter.

Reply

This is interesting. I agree wholeheartedly with the people who state the owners are the issue far more than the breed of dog, and at the end of the day, an individual dog/owner is the only thing anyone can "judge".

I wholeheartedly disagree with anyone who thinks all dogs, or any specific breed of dog has been bred to kill.

Dogs are bred to herd, to retrieve, to guard, to put up with extreme weather etc. They are TRAINED to kill. Or so poorly trained and socialized that the hurting of others is part of survival or fear.

Some dogs, by breeding, can not let go of something once they've got it in their teeth. Many breeds of dogs clamp down. Some clamp down and shake the thing they have in their teeth (terriers). Others snap quickly (herding dogs, for example). Others have "soft mouths", like retrievers, but when provoked, a retriever will bite. But there are very few dogs who are so aggressive that it cannot be overcome without trainging (I've met two German shepards that fit the bill).

By contrast, I've met a lot of poorly or not-at-all trained dogs that will bite, snap, and generally make life miserable. But when they are big dogs, they can hurt you very badly. Little dogs, for some awful reason, the owners seem to think it's cute.

Personally, I've heard more bad things about spaniels than any other dog (in that they don't give you any signal in body language that they are about to bite), but I've also heard that labs top the bite list because there are so many of them, and so many backyard breeders producing ill-temperments and inbreeding.

Reply

Just to add my two cents, I grew up with large dogs and have volunteered at our local animal shelter for years. I've never encountered a vicious pit bull (though I've trained many sweet ones), nor have I ever been attacked by any of the large dogs I've owned or worked with. However, as a child I was bitten on the face by the neighbour's dachshund, who was a vicious little creature (I still have noticeable scars). I think agressiveness has little to do with the dog's breed, some to do with its individual personality, and a lot to do with its training.

Reply

A dog is a dog. There is no dog which is 100% safe. Either it is ok to have a dog, or it is not. If you feel it is not ok to EVER have a dog if you have kids, that's one thing. But if you feel it IS ok to have a dog if you have kids, I don't feel it's appropriate to say "you can't have this or that kind of dog," because each dog must be individually judged.

I am a small animal veterinarian. I have a special interest in behavior and spent two extra rotations doing behavioral medicine with one of the world experts in dog and cat behavior. I say this just to explain where I'm coming from.

I have been bitten by patients before. By far hands down the most vicious attack I have *personally* experienced was from a *GOLDEN RETRIEVER*. I have never been hurt by a "pit bull" type of dog (which description spans a number of breeds, most commonly the American Staffordshire Terrier, fwiw). Of course I have seen a number of what I would call "dangerous" pit bull dogs, dogs which I would never allow near kids if I had my way... I have seen far MORE perfectly safe pit bull dogs - by which I mean, the dogs seemed to me as safe as any other dog. But a colleague of mine lost the use of her hand for a year after an attack by a border collie who had also attacked its owner similarly. I have a client who had to put down a seemingly sweet-tempered chocolate labrador retriever because the dog had a tendence to bite anyone under four feet tall. I'm telling you - it is not appropriate to make breed-specific decisions. It is only appropriate to judge the INDIVIDUAL DOG.

I will grant the possibility that you will find more "dangerous" dogs within certain breeds than within other breeds, but I deny STRONGLY that you will find any breed that is ALL BAD or ALL GOOD.

So, again - CASE BY CASE BASIS. Honestly, most of the "pit bull" type dogs I know are sweet as sugar.

Reply

just a couple of extra comments...

someone mentioned cocker spaniels as big sources of biting in her vet hospital... yeah. Because 99% of them have HORRIBLE chronic ear pain and they attack anyone who seems to be planning to touch them anywhere near the ear area!! So of course, in a hospital, they would seem to be big biters.

Also, someone said something about owner responsibility. People absolutely do not want to admit their dog has a problem. A colleague of mine shared a funny story the other day which absolutely highlights this problem. A patient tried to bite her and so of course she reprimanded the dog with a "NO" and a dominating stare. The owner, horrified, jumped in and said "Oh, doctor, he's not trying to bite you. he's just PUSHING YOU AWAY WITH HIS TEETH!"

yeah, right, whatever.

Reply

that is soooooooo stupid!!!! Dont blame the frikin dog its a dog! It didnt know that it was hurting the child because the kid didnt seem to be in any pain or cry for it to stop or anybody to stop it. So blame the parents for leaving an animal with a little kid!

Reply