Larger Dogs around small children

Was at recent Xmas party and a relative's daughter (2 years old), was sitting on their Rottweiler, playing with its ears and pulling its tail, laying on its belly etc etc.

It made me very nervous, there were 3 other larger dogs also at the function, 3 were Rottweilers and the other breed not sure?? All owned by various relatives. The 2 year old was pretty much playing with all of these dogs.

There were adults nearby/around, however I still felt nervous with this scenario. I think allowing a 2 year old to interact in this way is playing with fire IMO. What do you think? I mentioned this to my relative and he felt that I was over reacting, he was not offended but said "he knew his dog would never harm his daughter".

I am a dog lover and own smaller breed dogs, I have never been bitten by a dog but I have had various incidents where one of my dogs became aggressive and this was always related to food.

Dogs are unpredictable that is the issue as I see it and you can not be this complacent.

MTR

 

I'd rather not see any child approach ANY dog, big and small without supervision. It's risky and the dog always get the blame when something happened.

I would not say you're over reacted. Toddler can approach the dogs incorrectly and even hurt them unintentionally (a pat is a slap, pull hair, etc). Maybe your family member have socialised their dog so well to tolerate anything that children do to them, but that doesn't justify leaving them alone. The child won't learn how to deal with the dogs properly (hey, stranger dogs might not be as good and patient next time. It's a bite waiting to happen). When things go wrong, whose fault is that?

I'm a small dog owner though, I'm more afraid children hurting mine (drop!) than vice versa. No child approach my dog without me right next to it.

 

Teaching children to be respectful of dogs and that certain behaviours are no-nos.

Whilst you might be confident with their own dog the other dogs would be a definite no-no. I think it's silly to bring a number of large dogs to a family function as well as there is bound to be some natural competition between the dogs unless they have all been used to each other for years.

 

Pictures above are from an excellent article Kids and Dogs: How Kids Should and Should Not Interact with Dogs

 

Had a German Shepherd growing up. Was a trained Police dog. We'll treated by the master. Us kids occasionally played with him in a supervised environment.....until he mauled my 10 year old sister without warning. After that the master didn't trust him to be around us so he was sold to as a guard dog. Leading up to the attack and even after until he was sold, he showed no signs of aggression around kids or adults. It was sad to see him go. But can never be too sure what they could do so always need to be safe.

 

BTW little dogs are usually just as dangerous and often have a Napoleon complex to go with it, so don't assume big dog = dangerous and small dog != dangerous.

 

My 2 year old is all over our Labbie and he has never turned a hair. His tail does stop waving when she comes near though, and he sneaks away at the first opportunity. I haven't the heart to tell her.

I would not let my kids near any dog I hadn't known forever. A snap can tear half a face off.

 

I know first hand the damage a dog can do. My daughter was attacked by a dog we were at nursery, it was the business owners dog. My daughter was about 5 yo at the time, she wanted to hug the dog, it only took a split second.

 

My dog commanded unlimited walkies today, seriously, unlimited?!

 

I'm a lover of all dogs but had a very near miss a few years ago visiting a clients house. There was a Rottweiler dog in the garden and actually I don't know how it happened but I'd only just walked into the garden and the dog jumped up, with it's feet on my shoulders and it's face right up to mine. It's head was bigger than mine and it's lips were right back, teeth barred and growling. I love dogs and am reasonably confident so I said in a low, calm voice "get down". I had to say it 3 times and on the third attempt the dog just got down as instructed. However, that dog could have removed my face very easily that day and/or killed me. It was just following instinct.

I have a blue heeler cross now but would never leave her around small kids or other small animals. I love dogs but they're essentially wolves and I wouldn't allow the scenario described above. Just in case...

 

More likely to have a jack russel, fox terrier, miniature poodle tear the face off a baby in a cot than a large dog mauling a baby.


As the owner of 2 large dogs myself, regardless of the dogs size or how good natured it is, it is still an animal. Is a child being disfigured or worse for the rest of their life worth trusting an animal? I don't think so.

A dog that has been great it's whole life may one day take a notion to not wanting to be bottom of the pack anymore and attack a child for that simple reason..

Yes training reduces the likelihood of such an event occurring, but you can have the most gentle pet who has been raised in a caring attentive environment that still has the capacity to harm a human if it wishes..

 

No kid should be left unsupervised with a dog. I have two huskies who are loveable doofuses, but there is a fight or flight reaction in every dog if they feel threatened and 100% tolerance of people of any age cant be guaranteed.

 

Sounds like the dogs needed protection from the children and not the children needed protection from the dogs....

I've been in a similar situation before with my older dog where a child was mistreating him. I took him away from the situation as I am 99.9% sure he would never harm anyone but there is always that possibility and if he's the one that is pushed so far that he's become aggressive he is the one that gets put down.

I've always found little dogs to be more aggressive than the larger ones in my experience.

 

Me to.YapYap Yap y dogs.

 

We have a gentle giant of a German Shepherd. He takes an awful lot of abuse before he puts someone or something in it's place. I know because our little spitz is a pain in the backside and attacks the German shepherd ALL the time. The German shepherd cries for me to intercede. If I don't, the GS will simply show his teeth and bark. When push comes to shove, the GS will hold the spitz's neck to the ground with his mouth (while the spitz continues snarling at him). I would never leave a small child alone with the GS. His wagging tail can knock over a child.

 

Their child, their house, their dog, their problem. Sounds harsh and careless of me to say that but you can't help everyone. ALL dogs have the potential to wound big or small.

 

If the dog has grown up with the baby then it would still be 50/50,if that group was a full blood bush bred cattle dogs,and a kelpie,then the outcome would be very different,i have had a few bites a few times by dogs,once was a big help he was having a fit i try to open his mouth because his jaw had locked , it opened and the jaw then locked onto my hand ,fit eased and the lockjaw went away,went up the hospital to fix my hand , they wanted to ring the BCC dangerous dogs department,then they tell me my sugar levels were too high,so in a way he did me a favor,never would have know i had a blood sugar problem till that bite..

 

Hi Will

Glad it all worked out OK
Once again, dogs are unpredictable, even if the child has grown up with the dog there is plenty of evidence to show that a dog can still attack regardless.

MTR