Very sudden incident with family dog

Whispered

You could consider putting him into kennels for a few days to buy you both a bit of time.

ziggy23

Try this crowd too http://www.lasthope.ie/ They are based in Navan I think and are big into re-habilitating and re-homing

How Soon Is Now

Whispered wrote: »

You could consider putting him into kennels for a few days to buy you both a bit of time.

I taught about this but unfortunatly i dont have the money at the moment.

I only just left a job due to medical reasons so im skint to be honest :P and with christmas so on coming up kinda picking at different things to find money for most stuff right now.

doctor evil

Sorry for what happenned to your brother OP.

A lot of places can't/won't take in a dog that has bitten somebody. A resuce centre/kennels/pound is a different world and in that enviroment I don't know what kind of rehabilitation can be done that would be transfered back to a house. There is also the risk of liability.

Unfortunately, with the way things are with the economy there is a a lot of dogs being surrendered who have no issues or at least minor.

TBH, I think it would be kinder to bring the dog to your local vet. You could end up in the back of your mind worrying, what the dog did was not a nip.

How Soon Is Now

doctor evil wrote: »

Sorry for what happenned to your brother OP.

A lot of places can't/won't take in a dog that has bitten somebody. A resuce centre/kennels/pound is a different world and in that enviroment I don't know what kind of rehabilitation can be done that would be transfered back to a house. There is also the risk of liability.

Unfortunately, with the way things are with the economy there is a a lot of dogs being surrendered who have no issues or at least minor.

TBH, I think it would be kinder to bring the dog to your local vet. You could end up in the back of your mind worrying, what the dog did was not a nip.

Seems to be heading that way at the moment that i am going to have to bring him to the vet because i seem to be getting told same thing everyone i talk to.

I am waiting on one thing that maybe could be an option with the Irish retriever rescue but even that is less then 50/50 .

So ya.....

Whispered

doctor evil wrote: »

A lot of places can't/won't take in a dog that has bitten somebody. A resuce centre/kennels/pound is a different world and in that enviroment I don't know what kind of rehabilitation can be done that would be transfered back to a house. There is also the risk of liability.

As already said, some rescues will. If this was to happen there would be no liability on the original owner as they would sign ownership to the rescue. As for questioning their ability to rehabilitate - a good rescue knows what they are doing. Generally dogs with issues or a history will be placed with very experienced foster carers. If a rescue does not have this facility then they won't take the dog.

In saying that, OP be sure that you are happy with the rescue in question.

EDIT: Also good rescues will home-visit any potential home to ensure it's suitable and will, if necessary take the dog back should the need ever arise. A good rescue with a no kill policy is really a fantastic new start for your dog.

strandroad

doctor evil wrote: »

A lot of places can't/won't take in a dog that has bitten somebody. A resuce centre/kennels/pound is a different world and in that enviroment I don't know what kind of rehabilitation can be done that would be transfered back to a house. There is also the risk of liability.

The way rescues work (some of them at least) is that they have volunteers who foster dogs and cats before they are rehomed. They are experienced pet owners who can observe, train and socialise animals, many of whom have experienced trauma or abandonment, or have been picked up from the pound aka trauma central.

This is actually the advantage of rescues (as opposed to a pound) if you are looking for a pet - they can tell you a lot about the pet as they have been fostered for a while.

If a rescue accepts him this is most likely what is going to happen to OP's dog. He will be fostered, observed, trained and offered for rehoming when and if he's ready, most likely advertised as not suitable for families.
All it takes is one good rescue to accept him.

How Soon Is Now

Whispered wrote: »

As already said, some rescues will. If this was to happen there would be no liability on the original owner as they would sign ownership to the rescue. As for questioning their ability to rehabilitate - a good rescue knows what they are doing. Generally dogs with issues or a history will be placed with very experienced foster carers. If a rescue does not have this facility then they won't take the dog.

In saying that, OP be sure that you are happy with the rescue in question.

Have u any ideas what rescues could take the dog?? I either cant get in touch or am getting bad news off anyone i try.

Just rang dogs aid no answer from both numbers rang dogs trust cant get connected to anyone. DSPCA told me almost no one will take a dog that has bitten a child. Had another girl who works in rescue who is trying to find out information for me that also advised me most places wont be able to take the dog.

I rang some of the other places mentioned here and found myself in same situations.

doctor evil

Whispered wrote: »

As already said, some rescues will. If this was to happen there would be no liability on the original owner as they would sign ownership to the rescue. As for questioning their ability to rehabilitate - a good rescue knows what they are doing. Generally dogs with issues or a history will be placed with very experienced foster carers. If a rescue does not have this facility then they won't take the dog.

In saying that, OP be sure that you are happy with the rescue in question.

I'm talking about liability to the rescue.

Surely even the enviroment with fosterers can be different to the run of the mill home.

OP, take a break and spend some quality with the dog.

Whispered

doctor evil wrote: »

I'm talking about liability to the rescue.

Surely even the enviroment with fosterers can be different to the run of the mill home.

I understand but the rescue will have their own liability covered. They deal with it all the time. If they can't/won't risk it then they won't take the dog.

Foster homes are just your average run of the mill home. Usually foster dogs live as a part of the family, with the same routines, same rules etc. The only difference is a more experienced dog owner. There is a lot of support offered to foster carers too by the rescue, so if problems do arise there is help there.


Here is a website with a list of shelters http://www.irishanimals.ie/general/index.html be prepared to call them all and to hear no a hundred times! Make sure you're honest about what happened. Don't let distance put you off, if you find a space transport can always be organised. (thanks to really kind people like Justathought!!)

Best of luck.

How is your brother today?

EDIT: OP apologies if I've made it sound as if it'll be easy to find a space. It wont be, you will be told loads of times that a rescue won't take a dog with a bite history. If you are, move onto the next one. Don't let one rescue representative speak for all the rescues. You might end up in the same position after contacting everyone you can find. But it could be worth a try.

How Soon Is Now

Whispered wrote: »

I understand but the rescue will have their own liability covered. They deal with it all the time. If they can't/won't risk it then they won't take the dog.

Foster homes are just your average run of the mill home. Usually foster dogs live as a part of the family, with the same routines, same rules etc. The only difference is a more experienced dog owner. There is a lot of support offered to foster carers too by the rescue, so if problems do arise there is help there.


Here is a website with a list of shelters http://www.irishanimals.ie/general/index.html be prepared to call them all and to hear no a hundred times! Make sure you're honest about what happened. Don't let distance put you off, if you find a space transport can always be organised. (thanks to really kind people like Justathought!!)

Best of luck.

How is your brother today?

EDIT: OP apologies if I've made it sound as if it'll be easy to find a space. It wont be, you will be told loads of times that a rescue won't take a dog with a bite history. If you are, move onto the next one. Don't let one rescue representative speak for all the rescues. You might end up in the same position after contacting everyone you can find. But it could be worth a try.

Thanks im gonna go threw that link now

Was talking to me ma there just while ago she came home for a bit. She was saying the doctors where telling her there keeping him in till everything is sorted as there half afraid worst case scenario he could get nerve damage in his hand if it does not heal proper and maybe lose use of it.

Hopefully thats only worst case scenario and not a good possibility.

Was out back with the dog for a while to still funny how even though he is pretty much himself he is still pausing and staring me in the eyes like he knows something is up.

toadfly

Beat of luck OP, sorry to hear what happened your brother.

Personally if it was my dog I would prefer he was PTS by our vet with me there with him rather than go to some rescues/shelters in this country. I know you won't have much options in who will take him but just be careful. Please let us know how you get on.

strandroad

Whispered wrote: »

EDIT: OP apologies if I've made it sound as if it'll be easy to find a space. It wont be, you will be told loads of times that a rescue won't take a dog with a bite history. If you are, move onto the next one. Don't let one rescue representative speak for all the rescues. You might end up in the same position after contacting everyone you can find. But it could be worth a try.

I agree with this. Personally I would put in the effort to try and contact all the rescues until I can honestly say that all the avenues have been exhausted, even if it takes a lot of time on the phone.

I would see it as owner's final responsibility towards the dog as he is not the only one to blame in this situation and yet he would be the only one to pay with his life. I understand that the family wants the dog out ASAP so perhaps interim emergency placing options can be sought out, and yes it takes effort and time to sort this out but I wouldn't see quick destroying him as fair under the circumstances...

portgirl123

god OP what a situation to be in. can i ask a personal question now you dont have to answer me. How old are you? just you seem to be quiet young and this seems to be a lot for you to be taking on. Good on you though for been such a caring owner and brother. what ever you decide you can be proud of yourself that you took the time to decide what is best for all concerened. Tell you what, if you were my son i would be very proud of you

BanzaiBk

Best of luck OP, I hope you can rehome him. Two of my dogs are past child biters, with us 8 years and 4 years and no repeats. People are willing are willing and out there, I hope you have better luck with calling around.

eilo1

OP as much as I would like to believe that this dog can be rehabilitated and live out a long happy life with another owner. The reality is that this animal savagely attacked your little brother. He bit your brother numerous times and with enough force to tear the skin to the extent of needing skin graphes. Your brother may also loose the nerve innervation in his hand. Your older brother had to physically haul the dog off to stop him attacking.
There is no way any person can now 100% guarantee that this dog will never do this again and because of that I think you need to have him put to sleep.

If you do find someone willing to take him on you may be free from the legal liability of him attacking another child. But you will have to live with that worry and possibly guilt if it does happen again.

As well as that, other people have pointed out that you dont know what will happen to the dog in the long term, he may end up in kennels, in the pound, rejected by foster families. At least if you deal with him now you know he had a good life to the end.

It can be very hard to be objective about your own pets as we all love them so much. But please try and think of all the possible consequences of your actions now.

I feel very sorry for your situation op and I hope your brother is fully recovered very soon.

How Soon Is Now

portgirl123 wrote: »

god OP what a situation to be in. can i ask a personal question now you dont have to answer me. How old are you? just you seem to be quiet young and this seems to be a lot for you to be taking on. Good on you though for been such a caring owner and brother. what ever you decide you can be proud of yourself that you took the time to decide what is best for all concerened. Tell you what, if you were my son i would be very proud of you

Im 25 maybe not as young as it might of sounded ha.
Hes a family pet but i have taken over mostly everything that needed to be done with him as much as i had time for so i feel like at the end of the day i am the only one who has time to do this for him.

I know where me ma is coming from with wanting the dog out of the house and all just wish there was another way around this because even though im well aware of what he did to my brother and theres the chance it could happen again to someone else i know the other side of this dog the side that massively outweighs the bad side.

Apart from him being excited and wanting to play like most dogs ive never seen such a quite easy going dog that he turned into over the last year.

The things i seen him do and way he acted towards certain situations just went to show what kind of dog he is.

If u usually let him into the house he would run around a bit at first cause of excitement but before my nana died of cancer earlyer this year she was in my house once or twice and around the dog and he just knew she was vulnerable. He would come over to her sit beside her and not move an inch just look at her and put his paw on her lap.

Ill never forget him doing it as how was he to no she was any different.

He did the same with one of my cousins who is younger then my little brother who he bit. My cousin has some small learning problems and wouldnt be as quick to pick up on some things as the rest of my cousins would.

The dog knew this and he knew he was scared of him he just sat there didnt touch him let him pet his head.

It just dont seem right that i am more then likely going to have to take away the rest of this dogs life because he made one big mistake that wasnt fully his fault.

DBB

I have been tracking this thread with strong interest, and though I won't give my full and undivided opinion on what's going on because I have been misquoted in the past on such things, I have two questions for people about rehoming a dog that has bitten someone.

Does anyone who has already adopted a dog with a bite history know that bite history in detail? By this I mean, do you know exactly how much damage your dog did to the person he/she bit?
Are we talking a nip or bite which caused a bruise, or are we talking a dog that put the person into hospital?
There is a very important distinction here and I'm afraid a lot of people here do not appreciate this distinction.

As for a rescue taking the dog.. I am not aware of ANY rescue having liability against rehoming a dog that they know has bitten someone prior to rehoming it.
Again, whilst often there are mitigating circumstances for a dog biting someone, in my opinion even if a dog is perfectly "entitled" to bite a person who had pushed the dog too far, from a normal, balanced, safe dog I would expect the person to get away with a bite that causes minimal harm. In other words, even though the dog is really provoked, he bites as a warning and does not intend to do much harm.

But as above, there is a VERY big difference between a dog who bites causing a bit of harm, and dog who does enough damage to put a child in hospital. It is from this perspective that I'd be looking were I asked, as a rescue, to take a dog like this. If I were to take a dog like this on, I would be entirely responsible for any future damage the dog did to someone, because I knew the dog had already put a child in hospital and rehomed it regardless.
Be under no illusion, no piece of paper, no disclaimer would exonerate me from liability, because I had prior knowledge that the dog presents a significant danger in certain situations. The day will come that a rescue who takes on this risk will be taken to the cleaners in Ireland. Which is why I would not rehome a dog like this.
I know this might appear harsh to many of you posting here, but besides the ethics and responsibility behind rehoming a dog that has hospitalised a child, bloody hell, there are so many lovely, safe dogs languishing in kennels at the moment because it's so hard to rehome them.

OP, you have my every sympathy, as does your brother who I hope makes a quick recovery and can find it in himself to not fear dogs in future. Of course it is a pity that the original, obviously underlying problem was not dealt with, but even still, your little bro did not have to pay such a price for making a mistake, a mistake he didn't even know he was making.

Whispered

DBB wrote: »

Does anyone who has already adopted a dog with a bite history know that bite history in detail? By this I mean, do you know exactly how much damage your dog did to the person he/she bit?
Are we talking a nip or bite which caused a bruise, or are we talking a dog that put the person into hospital?
There is a very important distinction here and I'm afraid a lot of people here do not appreciate this distinction.

As for a rescue taking the dog.. I am not aware of ANY rescue having liability against rehoming a dog that they know has bitten someone prior to rehoming it.
Again, whilst often there are mitigating circumstances for a dog biting someone, in my opinion even if a dog is perfectly "entitled" to bite a person who had pushed the dog too far, from a normal, balanced, safe dog I would expect the person to get away with a bite that causes minimal harm. In other words, even though the dog is really provoked, he bites as a warning and does not intend to do much harm.

But as above, there is a VERY big difference between a dog who bites causing a bit of harm, and dog who does enough damage to put a child in hospital. It is from this perspective that I'd be looking were I asked, as a rescue, to take a dog like this. If I were to take a dog like this on, I would be entirely responsible for any future damage the dog did to someone, because I knew the dog had already put a child in hospital and rehomed it regardless.
Be under no illusion, no piece of paper, no disclaimer would exonerate me from liability, because I had prior knowledge that the dog presents a significant danger in certain situations. The day will come that a rescue who takes on this risk will be taken to the cleaners in Ireland. Which is why I would not rehome a dog like this.
I know this might appear harsh to many of you posting here, but besides the ethics and responsibility behind rehoming a dog that has hospitalised a child, bloody hell, there are so many lovely, safe dogs languishing in kennels at the moment because it's so hard to rehome them.

My own experience was with a lurcher type who had hospitalised his owners nephew, although this was only in for treatment and back out again, not a few nights. He had damage to the side of his face and ear. A certain rescue took the dog, with a view to assess him. I'm not fully up to speed on what the owner was told but the rescue gave no guarantees of whether the dog would be PTS or not. The owner didn't care at this stage and wanted the dog gone. I was involved in the transport run, and did not know the dogs history until I picked him up.

I asked about the dog later, and he had been rehomed with his foster carer. This was an adult home and the carer was fully aware of his history, having spoken to the owner.

While I understand what you are saying about all of the safe dogs, I'd be more thinking for the owners sake, (The OP) that it is at least worth a try. If it was my dog I'd want to know I had done absolutely everything possible.

duiggers

angerfist2009 wrote: »

My Golden Retriever dog whos nearly 2 years old bit my 11 year old brother last night. Wasnt small bite either brothers lucky its not more serious. He is in hospital since last night and needs surgery and skin crafts done on his left arm and shoulders.

According to my ma what happened was my brother was going out to the dog in the small room at back the house he sleeps in to give him the end of an ice cream cone.

The same thing happened to me, I was 5 at the time and I was given some ice cream by my grandmother when her sheepdog attacked me because it was jealous. Just about survived it but the dog was put down.

I'm not glad the dog was put down but if your brother doesn't feel safe with it around the house or even the neighbourhood, then you should put it into a shelter or find a suitable owner without children for it.

Unfortunately incidents like this can occur and its a pity that sometimes the animal has to pay the price for giving us a kick with their companionship.

(P.s dogs must seriousy like ice cream):)

How Soon Is Now

DBB wrote: »

I have been tracking this thread with strong interest, and though I won't give my full and undivided opinion on what's going on because I have been misquoted in the past on such things, I have two questions for people about rehoming a dog that has bitten someone.

Does anyone who has already adopted a dog with a bite history know that bite history in detail? By this I mean, do you know exactly how much damage your dog did to the person he/she bit?
Are we talking a nip or bite which caused a bruise, or are we talking a dog that put the person into hospital?
There is a very important distinction here and I'm afraid a lot of people here do not appreciate this distinction.

As for a rescue taking the dog.. I am not aware of ANY rescue having liability against rehoming a dog that they know has bitten someone prior to rehoming it.
Again, whilst often there are mitigating circumstances for a dog biting someone, in my opinion even if a dog is perfectly "entitled" to bite a person who had pushed the dog too far, from a normal, balanced, safe dog I would expect the person to get away with a bite that causes minimal harm. In other words, even though the dog is really provoked, he bites as a warning and does not intend to do much harm.

But as above, there is a VERY big difference between a dog who bites causing a bit of harm, and dog who does enough damage to put a child in hospital. It is from this perspective that I'd be looking were I asked, as a rescue, to take a dog like this. If I were to take a dog like this on, I would be entirely responsible for any future damage the dog did to someone, because I knew the dog had already put a child in hospital and rehomed it regardless.
Be under no illusion, no piece of paper, no disclaimer would exonerate me from liability, because I had prior knowledge that the dog presents a significant danger in certain situations. The day will come that a rescue who takes on this risk will be taken to the cleaners in Ireland. Which is why I would not rehome a dog like this.
I know this might appear harsh to many of you posting here, but besides the ethics and responsibility behind rehoming a dog that has hospitalised a child, bloody hell, there are so many lovely, safe dogs languishing in kennels at the moment because it's so hard to rehome them.

OP, you have my every sympathy, as does your brother who I hope makes a quick recovery and can find it in himself to not fear dogs in future. Of course it is a pity that the original, obviously underlying problem was not dealt with, but even still, your little bro did not have to pay such a price for making a mistake, a mistake he didn't even know he was making.

I know your right he didnt deserve any of this. I just dont understand how one min he can be sitting next to my brother playing and next minute be attacking him makes no sense.

Its looking like i am going to have to get the dog put down it seems like the only option at this stage unless something comes up before the end of today. You cant take the chance that he could bite another child or maybe go further and bite an adult fair enough he could be trained but its to big of a risk.

And its also in the back of my mind that even if he was to never harm anyone ever again which i imagine he wouldnt ive no idea where he will end up and how he is going to be treated.

Just as my brother didnt deserve to be attacked the dog does not deserve to be abused either. Im going to just leave it at that for now need to get out of this house for a while lol

Its my girlfriends birthday i should probley go see her :P

Paula_Maula

Where are you based. As an earlier poster wrote the dog was showing it's ranking in the pack. Dogs look to children as other pack members rather than leaders. The dog can be rehabilitated.

Please try ring a shelter first to see if they can take him before putting him to sleep.
My JRT has recently taken to attacking my St Bernard (after 2 years together with no fighting). The JRT has had numerous trips to the vet but with the help of a dog behaviourist we now habpve the knowledge and tools to rehabilitate them. I know 2 dogs fighting is different to your brother but it is possible if you want the change.
If he can get into a good shelter h would have a good chance. Its all about authority and whoever owns the dog, adult or child, exerts their dominance over him.

planetX

Paula_Maula wrote: »

Where are you based. As an earlier poster wrote the dog was showing it's ranking in the pack. Dogs look to children as other pack members rather than leaders. The dog can be rehabilitated.

Please try ring a shelter first to see if they can take him before putting him to sleep.
My JRT has recently taken to attacking my St Bernard (after 2 years together with no fighting). The JRT has had numerous trips to the vet but with the help of a dog behaviourist we now habpve the knowledge and tools to rehabilitate them. I know 2 dogs fighting is different to your brother but it is possible if you want the change.
If he can get into a good shelter h would have a good chance. Its all about authority and whoever owns the dog, adult or child, exerts their dominance over him.

Dogs asserting rank generally don't cause injury, I think that's minimising what happened here.
If it was me I wouldn't want to let him go to the unknown, I would take him to the vet. He's had a short but good life, and hasn't suffered any cruelty - that's a lot more than many dogs in this country. Don't beat yourself up OP, you've done your best for him. He won't know what's happening, he's acting strange now because all the humans around him are acting differently to him.
It's a horrible thing to happen, hope your brother recovers fully.

DBB

Paula_Maula wrote: »

Where are you based. As an earlier poster wrote the dog was showing it's ranking in the pack. Dogs look to children as other pack members rather than leaders. The dog can be rehabilitated.

This is simply not true. Whilst a dog that bites with minimal harm can be rehabilitated with caution attached, the chances of success with a dog that has essentially caused grievous bodily harm are very, very poor indeed. This is all to do with psychological inhibition, which is where a dog (or any other animal) can consciously rein in the level of damage he causes when he has to resort to aggression. This conscious control can be worked upon with careful behaviour modification to bring about an improvement.
However, when a dog has demonstrated that he lacks this inhibition, as this Retriever by all accounts has, you are trying to work with something that's just not there, with a skill the dog doesn't have and never will.
Which is why it is misleading to say that this dog can be rehabilitated with this particular problem.
I deal with aggressive dogs all the time: from the rehabilitation point of view, the success rate with a dog who has bitten 20 times but not hurt anyone beyond a shallow wound is far, far higher than a dog that has bitten once and hospitalised the person.
One thing I can tell you with 100% certainty: you can never, ever give a guarantee that a dog will not aggress again, no matter what level of damage he has done before.

If he can get into a good shelter h would have a good chance. Its all about authority and whoever owns the dog, adult or child, exerts their dominance over him.

With all due respect, the dog was not showing his rank, and it has nothing to do with the kid asserting his dominance, or not, over the dog... if he had, he'd probably have been in hospital before now.
And with further due respect, any behaviourist who taught you this is not a qualified behaviourist, because if they were, they'd know that this explanation for why dogs behave the way they do has been (a) disproven, and (b) retracted by the scientist who first postulated it because he realised how badly wrong he'd got it, (c) consequently left behind in the realms of the square wheel by properly qualified behaviourists. There isn't a trained behaviourist who is still advocating this spurious and misleading theory. But such is the lack of regulation of the industry in this country that anybody can call themselves a behaviourist.:rolleyes:

I know 2 dogs fighting is different to your brother

You're damn right there.

mystika121

To the OP, you are living the nightmare of everyone who has replied to your thread. My heart goes out to you.

If you can try and get some Rescue Remedy for yourself, it's great in times of stress and upset.

mystika121

In answer to DBB's post earlier about adopting a dog that has bitten before;

The dog I adopted had bitten a child and broken the skin which required treatment but not a hospital stay. The rescue were completely upfront about this from the start. I visited the dog a couple of times and I was happy with her behaviour. The rescue had her a number of weeks and they were strict about the sort of home she was to go to.

When I signed the adoption form, there was a note handwritten onto the form requesting that the dog only live in an adult home and that she was not suitable for children. This is how the dog lived for sixteen years. I can appreciate the worry that any rescue would have that their instructions would not be adhered to.

I chose the dog as she had all the qualities that I was looking for in a companion - I was not looking for a family dog. It wasn't that she was some exotic breed nor was she so adorable that my heart ruled my head. She was an adult collie cross.

I didn't embark on any rehabilitation programme nor did I engage the services of a canine behaviourist. I accepted that the dog was just not suitable for children and I made sure that she was not in their compay.

It wasn't particularly difficult. If children visited then the dog went out to her kennel and the garden. When I was walking with her and children asked if they could pet her I just explained that she wasn't used to children.

I can understand that people may say 'why bother' when there are so many dogs that haven't shown any aggressiveness. I accept that but it's my belief that any dog can bite and I think they should get a second chance where possible.

As I said, she lived for sixteen years with me and I can honestly say she was the most loyal, fun and sweet dog that I ever had.

DBB

mystika121 wrote: »

In answer to DBB's post earlier about adopting a dog that has bitten before;

The dog I adopted had bitten a child and broken the skin which required treatment but not a hospital stay. The rescue were completely upfront about this from the start. I visited the dog a couple of times and I was happy with her behaviour. The rescue had her a number of weeks and they were strict about the sort of home she was to go to.

When I signed the adoption form, there was a note handwritten onto the form requesting that the dog only live in an adult home and that she was not suitable for children. This is how the dog lived for sixteen years. I can appreciate the worry that any rescue would have that their instructions would not be adhered to.

I chose the dog as she had all the qualities that I was looking for in a companion - I was not looking for a family dog. It wasn't that she was some exotic breed nor was she so adorable that my heart ruled my head. She was an adult collie cross.

I didn't embark on any rehabilitation programme nor did I engage the services of a canine behaviourist. I accepted that the dog was just not suitable for children and I made sure that she was not in their compay.

It wasn't particularly difficult. If children visited then the dog went out to her kennel and the garden. When I was walking with her and children asked if they could pet her I just explained that she wasn't used to children.

I can understand that people may say 'why bother' when there are so many dogs that haven't shown any aggressiveness. I accept that but it's my belief that any dog can bite and I think they should get a second chance where possible.

As I said, she lived for sixteen years with me and I can honestly say she was the most loyal, fun and sweet dog that I ever had.

Thanks for explaining your situation.
I think, in the case where a dog has bitten a child and caused at most a shallow wound from a single bite, where the spark point is easily spotted, when it's known specifically what provokes an aggressive reaction from a dog, then it is entirely possible to rehome the dog where he'll never again be put into the situation which evoked the aggression, that's fair enough. Careful management can stop the problem from arising again. So, if a dog has demonstrated he's uncomfortable around kids, by all means place him in a child-free home where the owner is happy to maintain this managed environment.
However, it is different when it comes to multiple bites which have caused pretty extensive damage. As I said above, it suggests a lack of mental control, which sparks the question... In what other contexts can this dog not inhibit the level of force when he's aggressing?
Can I ask then, would anybody here adopt a dog that they knew had caused extensive damage to another person, bearing in mind the reasonably innocent actions of the child which provoked the dog to attack him?
Just curious now, as to what level of risk an adapter might be prepared to take on a dog, bearing in mind that both posters who have replied about adopting a dog with child bite-history have said that in both cases, the injuries weren't as severe as OP's little brother's are as in both cases, the kids were sent home within hours.

Knine

I'm with DBB on this one. I would be very surprised if any rescue wanted to rehome this dog. Rescues are crammed with lovely dogs who have fantastic temperments and they can't get them homes. I really feel for the OP. I do feel due to the extent of the attack on the child that this dog should be humanely distroyed.

This wasnt just a simple bite. The dog left a child in hospital for several days. No matter how careful you are there is always a chance that this dog could do the same or worse to another child at some point in the future.

mystika121

Hi DBB, thanks for that question - it's got me thinking!

I suppose it would depend on how the dog behaved towards me personally when I first met him in a rescue centre. If I got the impression that there was an under current of aggression from the dog then I don't think that I would take the chance on adopting the dog.

If the dog behaved towards me in a normal and friendly manner then I would adopt the dog on a trial basis (a month, maybe) on the understanding that the rescue would take the dog back if there was any problems.

TooManyDogs

Following the thread has made me wonder if OPs dog has a Rage Syndrome. It has been witnessed in cocker spaniels, mainly in the solid colours but from talking to my dog trainer and dog behaviourist friends as well as taking emails and phone calls for the rescue I volunteer for golden retrievers seem to be becoming more aggressive. Bad breeding/puppy farms are resulting in lines of retrievers with rage issues, OPs dog would seem to me that he could fit the profile. It's more likely in male dogs between the age of 1 and 2. I could be completely wrong but that's what its looking like to me.