the kid was bite..bad!

fuccillo111

let start out by saying i feel responsable for what happened. heres what happened this evening. my buddy and his wife invited me, my gf and her 2.5 yr old daughter to their house for drinks and what not(the gf prego so shes dd). so ive meet there small "ankle biter" before and seemed ok. well we walk through the door and the dog is obviously curious and somewhat excited but for the most part behaved. we barely get settled in and i hear a quick, short, nip-sounding growl/bark....there were 4 adults one infant and one small dog(long-hair chiwawa(sp) maybe). my gf picked the kid up and set her on the counter to remover her from the situation, not knowing what happed, well the kid was very scared and crying, for good reason. at first i though the dog had a toy and the kid got too close but there was no toy or food around but he nipped anyways. so the kid had her hands near her mouth as shes crying and thats normal for her to do that, but when she moved her hands....blood...a lot! im not kidding her bottom lip was split like a pro boxers eyebrow, it was very bad. i instantly told the gf were going to the e.r. and we were outta there in less than a minute. three or four stitches and the send us on our way, but it was torture for all of us. what did i/we do wrong in the situation. i think she was so used to our dog barney and being able to be close to his face that she got to close their dogs face and he reacted. any help and advise? btw the girl fine and playing like nothing happend.

pawsforthought

that's a difficult question to answer without having been there myself. i think you may be right though. my cousins who are 6 and 7 years old are so used t being able to go near their dog, they assume all dogs are as affectionate. also some dogs find little kids too much anyway. it could be that the girl was too full on in her approach to the dog.

what i would say thoughm is this is hardly your fault. yes, it could hae been stopped by you before it happened, but that doesm't make it your fault. if the owners knew the dog was a ankle biter, and that there was a young child coming over, they should have been keeping an eye on the dog anyway....

kmes

I'm not sure you can put all of the blame on the owners! Fuccillo111 said that the dog appeared well behaved on all prior visits and did not show agression when the arrived. Although he called the dog an "ankle-biter," it appears that he didn't mean it literally. If the dog had never bittten before, the owners probably just didn't expect that there would be a problem.

What likely happened was that the toddler treated the dog just as she would her own, and due to her age didn't understand any warnings given by the dog!

Really it was up to the parents to watch the little girl, and the dog owners to watch their dog! So everyone should just learn from the mistakes made so that they can make better choices in the future.

Mikey

Welcome!

It doesn't matter who is right. Bottom line the dog's owner is responsible-an adult can tresspass and burgler your house-and if your owner's dog bites them owner is in trouble-so this is legally a not good sit.

I guess-what are you asking-what to do/work on etc.?

fuccillo111

mikey, yes. i guess i want to know the warning signs of a nervous/frightened dog. he appeared "happy" but i guess things change quick! in the future we will be more careful for sure.

pawsforthought

you're right fucillo111 probably didn't mean ankle-biter literally

but still, if a little 2 and a half year old came round to ours, even though i know monty is really friendly and well behaved especially with little kids, i would keep a close eye on him at all hands. in fact i'd probably keep him with me as well. just because i know he has the CAPABILITY to harm a child, even though he wouldn't use it!!

Criosphynx

legally...its the dog owners fault

morally, IMO its both...


dogs will often avert their gaze, freeze up, or attempt to flee, plus the obvious growling/snarling warnings

fawkese1

ditto what has been said, legally it is the dog's owner's fault, but really children and dogs should always be supervised when together, especially young children... even a small dog can do quite a bit of damage if a bite happens, but on the other side, a child can do quite a bit of damage to a dog too, dogs are very tolerant of a lot of things, but many dogs do not like children, especially if they've not been socialized with them, or have had bad experiences with them... so bottom line, everyone should have been more vigilant in their supervision... and minimized contact between the dog and the child... (not trying to sound like i am scolding just important stuff imo...

here are some videos that might help you
YouTube - Turid Rugaas Calming Signals DVD

YouTube - 5 calmingsignals2people

just some basic stuff to look out for in general

Mikey

Ditto-as a parent-it doesn't matter if it's your dog, a strange dog, your best buds dog who is so awesome and well behaved and loves kids, if it's a small or big dog-you need to have your eyes on the kid and dog at all times; they should never be left alone together even if it's lassie and timmy as you saw it can take a split second with no warning.

I think you've got great advice on what to look for. Perhaps watching video's of dog bites would help as well-you can watch several until you clearly see the signals the dog gave before the bite -I think that would work great.

And glad the child is well -that can certainly be scary and face/mouth injuries bleed so much!

fawkese1

ditto this too!