Dog bit my son, need advice.

clappyhappy

On Saturday my kids were invited to a birthday party. I sent the 2 older ones and kept my 2 and a half year old with me. That evening went to collect kids and brought my son to play for a few mins.
Neighbours have 2 dogs, we were all outside and my fellow was no more than 20 feet away from me, he was looking into the fish pond, suddenly he starts screaming, I look at him and see he is bleeding from the mouth. The dog "appeared" hadn't been tied up, and bit my son on the face. I got a serious fright, cleansed his face straight away, his skin was punctured on the corner of his mouth and there were 3 indentations on his cheek from the teeth. Thankfully they didn't pierce the skin. He is now ok, his cheek is bruised and the broken area is healing nicely, he won't have a scar thankfully!
Neighbours haven't visited since to check on him, which has annoyed me. Family are saying that dog needs to be reported and put down, another kid got a graze on the forehead from same dog on sat also.
I went over this evening to speak with them but they were out. Basically what should I say, don't want to cause problems with them, small rural area. But if another kid gets seriously bitten by same dog, I would feel very guilty. What should I say or do? They are eastern European so feel getting the right message across first time is important.
Little guy is fine, got him checked out, but I got an awful fright, hate to think what could have happened.

Kristopherus

Call to them in a friendly way, but bring the bills from the GP with you and ask them to pay.

RubyGirl

I think it should be reported and put down. Speak to the family involved and explain this to them. This time you son is ok but how would you feel if it happens to another child and you did'nt do anything.

For me anyway it's the reaponsible thing to do. Was the dog up to date on it's vaccines, did you son need a tetnus?

byhookorbycrook

Where did this happen?In their garden or out on a public area?

trishasaffron

Agree with previous poster. I cannot understand people having dogs around children like this. Time and again we hear, after the event, that the dog was a calm, reliable animal and that whatever has happened was a one off. Yes exactly - a one off - which is precisely why dogs need to be treated with great caution as you will never know when they will turn vicious.

If I was you I wouldn't be too concerned about the neighbours or your future relationship with them - write them off. Just report the dog to the dog warden/council and let them take action - let them give your name if needed. You and your child were the ones wronged here.

January

From Parenting

Bullseye1

Did you see the dog bite the child as it appears from your post that you saw your child with blood on their face and then the dog appeared?

Where the children supervised in the garden with dogs around? Have your children any experience around dogs and how to act around animals?

Lisha

IM sorry this happened to your son, its a dreadfull fright to get.
Bottom line the dog should not leave their property.
I would go the dog warden/garda route.
Im not sure if i would call with bills I d nearly bet they would not pay.
I have dogs myself and if the kids are outside then the dogs are inside and viceversa.
You cant trust any dog when kids are around, that is just a fact

January

The decision to put the dog down lies with the owners. You will have no say in it.

Lisha

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Did you see the dog bite the child as it appears from your post that you saw your child with blood on their face and then the dog appeared?

Where the children supervised in the garden with dogs around? Have your children any experience around dogs and how to act around animals?

THe neighbours dog should not be allowed to access the next door nieghbours garden. End of discussion IMHO

Bullseye1

Lisha wrote: »

IM sorry this happened to your son, its a dreadfull fright to get.
Bottom line the dog should not leave their property.
I would go the dog warden/garda route.
Im not sure if i would call with bills I d nearly bet they would not pay.
I have dogs myself and if the kids are outside then the dogs are inside and viceversa.
You cant trust any dog when kids are around, that is just a fact

Probably best practice to seperate kids from dogs if you cannot supervise. I would also add you cannot trust kids around dogs.

littleredspot

That's a shocking thing to have happen, glad to hear he's ok. Just to clarify did the party and bite take place in a neighbours house and garden, or was the party in one house and the biting incident in a neighbouring garden?

RubyGirl

January wrote: »

The decision to put the dog down lies with the owners. You will have no say in it.

Not necessarly, if this was reported to the dog warden or guards the decision would also be taken out of the owners hands also.

Bullseye1

Lisha wrote: »

THe neighbours dog should not be allowed to access the next door nieghbours garden. End of discussion IMHO

It's not clear from the OP if the dogs where in their property or not. Did the kids not visit this neighbour who owned these dogs?

clappyhappy

RubyGirl wrote: »

I think it should be reported and put down. Speak to the family involved and explain this to them. This time you son is ok but how would you feel if it happens to another child and you did'nt do anything.

For me anyway it's the reaponsible thing to do. Was the dog up to date on it's vaccines, did you son need a tetnus?

That is my worry what if it happens to another child who may come off as "lucky" as my son.
The dog was up to date with his vaccines, my son didn't get any tetnus as he was also up to date with his jabs. Dr cleaned the area checked for any infection and gave cream to apply three times daily.

Dilbert75

You gotta say that responsibility for the dog lies with the owners - so the dog should not be the one punished.

clappyhappy

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Where did this happen?In their garden or out on a public area?

It was in their garden, they had one dog tied up, and this dog was loose.

strandroad

Was the party in your neighbours' house (hence the dog was there) or was it a wandering dog of the birthday hosts' neighbours?
Edit: OK, this has been answered already!

Lisha

Bullseye1 wrote: »

It's not clear from the OP if the dogs where in their property or not. Did the kids not visit this neighbour who owned these dogs?

Fair enough, I read it that it was a neighbour's dog to the birthday party that bit the child.
From rereading I see that it is possible that it was birthday party people's dog. I 'll await clarification.

For what it is worth, if it was me then my dogs would be locked in when kids were around. Especially when a party is going on, with extra noises and so on.

I know kids need to know how to act around kids, but to be fair, the child would be at more risk of serious damage than the dog.
Which is why dogs and kids should never be left unsupervised

OK so I read it wrong apologies

clappyhappy

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Did you see the dog bite the child as it appears from your post that you saw your child with blood on their face and then the dog appeared?

Where the children supervised in the garden with dogs around? Have your children any experience around dogs and how to act around animals?

I heard my son cry, turned around saw him backing away from the dog but the dog was still approaching him. The owner had to grab the dog and take him away, this all happened in 10 seconds. My eldest saw it happen, Hugo was playing by the fish pond, dog jumped at him,and snapped at his face.
Kids would be very familiar with dogs but know not to trust them or go near them.

clappyhappy

littleredspot wrote: »

That's a shocking thing to have happen, glad to hear he's ok. Just to clarify did the party and bite take place in a neighbours house and garden, or was the party in one house and the biting incident in a neighbouring garden?

All happened at neighbours house, party and biting. I was collecting my older two.

leddpipe

the alternative to not pursuing this is possibly having a baby or toddler attacked with potentially more serious consequences!

WolfgangWeisen

"Call the warden and have it put down".

How Irish. With wardens of such remarkable quality as Mr.Frank Coote doing the rounds in Ireland, who can't even tell one breed from the other, I would never advise that anybody call these "experts" for advise on animals.

We have one child who quite clearly wasn't being watched with an animal about, the attack wasn't seen so lets not pretend the attention was just taken for a single, co-incidental moment. We have a dog who was let loose around a bunch of kids who were most likely prodding it, pulling at its ears and other aggravations, so we have completely irresponsible behaviour on the part of the owners too.

So why, out of everyone involved, should the dog be punished and lose its life? Especially when nobody appears to have even seen the events leading up to it? Who leaves a child alone, unwatched, beside a pond anyway?!

Your beef here is with the owners. Ask them for the medical bills and put in a claim against them if they refuse to. I would also warn them that in future, if you see their dog loose around children, you'll report them as they clearly aren't doing their jobs as owners.

Two irresponsible parties and a dog being a dog, yet the dog is the one people seek to punish and then the irresponsible humans get off scot free. How absolutely Irish.

poldebruin

I don't understand all the posts asking if the OP's children know how to act around dogs? The child is too young to understand this (not that I think it makes any difference - the dogs should not be loose at a child birthday party)

A dog bit a childs face! - the kid is lucky it did not catch him in the eye. The dog cannot be trusted around children and I would report this to the warden/gardai. The owners have only themselves to blame for not taking more care with the animal.

monkeysnapper

i have a 2.5yr little girl and have 2 westies , very friendly and i always supervise all of them because my little girl can get very rough at times, the dogs have very much got used to her over the last 2.5 yrs but at the very start they were very nervous around her, but would never trust a dog 100%, its a real tough one, you really dont want to start fighting with your neighbors in my opinion. And you didnt really see the dog biting your child, im not saying it didnt happen .

Tell us a little more of what happened after this incident happened, did they except responsibility , what did they say?

poldebruin

WolfgangWeisen wrote: »

"Call the warden and have it put down".

How Irish. With wardens of such remarkable quality as Mr.Frank Coote doing the rounds in Ireland, who can't even tell one breed from the other, I would never advise that anybody call these "experts" for advise on animals.

We have one child who quite clearly wasn't being watched with an animal about, the attack wasn't seen so lets not pretend the attention was just taken for a single, co-incidental moment. We have a dog who was let loose around a bunch of kids who were most likely prodding it, pulling at its ears and other aggravations, so we have completely irresponsible behaviour on the part of the owners too.

So why, out of everyone involved, should the dog be punished and lose its life? Especially when nobody appears to have even seen the events leading up to it? Who leaves a child alone, unwatched, beside a pond anyway?!

Your beef here is with the owners. Ask them for the medical bills and put in a claim against them if they refuse to. I would also warn them that in future, if you see their dog loose around children, you'll report them as they clearly aren't doing their jobs as owners.

Two irresponsible parties and a dog being a dog, yet the dog is the one people seek to punish and then the irresponsible humans get off scot free. How absolutely Irish.

Disagree with nearly everything posted here. Especially the "dog being a dog" part. Dog bit a childs face, if there's a chance of it happening again you have to take the cautious/safe route and put the dog down.

strandroad

poldebruin wrote: »

Disagree with nearly everything posted here. Especially the "dog being a dog" part. Dog bit a childs face, if there's a chance of it happening again you have to take the cautious/safe route and put the dog down.

When I was a child, we were told "leave the dog/cat alone" on a daily basis, and it worked. If our dog snapped at me or bit me, I'd be in trouble not her. Today you just put the dog down.

clappyhappy

WolfgangWeisen wrote: »

"Call the warden and have it put down".

How Irish. With wardens of such remarkable quality as Mr.Frank Coote doing the rounds in Ireland, who can't even tell one breed from the other, I would never advise that anybody call these "experts" for advise on animals.

We have one child who quite clearly wasn't being watched with an animal about, the attack wasn't seen so lets not pretend the attention was just taken for a single, co-incidental moment. We have a dog who was let loose around a bunch of kids who were most likely prodding it, pulling at its ears and other aggravations, so we have completely irresponsible behaviour on the part of the owners too.

So why, out of everyone involved, should the dog be punished and lose its life? Especially when nobody appears to have even seen the events leading up to it? Who leaves a child alone, unwatched, beside a pond anyway?!

Your beef here is with the owners. Ask them for the medical bills and put in a claim against them if they refuse to. I would also warn them that in future, if you see their dog loose around children, you'll report them as they clearly aren't doing their jobs as owners.

Two irresponsible parties and a dog being a dog, yet the dog is the one people seek to punish and then the irresponsible humans get off scot free. How absolutely Irish.

Don't know where you are going with your Irish remarks. Kids weren't unsupervised, I had just arrived did not know that they had a dog loose around the kids for the party,as I saw the other dog tied up. And the fish pond is a three ft diameter, about 6 inches deep for 2 fish in it. As also said I was no more that 20 ft from him.

monkeysnapper

poldebruin wrote: »

Disagree with nearly everything posted here. Especially the "dog being a dog" part. Dog bit a childs face, if there's a chance of it happening again you have to take the cautious/safe route and put the dog down.

i disagree with everything you have written, stupid, ,, hay lets just kill the dog, ok we dont know what happened but lets kill the dog anyway, what if someone came up to you with a pen and stuck it in your face, and your reflex was to push away, and lets say that person fell and banged their head, should you then be killed . jjeeez

goat2

clappyhappy wrote: »

On Saturday my kids were invited to a birthday party. I sent the 2 older ones and kept my 2 and a half year old with me. That evening went to collect kids and brought my son to play for a few mins.
Neighbours have 2 dogs, we were all outside and my fellow was no more than 20 feet away from me, he was looking into the fish pond, suddenly he starts screaming, I look at him and see he is bleeding from the mouth. The dog "appeared" hadn't been tied up, and bit my son on the face. I got a serious fright, cleansed his face straight away, his skin was punctured on the corner of his mouth and there were 3 indentations on his cheek from the teeth. Thankfully they didn't pierce the skin. He is now ok, his cheek is bruised and the broken area is healing nicely, he won't have a scar thankfully!
Neighbours haven't visited since to check on him, which has annoyed me. Family are saying that dog needs to be reported and put down, another kid got a graze on the forehead from same dog on sat also.
I went over this evening to speak with them but they were out. Basically what should I say, don't want to cause problems with them, small rural area. But if another kid gets seriously bitten by same dog, I would feel very guilty. What should I say or do? They are eastern European so feel getting the right message across first time is important.
Little guy is fine, got him checked out, but I got an awful fright, hate to think what could have happened.

had your younger child been invited to this party, and what age group was the party for,

ceegee

WolfgangWeisen wrote: »

"Call the warden and have it put down".

How Irish. With wardens of such remarkable quality as Mr.Frank Coote doing the rounds in Ireland, who can't even tell one breed from the other, I would never advise that anybody call these "experts" for advise on animals.

We have one child who quite clearly wasn't being watched with an animal about, the attack wasn't seen so lets not pretend the attention was just taken for a single, co-incidental moment. We have a dog who was let loose around a bunch of kids who were most likely prodding it, pulling at its ears and other aggravations, so we have completely irresponsible behaviour on the part of the owners too.

So why, out of everyone involved, should the dog be punished and lose its life? Especially when nobody appears to have even seen the events leading up to it? Who leaves a child alone, unwatched, beside a pond anyway?!

Your beef here is with the owners. Ask them for the medical bills and put in a claim against them if they refuse to. I would also warn them that in future, if you see their dog loose around children, you'll report them as they clearly aren't doing their jobs as owners.

Two irresponsible parties and a dog being a dog, yet the dog is the one people seek to punish and then the irresponsible humans get off scot free. How absolutely Irish.

Seems to be a lot of owners on this forum who can never admit a dog may be liable for its actions. Where exactly are you getting this prodding and ear pulling from? From what the op has said the child hadnt been interacting the dog prior to being attacked. Sometimes dogs attack without provocation, making s**t up to justify the dogs actions doesnt make it less guilty. The op believed both dogs were restrained, its possible they had been - why tie one up but not the other? Sometimes its not the victims fault, or the owners, its the dogs fault.

clappyhappy

monkeysnapper wrote: »

i have a 2.5yr little girl and have 2 westies , very friendly and i always supervise all of them because my little girl can get very rough at times, the dogs have very much got used to her over the last 2.5 yrs but at the very start they were very nervous around her, but would never trust a dog 100%, its a real tough one, you really dont want to start fighting with your neighbors in my opinion. And you didnt really see the dog biting your child, im not saying it didnt happen .

Tell us a little more of what happened after this incident happened, did they except responsibility , what did they say?

They said this never happened before, I just cleaned my sons face and left as I wanted to phone shannon doc.

poldebruin

monkeysnapper wrote: »

i disagree with everything you have written, stupid, ,, hay lets just kill the dog, ok we dont know what happened but lets kill the dog anyway, what if someone came up to you with a pen and stuck it in your face, and your reflex was to push away, and lets say that person fell and banged their head, should you then be killed . jjeeez

Perfect analogy you made there :rolleyes:

Unfortunately for the dog it does not really matter what happened (and you making up what could have happened does not count) in the lead up to it biting a child in the face, just the fact that it did bite a child's face.

You can argue it's unfair on the dog, but blame the owners for that, not the OP.

jam_mac_jam

mhge wrote: »

When I was a child, we were told "leave the dog/cat alone" on a daily basis, and it worked. If our dog snapped at me or bit me, I'd be in trouble not her. Today you just put the dog down.

I got bitten quite badly as a child on the arm as I was rubbing a dog, so you cant really blame the child all the time. In that case I didnt do anything, very used to dogs and was just saying hello to him. A bit in the face is a bit worrying, unusual for a dog to do that but you can't always assume the child did something. I wouldnt rush to have it put down though either.

ISDW

Sorry this happened to your child OP, I hope it hasn't made him scared of dogs now:(

I think you should go and talk to them, and take any bills with you. Although, as they haven't called to see how he is, I wouldn't hold out much hope that they'll act responsibly in this.

I'm not saying that the dog should be pts, however, if the owners won't talk with you in a reasoned way, and accept responsiblity, and realise that they have a problem with this dog, then I think you should inform the dog warden. Poor dog may end up being pts, and as always it will be the owner's fault for not supervising properly but, if they can't see that there is an issue here, then something worse could happen in the future.

ceegee

monkeysnapper wrote: »

poldebruin wrote: »

Disagree with nearly everything posted here. Especially the "dog being a dog" part. Dog bit a childs face, if there's a chance of it happening again you have to take the cautious/safe route and put the dog down.

i disagree with everything you have written, stupid, ,, hay lets just kill the dog, ok we dont know what happened but lets kill the dog anyway, what if someone came up to you with a pen and stuck it in your face, and your reflex was to push away, and lets say that person fell and banged their head, should you then be killed . jjeeez

On the other hand would you deem the person puncturing your face a risk to the general public? If so why not a dog who does the same? Theres no evidence of the ops child interfering with the dog prior to being attacked

jam_mac_jam

ceegee wrote: »

Seems to be a lot of owners on this forum who can never admit a dog may be liable for its actions. Where exactly are you getting this prodding and ear pulling from? From what the op has said the child hadnt been interacting the dog prior to being attacked. Sometimes dogs attack without provocation, making s**t up to justify the dogs actions doesnt make it less guilty. The op believed both dogs were restrained, its possible they had been - why tie one up but not the other? Sometimes its not the victims fault, or the owners, its the dogs fault.

Completely agree with you there. You would think all dogs were angels. It must have been the childs/ parents fault.

Cherry Blossom

Just to clear this up, demanding to have the dog put down is not an option for the OP. The system doesn't work in this way and if the OP turns up at this persons house asking for the dog to be pts I doubt it will have any constructive effect on the owners.

OP - It would help if can tell us what was said/done at the time of the incident. Was the dog put away? Did you get any sort of an apology? What was the general attitude of the dog's owners to the incident?

Personally I would call round and ask them what their intentions are towards ensuring this doesn't happen again. If you are not met with satisfactory answers then I don't see what option you would have at that point other than reporting the incident to the dog warden.

clappyhappy

goat2 wrote: »

had your younger child been invited to this party, and what age group was the party for,

He had been invited but I kept him at home as he is too young to be left there for the few hours. It was for an 8 yr old.

Dilbert75

I got bitten quite badly as a child on the arm as I was rubbing a dog, so you cant really blame the child all the time. In that case I didnt do anything, very used to dogs and was just saying hello to him. A bit in the face is a bit worrying, unusual for a dog to do that but you can't always assume the child did something. I wouldnt rush to have it put down though either.

That may not have been your fault but you can be pretty sure it wasn't the dog just biting you because it liked the taste of human flesh. Something somewhere or sometime caused that dog to react like that. Its owners were responsible for its behaviour and for ensuring that it didn't come into contact with anyone whose well-intentioned rubbing it couldn't handle.

That said, I would never encourage a kid to approach a dog they didn't know - it's a bad habit and someday it could have that result.

goat2

your statement did say that you were looking the other way anyway, so maybe the child pulled dogs ears or tail,
i have a dog that if you touched his tail you would get a nice snap.
baby was near pond on its own. as you say you heard the scream, so if the child fell in pool it would not have been able to let out a scream

stovelid

WolfgangWeisen wrote: »

"Call the warden and have it put down".

How Irish. With wardens of such remarkable quality as Mr.Frank Coote doing the rounds in Ireland, who can't even tell one breed from the other, I would never advise that anybody call these "experts" for advise on animals.

We have one child who quite clearly wasn't being watched with an animal about, the attack wasn't seen so lets not pretend the attention was just taken for a single, co-incidental moment. We have a dog who was let loose around a bunch of kids who were most likely prodding it, pulling at its ears and other aggravations, so we have completely irresponsible behaviour on the part of the owners too.

So why, out of everyone involved, should the dog be punished and lose its life? Especially when nobody appears to have even seen the events leading up to it? Who leaves a child alone, unwatched, beside a pond anyway?!

Your beef here is with the owners. Ask them for the medical bills and put in a claim against them if they refuse to. I would also warn them that in future, if you see their dog loose around children, you'll report them as they clearly aren't doing their jobs as owners.

Two irresponsible parties and a dog being a dog, yet the dog is the one people seek to punish and then the irresponsible humans get off scot free. How absolutely Irish.

Posts like this are precisely the reason why most normal people avoid this forum.

Cherry Blossom

monkeysnapper wrote: »

stupid, ,,

Personal/insulting/abusive comments will be heavily moderated in this thread.

monkeysnapper

clappyhappy wrote: »

They said this never happened before, I just cleaned my sons face and left as I wanted to phone shannon doc.

its really dissapointing they havent been over to see you, it shows no compassion for your little boy, i dont want to come across as pro dogs, its just people jump to killing dogs to quickly without getting all the facts correct.

did anybody say what the breed of the dog was,

maybe you should just visit and say just to let you know my boy is ok, then just read the vibes so to speak, then maybe say in future can you make sure if your dog is outside loose can you make sure it has a muzzle on .

strandroad

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

I got bitten quite badly as a child on the arm as I was rubbing a dog, so you cant really blame the child all the time. In that case I didnt do anything, very used to dogs and was just saying hello to him. A bit in the face is a bit worrying, unusual for a dog to do that but you can't always assume the child did something. I wouldnt rush to have it put down though either.

No I'm nor saying that it's always the child's fault; some dogs are just vicious but more often than not there is a reason why a dog has launched an attack. It could have been acting in defense, it could have been taunted by this child or other children previously. It should definitely be kept away but also children should have been supervised and this child clearly wasn't - he could have ended in the pond, harmed the fish etc.

The point is that putting the dog to sleep without addressing other issues will only result in the owners getting another dog and other children wandering unsupervised around. No gain, one life lost.

Cherry Blossom

stovelid wrote: »

Posts like this are precisely the reason why most normal people avoid this forum.

And that's backseat moderating.

Lisha

THe child need not have been directly annoying the dog to have gotten bit. In a kids party situation with noises, laughs, screams, shouts, balloons bursting, the list goes on and on the dog was most likely terrified before he evensaw the younger child. The dog quite simply may have been acting out of a terratorial instinct.
The fact remains the owners were wrong, the dog should have been locked away for the dogs own as well as the kids safety. IMHO supervision on its own in this instance could not be enough.
THe owners definately should understand that they were reckless leaving a dog loose among kids.
TBF they did not call after child's welfare as they know they are in the wrong.

The owners were wrong

and this thread disintigrating into a debate on who has the more value a child or a dog is just silly.

For the dogs own safety it should have been kept totally away from the kids

monkeysnapper

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Personal/insulting/abusive comments will be heavily moderated in this thread.

sorry i saw that after i wrote it, it wasnt ment to be taken that way , i wasnt saying poster was stupid but comment, but i can see how it was taken that way, sorry

clappyhappy

I am not demanding that the dog be put down. As said my worry is that this dog could bite again, my son is very very lucky, only one punctured mark on the corner of his mouth and three bruised teeth marks on his cheek. His lip or cheek could have been ripped off and him scarred for life. When the owner pulled the dog away from my son seemingly he boxed the dog in the face, all I heard was him shouting at the dog, other neighbour saw him hitting the dog.
I am not after money for bills or getting the dog put down. I do think the dog needs training and it should have been tied for party or a muzzle put on him. It is the fear of it happening again to mine or someone else's kids.

WolfgangWeisen

poldebruin wrote: »

Disagree with nearly everything posted here. Especially the "dog being a dog" part. Dog bit a childs face, if there's a chance of it happening again you have to take the cautious/safe route and put the dog down.

Well, that's because you clearly haven't an idea what you're talking about, isn't it?

The parents and the owners are responsible here, the issue would never have arisen if both parties had not been so irresponsible in their parenting and dog ownership responsibilities.

clappyhappy wrote: »

Don't know where you are going with your Irish remarks. Kids weren't unsupervised, I had just arrived did not know that they had a dog loose around the kids for the party,as I saw the other dog tied up. And the fish pond is a three ft diameter, about 6 inches deep for 2 fish in it. As also said I was no more that 20 ft from him.

I mention Irish because here in Ireland the attitude toward animal welfare is absolutely appalling. The UK is making strides in putting the blame on the owner in cases where the animal bites, and not the dog, because they've conducted a lot of studies over the last few years that show in almost every single case, it is the dog owners fault that the incident took place.

Here we just like to blame the dog and have it destroyed. Simple solution, eh? Well, the Irish aren't one's for taking responsibility for their own actions or inactions, are they? Let's not get into listing examples because there's lots of them!

Now, you throw a kid into the mix that isn't being watched with a dog on the loose, who itself isn't being watched, and I point the finger quite squarely at the humans in this case. Kids are known to trigger normally stable dogs due to pulling/prodding/interfering with the dog and as such, both should be watched carefully when around eachother. Multiply that with a load of kids and a dog out navigating between them and the propensity for something to happen is amplified.

That child should not have been left unsupervised and the dog should not have either. This is the fault of the owners and parents, so why is it that the dog should be punished?

The simple answer is it shouldn't. But hey, it's much easier to go and call the warden and gardai and have them deal with the owners, than getting some balls and going over and demanding that they do a better job as owners to ensure they don't irresponsibly let such things happen again, and demand the medical fees incurred from them.

ceegee wrote: »

Seems to be a lot of owners on this forum who can never admit a dog may be liable for its actions.

Well, there have been sufficient studies done to show that in almost all dog bite incidents, the owner is responsible for the incident. So, why shouldn't people be skeptical?

Where exactly are you getting this prodding and ear pulling from? From what the op has said the child hadnt been interacting the dog prior to being attacked.

He wasn't watching the dog or the child so there is nothing to support this.

Sometimes dogs attack without provocation, making s**t up to justify the dogs actions doesnt make it less guilty.

Studies conducted by experts don't qualify as "making **** up" to justify it. It's the facts.

The op believed both dogs were restrained, its possible they had been - why tie one up but not the other? Sometimes its not the victims fault, or the owners, its the dogs fault.

Prove it.

Anyway, here's your typical parent, child and dog attitude right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0EWAfN61Ok&feature=related

If that dog had reacted, I'm sure the same people here would be blaming the dog.

Facts of the matter here:
An unwatched child on the loose around a dog
An unwatched dog on the loose around children
Both of whom should never be left alone with each other yet were.
A set of owners who weren't watching their dog or controlling it responsibly
A bunch of parents who weren't watching their kids or controlling them responsibly.

The dog is certainly not the one whose life should be ended here, and the child shouldn't be held responsible for doing what children do either. The parents and owners are responsible and should deal with it as responsible adults, not point the finger at one another's responsibility and seek to punish it.

Lisha

clappyhappy wrote: »

When the owner pulled the dog away from my son seemingly he boxed the dog in the face, all I heard was him shouting at the dog, other neighbour saw him hitting the dog.


I am not after money for bills or getting the dog put down. I do think the dog needs training and it should have been tied for party or a muzzle put on him. It is the fear of it happening again to mine or someone else's kids.

Thats not a good sign, yikes, cross owner, cross dog

You are dead right the dog does need training but given the quote above about him boxing the dog, frankly the owner needs training too

Now I know maybe he reacted out of character after seeing the dog bite but it not really right is it?

Just out of interest do you see them walk the dog regularly?

(im not saying the dog is more important than the child just a qt to ascertain the level of care the dog gets. a happy dog being less likely to bite again. At the very least the dog should always be muzzled around kids)