My Dog Bit My Child

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day when I came across something very disturbing to me. There was a photo of a young boy. For privacy, I will refer to the characters in this story as Buddy and Matthew. Matthew was being held in his mother’s arms and had several stitches across his chin and lip with the caption, “I can’t believe this happened…”.

Naturally, the following comments entailed remarks such as:

What happened?!
OMG? Is he ok?!
Text me, I’m here for you…

Then there was the reply that everyone was anticipating, “Buddy bit Matthew”.

I was scrolling through the comments and most of them were replies with concerns of the boy’s health and one that stood out to me, “May I ask, how did this happen with Buddy?”. I did not expect a reply but shortly thereafter the mom said, “Oh you know, Matthew was up in Buddy’s face barking and growling at him”.

My heart sunk. I was irritated, disappointed, annoyed, sad, frustrated. So many emotions ran through my head. I had to hold myself back when thinking about commenting. Because what would I say? How would I not come across as a total B!?

Soon after the initial Facebook post, the mom followed up with the post that brought tears to my eyes, “RIP Buddy, our hearts are heavy we will always love and miss u and never imagined anything like this happening”.

Buddy was a family dog of seven years who bit Matthew after being provoked. As mentioned above, I will not go into details about the family nor the dog. Many of you are probably wondering – was he a pit bull? And no, he was not.

Looking back, I believe this situation could have been prevented. I realize, “Matthew probably always played with Buddy like this and nothing had ever happened before”. But I believe that it is a parents responsibility to teach their kids to respect animals and not to taunt or tease them. Even though a dog may tolerate the treatment, does not mean that they enjoy it and does not ensure that they will continue to tolerate it.

How Kids SHOULD Interact With Dogs - Lola The Pitty 'My Dog Bit My Child' - poster via Dr. Sophia Yin
Poster via: Dr. Sophia Yin

This issue is a very sensitive subject with us and Lola. When Lola was very young we brought her over to an extended family member’s house. There were several little children there who immediately ran up to Lola reaching for her face and then started tugging on her tail and ears. We politely asked them not to do that and they stopped for a moment and then when the next opportunity came along, they were right back at it. Lola was literally clawing at my leg for me to pick her up. At this point it was becoming irritating that the parents were not doing a whole lot besides at best, “oh, stop that please…”. I then just held Lola in my lap and we soon removed ourselves from the situation. Looking back on the scenario, I would have done things differently…(isn’t that always the case?).

Currently, we are still working on rehabilitating Lola’s fear of toddlers and small children. It certainly left a lasting impression on her.

How Kids SHOULD NOT Interact With Dogs - Lola The Pitty 'My Dog Bit My Child' - poster via Dr. Sophia Yin
Poster via Dr. Sophia Yin

These posters from Sophia Yin are a great illustration of how dogs and children should interact. (You can even print a large poster-size version from her site.)

Poster Via Dr. Sophia Yin
Poster Via Dr. Sophia Yin

There are plenty of resources out there – use them, share them. Even if an adult notices the signs, a child may not. That’s how accidents happen. Even if your dog and child have been raised together, it only takes once. PLEASE, teach your children respect and how to properly treat a dog. Even though your dog may tolerate it, every dog has a breaking point.

Very important - teaching children to respect animals at a young age. Via LolaThePitty.com

Related articles:

Kids and Dogs: How Kids Should and Should Not Interact with Dogs – Dr. Sophia Yin

Didn’t see that bite coming? Look a little harder. – DogTime

Preventing Dog Bites – Dr. Sophia Yin

315 Replies to “My Dog Bit My Child”

  1. Oh, how sad. So sorry to hear about the incident with “Matthew” and “Buddy.” Heartbreaking. This post is so important. I think it’s just that parents really don’t understand the signs a dog is giving about being stressed. It’s so unfair to the dogs (and the kids). I will share your post because I know it will help make a difference for someone.

    I fostered an American Eskimo dog who would bite kids, and even when I asked kids not to touch him they still would. So frustrating, and as you said in the post sometimes you just have to remove yourself and your dog from the situation.

    1. Hi Lindsay, I think you’re right and the dogs and children are the ones who pay the price. Thanks for sharing, I truly think that education and awareness may help prevent future dog bites. Thanks for stopping by :).

      1. I had an issue with a dog once, he was through obedience and passed with flying colors, was great around our kids and everyone really then at about 6 mo. old he snapped, not sure what changed but I did get ahold of his breeder and another of his littermates family and found that his brother had the same issue, so I believe it was breeding. Now having said that, the trainer we took him to and many others I have worked with said that you SHOULD be able to get near their food, put your hand in etc. you SHOULD be able to take any bone or toy away without incident. So I believe those are wrong. I wouldn’t even want anything to happen to a child and while they too should know “doggy rules” the dogs should know also that humans, big or little come first and they should give up anything they have for a human…even if it’s a little one.

        1. Hi Michelle,
          I totally agree – you SHOULD be able to take a dog’s toy/bone/food whenever you want. However, I would not encourage a child to ‘test’ it – that is up to the parent, along with teaching the child to respect animals. I think that is what the posters are encouraging. We constantly take our dogs antlers and food in the middle of chewing/eating. Thanks for commenting! I hope everything is working out w/ your pup.

          1. I believe you are causing your dog a lot of anxiety by constantly taking things from it for no reason.

            There’s a way to teach a dog not to be a food/toy guarder but constantly taking stuff from them is not it, and will probably make them more likely to be a resource guarder.

        2. Please stop making excuses for poor parenting. This quote is so very wrong and so very selfish. ‘the dogs should know also that humans, big or little come first and they should give up anything they have for a human…even if it’s a little one.’

          1. I wish I could “like” this comment 100 times. People who follow that line of thinking are the ones who are surprised when their dog “snaps.”

          2. I AGREE. Dogs/puppies should NOT be expected to just KNOW anything. You watch and teach a child to be safe around water so they don’t drown…. watch the kid around dogs. Whoever decided dogs were playthings for a kid is an idiot.

          3. Totally agree. That sounds like something a plantation owner would say about a slave…… I grew up with 3 dogs. One actually did bite me. My dad explained why he bit me and I’ve never been bitten by that dog or any other since, because I learned respect.

          4. Dogs are great but they need to be taught rules just like kids. One of those being humans are in charge and come first. That being said, kids also need to be taught how to treat dogs well to prevent problems in the first place.

        3. Some side effects of the rabies vaccine are aggression, nervousness, fear of loud/sudden noises, fear of water. A dog’s personality can change drastically if they react to the rabies vaccine. Many do, but it goes unreported because it is not instant, but rather a gradual change (often days, weeks, or even months later). I began researching this when my border collie became extremely dog aggressive. He was a rescue, so he got fully vaccinated since we did not know his history. Chances were good that he had already had everything. So it was likely that he received the rabies vaccine four times in less than two years. He went from a friendly dog who loved everyone & everything- people, children, dogs, cats, rabbits- everything! to almost uncontrollable around other dogs within a week after his final rabies vaccine. He recovered somewhat with homeopathic treatment, but it took a year. Dr. Jean Dodds is currently doing a study on rabies vaccinosis. It has been proven that the shot lasts up to seven years, Dr. Dodds is trying to prove that it lasts even longer. The goal is to get the requirements for the rabies vaccine changed to 5 years or even longer instead of the 3 years (annually in some locals) that is current law.

          1. Red dye #40 can be an issue too – we had a Belgian Malinois/Chow mix that was smart, sweet and obedient…until she got food or treats with red 40. Then she’d snap at anyone and everyone, including me. Before we figured it out, I feared we’d have to put her down, but once the correlation dawned on us and we cleared her diet completely of red 40 (other red dyes didn’t seem to bother her, just 40) she never had another problem with aggression.

          2. Everything you just posted is a complete and utter lie with no scientific backing whatsoever. You should feel bad for posting such misinformation. Food coloring and rabies vaccines will not change a dog’s behavior. Correlation does not equal causation. Really, you need to inform yourself better about the scientific method because you really don’t understand science at all.

        4. You are right, YOU should be able to removed their food and bones, when you are an adult, you should never ever let a child do it! Even if you have an excellently behaved dog, wait until your child is older before letting them interact with any dog that way.

      2. We have a Border Collie, she will be 1 next week. From the first day we got her, we started training her AND our 2 boys. When she was about 6 months old, our 5 yo tried to take a piece of food that he had dropped away from her. She bit him in the face. It didn’t break the skin, but left a bruise. Who got in trouble? Our son (after being comforted, we’re not monsters! ) did. He had been warned time after time to stay away when she’s eating and to keep his face put of hers. She’s a sweet dog, but she’s a dog.

        I just wish more people would work to train the little ones who are around dogs. It would prevent so many situations like this.

        1. Sorry to say it but this is both your and your dogs fault – the child dropped the food, your dog snatched it and the child did as would be expected and tried to get it back. For cripes sake when will people learn to seperate kids and dogs.

          1. No offense but Beck…you are an idiot! Kids do not need to be separated from dogs! My children get punished when our 9 mo old Doberman starts getting too friskie because they are the ones that know how to walk away. We have gates that keep him in the family room/kitchen and they are told to go upstairs. People need to treat their dogs just like they would a small child. If a baby gets over stimulated, you remove the stimulation. If food is dropped on the floor and Axl gets it, it is his. I, nor my children, are to stick our hands near his mouth when he has food. My dog is a part of my family. Just like bringing home a baby, everyone has to adjust and make changes. If you have. Dog and it is separated off…why have it?!

          2. I’m going to preface my comment by saying that I’m a career vet tech (18 years in the field of vet med), and have made it my own personal mission to learn as much as I can about dog behavior. We can talk all we want about behavior changes as a result of rabies vaccinations (which I’ve never seen a single case of, nor have I read any research pertaining to), and red dye sensitivities (which I’ve also never seen a single case of), but at the end of the day a dog’s behavior depends largely on two factors: breeding and upbringing. That being said, I want to reply specifically to the comment about separating kids and dogs.

            It’s about supervision, not separation. Building a relationship between your kids and your dogs can be incredibly fulfilling. But we have to remember that humans are humans, and dogs are dogs. Dogs don’t speak human. They speak dog. As the caretakers of our dogs *and* our children, it is *our* responsibility to learn how to communicate with our dogs and how to teach our dogs and our kids to safely interact with each other. To say that a dog “shouldn’t” bite in a given situation assumes that the dog in question can read our minds. If it hasn’t been taught, then we won’t get the behavior we’re looking for. And even well-trained dogs can fall victim to their instincts. Honestly, would you tolerate someone walking up to you and grabbing the food off your plate? Or how about if someone came and stuck their finger in your ear while you were sleeping? Would you wake up all smiles? Of course not! But because we don’t (generally) react to that sort of thing by biting the offender’s face, it doesn’t occur to us to draw those parallels between how we treat other humans and how we treat dogs. Dogs have fewer options than humans do, when it comes to reacting to a situation. A dog literally has to rely on its fight or flight response when it feels scared or when it thinks a resource is being threatened. It can run away, or it can go on the offensive to make *you* run away. Most times, dogs give cues *before* they bite, but if we don’t take the time to understand dog communication then we will be left thinking that “he just snapped” or that the dog “bit for no reason” or “without warning”. Very rarely is that actually the case, but at the end of the day it’s the *dog* that ends up paying the ultimate price for *our* ignorance and *our* irresponsibility.

        2. Ideally the dog shouldn’t bite if the kid drops food, but you should definitely teach your kid not to attempt to grab the food back when the dog is going for it…it’s called safety first, and your kid can be taught not to do things just as much as your dog, and at a certain age a lot easier than your dog. Even well behaved dogs can accidentally bite in a situation like this. For example with my dogs if I were to drop their favourite treat on the floor, and say NO, they wouldn’t even go for it, they do have self control, but if I were to drop that same treat and not say anything and just attempt to dive for it and grab it, they would be attempting the same thing and possibly bite my hand in the process of going for the treat. They are not bad dogs, they know how to not go for that treat, but in example number 2 I did not properly conduct myself, and did not give them the proper command, which they would have listened to if I did. Therefor it would have been my own fault if this actually happened and I got bit, because I as the human did not properly communicate to my dog what he was supposed to do. It is our responsibility as adults to figure out the proper way to communicate with our dogs, as well as with your kids (I don’t have any of them), and to teach your kids to properly communicate with the dog. This lady was right for punishing, or talking to her kid about what happened rather than the dog, because he did the wrong thing trying to grab for a treat the dog was going for, and it is her responsibility to teach him the right thing. Which in that case I would have taught him how to tell the dog NO and when the dog sits and waits, then you grab the treat, which might take some dog training to, teaching the dog to sit and stay when there is a treat in front of him, but overall the dog knowing that, and the kid knowing that should prevent future problems, and should strengthen the dog’s belief in the fact that the kid is one of his leaders too. Teaching your kids all dogs should be nice and never bite no matter what you do, I am sorry to say, is just setting your kid up to get hurt in the future, no one should be under that impression. Do you know how many dogs there are out there that don’t get any training, or spend years in foster homes, shelters, rescues etc.. that get scared and confused, and sometimes that fear turns to aggression to protect themselves, or what is theirs, or how many dogs might not even have ever met a child, or only have met children who are respectful around dogs…Teach your kids the truth, dogs are loving beautiful creatures, but they can be dangerous if you don’t act how you are supposed to around them, and give them a little respect and space when needed.

      3. Hi Sarah…I have a 12 year old dachshund mix named Buddy. Up until yesterday, he’s never bitten anyone. But last night, Buddy was asleep in his bed. My 4 year old son stepped in the bed, tge bed slid on the floor causing my son to fall onto the dog. Buddy bit my son in the face, just below the eye. He broke the skin and left three marks…chin, lip and below the eye. I don’t want to get rid of my dog bc I don’t believe my dog is aggressive. He was hurt and scared. I also want my son to be safe. He has a lot of learning to do when it comes to pets. Suggestions?

    2. Lindsay, I feel your pain. I have a toy (size, she’s a real dog) Eskie and people are constantly trying to touch her. I get that she’s cute and she’s small, but she still doesn’t like to be touched by people she doesn’t know and has no qualms about telling you so (I recognize that I’m super lucky she just barks and heads for the nearest human she trusts instead of biting.) Have you had any luck getting people to respond to a yellow ribbon? I’ve still had to explain what it means to most people, but I keep hoping it will catch on sufficiently to help people with dogs that need some space among strangers.

      1. I don’t know if it’s just my personal experience or a trend, but I feel like people are particularly bad about small breed dogs because they’re so little and cute… and as a result nearly every truly aggressive dog I’ve ever encountered have been small breeds. I don’t blame them at all… their owners are ignorant, the people around them are ignorant, and they’re small enough that people just force them into positively EVERYTHING. People have a tendency to treat them like they’re toys and not dogs every bit as capable of biting as any pit bull. I have a horse background and I feel the same way about ponies… people tend to strong-arm ponies rather than properly train them and treat them like actual the horses that they are. Ponies get treatment that people would never try to impose on a draft horse, just because they’re small and it’s physically possible to bully them.

        I have to say on the yellow ribbon thing, I really hate that entire concept. It’s not in any way obvious what it’s supposed to mean (if I had to guess without having seen it I’d think it was related to having a family member on military deployment, since yellow ribbons already have a long symbolic history in the US), and only a slim percentage of dog people have even heard of it, much less will recognize what it means. The people who actually need to understand the message are probably not dog people, have probably never heard of what it’s supposed to mean, and are going to absolutely disregard it because it’s utterly meaningless. I’ve had plenty of people outright ignore me saying, “Can you give us some room?” or “Please keep away from my dog,” a much more subtle and entirely coded message like a yellow ribbon is going to do precisely jack.

        A lot of managing a dog that is dog-aggressive or people-aggressive is just learning how to manage their environment and try to head off problems before they happen, because you just can’t change other people’s behavior. (It’s certainly worth attempting — I’m trying to teach the neighborhood kids about how to politely approach a dog since their parents don’t have a clue — but don’t expect it to stick. I have to aggressively manage one frequent visitor to my house, like, “Okay, stop petting him now, he’s feeling done with that,” or “you can’t just stare at him that way when you’re interacting, it’s really off-putting and feels aggressive to him.” Can’t tell you how many times I’ve said that and the guy NEVER LEARNS.)

        I work in service dog training and people will absolutely 100% ignore a very obvious brightly colored service vest with patches that say “SERVICE DOG – DO NOT PET” and have little “no petting” pictograms on them. You can buy a t-shirt that says things like “DO NOT PET MY DOG” in huge block letters and people will still come up and try to pet your dog. I work with a trainer who works with aggressive dogs all the time and has little jackets for them to wear that have big stop sign patches and “DO NOT APPROACH” written on them, and people will still walk up going, “Oh, it’s okay, ALL dogs just LOVE me!” Usually those are people that the dogs really want to immediately get away from because they absolutely ignore all feedback from the dog in their quest to prove that they’re spiritually connected to animals or whatever. The most effective tool for me when I owned a dog-aggressive dog was just being willing to turn and walk — or run — away from somebody who is clearly not going to respect my boundaries with my dog or give us the space we need. (It can be tough to overcome all of our own training about not being rude, but I don’t even care anymore. My dog’s well-being is always going to trump some stranger’s momentary hurt feelings. And when the stranger is being incredibly rude in how they approach both me and my dog by insisting on trampling all over my boundaries, I don’t really care how they feel about it.)

        1. Hi Mackenzie, thanks for the comment! You are so right. I have a friend with a service dog and she will always get requests to pet him when he’s working. And having a dog that is scared of children, I’m always on the look out for kids darting out to pet her without asking!

      2. Its the Eskimo breed. Our Eskie is 4 years old, was 2.5 when we had our daughter. We limited their interactions until the point when our daughter could be trained to respect the dog and her privacy and the term ‘soft hands’. Hammie and Charlotte are wonderful together and are starting to enjoy playing simple games. But most parents who don’t have pets don’t take the time to teach their children animal respect and safety. I can’t count the number of times random kids will run up and touch our dog at the park. I can prep her with ‘no bark’ & ‘off’ but because she’s so small and fluffy kids go for her pink ears and honey bun tail which annoys and frightens her. We try to avoid walking by parks but you can’t avoid children altogether when you have one and live in the city

    3. I love when perfect strangers believe they know my dog better than I do. I’ve literally had to hold my dog’s mouth shut while maneuvering in between my dog and the approaching person, all the while staying whatever I can: “She’s scared/a rescue/afraid/she doesn’t like men/kids/people/…” and so on. Some people keep approaching. I had one man ask me how she was ever going to get more comfortable with men if he couldn’t just walk up and pet her?

      I’ve tried the yellow ribbon but so far haven’t met many people who are aware and respectful of it.

      This comment always makes me laugh: ‘“Matthew probably always played with Buddy like this and nothing had ever happened before”.’ My sister said the same thing about a plastic water bottle that was hand-wash only that had been dish washed too often and broke in two: “It never did that before.” Well no, I explained, if it had broken before, how would it have broken again now? (She’s an adult.) Just like plastic, dogs are subject to repeated stresses and have a “breaking” point, even if they’ve never gotten there before.

      1. Hi Orfan,
        We have to work on creating better awareness of the yellow ribbon project! That’s my next goal :). Thanks for commenting.

        1. Hi Sara, I just wanted to say I started trying to create awareness of the yellow ribbon project in my country. It should be world wide project! Sadly. I am not sure it will work. My sister have a dog, that should have a yellow ribbon. She is scared of people she don’t know. Me and my sister are the only ones she trusts. I will keep on trying to wake awareness 🙂 Good luck.

        2. The Yellow ribbon is for military soldiers. A least it is here in Florida. Maybe you could try a different color and repost dog awareness. I am sure that it would take off.

          1. Barbara, it’s not a ribbon for awareness like you put on your car, it’s just a yellow colored string or ribbon to tie onto your dog’s leash. The reason it is yellow is because yellow is a common multicultural color meaning ‘caution’.

      2. Yes, I also believe that the yellow ribbon is a great idea. And, yes, dogs have a breaking point just like people do. Some people think that they will never yell at thier children…until they do 🙁 I wonder if posting a sign in dog parks as well as dog friendly communities and parks, the meaning of a yellow ribbon…Maybe the word will spread and people will catch on…?
        Just an idea…

      3. I agree. I have a rescue that’s terrified of men, so much so that she will cower down when she is around one. Not long after we got her we were at a park, and as expected a few kids came up to ask if they could pet her. I told them to hold their hands out and let her sniff them, then softly pet her on the head if she was ok. Most of the kids did just that, and it was fine. Until one kid came along (a boy that was probably about 13 and should have known better) and grabbed her around the neck and hugged her. Immediately I told him to let go, she was scared and she didn’t like it. The kid looked at me like I was crazy. Then his dad came over and starts roughly patting her head, all while I’m telling them she doesn’t like me and she’s scared — please stop. Finally she growled and they looked at me with shock on their faces, like I hadn’t just told them she was upset. This all happened in about a 2 minute period. Some people are just ignorant, and don’t want to listen to what you have to say, no matter what. My dog is a pittie/boxer mix and because of that we have to be extra careful, with the stigma surrounding pitties.

      4. If that guy came up to me, saying “How will she get comfortable with men if I can’t come up and pet her?”, I’d have probably replied with something like “How will you ever learn to respect other people’s personal space if you don’t stop talking and leave me alone?”

        When strangers are so self-centered that they believe you owe them something before you’ve even met them, I start prioritizing how quickly I can never interact with them ever again.

    4. Our usual way of dealing with little kids in the family and our furry dogs is to lock them away. (the dogs, not the kids 🙂 ) But it occurs to me it would be a good time to have a supervised learning sesson for a few minutes to help the dogs socialize and the children learn how to make friends with a dog and not hurt it. You can’t overload the dog, but a little at a time would be helpful to both.

    5. And always remember, as one trainer said to me, my elderly dog deserves his retirement. He doesn’t need to be around chaos. He wants to go sit on his rug on a back room and take a nap. He now can’t see well so he has been “socialized” enough. Remember elderly dogs like a lot rest and peach and quiet.

    6. Everyone here is right…I find that people with kids that don’t have pets at home have no idea how to approach..interact with animals. I’ve gone so far as to say in a very stern voice..please don’t touch my dog…I even had one mother tell me I was being rude to her child…I said too bad..I protect my pups like you protect your kids…I would never approach your child and just start touching..pulling their hair..unfortunately the mother didn’t get it…she thought I was crazy…my kids grew up with animals in the house and were taught from a very young age to respect them…I never had any issues with my kids and animals…your right it’s educating them from an early age…

      1. I’ve never heard about the yellow ribbon thing–I’ll have to watch for it. My first child and our Mini Schnauzer were babies together and grew up as best buddies. It helped that he learned about small children as a puppy so he knows what to expect. I started teaching both my girls to be gentle and loving with him when they were babies. Once they could walk, I was hyper-vigilant about making sure they didn’t run up to strange dogs we encountered. I made sure they knew to ask the owner’s permission to pet their dog while WALKING up and to not move towards the dog until it was okay. Until they could speak clearly, I would make sure I gave my instructions loud enough for the owner to hear so they had warning and could answer my children (even if they couldn’t understand them). My girls both LOVE dogs and have a healthy respect for them. I do find it interesting that the posters say that dogs don’t like to be hugged. Our dog LOVES hugs. I think it’s more that they don’t like to be SQUEEZED.

      2. I agree. My dog does very well with my niece and nephew, who have grown up with their own ~50lb dog in the house and understand how to be respectful. But walking around the city where I live is a different story. I was walking along our usual route one day and a tiny little boy (couldn’t have been more than 18 mos. or 2 yrs. old) came bounding around the corner and reached for her face before I could intervene. Luckily my dog has been pretty tolerant and I can usually intercept the kid or appeal to the parent, but this little kid’s mother was easily 20 yards behind him on her cell phone. I worry now that my dog will sense MY worry when I see unsupervised kids approaching and will absorb some of that stress.

        On the other hand, I’ve also encountered lots of slightly older kids whose parents have clearly taught them about respecting dogs. They ask me if they can pet her, and I tell them to ask their parent. They let my dog sniff, and then they gently pet her. It’s so encouraging to see these interactions and realize that many parents really are doing it right.

    7. I don’t really agree fully with this. Mainly because I teach all of my dogs the game of tug of war. Which is I teach all of my dogs, taking away their toys is a game unless I command them to stop. I have to show I am above them in the pack. They see my wife as the Alpha, so I have to keep reminding them who the beta is. Dogs are pack animals. No matter if you have other dogs or not, they see you as the Alpha if they do not you have failed as a dog owner, and at that point you don’t own the dog. In the dog’s mind he or she owns you. It also depends on the dog’s personality as well, they are very much like people. They have their own personalities, and they have feelings. These things are also a factor when they attack. Which sometimes they aren’t attacking the child, they are putting the child in their place. The best thing to do is teach the child how to act and how to put themselves above the dog in the pecking order. As a child I have owned many dogs. Some pit bulls, rottweilers, dobermans, and terrier breeds. I was taught how to make the dogs submit, thus placing myself above them in their minds. Knowing how canine psychology works, and how to use this. Is something every dog owner should know. It is also very useful to teach your kids from a young age the differences between canine social structure, and human social structure. You also have to watch for other actions dogs do to children. When dogs sit on a child’s face, that is a sign of dominance. Anything a dog does to show a sign of dominance to a child, especially the non-aggressive signs. All dog owners should know this as well. You should watch your dog very carefully and see if they are using these signs of dominance. Because when they do, and a child does something they do not like. It is a reason why they snap at them, because they feel they are dominate over the child.

      1. The whole “dominance” thing is outdated and while important, not the answer to all training issues. It doesn’t matter where a child stands in the “pecking order” if they are taunting/torturing a dog.
        All dogs, like people, have their breaking point.

        It’s that simple.

      2. The whole “dominance” thing is outdated and while important, not the answer to all training issues. It doesn’t matter where a child stands in the “pecking order” if they are taunting/torturing a dog.
        All dogs, like people, have their breaking point.

        It’s that simple.

    8. Hi Sarah, what a gret post, but very sad. It actually infuraites me when I hear of stories like this one. You hit the nail on the head when you said: “But I believe that it is a parents responsibility to teach their kids to respect animals and not to taunt or tease them. Even though a dog may tolerate the treatment, does not mean that they enjoy it and does not ensure that they will continue to tolerate it.” I have never tolerated any child to torment, tease or taunt my dogs. My animals come first before any human. It is in fact the parents’ responsibility to teach the child NOT to tease animals, they are the adults. Thank you for your post. Hopefully it educate some people. I have shared this post to my Facebook page.

    9. This is painfully sad. Working as a 911 dispatcher, I remember call after call of dog bites and most of the time some kid was aggravating the animal through the fence. I have 4 dogs and the other day one of them bit my grand daughter. No, I did not put him to sleep, no I did not beat him, no, I did not give him away. Why?? because I know he is a DOG.. Not a human, a DOG. A dog trainer told me we (silly) humans think dogs can be trained to act like us.. but they cannot; they are dogs and the do what dogs do. While it freaked me out that GP bit my little grand daughter, I realized (and I told everyone else in the house), we cant let the baby put her face in any of our dogs’ faces, we have to watch her at all times. They don’t want to hurt her, but they do what they do because they are dogs. Hopefully it will never happen again. GP is thankful we didn’t put HIM to sleep..SMH in disgust…

    1. Thanks so much. I believe that some people truly don’t know any better and it results in unfortunate situations. By sharing these I think if we at least catch a few the attention of a few people, I feel accomplished.

  2. Thanks for sharing this sad (and unfortunately common) story, and for the great Sophia Yin posters. Our vet has many of them in her office, and I think they’re such great, straightforward PSAs. Our older dog is very fearful of small children, and it’s something we work on all the time, even though we don’t have kids yet. It’s a hard thing to manage, especially with other people’s children, but I’m willing to get bossy with them to prevent a bad interaction between a child and my dog. I often have to be rude to kids and turn around when they come running toward us. Better than an incident that provokes Pyr and further reinforces her fear of kids. Sigh.

    1. Hi Abby,
      That’s great that your vet displays these in her office! And yes, looking back I should have been much more assertive with the kids who were ‘playing’ with Lola, because it literally left a lasting impression (and horrible first impression) on her and now it’s 100x harder to gain her trust back. Thanks for stopping by!

      1. Children naturally love and want to interact with animals. Yet they are unintentionally rough and not aware of the discomfort they may be causing. We as pet owners need to be aware that children are NOT little demons, they are just unlearned people with lots of potential as future animal lovers. Sadly, some parents don’t speak “dog” either, and they don’t teach their children how to be gentle, because they don’t realize how a pulled tail might hurt and how those down ears don’t mean: “I’m cute!” but instead, “I’m terrified!”

        At this point we need to play a huge role. We need to help teach the children AND the parents AND our dog that we are all friends. Put yourself between the dog and the kids. Try to do this even before they make first contact. Teach them to let the dog smell their hand. If you know you are going to a relatives home or a park or anywhere where children may interact with your dog, take along some special doggie treats to give to the kids. Let them feed your dog and tell them how to pet your dog. I tell stranger kids that my dog likes treats and likes to smell hands, but doesn’t like to be touched. When I pull out the treats, the kids are happy they get to interact with the dog, and my dogs LOVE all kids! Children mean reward for my toy breeds, not terror.

        How often did you let Lola play with children and toddlers after her unpleasant event? Your “protection” of her may of amplified her fear and anxiety. Dogs are very sensitive to the feelings of their owners, and if you are irritated at kids, they will be too- and will NEVER give them a chance. I think we can all learn a lot from each other’s experiences.

        And how sad about Buddy 🙁 That case is different from what I’m talking about above, him being a family pet that just wasn’t respected. Poor dog, and poor kid. I love the posters and the messages they teach!

        1. Hi Anna,
          Thank you for the thoughtful comment. You made some great points and I believe it is true that some parents truly don’t understand the signs that a dog is not comfortable either.
          We have been working with Lola and doing the things like you mentioned. Many kids are very good and do ask permission to pet your dog. Lola is fine if she is running around at the park and there are kids around but if they try to come up to her, she barks. This is where we try to get involved and reward her when kids are around.
          Hopefully this post will be seen by many eyes and make a difference ;).
          Thanks for commenting.

        2. No, children don’t ‘naturally’ love animals. They naturally want to play with it as a THING. They don’t treat it with empathy because they often don’t have it developed yet (or at all). Cases, were a child CAN behave around the dog since childhood are rare and demand a high level of emotional intelligence. Most children develop emotional intelligence quite late if ever (see bullies at school). Children know only their own perspective and don’t grasp the idea of somebody else being capable of suffering (children are often very surprised when their parents react to pain because they relize suddenly that mommy or daddy feels pain, too. They don’t know it. Children are all about ego (the psychological one) and need to be taught about empathy and understanding that others (animals as well) feel pain, feel bad or feel hurt.

          1. Maria, you are wrong. Just because some children (like some adults) are incapable of empathy does not mean all children are incapable. Cases where children can behave around dogs are not “rare” they are very frequent. Screaming brats are screaming brats and they are no different toward dogs than people. However, not all children are screaming brats, so don’t blame all children for a few. As for children not understanding that others can feel pain, using the example of bullies as “most children” is a vastly inaccurate and completely unfair generalization. Most children are not bullies at school. Most children are not cruel to animals. Most children are not sociopaths. Most children understand that others feel pain just as they do, and that this includes animals.

          2. I’m going to have to agree with Deb on this one. Yes, some children are only looking to interact with dogs as a “plaything,” especially ones that have never had a family dog before, but many just want to express affection and are not aware that a dog might be scared or irritated by their actions or their presence.

            I have always been an animal lover and wanted my parents to adopt a dog after our cat died when I was 4. I remember a few years before we ended up actually getting our family dog, I was at my godmother’s house. She always had tons of rescue animals, and I loved to interact with them and pet them and sometimes play with them. Never roughhousing or pulling on them or anything, I was a pretty meek kid. But one time, I was saying goodbye to her German Shepherd, Blue, and gave him a big hug around the neck and he growled at me. That memory stuck in my brain forever, and I never touched a dog I wasn’t intimately familiar with ever in that way again. Children just need to learn what is proper behavior around animals–a dog taught me what wasn’t OK, but really, it should be a parent who steps in and says something!

          3. Hi Cassie,
            You’re absolutely right – it is ultimately the parent’s responsibility. I’m glad that your incident was just a growl. I grew up w/ a dog who turned into a grumpy old man and he would always growl but we respected his space and were taught to treat him with care and be gentle. Thanks for commenting!

          4. In contrast to the other comments following Maria’s post, I have to say I agree with Maria entirely. The misunderstanding I think others are suffering from is about the age of the children in question, which Maria didn’t make clear. I have a 2 year old daughter and 2 cats, both of whom are quite scaredy (4 year old rescues). My daughter wants to play with the cats and one sensibly runs for the hills whenever she’s nearby, but the other holds her ground and has developed stress-related urinary problems as a result. We do our best to teach our daughter to be more gentle and quieter around the cats and she is getting much better but this behaviour absolutely does not come naturally to her. She has to be told when the cat is showing signs of discomfort because she’s totally blind to them, much the same as the signs of distress in dogs go unnoticed before nasty reactions sadly follow. As my daughter matures, I’m confident she will develop an emotional intelligence and grow to be more empathetic, but right now I concur with Maria that she really does see everything only from her own point of view.

            Older children are often better behaved around animals and better able to read how much is too much and when to stop pestering, as Deb says, but it’s my experience with my own daughter and her contemporaries that younger children (toddlers) correspond with Maria’s assessment in the vast majority of all cases.

        3. Anna, I love that advice of teaching children to interact with dogs. I’m not naturally good with kids AT ALL but I’m learning to find ways to talk to them because they are VERY interested in my dogs (I’ve had fosters coming in and out lately, and had my own dog previously who passed away). It’s difficult to keep them from being overbearing with the dog or particularly frightening the one I have in foster right now (they come zooming up on their bikes or scooters screaming the dog’s name and he’s ready to run for the hills!). They were very respectful in the beginning when I made them slow down and give him space before approaching him (I wasn’t even sure at that point if he was okay with kids) but are more casual now about how they handle him so I have to be more attentive, too… and if they’re coming up to him in a rude way, I just send them away. It’s so important that they learn that skill of recognizing a dog that is fearful or unhappy and learn to give it room… I’ve seen so many interactions in my neighborhood of kids running up to pet dogs, and dog owners who just say “Sure, you can pet ol’ Rover!” and are oblivious to the very loud “I do not like this” signals their dogs are giving off. I feel like if those kids end up bit, it might be because they did something inappropriate, but at the root it’s because the dog’s owner doesn’t understand their own animal and isn’t being proactive to protect their animal from inappropriate interactions. I’m hoping if I educate the neighborhood kids a little they’ll be more respectful with all the other dogs around, too, not just the ones I’m handling.

          I think a lot of kids have a real interest in things they haven’t seen before with dogs, which often includes formal training (their own pets don’t have any and their own parents don’t bother) and dogs that can do tricks. The kids around here are almost as interested in having a turn clicking my clicker as they are in actually petting my foster. 😀 My departed Great Dane cross was very gentle with children but didn’t like to have them all over him, but children were always BEYOND delighted if I’d hand them a treat and teach them how to ask the dog to sit, or lay down, or play dead. That for them was even better than getting to pet the dog, it kept them at a respectful distance from the dog, and the dog enjoyed it too because he was getting treats for doing things he knew inside and out.

        4. I have a fifteen pound Toy Aussie/Cocker Spaniel mix. She has always loved kids, always loved people. Lately her view on kids has started to change though. My dog (Lizzie) has dislocated a disc in her back, its healed now. But it is still quite sore some days and we run the risk of it happening again. Now, Lizzie has no hate towards anyone. Until my four year old niece started coming over. She pulls on Lizzie’s ears, fur, tail, always enough to make her scream and run away. And to top it off, my niece often “flops” on top of my dog. 60 pounds landing on a fifteen pound dog with a severe back problem. It could leave her paralyzed. I try to yell at the child, tell her not to touch the dog anymore. It just leads to screaming temper tantrum, my brother yelling at me for being “too hard” on his daughter. And my dog cowering in the corner. She doesn’t feel safe in her own home when the child is around, and all I can do is leave the house with my dog to keep her from being paralyzed again. I’m so frustrated.

    2. A lot of people refer to their dogs as their “fur- kids” or “fur babies”…If you wouldnt let another
      child beat up on your human baby, than why is it right to let a child beat up on your “fur baby”?
      Thats the way I put it to people, including children, and for the most part they get it 🙂

      1. Hi Sabrina, I am totally one of those people! Because it’s true…they are my fur-babies and I will stick up for them as I would a child of my own! Thanks for commenting 🙂

    3. I lost my dog to a horrible situation of a child cornering him+taken ball from his mouth he bit boy+it was reported to gardai who came+took dog+put him to sleep child was a stranger in my home+was brough into my home by my sister who was looking after him as he was her 2boys friend the kids were told a few times not to go near dog but little boy pushed it +went over+cornered dog +removed ball from his mouth he snapped+bit child it was worst day of my life i miss my dog soo much dont think il ever get over it

  3. This is a heart-breaking tale…especially since it could have been avoided if the parents taught their children the proper way to play with a dog. In a situation like this, the dog always gets the short end of the stick. What a shame. (I have pinned those infographics. They are great.)
    Oz

    1. Thanks so much, Oz. Yes, it was very sad and could have been prevented, that is the difficult part for me :(. Thanks for stopping by!

  4. This is really sad and frustrating and really common. I always feel sad when animals have to suffer because people don’t respect them- or recognize that they are living creatures.

    These posters are very helpful.

  5. The story of Matt and Buddy is an important story to tell because it provides an opportunity to talk about safe and respectful human/canine interactions. The posters are great and really help illustrate the lesson here. Thanks for sharing.

  6. It’s always the dog that pays the price. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen FB posts like this one or photos of kids doing things to dogs that are “so cute” NOT. If only people would teach their children… oops, that means that the parents understand and “know better” and so often they don’t. I was bitten by our family dog as a child (and have the scar to prove it.) It was my own fault and I certainly knew better. So, I certainly understand that things happen. In my case, my mom took me in hand and it never happened again.

    1. Hi Sue, it’s so sad to see. And what really angered me was the comment by the mother – stating that her son was “up in the dog’s face provoking him”. Especially being a (somewhat) older dog, it’s really no surprise. We had a Sheltie growing up and he was such a crabby old man, but we knew not to bother him and only pet him very nicely, otherwise he would bite. I guess the best thing we can do is share posters such as these and *hope* that it hits home for some parents :). Thanks for stopping by, Sue.

      1. Well, putting the dog down might have been beyond the mom’s control. My hubby got bit by the family dog as a teenager (dog was anxious about thunder at the time anyway, and hubby accidentally pushed him a little off-balance while moving to comfort him; dog moved to bark at hubby and didn’t realize his face was so close so hubby got a tooth in the cheek) and went to the hospital to get stitches. Though they didn’t say it was a dog bite, the injury pattern was similar enough that they had to talk the staff out of reporting their dog to the authorities, anyway, and they were told under no uncertain terms that if they ever came in with a bite again that their dog would be reported as dangerous to the authorities and put down. With an obvious dog bite and a young child involved, Buddy’s fate was probably out of your friend’s hands after that.

  7. Very sad for all involved. Properly interacting with animals is so important. Learning to respect animals and their boundaries is something that needs to be taught and enforced at a young age. Great post, thanks for sharing.

    1. I agree, Marie. Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully many people will see this post and others, as all we can do is try to bring awareness to the subject. Take care!

  8. This is a really great post, I hope you don’t mind if I share it on Facebook & twitter.
    The story breaks my heart as it was NOT that poor dog’s fault. People can be really blind when it comes to pets and kids, and these sorts of accidents happen too often. My pet peeve is ‘cute’ pics and youtube videos of toddlers climbing all over dogs.
    Thanks for the post and I hope it prevents some matthew/buddy incidents in the future x

    1. Hi Joanna,
      Thank you – please share! The more people that see this post, the better. I think so many accidents can be prevented with a little awareness. Thanks for commenting.

  9. It is so sad that incidents like this happen every day and could almost always have been prevented. My 2 year old grandson lives with us now, and everyone has their own space. Gates separate them and any interaction is monitored by an adult.
    Do I think my dogs would hurt him? Well, I really hope not but I am not willing to risk my grandson’s health and the life of my dogs on it. I just wish more parents/owners would take the responsibility more seriously for the children and the dogs sake.
    Thanks for an insightful article and LOVE the posters!

    1. Hi Stacey, it’s really disappointing. I think you have a good attitude about it, because children can’t always recognize a dog’s warning signals and parents need to be supervising small children even if it is their family dog of many, many years. Thanks for commenting 🙂

  10. This is a really important post. It’s interesting that the way people look at dogs makes common sense not so common. My friend’s dog, a Pomeranian, recently bit a child and took off her nose completely. When I asked about the incident, the toddler had thrown her body on top of the dog’s. There were so many mistakes made – the owner not advocating for the dog, leaving her friend’s children alone with the dog, etc. I think one of the most important things we can teach a child is to value a dog’s space. If children stay out of a dog’s space, even dogs they’re familiar with, I think bites could be decreased significantly. Thank you for this post.

  11. Thanks for sharing this. Our family dog bit our boy 3 weeks ago. No stitches but he bit his mouth. We are in discussions with the vet about dog behaviors but putting him down would never ever be an option for us. He’s part of our family. It’s such an awful situation when this happens. The poor dogs always get the short end of the straw & it’s so sad 🙁

    1. Thank you for the comment! It is always hard because they are truly part of our families. Thank you for taking action and looking for advice with your pup. Wishing you the best of luck with your dog and child.

    2. If it’s a first bite and didn’t break the skin, you probably don’t have a lot to worry about. From a dog’s point of view, all “bites” (even if it’s just a tooth on skin) are provoked. Your dog had proven that, like all dogs, he has limits, so now you know what to avoid/interrupt/manage in the future. Your dog has also proven that he has very good bite inhibition.

  12. Hi, sad story to read but in a way it brings these things to the forefront!
    Owning two pitbull x , one small one big, I was very worried when my daughter was born, however she is now three has a great respect for both of them, and they listen to her more than me now, I guess that is something that both me and her dad have taught her, the dogs both panic when they can’t see her and when she goes in the pool my boy will sit and watch and move to wherever she moves to, amazing to see, and I hate it that certain breeds get labelled, bad parenting whether with children and or dogs can create monsters!

    1. Hi Katie,
      yes, it’s too bad that it had to end that way for the dog. But you are right, hopefully this will make many more parents aware and come to realization.
      That’s great about your daughter! Sounds like she has two best friends ;). Thanks for stopping by.

  13. I rent a room from a family with a 2 year old human, a 4 year old human, an 11 year old shepherd and 9 year old Pitt. Those dogs would never bite those kids. Maybe an intruder or a freak incident on a stranger. But I think the dogs believe that the kids are their family.

    1. And that is *exactly* the attitude that leads to bites.

      *EVERY* dog has the potential to bite, and there exists a set of circumstances that will be the magic recipe to provoke a bite from even the most saintly of dogs (unnoticed ear infection, plus achy joints, plus stress from construction noises across the street, plus surprise when toddler trips and falls on dog. Or whatever. Google “trigger stacking”.)

      It is unfair and extremely unwise to all concerned to assume a dog “would never bite those kids.”

      1. Hi Roo,
        Exactly – one can never assume that “because a dog has always tolerated this, he always will…”. Thanks for commenting.

  14. This happened to me and my service dog. a friend of the familys 7 year old went into the livingroom (I was not home at the time) where my dog was asleep, nobody was in there, the mother and my sister were in the kitchen and after a few minutes there was a shriek and my service dog, who has been around hundreds of children, traveled at my side in planes all over the world, had never so much as raised a lip in his life had bitten the little girl on her finger, raised a little blister and my sister instantly labeled him as “vicious” when he and I were mauled two months later by a nighbors dog that was outside with no collar or leash on with him she told me when I was sobbing in the emergency vets office, bleeding myself but too terrified for my badly hurt dog to seek medical attention for myself until I knew he was ok, she said “Dont ask for that dog to be put down, if that Pit should be put down for attacking you and your dog then your dog should be put down for attacking that girl.” Shes a HUGE Pit Bull advocate, and went hyper-protective of the pitbull that mauled me, insisting I not report what happened etc.

  15. This is so well written and I am so sad to hear about how it ended for Buddy. When my niece was young my sister had a pit bull named Sable and she lived up to the nickname nanny dog. Well one day my niece bit sable when she was about 6 months old and sable nipped her like she would a puppy. Unfortunately it left a mark on my nieces face but we never blamed Sable, my niece bit her. From then on we were much more careful when the 2 were together. Several years later I was running late and trying to get my dog in the house while a neighbor dog was visiting, I stupidly threw bones on the ground. Frustrated I went to pick up my dog, his head flung back and our heads collided, his teeth catching on my cheek. The rest of the day was spent in the er. The first thing my dad said when he walked in was “that dogs dead.” I begged my dad to let him live because in fact it was my fault, I put Rascal in that situation. I am happy to say Rascal is now 12 and living a very happy life. But in both of these situations it was never the dogs fault, but our fault for putting the dog in the situation. Very very well written article.

    1. Hi Nicole,
      Thank you for the kind comment. I am so glad to hear that Rascal is still around and that the accident was forgiven. Too often, the dog is blamed and the true problem is never addressed. 🙂

  16. I find it challenging when parents do not ask their children to behave and respect dogs space and needs. I have always just removed my dogs from the situation or prevented it altogether. This is a great post. I have shared it. Keep up the good work.

  17. As an owner, it’s my responsibility to keep my dogs from ending up in a situation where they feel biting is their only option. That goes for the dog park, or meeting strangers on walks, or keeping a close eye on my dog’s body language with company. My female Mini Schnauzer is about as “bulletproof” with kids as any dog I’ve known, but I still won’t let kids pull her ears or put their faces down by hers. My male is more excitable and I watch him for the line between “this is fun, I’m enjoying this” and “this is too much, get me out of here”. It’s my job to see the difference.

    1. I like your comment the best. It is wise, responsible and kind. Thank you.

      I enjoy the main article because it is informative and educational. I don’t support people’s aggressive attacks on parents and people’s characters. Talking about dog attacks and then attacking humans with words is just strange. Being an animal owner is a huge responsibility and not everyone understands certain animals. If you are a responsible proud dog owner then educate others responsibly with the same kindness and compassion you show your dog. Many people young and old do not understand dogs or know how to behave around them.

  18. So very, very true.
    While studying abroad, my sister ended up adopting a Jack Russel who had been abused by its former owner.
    The dog was very timid around people, often cowering, “begging” and generally trying to please them – and he was afraid of small children.
    Their uncoordinated and unpredictable movements triggered a fear response in him, and he would sometimes respond by growling or snapping in the air near them if he was cornered and unable to avoid a confrontation.
    My sister, being a responsible owner, NEVER left him unsupervised with children, or outside a shop or similar. She was constantly troubled by parents who just stood by and let their toddlers and small children run over and basically assault her poor dog, because he was so small and “cute” and couldn’t possibly be anything but harmless… If not for her being such a responsible owner, it is quite likely that one of those children WOULD have been harmed, and the parents would no doubt have blamed the dog entirely.

    My son (and my nieses, of course) grew up around him, and before they were 1 they knew to approach dogs slowly and respectfully, letting them sniff them, not going for the head and not crowding them.
    By the time they could(/can) speak, they know they should never approach a dog without asking the owners permission, then following the same procedure as above; none of them would ever throw themselves at a strange dog, try to hug it or mess with its ears or tail, for example.

  19. The timing of this is just perfect, I’m reading this just moments after a teaching moment with my son. I’m so sad to hear about both “Matthew” and “Buddy”. I have a two year old little boy who we are teaching to respect our dogs as well as others. Our Prague Ratter adores our son and would tolerate just about anything but we don’t allow mistreatment in any form by anyone even by our son who doesn’t know better yet, not only is our dog a creature with feeling he is an animal who can’t speak for himself and could resort to using his teeth to get his point across if pushed to that point. Our Beagle is less tolerant so we are working hard to prevent a problem.

    The thing is, not only dogs need training. Kids as well as some adults need it just as much if not more the the dogs do.

  20. The woman should be banned from owning any animals and in fact sterilised as she clearly has no common sense and therefore shouldn’t been allowed to have an influence on how humans or animals are raised!

    1. I agree, because she obviously saw how the kid was interacting with the dog to make those comments about how it happened…ugh!!

      1. I would be infuriated if I was your so called Facebook “friend” and you decided to take a story that was posted that was very personal and very emotional and turn it into a blog entry where you then benefit from the views. Smh

        1. Maybe acquaintance would be a better word? And maybe that so-said person shouldn’t post such personal on information on Facebook. Just a thought. The purpose of this post was to educate and hopefully prevent this from happening again in the future, hence keeping the parties involved anonymous. Thanks for your two cents though!

  21. aw 🙁 What a sad ending for both, child and dog. We have a Pomeranian/Chi mix and he used to be super scared of children. Once he even took a detour around a parking car to avoid being too close to a child walking up to us.
    It kind of freaks me out how almost every dog owner has their own “horror” story with kids envolved. We once took Hamlet along to the ice cream parlour. It was a nice and sunny day and we sat down to enjoy our ice cream. After a couple of minutes a young girl appeared next to my chair and started staring at my dog. I asked her to give him a little more space since she was really close by now, and not to touch him. She backed away but when I looked away, she started touching his face – of all dog parts. I asked her repeatedly to stop, her parents just ignored it and at one point I held her hand back and said “Leave him alone. Now.” She whined and went back to her mother who gave me an annoyed look. SERIOUSLY? Would you rather I’d let my dog bite her? Love the charts! Will share 🙂

  22. Totally agree with this article. I was always taught to respect our dogs and always reminded that a dog has a set of teeth just like a wolf!

    Sadly when I was 5, our two dogs were on my fathers bed with him and I got bitten in the face by one. I had a new book that I wanted to read to my father and climbed up on the bed to read it to him. I was about to sit down and one of the dogs launched at my face from the opposite side of the bed. Luckily my father caught him before any permanent damage was done.

    The dog was put to sleep immediately and the only explanation that I can think of was that he was protecting my father. My father says that he couldn’t have coped if he had rehomed the dog and it had done worse to another child but he still felt immense guilt for putting him down.

    I always respected our dogs space but something did happen. Dogs, like ourselves, have off days and don’t act like themselves. The problem is they can’t vocalise it in the same way that we would, meaning that signals can be missed.

    I will always have my dog wearing a cage muzzle when there are children around as many innocently just do not understand what their actions could cause. I can look for the signals and get them away from an uncomfortable situation but it can take only a split second for the worst to happen.

    I’m a dog lover and I understand the respect that we must have for the differences that our four legged friends have. Dogs CAN bite but are usually provoked.

  23. We have been dealing with this recently. My two yeast old is far too aggressive with our cocker mix.no matter what we do to discourage the mean behavior it doesn’t stop. Beau nipped my son in the face a few da ago. It wasn’treallyhis fault but we cannot leave them alone together Beau is gouing to live with mayo parents now. I wish we didn’t have to reason with am an aggressive two year old. 🙁 sorry for the typos, my phone is being stupid.

    1. that should say I wish we didn’t have to give him to my parents but is impossible to reason w an aggressive two year old.

  24. We got Shaggy, a 3 year old Goldendoodle, from a family who was ready to shoot him because he nipped at one of their children. In the 2 years we have had him he is a perfect gentleman around both adults and children. He is a therapy dog who goes to schools, nursing homes and libraries. Never an issue with him. Children need limits just as dogs do.

  25. I do hope you shared this article with “Matthew’s” mom. the ignorance of people overwhelms me sometimes.
    we had a large black lab/newfoundland mix. she was very gentle and patient with children. but she had a bad ear. and as you can guess, a neighbor’s child went up to her and grabbed her ears. luckily all she did was bark and smack the child in the face with her mouth open. but it was enough to really scare the kid.
    we had to explain to the kid that they can’t do that, it hurts her. i couldn’t even imagine what would have happened if she actually bit the kid.

  26. Thanks for the spike in blood pressure.

    I advocate for my dogs and I dislike that people think I’m a horrid stick in the mud when I don’t want them/their dog/their kid interacting w/ my dogs.

    I do have 2 good ambassadors (of 4 dogs) that love other people and kids. I try as much as possible to teach people, esp kids to ask first before interacting.

  27. im assuming that they put down the dog for biting the kid? I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have even considered rehoming the dog? This is so so so very sad! I have two dogs at home and one is fearful of little kids. He has growled at a couple before in our home and he really worries me because I am currently expecting. I would never let anything like this happen. It’s all about time and effort. People seem to think that pets will naturally accept a baby/kid and tolerate it but they need to remember that pets are animals and they can’t talk and tell us what is wrong.

    1. As I posted previously, my sister had this same problem, and it went very well!
      The dog DID grow less fearful around children as they trained the child to behave around him from an early age, but they never forgot to respect the dogs boundaries either.
      They had a playpen in the living room – not for the child, but for the dog. 🙂
      Putting it up around the woodburning stove, it allowed him a peaceful place to rest his ageing bones, while the child could observe but not crowd the dog (or burn herself on the stove).

      One tip she often gives in such situations is to consider how you treat the dog before the child comes – is it your “baby”, allowed on furniture/in beds, treated like a favoured child?
      If so, start restructuring the “family pack” BEFORE the child arrives – if you suddenly change the rules the moment you come home with the baby (“NO, you’re NOT allowed on the sofa with the baby!”) the dog will often associate all these negative changes with the baby, and grow to dislike it because of this.
      Making it clear from the start that the dog is, by neccessity, at the bottom of the hierarchy, so that it doesn’t feel “de-throned” by the new arrival.

  28. We have a 13 year old cockapoo and a 12 year old daughter who are best buds now but when they were both very young we got some great advise from a dog trainer. We established “safe zones” for the dog (we chose her crate and under an older child’s bed places she loved) and taught our daughter to never, under any curmstance go near her when Buddy was in her safe zone. Buddy always knew she had a safe place to hide and I think this helper her not feel cornered and scared enough to lash out. This isn’t a substitute for supervision but just another layer of safety. We never had a problem and I think Buddy’s “safe zone” helped a lot.

  29. This has happened with my great dane. Apparently at a family barbeque, my 8 year old grandson was teasing my dog relentlessly. I did not see this, but after the second time he snapped at my grandson, I was discussing this with a friend who had witnessed the torment. She said the parent did nothing to stop the boy, and repeated requests from her were ignored. Now, I cannot have my dog around my grandson, even though he is perfectly behaved around all other kids. It breaks my heart, but I will not put my dog down when the parents did nothing to teach the child to respect animals.

    1. Send them a copy of these posters and a note saying ” This is why your son was bitten, you and he ignored polite behavior”

  30. Your very moving post is being shared in the UK now – isn’t the internet great 🙂
    I just wanted to add this:
    When I was 5 I was bitten in the face my my grandfather’s dog. It was an old, working, sheepdog and just jealous/not used to children.
    I am beyond delighted, 50 years later, that the dog was not punished in any way, even though it was his ‘fault’. I don’t know how I would be able to live with myself if a dog had been killed because of me when the dog was clearly not ‘dangerous’ in any meaningful way.
    I wonder how the young lad in your story will feel as an adult when he thinks that his actions led to the death of his childhood friend?
    Just another aspect that I wish people would think about and which just further reinforces everything you have said

    1. From a dog’s point of view, all “bites” (even if it’s just a tooth on skin) are provoked. I’m not trying to challenge your story, just to bring to light the fact that the terms we think about dog bites are problematic at best, and at worst, lead to dogs being blamed, demonized, rehomed, abused, and put down. The dog in question was “just jealous/not used to children”; yet it was his “‘fault’.” In my mind, the bite is either the fault of the person who didn’t socialize him to not be jealous and used to children, or the adult who allowed the dog to interact with a 5 year old for the possibly first time and expected it to go swimmingly.

  31. The posters are great!
    Its sad that the dog had to lose it’s life, especially when the parent admitted the child had provoked him.
    When I was a child we had a golden lab who was very placid but, like most dogs, didn’t like her tail or ears being pulled. A neighbour’s child had come round one day and later my mum heard the dog yelp and the child start crying. She told my mum the dog had bitten her (although there were no marks) so mum took her home so she could speak to the child’s mother. Thankfully, the child’s mother had a dog so when the child started crying again, her mother asked her where she had been bitten. The child said it was her hand so her mum demanded to see it. The child hid her hand away so her mum took her hand and could see there were no bite marks. She then asked what she had done to the dog to make her yelp and eventually she admitted that she had been pulling the dog’s ears. The girl was told off for telling lies and sent to her room.
    Unfortunately, too many parents think their child is blameless these days and don’t teach them to respect animals so many similar stories could end so differently.
    I really hope these posters will take off – it could be a good resource for schools tool

  32. Things have really changed over the years. When I was about 5 or 6 I grabbed a bone out of my dogs mouth. he promptly bit me in the face. My Dad comes running over yelling ” what in h*ll did you do to the dog?” I was the one in trouble – not the dog. It was my own fault.

    1. That’s what mom would do!! I Was always taught to respect animals. Mom would say if she bites you that means you did something and I would get in trouble. I have 5 kids and one grandson who 16 months. And they were all raised with dogs and cats and all taught to respect them!!! Never one of them have been bit!! Knock on wood! But my grandson is corrected asap!! So he knows!

  33. In situations like this, I tend to not temper my inner Mega-B. I’d make sure that every rescue and shelter in the local area were aware that “the Smiths” were both parental failures with little “Matthew”, but that had also failed “Buddy” in one of the worst ways possible. If I heard of them looking at a certain breeder; I’d be all over it.

  34. Very sad to hear. We get calls and emails about this often and in almost every case, it could have been avoided altogether. But not by never having children around a dog — that kind of avoidance doesn’t provide solutions to problems, it merely sidesteps the problem, like skipping a question on a test: you don’t learn anything by skipping it. The ideal approach to things like this is for the adults to show both kids and dogs how they are supposed to behave around each other, and to also address any misbehavior. A dog only behaves like this when it doesn’t see one of US taking control of the situation. I hope a lot of people read your blog and realize that there are solutions to most any behavior problem. Thanks for sharing this event.

  35. That was heartbreaking to read and I am sure it happens a lot sadly.
    I just felt I needed to add
    Last year my friend took her teenage son to the hospital to stitch his upper lip back together. When the doctor and nurse asked what had happened she stated that her son was harassing their large breed dog and the dog did what it felt it had to and bit the boy on his lip. The doctors asked if my friend had called animal control and her answer made me smile. She politely informed the hospital staff that her son was being punished and the dog was not because the dog hadn’t done anything wrong and her son needed to learn a lesson.

    As a child, I remember pulling on the tail of a friend’s dog and she nipped the corner of my eye (I still have a small scar) and I got punished for being mean to the dog, me, not the dog and that’s the way it should be.

  36. Some of us still know this to be true, and others are relearning it. I don’t have kids, but I’ve raised one of my dogs from 16 weeks. He is a mix of two mouthy breeds (retriever and rescuer – mouth is a good thing), but I know that if he were to ever put teeth on anyone, including a child, with any more force than would be used in a bite hold (which he was trained to do), I’d immediately look to the person for the reason.

  37. We have dogs….who have lived together all of their lives, who have slept together, shared toys, played together……and fought! The fights have broken out in the blink of an eye. If you think your dog is safe around young children who can’t read the dogs body language, you are sorely mistaken. ALL dogs will bite and/or attack if they feel like they are put in a threatening position. Little children, as much as you may not agree, are not much more than small animals themselves. If you value your children and pets then you need to isolate or monitor ALL activity between them.

    I suggest reading the following article http://leerburg.com/dogfight.htm …..mostly the comment section to see how often that pet of years is sometimes just pushed too far.

  38. I did this once…….I will never forgive my self for doing it. My rotweiler attacked a 6 year old boy….I panicked and put him to sleep the same day. Later I was thinking what really happend and I realized it was the child that behaved wrong and not my dog! The child has iceblue eyes and was actully staring the dog down without moving. The dog first run him ower and we just thought it was strange…..and then later the boy stod between me and my dog just stearing directly at him. The dog bit his arm and run him over very hard with a lot of noice and I paniked!! After a while I understod that first, if the dog wanted to hurt him it would be worse!!! And second, the boy wasnot behaving in a good “dog” way!! I wil always regret my choise but I can’t change it……

    1. Hi Raquel,
      Thanks for commenting. Sometimes we act out of impulse and make the wrong decision. Don’t beat yourself up for it – thanks for realizing what happened :).

  39. I bred this beautiful breed for over 20 yrs, I had to stop due to bad people!! My pits slept on my daughters bed some times at her insistence, but I trusted my daughter in that I trained her well to respect and understand them, no matter what animal we try and humanise, they always revert to their wild animal instincts, of course they snap, that’s the wild in them all, what makes me sick is how the media portrays them as human, and that’s not how G-D intends but to nurture, respect, love as an “animal” no more no less, u don’t train the dog, u “understand” the dog and train the child

    1. Yep, me again, the weather here plays up, so does the net, a dog snaps at its young, a little yelp, but they don’t repeat. It again, for a child in a dogs eyes are like pups, who keep repeating and therefore they woud be (in their eyes) challenging their being an alpha bitch or male and the weaker loses, its out there, as South African, I know the order of things being brought up with many around me

  40. We have always had golden retrievers or black labs. Whenever we are out and about with our pets (on leashes) and children approach, we coach them to always ask before reaching towards the dog. We have our dogs sit on command. We then have the child present their hand for sniffing and if approved by our dog, they may then pet them. Our female dog is not fully socialized with people. She is a fantastic pet and interacts with us well. We are very careful to not allow her to become overwhelmed by others. We remove her from situations that cause her discomfort after a very short session of exposure. When our kids visit this summer we will have a lot of coaching to do with them and our little girl. Thanks for sharing these tips – it is unfortunate that it was needed as a result of injury to human and canine.

    1. Hi Lindy, thanks for doing your part! I think this is so important. We also do the same when out with our dogs in public. Thanks for commenting.

    1. Hi Sarah, yes! I should put something together with the blue dog project and others such as the yellow ribbon to create wider awareness. Thanks for commenting!

  41. Hi, I am sharing this everywhere. Such a sad and upsettingly common story.

    If you don’t mind a more positive story, where a parent really has got it right to help cheer us up (and maybe serve as a good example) I would love to talk about my sister in law. She has two small children, and two dogs, both pitty’s. The boy is older, about 12 and the girl is only 2. Both kids are pre-school.

    So, the kids and dogs are never left unsupervised together. My SIL monitors their time together very closely. The older one loves cuddles, one of the few dogs I know who seems to get upset when he doesn’t get them. Even so, my SIL has taught both of her kids to wait for him to approach them for a cuddle, not the other way around. The younger dog doesn’t like cuddles. This has been useful with teaching the kids that what one dog likes, just like people, another dog won’t. So they know to approach dog’s carefully, ask first before attempting to pet or play with them. They do this every time.

    When the older child asked why, their mum explained that just like with a human, when a dog gets upset or doesn’t like something it could lash out if you keep doing this. She also explained that as well as one of them being hurt, the chances are the dog would be put down. That really upset the kids to hear, but her honesty has paid off. They love the dogs, they don’t want to see them get into trouble so they behave around them. They listen when their mum says they need to stop doing something because it is upsetting the dog/s. They are learning the signs, slowly, and when they are older will hopefully be able to monitor the situation and react accordingly themselves.

    Last time I was round, the youngest child sat me down to talk about the dogs. She wanted me to know that when the younger one goes and sits in the corner it means she wants to be left alone, and when the older one sits on your foot and licks your knee it means he wants a cuddle. She asked if I was nervous around dogs, because that makes the dogs nervous and she would have to ask me to stay in the living room and not come in the kitchen or garage as those are the dog’s places to be. It was so sweet, apparently she runs through this with all her playschool/nursery friends too.

    They all have such a good relationship, and I would be shocked to ever hear of either dog biting but none the less, the kids are never left alone with the dogs because their mum knows they are still young, still learning how to behave around them and thus not safe to be left alone together – just in case.

    1. Hi Sian,
      Thank you for the comment – and sharing your story, I loved it! A great message that many parents are aware and teaching how to properly interact with dogs.

  42. When I was 6 years old we lost a dog to this kind of injustice, not on my parents part though. The dog and I were playing tug-of-war using an old rag. I fell, and that caused him to lose his footing. One of his paws landed on my face. Had to have two stitches on my lip and four near my eye. The authorities got involved and put him in the pound. After a 10 day hold, they put him down, even thought there had been absolutely no signs of aggression or rabies or anything like that. They wouldn’t listen when we said it was an accident caused by me and that it wasn’t a bite.

  43. hard to understand why the mother knew the child was in the dog’s face, harassing him, and allowed it. does she allow that child to bully other children too? i’m happy to report that around here parents of the children i come in contact with appear to be teaching them the right way to approach animals. i have a beagle/bassett (rescued) who adores children. where ever we are, when he sees children he makes a bee-line for them, smiling and wagging. and the children ALWAYS ask, ‘can i pet him?’ someone is doing their job!

    1. Hi Joann, I wonder the same thing. I’d assume that the boy “played with Buddy like that all the time”….but unfortunately, Buddy did not like it and the boy and mother did not notice the warning signs and Buddy paid the ultimate price from their actions or lack thereof. 🙁

  44. Our 2 year old niece provoked a bite from my in-laws old family dog 30 years ago. My father-in-law took their dog up to his favorite place in the woods and shot him, dead. Instead of letting that be a positive learning lesson for our niece and all the other children in the family, the dog was killed. My father-in-law could have taught the proper way to be around the dog who was older and not used to small children anymore. I never thought the same way about the man or my mother-in-law for allowing that to happen. It still bothers me all these years later.

    1. Hi Lyn,
      Oh my gosh – that is terrible. Unfortunately, many people still think of the animal as, “just a dog”. It obviously made a lasting negative impression :(.

  45. I’ve loved dogs since I was a little kid, and my mum taught me from an early age to ask before stroking anyone’s dog, and if the dog was on its own outside a shop then don’t touch it. But nowadays I see so many parents who don’t teach their kids that. I witnessed a child who couldn’t have been more than 4 run up to a small terrier tied up outside a shop and scream right in its face. The poor little dog jumped and ran away, but I bet if it had bitten the kid it would have been classed as the dogs fault. And the parents did nothing. I hope that kid doesn’t do that to the wrong dog one day.

  46. This article is both heart breaking and poignant. Strange that I feel I ought to write ‘Of course parents should teach their children respect for both their own dog and other peoples.’ Strange because it should go without saying, it is that obvious. The advice that small children and babies should never, under no circumstances,be left alone with even the most benign of dogs is of the utmost importance. This was highlighted this week here in the UK by the death by mauling of a six day old baby girl. The dog in question, a Malamute, was well known in the district for being ‘child friendly, well trained, and sweet of temperament,’ what caused the dog to act in this most dreadful manner will never be truly understood, though much speculation has been proffered, because there were no witnesses to the incident, the baby having been left alone with the dog.

  47. This above story is so sad. The advice is good, though. I read this because my dog bit my son last week and you know whose fault it was? Mine. Luckily the bite didn’t break his skin, but we all learned a lesson. Training has to be ongoing, and to tell the truth, I’ve been a little lax. So we’re going back over the dos and don’ts with the whole family. We all need to be reminded of our responsibilities to our pets and our families.

  48. THANK YOU for this excellent blog!! These graphics should be mass produced and sent to ALL SCHOOLS!! I shared your graphics on my FB… with my own, personal editorial as follows… “Here’s the Cliff Notes version… it’s not usually the dogs fault. Parents, watch your kids when in a house with dogs… and for the love of all that is good and Holy, teach them to RESPECT dogs!! Pet parents, watch your dogs and ALL the kids! Remove the dog if the kids are brats and won’t listen the first 5 times you tell them to leave the dog the HELL alone!! It’s really for the DOGS protection… and your home owners insurance claims (my editorial comment!).”

  49. Colvin Nurse
    11 hours ago
    This is soo SAD yet such a REALITY!! I grew up with having all sorts of Dog’s due to my Mum always volunteering at our local RSPCA centre! Her love and dedication too not just dogs but too all kinds off animals was simply inspiring. But what she loved doing the most was fostering dogs that would come into the Rescue center that had been rescued due to neglect, treated cruelly, or simply just left for dead inside a black bag in a coal bunker!!! It didn’t matter what breed the dog was, all what was important to her was to give those animals a second chance in life if possible and get the dog’s rehabilitated!! The point I’m making is from a young child I grew up with dogs around me, German shepherds, Collie’s, Lab’s, Rooties, Poodles, Staffies that had sometimes been beaten, neglected, and basically had their faith in humans completely shattered!! So you can imagine how anxious and nervous these dogs would of been, some would say the chances of me getting bitten as a child was higher than most. So did I get bitten?…..Yes I did, quite badly actually on my finger. But that was by our cockatiel Beauty! Not once did I get bitten by a dog that we owned! Why??? Cause my Mum took the time when I was a little Child to recognise when I should approach a dog and how! Above all ask if its ok to stroke the dog and too NEVER EVER tease or torment any ANIMAL full stop!!! As I got older my parent’s taught me more and more, which has led me to pass this Knowledge down to my Little boy. The truth is would the dog of been put down if I was bitten? absolutely NOT! It would of been my own fault. Obviously if I was bitten unprovoked then it would be a different story, however it would of depended on the severity of the bite.
    My little boy’s almost 4 now and has grown up with our spaniel, she’s the softest thing around but would I leave my little boy on his own with her?…..absolutely not!! Why?…Because I don’t trust him! Kids are more unpredictable than Dog’s. But he certainly knows what’s Right & Wrong when it comes to the Dog…..if you don’t even have a dog you should still teach your children how to treat dogs! So many parents don’t even think about it! For those of you who are gonna reply saying it depends on the breed, dog’s are vicious, it’s always the dog’s fault!!! I’m gonna say this……if you brought your child up to think it’s ok to snatch toy’s/food, poke & pinch, and torment other children/dog’s then they will probably get BITTEN!! At Nursery, Playgroup & School FIRST then by your Dog at HOME!! But having said all of that it’s just my opinion, which I’m entitled

  50. I love this article. I have a rescue beagle who is very nervous around children, and no matter how many times I tell children to ignore him, don’t pet him, etc. and when they don’t listen and try to pet him anyway I become a bad dog owner because he growls. I think it’s really important to be teaching children that you need to listen to the owner and learn dog body language. Thank you!

  51. I grew up on a farm, and always having large dogs. My earliest dog memory, however, was at the age 2-3 with a stray we recently acquired (unfortunately in the 70s, having a farm we were often ‘visited’ by strays that had been dumped in the country by their owners), he had been mistreated previously, and while generally a good dog, he had a lot of anxiety, and could respond aggressively.

    All this had been explained to me, but being so young, it really didn’t make an impression. I recall petting him on a hot summer day, and being told to leave him alone. That he was hot and uncomfortable, and would snap at me if I kept bothering him. To this day I remember my response…. “He likes me, he would never bite me!…” And then pinching him to emphasize my point…..

    Not surprisingly, the dog managed to bite me in the face. Okay, perhaps not a nice story, but was a sound lesson on understanding dogs (and pets) and learning to read their mood, stress, and interacting with them. I never gained a fear of dogs, and at no time did I (or my parents) blame the dog.

    Whenever I see a story about a child (or even adult) bitten by a dog, I often find myself thinking, what did they do to provoke it?

    I have been around wild animals, terrified animals, hungry animals, and injured or dying animals. I have never seen an animal bite a person except in self defence, or when given (from the animals perspective at least) no other option….

  52. I’m so dissapointed that “Buddy” was put down after this one incident. As someone who has fostered dogs from all walks of life and been at the receiving end of bites before, I know how hard it is to recover from an event like this. But i have always believed no dog should ever be destroyed for one bite. I know not everuone believes that, but it makes me so sad to see stories like this. This is a very sad story, indeed, for multiple reasons.

  53. I REALLY wish I would have known more about how to identify a fearful/anxious dog and learn how to keep one around children. How to set up boundaries, create safe havens for the dog, etc.

    My husband and I had an American Eskimo/Shiba Inu mix that ended up snapping at our daughter when she was about 1 yr old. He never bit her but he came close and would snarl whenever she came near. Of course, she had no clue what that meant at 1 yr of age and me telling her not to touch the dog was something I didn’t think I could enforce. At least not without punishing the dog by locking him away. She couldn’t understand at that age. I thought I was being accommodating to both him and her by letting them interact and I just figured that he would simply get up and leave if he wanted to. He was able to travel around the house better than she could.

    I couldn’t figure out what to do after she wouldn’t stop hanging on him and he wouldn’t stop snapping, so I ended up taking him back to the previous owner. Thankfully they were able to take him back.

    Looking at those posters I now see that he was anxious almost 100% of the time. He constantly yawned and licked his lips, was hyper vigilant, brows furrowed, ears to the side. I just thought they were quirks that made him the way he was. I feel bad now that I didn’t know this and try to make things better for him somehow. He was like this for about 6 years, not just the year he and our daughter were together.

    I also used to think that he was an aggressive dog b/c of the way he would “attack” and bark at strangers, but again, looking at these posters I can see that he was just terrified.

    I wish dog owners had to go through dog training before they could get a dog. I certainly would have done it and maybe we’d still have a dog now.

  54. Hello,

    This is an excellent article; I really do enjoy your posts! Eating my breakfast this brought tears to my eyes hearing that their decision was to put Buddy down. So very irresponsible of the parents and look how it’s left their child, physically and emotionally wounded!

    When I was 9 and my brother 6, my mom brought home a Staffy from a rescue centre. We weren’t allowed to be alone with her or even play with her for the first 6 months. Lucy had been used for Dog Fighting and although was clearly so grateful of her new family she was so very afraid that all might change. We were taught how to understand her language and how to behave accordingly. We also learnt how to teach our friends and show them how loving and fun Lucy was, but so she also felt respected and safe. I guess I’m very lucky to have had that upbringing and shared my home with a dog, the dog many had written off as aggressive and a waste of time. Lucy lived with us to a grand old age and would snuggle up with our cats. She wouldn’t need a lead, was soft mouthed in playtime and was brilliant at hide ‘n seek! It just goes to show how far a little understanding goes to remove fear and build bonds.

    At the end of it all, a dog is a dog and just because they are domesticated they are still unable to say, “Stop!” Until people take it upon themselves to learn how a dog communicates and by respecting their right to personal space, we are going to continue to see this dog-bites-child problem. I firmly believe all who are to own an animal should have to pass a test on communication, basic health and wellbeing. Those who don’t pass take a course, learn some obedience training and how to manage any emotional issues too. I feel this would support the animal and their family, saving money and pain in the long run!

    Thanks again for highlighting the issue, with your great images that I shall share on my blog too!

    Best regards,

    Memory Layne Pets

  55. Great post! My sister’s dog bit my son – not badly but really any bite is a big issue. Totally my sons fault and we used it to share the lesson with my children. But it does drive home the fact you have to be present with young children and dogs. My boys are quite dog savvy now but back then my son was a preschooler. Thankfully no lasting issues to either him or the dog. But I’m careful to direct them with our dog when necessary so they can understand his cues. My dog is an older adoptee and amazingly patient and calm so he’s been good for sharing with others how to be around dogs. Even so – I never leave him alone with young children since they aren’t predictable.

  56. Great article. Well written. I wish more people were aware that they are responsible for their children’s actions just as much as they are responsible for their dogs actions. I cringe whenever I see pictures of babies and dogs laying all over each other. It only takes a split second for it to go horribly wrong because a pet was placed in a situation they should never have been in the first place. It is hard to blame a dog for acting out when it has been threatened or hurt. Unprovoked aggression is a whole different ball game but very sad. At least you’ve made something positive out of it! Sharing knowledge is very powerful tool. Well done.

  57. I have a 7 yr old Lab, very placcid animal, but she has bad hips and often in pain. Last week a child came charging up to the dog and starting hitting her on the back. Several times l told the child not to hit the dog while the mother just laughed and walked away. Would she still be laughing if my dog turned after being provoked by her child?!!

  58. Such an interesting post with great visual aids to help people better understand the warning signs. I particularly like the poster of the two humans interacting and the same behaviour with human vs. canine.

    I wasn’t lucky enough to have a dog as a family pet until I was 12 years old and before that time, I was told not to stroke any dog unless I had permission from the owner, and even then, it was under supervision and in a controlled situation. I was in fact probably a little scared of going up to dogs at that time because my family always told me that I would get bitten if I didn’t behave properly.

    When we decided to get a dog, we wanted to go down the rescue route rather than buying a puppy. We went to a nice rescue centre and came home with a Beagle (the start of a long love affair for the breed!) called Sam. We got him home and within 2 hours, we were driving him back to the centre again. He had come in because his elderly owner had died and he was used to just living with one person. He had been suggested for our family despite of this (bearing in mind it was myself at 12, my sister at 17, my two parents and my grandmother in our house) and in hindsight, we and the staff at the centre were too eager to get a dog to realise that this might be overwhelming for the poor chap and perhaps he was not suited to us. We got him home and of course everyone wanted to meet him. We also then gave him a bowl of food. Foolishly (I still chastise her for this to this day!) my mum went to remove the bowl and he went to bite her. My sister (even more foolishly!) then attempted the same thing and of course, Sam had the same reaction. Neither of them had proper bites, just a little red mark, but that was it, we couldn’t possible keep this dog and they decided to shove him in the car and drive him straight back to the centre. Looking back on this, it really upsets me that we were all so naive about dog behaviour and finding the right family to match the dog. It really was not his fault that we acted this way and provoked him.

    We then had a short break to recoop and make sure we really were ready for a dog. We did some more research and spoke to one of my mum’s colleagues at work, who had 6 Beagles herself. After spending some time with them, taking them for walks etc., we knew we wanted to stick with Beagles & went along to a hunt kennels to meet a whole pack of them. There was one in particular, Traveller, who needed a home as she hadn’t made the grade. We took her home after a few more visits to get to know her and this time everything went a lot more smoothly. There was, of course, the usual ‘fighting’ over who gets to take the dog for her walk, but we soon settled into a routine and she was very happy with her new life. A year later we also took home her brother, Trojan, and he & I formed a bond that I will find very hard to replicate. Trojan had to be PTS due a couple of years ago (aged 14) and Traveller followed last May, a week off of her 16th birthday. Growing up with those two little hounds taught me an awful lot about how to interact with dogs and I will be forever grateful to them for forming my love of canines.

    Since then I have worked at boarding kennels and hunt kennels whilst not living at home. In my time of being around dogs, I have been bitten twice, with small scars to prove it, but both times I will fully admit that it was my fault – the first was when trying to shift an old Beagle who was quite happy on HIS bed in HIS car boot and the second was trying to free a Beagle who had caught her toenail in a door and needed to be freed so she was very stressed. I would certainly never blame the dogs involved for their actions – it was my fault I got bitten!

    I have recently rehomed a rescue collie from the Dogs Trust in Newbury. She’s approx. 9 years old and very laid back, but in our 11 weeks together, I have been very careful about making sure she feels comfortable around all the new people who are dying to meet her. She has taken it all in her stride but we have strict rules in our household for guests about how to behave around her. Everyone thinks that I’m bonkers for making all of these rules but I then explain that it’s mutually beneficial and I would side with the dog rather than the human if someone got bitten due to not following the rules! We also have no children but we do know adults who do not know about dog behaviour and I have made it my mission to teach them and make sure they enjoy dogs without overstepping the mark. It’s amazing how many adults are unaware of the warning signs and therefore they are ill-equiped to pass on the message to the next generation.

    I shall be re-posting this blog on my Facebook in the hope that it will save at least one dog’s life with your powerful message. Well done!

  59. What about the 1 week old baby who recently was killed by a family pet – can’t imagine a baby that age would taunt a dog!!! In other word – you can’t blame the child in this case. The dog should not have been in the house let alone the same room as the baby!

    When I lived at home we had a family dog – a Labrador. He was never allowed in the house as he had his own house outside. We loved him. Now that I have kids myself I refuse to get a dog for the reason – you can not predict a dogs mood no matter how long you have him. All dogs can kill/maim. I don’t care what anyone says. My kids are more important to me than a dog!

    Even if Im up the street and a dog comes towards us on a lead – I keep my kids away from it.

    1. Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately this kid was not a baby but a 7 yr old boy and I feel this could have been prevented. It’s really too bad for both the child and dog.

  60. Great post! Will share for sure! Very well done and THANK YOU! We have 3 rescues and they all have their foibles ..thankfully, we rarely take them to other homes but ppl do come here. We care for handicapped adults who live with us, so they are well versed in how to treat our dogs. They are always calm and respectful. However, when we have small children visit..I make sure to advise them how to approach our dogs…and how to just leave them alone. If my dogs go to them, they can pet them calmly etc…..If you come to my house, it’s my rules no matter who old you are 😉

  61. Super Post! Shared on the FB page of one of our local humane societies as I really think this should be read by everyone who engages with pets. Thank you for writing it and sharing the graphics.

  62. I appreciate all of the graphics. My niece has a dog that lets her do whatever she wants to him. Then she comes to see me and my dog and wants to do the same thing. My dog does NOT like to be hugged. I’m going to print those off to show her next time she visits.

    I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog!

  63. Love this! Thank you for posting.

    After a child in the family dove on my dog a few times, my dog got up and barked in her face…literally. no more than three inches away from her face. The kid doesn’t know better, but no one else in the family seemed too alarmed. They were all like “she’ll learn,” referring to the kid, but yet had my dog bit her, my dog would’ve been forbidden from any family gatherings. My dog would never be forgiven.

    Now when my dog is around a child roughly the same age as my family member, she barks at them before they get near her. I don’t want her to be that way around children, but it’s hard when children just come running up to her out in public and are loud and grabby and it doesn’t help that it happens in family situations as well.

    It’s also disturbs me the amount of times at the dog park that I’ve seen people just allow their young children to run around and pet strange dogs and come up from behind them and hug them. I realize people don’t always know better, so it’s important to educate them. I don’t know my dogs limit (when she’ll decide that’s enough and bite), and I don’t want to. She’s very friendly and tolerant, but I don’t want to push it. She can’t tell a child to stop the same way we can.

    I love kids and I love dogs. It’s very important to educate children on how to interact with animals appropriately. It’s important to recognize your dog’s feelings of anxiety and fear as well.

    Thank you for this. I’ll be sharing it with everyone!

  64. My grandmother adopted a dog named chissy, she was a shih tzu something mix. Dog HATED kids. Every time I went over there I tried so badly to get her to like me. Got bit every time. But I kept (stupidly) trying and she finally started letting me pet her. I was the only grandkid she liked. Its the same with birds too. I’m working with a conure that loves to bite, still trying to get him to stop.

  65. After reading this I just hadd to share a story of my sons. When he was a toddler he would play with our dog on the floor. One day he headbutted the dog and the dog snapped and accidentally caught a tooth in my sons head. My sons father wanted to blame the dog, and have him put down. I think this was mainly due to the iincident happening on his watch. Anyway I fought him and said the dog was just in his actions and it was our sons and ultimately my husbands fault not the dogs. Our son learned a vaulable lesson he has always treated dogs with respect since then, and the dog in question lived on till he died of old age just last year, which is 6 years after this story takes place. I just there were more parents out there that are willing to actually teach their children and not just blame others when their poor little angels act out.

    1. Hi Elizabeth, thanks for sharing the story. I’m SO glad that you were able to convince your husband. So often people jump to the conclusion that “the dog is aggressive and unpredictable”. Hopefully this post will help educate & bring awareness to many parents. Thanks again for commenting.

  66. I have 3 dogs, in house. Once, one of my grandchildren got bit by my old lady. I had been telling him over and over to leave her alone because she has a bad hip. He was 5 at the time. Well she finally crawled under a table to get some peace. While no one was paying attention, he crawled under the table and proceeded to sit on her bad hip. Now she didn’t even break the skin, it just welted and an hour later you couldn’t even tell it had happened. His daddy, my son, got so mad and told me, “Mamma, she’s got one more time to bite my kid and she’s a dead dog.” At which point I replied, “No, your child has one more time to hurt my dog and he gets his ass beat and if you don’t like it I will whip yours too. I have been telling him for hours to leave her alone and explained to him that she has a booboo and he hurt her. So you make him leave her alone or you will both be punished. She is in her own home, after all.”

  67. Fantastic article.

    I also have a dog (well, six dogs, but one of them) who is NOT a kid-dog. I don’t know his history because he was left behind when someone moved. He does NOT warm up to new people, has a strong aversion to dark haired men, and doesn’t like kids. I always tell kids who ask to pet my dogs which ones are okay to pet that he doesn’t like to be petted because we don’t know why, but he is frightened of children. Problem is, not all parents will respect that and ask first. It’s frustrating to have to worry about someone else not taking responsibility. One thing I do is that he always has a strong harness with a handle on it so I can pick him up at any time and swoop him into my arms. That way I can hold him, hold his head if a child insists.

    Fortunately my smallest one loves humans (dogs, not so much) and even the smallest humans can torture her and she just goes with it. She played Toto in a play and all the munchkins took turns passing Toto around for snugs. Poor Dot.

    1. Thanks for commenting, enjoyed hearing about your dogs. Lola and Rio are complete opposites like yours. Rio just adores little kids and will greet them with a wagging tail. But yes, it’s annoying when parents are with their children and they allow them to run up to a dog and assume they are friendly. Take care!

  68. Thank you for this post. What a heartbreaking situation.
    I once left my usually very well-behaved dog with my in-laws one day when my husband and I went out to lunch. I asked them to just leave her in her crate and she’d be fine. They decided to take her out anyway, and took her on a walk. When we got back my FIL’s arm was stitched and bandaged up. My dog had never bitten anyone before. My first question (after making sure he was OK) was, “What were you doing to her when she bit you?” Apparently she wouldn’t go back into her crate so he grabbed her from behind and tried to pick her up and scared the heck out of her. I was definitely more angry at my FIL than I was my dog. I learned a lesson that day…don’t leave the dog unsupervised with people I (or my dog!) don’t absolutely trust. So sad for poor “Buddy.” 🙁

  69. This is an important subject as it is not only a commentary on dog owners and how they socialize their pets, but it is a commentary on how we raise children these days. The kids parents are not the only ones capable of teaching their children the proper way of interacting with animals. I think my father demonstrated the appropriate way to handle such situations when he brought our family dog Nellie (a black lab mix, very tolerant, very mellow) to a cubscout event. 5 or 6 young boys saw Nellie and immediately ran over and tried to pet her face, ears and tail. My father pulled Nellie behind him and said “Stop. This is not how you interact with a strange dog.” He then let them come up one by one, told them to present Nellie the back of their hand to sniff and then let them pat her neck and back.

    These boys were all strangers to us both and they were not in our charge. My father did not lose his temper or yell. He simply took an active position to protect a member of his family and educate the kids in the proper way to interact with a strange animal. Everyone walked away a little happier and a little wiser that day.

    1. Hi Alex, thanks for commenting – kudos to your dad for handling the situation correctly. Parents need to step it up and take the initiative to teach their kids, because you cannot rely on others to do so.

  70. It is totally the parents fault. They have allowed their child to get in the dogs face like that. What would they have expected the dog to do? Then after that happens, who gets punished ? The dog by euthinasiation. That family should never be allowed to own another pet again they get no sympathy from me. Only prayers for the dog.

  71. We have had a nightmare at our school with the nursery children running out of school and up to the dogs who have to be left tied up outside (school rules – no dogs in school grounds). The parents let them do what they want to them, mine has been pulled, yanked, tried to be made to ‘kiss’ another dog, and had bottles of water thrown over him. The parents say absolutely nothing, and I now have a dog who loved ALL kids, now recall nervous of kids around age 5. School seems to think we shouldn’t bring them to school?!?!?!

  72. Wow this is horrible! Thank you for writing about it. A couple things….

    1. Dogs are dogs….not people. They cant say ‘please get away from me you are bothering me.” So instead they growl….sometimes just snap. What are they supposed to do?

    2. People are stupid. They think that becausethe dog has no history of snapping….that it will never happen. Why is that not the ca see with people? Im a really nice person….but I have flipped my shit before. Should I be put down?

    3. I had a pit and a cat for 6 years. Then i got a chihuahua. Things were great….so i got another chihuahua. For 2 year, things were great. I was a big advoacte of putting big dogs with little dogs. Then one day Drake bit Ricky (the chihuahua). Because of the size difference…it was a problem. Ricky lived, but he cant see out of one eye 🙁 It was MY fault. Drake could have killed Ricky but he didnt. He want Ricky to leave him alone. Just like that dog did to that kid. So I had to change the situation and since the chihuahuas would have to go together and someone would need to take care of Rickys eye….it was easier to find the pit a home. I contacted 3 rescues and let them know that Drake had no signs of aggression with people and this was a one time thing. 2 of the 3 rescues (1 being the SPCA) said to put him down. The third rescue (MD dog rescue) posted him on PetFinderm.com. We found a wonderful home for him and now he is the only dog in the household with no children. He is going to be 10 soon 🙂

    Anyway, education is the key. People need to understand the risks of bringing an ANIMAL into their home. No matter the breed. And take a look at themselves and the situation before putting the blame on the dog.

    1. HI Ana! Thanks for the comment, you literally had me laughing out loud!
      So sorry to hear about Ricky though 🙁 but thanks for ensuring that Drake found a loving home.

  73. I’m sorry but I remembered back to when we were at the dog park and all through the outing Lola didn’t really “recognize” Peyton as a tiny person.. then all of sudden “WOOOO WOOOO BARROOOOOO”… omg I laughed when I thought of that.
    Love this article though!

  74. I get so concerned in the way that parents let children run up to dogs and try an pat them on the head. To a dog anything going over its head is a threat and can be responded to aggressively. Children should always be taught to approach with an open hand gesture, with the palm of the hand towards the dog at or below nose height. That is a friendly gesture. Once the dog as got the person’s scent, stroke under the chin. If the response is good then stroke up the side of the head, behind the ears and then the neck and back. Do NOT reach over the dog’s head as any dog with the slightest aggressive tendency may attempt to bite at any perceived threat. I have an Akita, a lovely gentle dog, but even she will flinch and back off if anybody puts a hand over her head, even ME! She knows I am not a threat but it is instinctive.

    1. Hi James,
      I completely agree. And most often, because it is the closest I’m assuming – the top of the head is what most of ‘us’ reach for… I hope that by continuing to spread educational pieces on interacting with dogs that it makes an impact on at least a few people. 🙂

  75. While I agree that training a child on how to behave around children is essential but training your dog to be safe around kids is a big thing missing from these comments.

    I was raised around dogs, and we’re raising our kids around animals as well. That means we teach our kids but also have to train the animals on appropriate behavior. For example our youngest is 9 months and learning to walk, he’ll start out gentle and randomly get to what we consider too much (we always error on the of being too cautious). We intervene immediately but we’ve also trained our dog to get up and walk away whenever he feels impeded upon. He’s trained to drop anything a child touches, not pass people on the stairs, not jump and has been trained on how to play the safe games.

    So it really takes training of the children and the pets involved. For example my sister has 2 dogs and didn’t train them, so we had an incident where she wasn’t supervising her dog (who was under exercised and not mentally getting drained) her lab pounced my eldest son when he was under a year. Full speed ran up and leap full body weight on him, the only reason he wasn’t injured more is he fell onto something soft. He wasn’t being prey and running around screeching he was standing there looking the other way not interacting with her. His actions didn’t trigger the behavior she was just never trained that he wasn’t a toy.

    If you own a dog and don’t have kids be sure to socialize them, we have a friend who comes over to do just that (well and puppy play dates). It’s good for kids to learn dogs behave differently and good for dogs to be around kids of all ages in a supervised and educational setting.

  76. Well there was no way for you to respond to this without actually being a b#$%*.

    Let me set you all straight here. The attitude here of the ‘fur mom’ is ‘That poor dog is being punished for something that is the child’s fault’. Well, maybe you need a refresher in the order of life on this Earth. Human children have more rights than your fur children. And when a dog disfigures one for life, you don’t blame the child. You have no clue clearly what it’s like to raise a real kid. We teach them all kinds of things. Do they always listen? Do they always do it right? Can we REALLY monitor every interaction. NO! And if a dog’s first response to annoyance is to disfigure a kid…The DOG HAS A BAD TEMPERAMENT!!!!!!

    Homes belong to human children to roam and make mistakes in. Those of you think that the dog has the same right to exist in that space have disconnected from real life.

    And if you came to my family gathering full of kids and left all horrified about how your dog couldn’t put up with lots of kids, I would just tell you to leave your dog at home next time. It is a PET.

    By the way I have a dog and a cat, and if the dog so much as made a singe aggressive move at my kid it would be out the door. Easy decision.

    1. Your attitude is very typical of a real parent and I do agree with you on the fact that a dog that mauls a child needs to be put down. But there is a BIG jump from being bitten or scratched by a dog and being mauled by one. I’m certain that if your child beat another kid half to death with a rock because he was being bullied, you would defend your kid’s right to self defense until your dying breath, in spite of the fact that his tormentor is now lying in a coma in a hospital. The ironic part of the story is that the bully’s parent would 100% press charges and say that your child “has a bad temperament” and deserves harsher punishment.

      Just like there is a difference between bloodying a bully’s nose and beating him half to death, there is a difference between a bite and a mauling. It’s all a question of appropriate/measured response. Dogs have the capacity to crush bones with a single bite and rip giant chunks of flesh off of you with ease. Keep that in mind the next time you or your kid are bitten by a dog and it barely draws blood, that the dog was restraining its self in a big way.

      1. Again, Dogs are not humans. They don’t share the same rights as a child. So comparing a bully attack to a dog attack is beyond delusional.

      2. We also cannot put the dog in jail and fines for your dog attacking someone are nothing like having to hire a lawyer for your kid.

        1. When I was a child it was explained to me like this “dogs and people are the same. Some of them like you and some of them don’t. Some are nice and some are mean, kind of how there are nice kids at school and also kids that don’t treat others nicely. You don’t like it when people touch your hair, but your sister likes her hair touched, and no one can tell that by looking at the two of you. You can’t tell what a dog likes or doesn’t like by looking at it either. so always talk to the owner before you try to make a dog friend.” That REALLY made me understand even though I was 4 yr old and in preschool. I hope this helps a parent explain it to their child. MY point is that by teaching children to empathize with and respect the boundaries of pets, you help them become more in touch with empathy and boundaries when they relate to humans too. It helps them develop emotional maturity. Dogs feel fear, shame, happiness, grief, pain, love and Excitement and annoyance just like people do. If your child can properly read the feelings of an animal who can’t talk and act appropriately in the situation think how successful that child will be at communication with co – workers, friends or a spouse. Plus humans who are obnoxious towards pets and don’t respect animals because they believe they are “above them” tend to treat humans they view as “below them” in the same manner. I hope I helped you see it a different way.

    2. @Alex,

      I have a two kids AND a dog. So I feel pretty well qualified to respond to this by saying, “No.”

      No, If my child was snarling and barking in my dog’s face (I’m going to assume I didn’t know about this at the time, because if I did, it wouldn’t last more than .002 seconds before I YANKED my child away and let him have it, the same as I would if I saw him interacting with another human being in that manner) and he was bit by the dog? I would NOT have the dog put down. Because it IS the child’s fault for provoking basic *defensive* animal behavior from an animal.

      No. We cannot assume the dog’s “first response” was to bite. All we know is it was his last response, and that does not equal a bad temperament.

      No. Someone who believes the way you do, that a child should be allowed to interact incorrectly with an animal — invading its space, acting aggressively towards it, etc. — just because “kids are kids” and it is the child’s home, should NOT have a dog. If a family has a dog, that means they’ve chosen to bring it into that environment. That dog didn’t have a choice. That dog was MADE to have that home, and as the human master who is making all the decisions for this animal it is YOUR job to provide it with nutrition, care and safety. If you want to bring something into your home, yet deny that care, nutrition and safety, not allowing that home to be its home as well, get a pet rock.

      1. What if your child was snarling and barking at the dog, you didn’t see it, and the dog disfigured your child for life. You are a bad parent if you keep that dog. Human children need to be put in a place where they can make mistakes without it still being visible on their face as an adult.

        Nobody said let your kids go nuts on the animals. But an animal that can’t deal with annoyance without disfiguring your kid ( and trust me – most have a good enough temperament not to ) is NOT an animal that should be around kids.

        Should it die? Probably not, but it should be muzzled around kids or not around them.

        It’s like saying, you know what. I really love my electrical outlets uncovered. I’m going to teach my kid not to mess with the outlet and trust he will be perfect.

        Terrible parenting those of you that put your kids in situations to be disfigured before they understand the life time consequences of annoying the dog.

      2. Also, your kid didn’t have a choice in the matter either.

        Fascinating that so many of you place the dog on the same tier as your child. I feel bad for you kids if you would really keep a dog that caused stitches to one of their faces.

        Here’s the thing there as well. You better hope dog and kid a PERFECT if you move forward with that animal in your house. Because if it happens again, this little organization called Child Protective Services just might stop by for a visit. And they are not animal control…trust me.

        1. The problem is if you put the dog down and do not teach the child the correct way to approach a dog they might get bitten by another dog. By the way your argument of rights is really annoying. It wasn’t that long ago that women and blacks had less rights then white males, do we look back at them being beaten and abused and think ‘oh, its okay because they didn’t have rights yet?’ I don’t think that dogs should have the right to vote, but maybe the problem is with society, putting a human life above all others.

          There really are so many different possibilities of the situation – but what you and basically everyone else seems to agree on is that the parent should have stopped the dog and/or child before this happened.
          That being said if you are a parent that lets your child continually mess with a dog(s) (yours or any dog really) you are a ‘bad’ parent.

          It is about balancing your dogs wants and needs and your child’s wants and needs. If the two of these become outbalanced someone gets hurt.

  77. Thank you for posting this blog, such a helpful information especially with family who has small children and dogs. It saddened me what happened with buddy and Matthew, I agree that the parents could have prevented it. I have two dogs and about to have my first baby, I have been reading all kinds of stuff on how I will introduce my baby to my dogs. I certainly didn’t want my dogs to feel left out when the baby comes and I want them to still get the same attention they’re getting now. I love my dogs and I absolutely want my baby to love them too and learn how to treat them right. I’ve seen so many people trying to get their kids a dog but never really teach them how to treat them right. It makes me sad to see some dogs being mistreated or neglected in a home. I hope one day more people will be much educated in taking care of their dogs and will keep in mind that dogs has feelings too.

  78. Again, I’m not saying that kids shouldn’t be taught or held accountable. I’m saying that the child’s life is and always will be more valuable. I think this is what really bothers some of you. Some of you picture a cute dog getting punished for how it dealt with a bratty kid. For all you know this mother whose child has a large scar on his face did everything right in teaching her kid and this happened in that split second many of us have experienced where our child fails at lessons we teach. As a parent, you cannot allow these moments to effect your child for life. And if that means getting rid of the dog then it’s your responsibility as a parent to protect the kid…because you know realistically you have to lock the dog or the kid up to be really sure all the time.

    If you all want to visualize quickly the difference between finding a dead dog on the side of the road (sad I agree) and the difference between finding a dead kid in the same spot…that should clearly paint the image of what I’m saying. Dogs are not humans and they don’t have the same rights. They deserve quality lives and to be treated with respect, but those of you that place the same value on their lives are not thinking coherently.

    1. I like dogs better than kids/humans. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t be absolutely devastated if I saw a dead human though “on the side of the road”. Your argument is that the two can’t be valued equally is totally invalid. Love for humans and love for dogs is not mutually exclusive. Broaden your horizons.

  79. I personally think we should be teaching kids in school correct ways to handle and approach dogs. Even just the basics like when not to approach a dog (if it is off lead or growling) how to approach a dog (ask owners permission, correct postion of hand, etc) what not to do near dogs (run, scream, hit eachother). Take out one day every year of watching a pointless movie in school and it may keep kids from getting bit.

  80. We have an aging red heeler mix (approx. 10 years old) who has always been great with kids. But now that her eyesight is starting to fail and we have two toddlers in the mix (our 21 month old and the 28 month old neighbor boy), she is not as tolerant as she once was. We spoke with an animal behaviorist at our vet’s office and she was very clear on one thing especially. She said never to scold your dog for growling at a child. The growl is a warning to the child to back off. If you scold them for growling, they will stop giving warning and just bite instead. We are working hard to teach the kids to be respectful and gentle.

  81. I have a Mini Schnauzer, my baby girl, one yr. old, Named Gypsy. I have told more than one child to not get in her face. She’s not vicious, but when she gets very hyped up while playing, if you get in her face , she could possibly nip you out of excitement. She did it to me, but it was my fault,,, never under any circumstances, would I put her down for doing what she’s suppose to. She’s a dog, her mouth is all she has to protect herself with!!!

  82. As a parent we can teach our children all the right ways to treat animals, BUT they are still kids, and it is very hard to watch everything they do. My child is a very well behaved child, but still gets ideas in his head, and doesn’t think things through before he does them (especially when I’m not watching) I agree with what “buddy’s” owners did, the dog should be put down for that. I do not tolerate cruelty to animals in any way, but when it comes to people, sorry, but the dog comes second! I have a family dog at my parents place, and my boy loves the dog, as do I and the whole family, but if the dog ever bit my boy, (or any other child) for any reason, that would be the end of the dog, no questions asked and NO hesitation. My son is a hell of a lot more important than ANY animal!

  83. Thank you for this important article. I share your frustration and hate that people are so unimaginative when it comes to fixing problems with who should be their family members (pets). One small criticism – you refer to the dog as “it”. I believe in the power of language and as long as we keep referring to animals as “it” and as property by claiming they are “owned”, the idea that we can treat them however we want will persist. Obviously those things alone are not the problem, but it’s a part of it we can all work on.

  84. When I was a child it was explained to me like this “dogs and people are the same. Some of them like you and some of them don’t. Some are nice and some are mean, kind of how there are nice kids at school and also kids that don’t treat others nicely. You don’t like it when people touch your hair, but your sister likes her hair touched, and no one can tell that by looking at the two of you. You can’t tell what a dog likes or doesn’t like by looking at it either. so always talk to the owner before you try to make a dog friend.” That REALLY made me understand even though I was 4 yr old and in preschool. I hope this helps a parent explain it to their child.

  85. When I was 5 years old, I remember getting on my hands and knees and acting like a dog – approaching my parents’ springer spaniel from behind. I barked really loudly at him, and he wheeled around and bit me on the face. He didn’t maul me, he reacted to me because I scared him and he was protecting himself. Stitches on my chin and nose. We had that dog until I was in jr. high and he died at age 14. I was bitten once after that – for trying to take a glove away from him. I learned my lesson. He wasn’t a mean dog – but he was protective and you had to understand that.

    Parents need to take precautions. And if they have concerns, they shouldn’t own a dog.

  86. Thank you for posting about buddy and Mathew. We just had the same problem in our house. My 3 year old pulled my dogs tail and was bitten. our dog has never bitten anyone before so it came as a shock to us. He happens to be a Staffordshire terrier mix and a rescue dog. We are so sad for our daughter but also for our dog too. We’ve been trying to tell our daughter not to irritate and tease him but unfortunately weren’t persistent enough. Now I’m wondering what to do? I feel like I have failed both of them…

    1. Hi Michelle,
      That is a tough situation :(. Kids are also very persistent so I can only imagine how hard it would be to control. Is your daughter now scared of the dog? I would definitely work on how to properly interact with the dog and make sure both of them are relaxed in each other’s presence, then work with both of them in controlled situations. Otherwise, you may have to separate them when you are unable to supervise. You may also want to consult with a trainer. Best of luck to you.

  87. Thank you so much for posting this. It is heart breaking to me to see parents that are endangering the safety and lives of both their pets and their children. I see countless photos and incidents where children are inappropriately interacting with dogs while the parents sit by and assume that everything is fine with the scenario. I also think that those of us who are dog owners that stand up for the proper treatment of our dogs are often viewed as strange, unfriendly, and “animal crazy” as if we are putting our animals before the child simply because we do not allow inappropriate interactions with our dogs.

    I have a large lab/boxer/bull breed mixed dog who happens to love both people and children but is ALWAYS shy of being touched on the top of her head by strangers (once she becomes familiar with someone she has no issues with head scratches). A boy who lives down the street from me once came out of his yard to ask if he could pet my dog as we were coming home from a walk one day. I told him “Yes, she is very friendly and she likes to be scratched on her chest and shoulders.” He completely ignored me and reached directly for her head. Her shyness took over and she stepped back out of his range. Instead of being discouraged by this he continued to try to touch her head, I stepped between them half way and said “No, she doesn’t like to be petted there. Pet her here, on her chest.” and then I demonstrated for him, scratching her a little in the center of her chest. The kid frowned at me and said “I don’t want to pet her there.” and then tried to reach for her head again and I then stepped fully between them and informed him “If you aren’t going to pet her the way she likes to be petted, then you can’t pet her.” He then turned and ran back to his house. About 30 minutes later his mother knocked on my door and proceeded to bitch me out for being “mean” to her son and not letting him pet my dog. She didn’t care to hear my side of the story or an explanation of any kind and so eventually I just slammed my door in her face.

    I can’t help but feel that these types of incidents occur because the general public is uninformed on how to treat dogs properly and that the general public also sees dogs, all dogs, as a source for their pleasure and amusement regardless of if they own that dog or are familiar with it.

    1. Hi Britannia,
      Thanks for the comment. That’s really too bad that the kid couldn’t respect that simple request :(. Sometimes kids are just so persistent and I’ve even found that kids and adults immediately reach for a dog’s head when petting – which many dogs (Lola included), do not like. She would much rather her back, neck, chest be touched (even by me!). Thanks again for stopping by!

  88. I came to this place because the above picture of Lola appeared in my Facebook news feed.

    I’m very tired of seeing this kind of material which appears to place the onus upon the parents and the child to educate / become educated in order to avoid being bitten when the responsibility should be firmly placed in the hands of the breeder, owner and the dog. Children who live with dogs DO need to know that physically hurting the dog or taunting the dog is not a very sensible idea but any dog which is going to come into contact with children, needs to be bombproof or it is simply not a suitable pet.

    It’s 11 July and the kids or on their summer holidays from school. We would like to go on some outing to parks, beaches, country walks etc. but since our kids have been terrorised by dogs in the past (particularly my 14 year old daughter) we are limited to areas where dogs have been banned. Our daughter will not go anywhere where there are dogs. We are having to travel 114 miles to a beach later today, it’s the nearest one where dogs are officially not permitted. We actually have a very popular beach 3 miles from our house which we cannot use. Do you think that this is fair?

    I was terrorised by a big dog which lived in my area when I was ~12. I was often late for school because this dog was allowed to roam free on the field in front of my house. I had to wait until it was at the other end of the field before I could make my way to school. On the way home, I had to take 1 of 3 routs in order to avoid it because when it saw me, it would chase after me. I was bitten a total of 3 times and it could take me up to 40 minutes to walk what should have been the 5 minute final leg of my journey home. This was a particularly vicious animal which had no provocation from me other than the fact that I was being seen to be an intruder on its territory. It continued to bite other kids too but nothing happened till it bit a policeman’s daughter. A whole neighbourhood breathed a huge sigh of relief when it was eventually disposed of. Again NOT fair.

    I could go on. Bags of poo tied to trees by “responsible owners”, can’t play in the park anyway because there is poo everywhere left by “responsible owners”. A former neighbour who had two nasty dogs that he used to train to be even nastier because he wanted them to be able to protect him from his criminal rivals. Not an uncommon reason to own a dog in certain parts by said “responsible owners”.

    Continuing to support efforts to have dogs removed from public areas where children might want to go about their business unmolested and free from dog poo.

    1. My dog is bomb proof. Too many owners thing a dog is a dog, or that they TRAINED it to run the fence line barking like a nut job. If my child approaches the food dish with food in the dish…. my dog backs down, sits and WAITS.

      I have a 2 year old and 4 year old.

  89. See I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.
    I want to teach my dog that the children can take/play with the food/ toys, But not teach my children to take/ play with the toys.

    I want to teach the dog to be hugged, but not teach the children to hug dogs.

    the reality is, I had to teach them the difference between EMME (my dog) and other dogs.

    My dog knows her place. While other people fail to train there’s. Always assume other owners failed. Every dog that barks, every dog that runs the fence line, and every dog that guards. All owners who do not have a clue. If you say you trained your dog to guard, ask yourself did you train it to guard,,,, or was it the choice and discretion of the dog.?

    Having a dog guard, is like having a 8 year old with a shot gun guarding your yard.

  90. This article assumes that parents have total control of their children. I can tell you from personal experience, it is hard to be an effective, gentle parent, and set firm boundaries about the dog. And a child before 3 years old may not even understand – even with the best of parenting. My toddler is almost 2 and, no matter how many times we tell him to be gentle with the dog he loves to chase it (one of them), and pet it overly hard on the head. We show him “gentle” “gentle” but, this only lasts for a few minutes, then he is back at it. We eventually had to muzzle our dog to prevent her from biting him. It’s not a great solution, but until our son can actually understand how to better treat her – I don’t really think there’s anything else we can do. We try to make it up to her with extra treats / attention /affection – but honestly I think all of our lives have improved with the Baskerville nuzzle because, we can all relax, and now that I am not desperate to keep my son away from her he is a little less interested in harassing her, and I for one have bonded to her more not having to be fearful of what she might do to my son all the time.

    1. I’m sorry, but if your solution to the situation is to muzzle your dog so your son can happily abuse the dog, then you need to find the dog a home where he/she won’t be abused and will be treated with respect and dignity. This is just sick. If people can’t treat their dogs with respect and compassion, as well as part of the family (since that’s how dogs view the “humans” around him/her), then they don’t need to have dogs. And basically tying the dog down for abuse is sick. End of story.

  91. i need to show this to my son. we keep telling him to leave her alone when shes sleeping. i feel alittle bad telling him if she bites you its your fault. something like that happended to my cousin when he was about 10. there dog was food aggressive and bit trough his lip. the dog was not put down she was just watched more carefully

  92. This is a very good article and I’m going to share it on my FB page. Folks need to take responsibility for the action of their children and teach them how to act among animals and other human beings.

    I’m sorry about Buddy. It should have been handled differently, I agree, but when it comes to their children, many parents will take the side of the chid, even when the child does the wrong thing.

  93. It always bothers me when I have my pup at the dog park and someone brings their small kids. If the kid is well behaved it’s not an issue. However, I have seen little girls singing and screaming at dogs who then start to bark at the kid and the parents do nothing. Kids who start chasing the dogs and trying to grab them and the parents think it’s cute. It’s not cute. A dog park is for DOGS to play with one another. You don’t know if one of those dogs has a fear of children. Or if they may not like a screaming child chasing them and grabbing at them.

    I have a herding dog so when a child shows up running around and screaming I remove my pup from the situation. I don’t want to have to be the one to explain to the parent why their child provoked the reaction they got.

  94. It always bothers me when I have my pup at the dog park and someone brings their small kids. If the kid is well behaved it’s not an issue. However, I have seen little girls singing and screaming at dogs who then start to bark at the kid and the parents do nothing. Kids who start chasing the dogs and trying to grab them and the parents think it’s cute. It’s not cute. A dog park is for DOGS to play with one another. You don’t know if one of those dogs has a fear of children. Or if they may not like a screaming child chasing them and grabbing at them.

    I have a herding dog so when a child shows up running around and screaming I remove my pup from the situation. I don’t want to have to be the one to explain to the parent why their child provoked the reaction they got.

  95. Dogs are a menace to society. I haven’t had a dog since I left my parents house, and have actively avoided them. Yet, I’ve been chased while jogging on many occasions, had my feet nipped several times. Cleaned up dog crap from my yard dozens of times. Laid awake 100’s of nights because of dogs barking. I tried to contact the authorities about the barking at night. The police don’t care, and when I contacted animal control the first time, the next day there was dog crap in my front yard. A week later I contacted them again, and the next day my tire was slashed. Dogs can never be completely trained, and any dog that is big enough to maul a human is a menace. No dog is completely safe, as proven by this article. It’s time to ban dogs as pets, just as any animal that is dangerous to humans is already banned.

    1. Yeah. I’m thinking you’re the one who is a menace to society. Unlike humans, almost all dogs love unconditionally and are sensitive creatures. Some of them can be jerks, just like people, but I certainly prefer their company to people like you, who want to do away with anything or anyone who causes them the slightest annoyance.

  96. In the beginning of this article you described your friend as being very manipulative and dramatic. Some red flags went up for me when you described her as doing “VagueBooking” behavior, which is the act of posting something very dramatic (This case a picture of her child with cuts and bruises) and not leaving much information. When this happens friends usually flood the comment section with things like, “oh no!” “What happened!” etc. Your friend then blamed her son and ultimately him, as well as the killing of her dog, to manipulate her friends into viewing her as a victim, which in turn fuels her need to feel special. Based on what you wrote, we know this about your friend. What we don’t know is if her son actually provoked the dog.

  97. Reading through the comments, I have to add my two cents. I agree whole heartedly with this article. Love the posters.

    What I don’t agree with is anyone who insists that children should be able to take away toys from the dog/handle their food/etc. This is all and good for adults who can read/understand body language better AND are large enough/capable of enforcing proper conduct should the dog misbehave/act inappropriately. It is not good for children who don’t have a complete awareness of what they are doing, aren’t physically capable of responding to any “aggression” and by no means have the capability of enforcing proper conduct.

    Everyone should remember: training is a life time process. Children should be encouraged to play/train with dogs in an age appropriate manner with adult supervision.

    As a good friend (who has 2 kids! and 2 dogs!) has told me, the beginning stages of teaching kids is like training a dog – in absolutes/ black/white (do not take dogs toy ever/do not disturb dog while he is eating). As they get older, you can begin teaching the ‘grey areas’ (it is OK to take toy away sometimes as a training moment, etc).

    I’ll probably catch fire for some of the above, but I love my pets, my nieces/nephews, and take every opportunity afforded me to teach all ages about all kinds of animals and how to handle/interact with them. As such, I am going to share this to get the message out there.

  98. This article is SO spot on. Thank you for that. Unfortunately, I lost my dog a while ago this way. He bit my sister and I myself was barely a teenager and had little to nothing to say about what was to happen to my own dog. It was my parents’ decision to put him to sleep and I cried and begged but it did not change the outcome of the story. It was the most traumatic event of my life.
    It wasn’t my sister’s fault, she was only 5 when it happened. It wasn’t really my parents’ fault either. They didn’t know enough about dogs to read the early signs that something bad was going to happen very soon. Years later and now that I’ve taught myself so much more about dogs’ behaviour, I can easily see that ALL the signs were there though. ALL. We even used to tell my sister that she was so annoying that Simba, my dog, would move to another room as soon as she would get close to him. He was telling us he’d had enough and we didn’t listen. I will NEVER EVER let such a thing happen again.
    Thank you again for helping educating people about dogs’ needs and feelings and how to avoid dramatic accidents with children.

  99. LOVE this article.
    I got bitten by our neighbours dog when I was 3-4. My mom took me straight to hospital, but never ever blaimed the dog. She instead explained to me that this dog is not used to small children and I hugged him too tightly and the dog got hurt or scared.
    I kept hugging the dog afterwards. of course my mom asked my neighbours approval and also explained to me that if I get bitten again it will be my fault – as a human I should be smarter.

    A few years ater we got our own dog, and a second one. We have a lot of kids in our family. We have also always explained the parents that those dogs are not used to small children (as we don’t have small cildren living in the house) – so, the parents should look after the kids not to corner the dogs. We do get mad at the dogs when they are just mean (not biting but showing teeth for example) to the kids after a long day. Because we have a philosophy that if the dog can walk away from the kids then the dog should. But by no means do we think that kids should pull teir tails or corner the dogs. Then we only blame the kids and parents. I think that all kids in my family have got small snaps (and a few heavy bites) from different dogs (we have a lot of them). But there has only been one case when we didn’t blame the kid. That was the case when we blamed the dog’s owner – the dog was aggressive to everyone, including the owner (probaby under a lot of stress).

    That all being said, our dogs might bite when they are cornered, but they always let them take their food, wake them up and even visit the doctor without any painkillers – all without aggression.

    And we always supervise our dogs (they are actualy really calm). But as cute and calm a dog is – the dog is still an animal. And the only way a dog can protect himself is by biting. And as we are humen and they are dogs – we cannot always read their minds. So, 100 % of the time a dog is aggressive it is humans fault – either bad upbringing or bad interaction.

  100. You may not comment on the family but I will and I have to say Matthew’s mother was a stupid, STUPID woman. The posters probably wouldn’t have done any good because she probably thinks she knows it all anyway, or just doesn’t care, and probably thought Matthew was being CUTE. Stupid woman.

  101. When I was about 3 I was attacked by a Siberian Husky. My dog-loving family were at my grandparent’s cottage and having an outside dinner with the neighbours and their dog, Chuck. I was given a steak bone to give to Chuck so I threw it in the air and was amazed when he caught it. Apparently so much so that I thought it would be fun to do again and I tried to take it out of his mouth. Understandably so, he defended his treat and bit my face, shredding both my eyelids. I was rushed to the hospital in the nearest town and underwent plastic surgery. Chuck’s owners told my parents that they would put Chuck down but my parents – bless their hearts – insisted they not as they recognized that the dog was provoked. The next summer I returned to my grandparents cottage and although I don’t remember it, the story is that I was so elated to see Chuck that I threw my arms around him and hugged him. I’ve never had a fear of dogs and have owned them my entire life. I admire my parents for not allowing fear get in the way of rational thought. They (and Chuck) taught me that dogs deserve the same respect and boundaries as people do – a lesson I have definitely passed onto my children.

  102. Hello, Sarah,

    I appreciate the post, graphics and your takeaway message, as well as the comments others have offered.

    My sister’s dog, call her Foxey, bit/nipped my daughter on the face on Christmas day and did break the skin, but didn’t do much damage. The nip was just about an inch from her eye, and I am grateful the incident wasn’t worse. My daughter was 4 and 1/2 at the time, and Foxey and my daughter had interacted many times without incident. Foxey was lying down, and no one was in the room when my daughter tried to hug Foxey. That’s when the bite happened. (Foxey is a rescue mutt, and the best guess is that she is mostly Chow.)

    While my daughter has interacted with many dogs, does not pester or taunt them, treats them generally with respect, and understands they can be dangerous, she is young and confused a loving human gesture (hugging) with the appropriate way to show love to a canine companion. I have spoken with my daughter, explaining that “Foxey does not like to be hugged,” but I still face the problem of how to reduce risk on future visits. I don’t really care who was to blame — everyone was to blame including me; I just want to avoid another bite.

    When my family visits, toys end up everywhere. It can be loud, and my daughter sometimes runs around the house. She doesn’t chase Foxey or really pay her much attention often, but I am worried that my daughter may reach over Foxey’s back to pick up a toy or crawl in front of Foxey and get bitten again. My sister has tried to socialize Foxey in lots of different settings, given her a great deal of obedience training, and she is very well behaved, but it’s clear she is not easygoing.

    I have asked that Foxey be on leash, crated or outside when my daughter is in the house.; maybe she could also be put in a bedroom with the door closed. I assume in a few years, when my daughter is bigger, this will not be necessary anymore. My sister is not happy about this, but to her credit, she has responded by boarding Foxey when I visit. I’d be interested in your thoughts. It’s not realistic to follow my daughter and Foxey around 100% of the time on multi-day visits. Are we being fair? Is there a safe solution we’re not thinking of?

    Thanks.

    Bert

  103. Hello, Sarah,

    I appreciate the post, graphics and your takeaway message, as well as the comments others have offered.

    My sister’s dog, call her Foxey, bit/nipped my daughter on the face on Christmas day and did break the skin, but didn’t do much damage. The nip was just about an inch from her eye, and I am grateful the incident wasn’t worse. My daughter was 4 and 1/2 at the time, and Foxey and my daughter had interacted many times without incident. Foxey was lying down, and no one was in the room when my daughter tried to hug Foxey. That’s when the bite happened. (Foxey is a rescue mutt, and the best guess is that she is mostly Chow.)

    While my daughter has interacted with many dogs, does not pester or taunt them, treats them with respect, and understands they can be dangerous, she is young and confused a loving human gesture (hugging) with the appropriate way to show love to a canine companion. I have spoken with my daughter, explaining that “Foxey does not like to be hugged,” but I still face the problem of how to reduce risk on future visits. I don’t really care who was to blame — everyone was to blame including me; I just want to avoid another bite.

    When my family visits, toys end up everywhere. It can be loud, and my daughter sometimes runs around the house. She doesn’t chase Foxey or really pay her much attention often, but I am worried that my daughter may reach over Foxey’s back to pick up a toy or crawl in front of Foxey and get bitten again. My sister has tried to socialize Foxey in lots of different settings, given her a great deal of obedience training, and she is very well behaved, but it’s clear that Foxey is not easygoing.

    I have asked that Foxey be on leash, crated or outside when my daughter is in the house; maybe she could also be put in a bedroom with the door closed. I assume in a few years, when my daughter is bigger, this will not be necessary anymore. My sister is not happy about this, but to her credit, she has responded by boarding Foxey when we visit. It’s not realistic to follow my daughter and Foxey around 100% of the time on multi-day visits. Are we being fair? Is there a safe solution we’re not thinking of?

    1. Hi Bert, thanks for the comment. I think strict avoidance is the best thing in this situation. You are setting Foxey up to succeed and preventing another incident. Thanks for being responsible. 🙂

  104. Thank you for posting this story and information about children and dogs…. Very important to educate others.

  105. I find it very concerning that people always have to add the caveat ‘it wasn’t a pitbull’, I brought up three pitbulls alongside my daughter, who is now 8, at no time did i have problems with them or her or anyone else in regard to aggression/biting. It is the owner not the dog that makes a dog aggressive and my dogs even when attacked by other dogs or shown aggression never responded, I put it down to them knowing that a) they could probably do more damage and b) coming from a loving family home which did not encourage aggressive behaviour. It is sad that most people will assume that an aggressive dog always equals a breed with a bad reputation, sadly all three of my dogs have passed away, due to old age I hasten to add… and my daughter did lie with them and indeed climb over them although there was no ear or tail pulling from an early age. However, she was also taught from an early age to respect the canine world and if the dogs were in their beds or walked away from her when she wanted to play that this was there way of communicating that they were not interested…So in knowing your dog and teaching your child at a young age how to behave should eliminate any situations that occur.

  106. When I was a young kid i was warned not to approach my uncle’s bird dog, because she didn’t like kids and would bite. I couldn’t believe a dog would bite me, and my dad saw that I was waiting for a chance to sneak out and play with her. He took me aside and said, “Your uncle Dave loves that dog. But if it ever bit one of you kids, he would kill it. I know you don’t want that to happen.” I was shocked and horrified, but I knew he was telling the truth, and I never went near that dog.
    As an adult, I once had a good-natured, patient, well-trained German Shepherd. We were visited by a friend with an out-of-control 4-year-old, who decided to kick my dozing dog in the head (thank goodness the brat was barefoot.) The kid’s father was sitting right there, and started his ineffectual chant of “Now you stop that” while the kid kept kicking and my dog scrunched his eyes closed and tried to ignore her. My husband swooped in and grabbed the kid, roared “NO!” at her, and then plopped her down on her butt next to the dog. She was about to throw a temper tantrum when my husband said “Never do that to a dog! Look at this!” and pulled up the dog’s lips, exposing his teeth — my sweet dog suddenly looked like a snarling wolf. The kid suddenly looked like she’d just had a major life lesson, and that was the end of any dog abuse.
    Yes, you risk losing a friend if you do something like that, but it’s better than risking a child’s face. And our friend might have been about to get mad at my husband’s rather vehement intervention, but he was stunned into silence just as thoroughly as his kid, by the sight of those teeth.

  107. I would just like to say that the parent should have addressed the situation before “buddy” snapped. She should have taught her son not to tease “buddy”. Children get in trouble for teasing other children so why not the dog, dogs have feelings too. The dog was not at fault. the parent and child were. If someone was in your face barking and growling ( yelling) wouldn’t you like to do something to get them to stop? The mother was neglecting her responsibilities as a parent and the child was unaware of what could happen due to his mother’s neglect in teaching him. The dog should not have been in the situation in the first place. in the end it’s neglectful parenting that is to blame not the poor dog who lost his life due to the mother’s stupidity.

  108. Thing is, we didn’t use to need guides like this. It was called common sense. I remember growing up [and honestly, I’m not ‘that’ old] and my parents telling me these rules, as well as them being on tv. There use to be commercials telling you how to behave and what to do if you ran across strange dogs, etc..

    After running into some children at the park that frustrated me, as I kept trying to separate them from my dog [parents up on hill watching, not doing a thing], I started really thinking about why they felt so entitled to shove their faces in his and touch/grab with no permission.

    My conclusion came down to a comment my mom made [the same exact person that use to tell me to give dogs space], “They [as in the DOGS] *should* know better.” Really? It’s the parents that are the problem, not child or dog. It started slow, but it is now those children growing up with the same oblivious mindset as their parents before them, simply because that is what they were taught. How could my mom, who use to teach proper dog skills, suddenly be an idiot? Grandkids…that’s all it took, the little darlings must never suffer and anything done to them is everyone elses fault except their own [as in own, I mean parents].

    So now we are raising a society full of idiots. The result is BSL, banning, killing and more banning and it has solved nothing. Dogs are still biting, killing and scarring innocent children, and everyone refuses to take responsibility so it is shoved back on the only one that can’t defend themselves, the dog. What happens, child sees themselves as innocent [and true, at time they are, but], then they grow up with the same mindset and it just becomes one huge domino effect.

    I love this article, descriptions, and I truly hope it makes some impact…but the reality is, this problem has only been getting worse because adults refuse to take responsibility and laws are being built to cater to that.

  109. That is so sad. I have 3 children and I have raised them to be very respectful to animals, a lot of them are just common sense like
    -never approach a stray
    -always ask to pet someone’s animal they may get scared or the person just doesn’t want you to
    -you never start petting a strange animal near it’s face, always the back but never behind it
    -Don’t pick them up unless ok by an adult owner
    -pets are not jungle gyms
    -if an animal runs, hides, growls, or cowards leave them alone
    -just like people animals need breaks too

    And the whole breed thing… ugh. I have a Chihuahua and actually they are the top dog that is called in on for bites, NOT PITS! But I actually have a very nice Chihuahua that has never bit, nipped, or anything. She is a huge cuddler and friend to all. I’ve had the vet staff shocked at how well her attitude and temper is. Raised her since a small pup and her mother was well tempered too as at first I was like no way as my grandparents owned 2 that were meaner than sin, but when I saw Bambi I knew she was a sweetheart

  110. I am sure this will put me on blast from all the rescue advocates so let me start by saying I wholly support rescues and encourage folks to look there first if they are not looking for a specific breed. As a former breeder of champion Chocolate Labs I have never once received any feedback from our owners of any aggressive behavioral issues. Patience and tolerance are well known traits attributed to the breed so I speak from experience when saying families with small children may want to look first for a patient breed while teaching their children to respect animals. Like the author said she asked the kids not to do something and it went in one ear and out the other. Cliche or not – kids will be kids.

    One piece of wisdom I will impart is about the feeding. One thing we did with our dogs from the time they were weaned and still to this day is free feed. Free feeding if you don’t know means to have the food bowl / dispenser available at all times. Some vets will say this can lead to overweight animals but that has never been my experience. Quite the opposite actually. When dogs are taught that their food is something that they only have for a certain amount of time or volume then they become possessive over it. Ours never inhale their food for fear it will be taken away (or someone else may eat it) because they know it is there when they want it. They eat only when they are hungry – no more than they need and move on with their business. They don’t care who puts their head in their bowl because there are no feelings of possessiveness about it.

    These are just a couple of suggestions I hope you find helpful. If you have small children or may have your fur babies around small children – look for breeds known for non-aggressive traits and try free feeding from as early an age as possible to remove that potential problem point.

  111. My parents family dog bit my niece recently after being provoked. In my town, dog bites are immediately reported to the police. My parents are now facing charges of harboring a vicious animal and may have to put him down. This dog is the friendliest dog and has never exhibited any aggressive behavior before. Are there any case studies or court cases that you are aware of that we could use in defense of the dog. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    1. Hi Molly,

      Not that I’m aware of. But educating could not hurt, you might try searching for some cases online. Thanks for the comment. Best of luck.

  112. Too often, I see people try to “train the bad behavior out of the dog instead of training the person interacting with it.” Example: Dog gives a warning growl. Dog is corrected. The problem with this is that they eventually train the warning right out of the animal and it goes straight to biting. I’ve had many dogs over the course of my life, and almost always 2 or more at the same time. I do believe in most cases, these situations like the one in question, happen because humans (adults and children) don’t understand dog behavior or the fact that they are using the only form of communication they know to “warn” that they are stressed or scared. I only wish that all owners took the time to learn about dogs before they make that lifelong commitment, Maybe then, dogs like buddy wouldn’t have to suffer his fate.

  113. I just saw this article and wanted to comment, several years ago, my son was mauled by my uncle’s dog. We were at a family reunion and my uncle was fully aware that it was not a good idea to bring his dog to the event. There were a lot of small children, and his dog is very large and quite aggressive. While the majority of the day went well, at one point my uncle let his dog off the leash and the dog went after my then 2 year old who was eating his lunch at the table.

    Not only is it my job as a parent to make sure my kids don’t, in my opinion, torture animals, I fully believe that it is ALSO the job of pet parents to know and recognize when it is and isn’t appropriate for pets to brought along on family events. I understand your pet is your child, my dog and cat are my babies too. But when you know your pet is a danger to others, don’t shrug it off and say “but he’s family”.

    While my son was severely injured, in the end, he was fine, and we were able to keep him from being too traumatized and my state has a one bite rule, since the dog has never bitten anyone before he was let off with a warning. This was 8 years ago, and now the dog is old and far less aggressive. Still not allowed near the kids, but he doesn’t start out ready to attack.

    Anyway, I thought this article was phenomenal, and is something that more people need to be aware of. My boys know to never approach an animal without permission, and even then we have steps we must follow when introducing ourselves to new animals.

    1. Hi Ravenna,

      Thanks for the comment. You are absolutely right – it is the dog owner’s responsibility to take caution, especially if he knew the dog was not good with children. But, as we both know, not everyone thinks logically. Thanks for stopping by! -Sarah

  114. all this being true. but on the same hand I am glad they got rid of the dog. because what if that happens to someone else. may not be the dogs fault but maybe it is

  115. As I do understand that each country has their own culture, belief, laws, etc., I still cannot and will never understand how easily an animal’s life’s discarded.

    Your dog bit someone. That’s terrible but no good reason to take its life.

    I can’t just bear how arrogant that is.

  116. Why can’t people realize that animals can be assholes too… why does everyone always favor the animal.

    Dog bites my kids… it has to go! I have had several dogs that would never bite.

    Yes kids need to be taught… but kids are kids… just don;t put them together.

  117. Love that last picture. Would be better if it also had a pig, cow and chicken. I wish people would give those animals the same respect and care as we give to our pets, and stop abusing and eating them.

  118. My sister’s 1 year old was bit in the face by the family dog yesterday. The baby had to have a plastic surgeon work on her and she is doing ok. Now my sister and her husband are struggling with what to do with the dog. They love him but know they can’t keep him. The baby simply had walked near him when he bit her. She hadn’t provoked him but she did walk toward him.
    The only advice they are getting from the shelters and their vet is that he should be put down. He had crossed a line. The dog is a very healthy dog that has several more years. The weird thing is the vet wouldn’t put him down for them. He said they had to take him to a shelter to be put down. They wanted to be with him and not put him in a stressful situation at the pound.
    Is there anywhere else they can take him? Is there anyone willing to take a dog that has bit a child? This is all new and would appreciate some feedback and another perspective.

  119. Hi,
    I wanted to share my story. My parents had a German Shepherd when I was born, Baron. From the day I came home from the hospital, we were inseparable. Literally, they found him in the crib with me day one. I understand they immediately chased him out. When I was about 4ish or so, I was playing with him and was tugging on his ears (yes, I probably knew not to do this, but, I was 4, so not the best listener.) Before my parents could react, Baron bit me in the ear. Not a serious bite, but, I did need stitches. Instead of Baron getting in trouble for reacting like a dog, I did. He was not put down, he was not reprimanded, etc. But, I was. I learned my lesson and I don’t think I ever pulled on his ears again. Baron and I stayed best of friends until he died when I was 12. To this day, when I let kids pet my dog, I make sure to let them know not to get in her face, to be gentle and to remove her from a situation that is making her nervous. Or I get down with her and comfort her if I can’t remove her. Even though she’s as gentle as can be, I know that could change under the right circumstances. Baron taught me that.

  120. Buddy should not have had to have been killed! That brat kid should have been kicked in the face and beaten and his parents charged with animal cruelty. Fuck humans.

  121. Buddy should not have had to have been killed! That brat kid should have been kicked in the face and beaten and his parents charged with animal cruelty.

  122. Thanks for the post, wonderfully done. The “caution” yellow – is a great way to send a message. Growing up we were always taught how handle situations when approached by stray, or scared dogs.
    My boxers/girls were in their yard in the fence, when school children came by…. they were always excited when they saw the kids…. some of the children would run along the fence line as if they were running with the dog, having fun. Some would pick up sticks and try poking or throwing things through the fence and aggravating the dogs. I would always be close whenever school was out and the dogs were out, to supervise. I explained to the running child they did not want to play this way with a dog whom they knew nothing about, especially since the dog was large and may jump on them or scare them if the dog got out of the fence. The pokers…. I explained the dogs do not forget, and you do not treat any animal this way…. and if the dog ever got out of the fence, they would remember how you treated them. So if you want nice, be nice. After the children learned the dogs names, and realized the white one was deaf, and loved hand signals…. they acknowledged the dogs, called them by name. It was wonderful watching the ones who poked with the sticks…. try their signing skills…. And the girls…. their family kept getting bigger as they touched the hearts of the children….

  123. This is a very good post. It makes me very sad to read about it though, because too many dogs lose their lives due to being bullied by children for a long time, they finally snap and do what a dog would to any other dog that irritates them for a long time. Bite. The humans react like it’s become a monster and kills it. But, would you kill a boy or girl that suddenly snaps and hits a bully with a stick? No, of course not. But the dog very rarely gets a second chance. This is an important post. Many people cannot read the dogs’ body language. Many don’t teach their kids respect for the animals. And then it goes as far as to make the children not only disrespect their own animal, but other people’s too. So when someone says “Don’t pet my dog”, a child should know to listen. It’s not the dog’s fault if the children don’t listen and get bitten. My mother always told me to NEVER pet a dog that’s tied up somewhere (like outside a store) if the owner isn’t present so that I could ask. And never to disturb our dogs when they were sleeping or eating. As an adult I have watched many dog shows like the Dog Whisperer and Victoria Stilwell and have learned a lot about the body language of dogs. Since then I have also realized how very often people do wrong with their dogs, and how often they simply have no idea of the dog’s mood. Then they get surprised when things happen. Things I see coming from miles away. It’s a wonder it goes well as often as it does. Which proves that dogs generally are very nice by nature. 🙂 Be nice to them, and they shall be nice to you.

  124. Great article!! Gave me a lot of insight especially with our new rescued dog and my little toddler. She loves him and wants to hug him, but I always supervise and remind her to be gentle and not frustrate him. Thank you!!

  125. Unfortunately, I have had bad eperiences with people telling me “you need to be respectful of dogs” because their dog was being particularly mean to me (biting me, jumping on me with toenails out, chasing me, running at me with hackles up to prevent me from getting home) and the owner blamed me for the dog’s behavior because I had barked at the dog (Being already slightly nervous around dogs, I wouldn’t have gotten into the dog’s face to do so. It was probably when I was on my walk going by their house, so there was plenty of distance between me and the dog) and the dog (supposedly) didn’t act like that with anybody else. This was a classic case of victim blaming if I ever saw one. The owners also allowed their dog and their kids to run loose and wild, and my theory for the dog’s behavior is he saw my house (which was right next to his) as part of his property. All I’m saying is that if you want people to be trained to respect dogs, then dogs also need to be trained to respect people.

    1. Unfortunately dogs are not cats and can not retract their nails, but that aside, I am sorry to hear that you where blamed for something you did not start.

      Some people just do not train their dogs better.

      I have 2 dogs, a 10 year old golden Labrador who loves everyone who comes to the door or meets at walks.
      My almost 6 year old Border Collie has been fearful of most things since we got him as a puppy , 1 day shy of 8 weeks.
      He is well trained, he never had a bad experience with humans or other dogs but he just is scared of people he does not know and he would bark and as a last resort , if people do not listen and want to touch him, growl and warn .
      I tell everyone who comes to my house to ignore Eddie, if he wants to be near you HE will decide when the time is right.

      I know both my dogs so I can handle them and it is so important to know your dog and train them well, but some things, like fear of people is something that won’t go away.

      I am very sorry you had this bad experience and I agree with you, dogs need to learn to respect people to, and the owner, if he/she knew her dog would not let him run wild.

  126. I am so sorry to hear about Buddy and Matthew.
    I can only say one thing, it is NOT the dogs fault, the parent who is in the house with the kid and the dog needs to keep an eye on the situation.
    Dogs can endure this kind of treatment but that does not mean that they like it and not one day just bite to say: STOP it, I do not like it, you scare me…

    I am owned by 2 beautiful dogs, a golden Labrador called Ben, he is 10 years old and he loves everyone and everyone loves him. He is laid back and easy going.
    My second dog is a Border Collie , Eddie, who be 6 this March and who is fearful of most things, he finds it very difficult meeting new people, he barks at them when they come to the house.
    I tell EVERYONE who comes to visit to please totally ignore Eddie and even so he is cute and fluffy and very hard to resist , he does NOT like it being touched by strangers until HE decides that he can trust you.
    It can take any length of time from 15 minutes to 15 days , but if you give him time he will eventually come to you.

    Both my dogs are wonderful with other dogs and Ben, as I said is such a softy , he snuggles with everyone just to be close and gets a cuddle.

    Eddie wanted to play with the mans dog but not going near the Man.
    I told him that it is ok to touch Ben but please just ignore Eddie, I will keep an eye on him so that all is fine with the dogs.

    The man also had a little girl with him, I told him to please let her know she can touch the Labrador but not the Border Collie.

    He totally ignored me so started to move away from this Situation.

    Both my dogs where on leads * I never let them off the lead unless we are in a place where it is save to let them off * so I walked away.

    The little girl kept on running after us, so I called to the man to PLEASE call his daughter back as I could see that Eddie got nervous.
    NOTHING.
    I called at least 6 times, than I stopped walking and put myself in front of the the Border Collie so that the girl did not reach him.
    But she was after the fluffy one, so she tried to get around me.

    That man just stould there talking to a woman with a dog that must have come along.

    I called him and NOTHING.

    His dog was off the lead and came running up to me and started to sniff my Labrador and was going to sniff my Border Collie and suddenly my Border Collie started Barking and growling.

    At this moment that girl got scared, run away , her dog behind her , she fell and HE runs up to me and started to accusing me that I have a dangerous dog that wanted to attack his daughter and his dog …

    I did not flinch, I just told him that MY dogs where on a lead, that I am in front of my Border Collie who now sat and was quiet.

    WHY are people like this.
    WHY do they not make sure that they teach their kids that NO IS NO and that they should not run up to other peoples dogs.
    WHY did he not listen to me and called his kid back and also his dog.

    I of course was the bad guy.

    As I said, I feel very sorry for Matthew , but I am heartbroken that Buddy was put to sleep because he can not speak our language and wanted to be left alone.
    His only voice is to bark and if no one listens accidents will happy, tragic accidents as in the case of Matthew and Buddy.

  127. I don’t understand why we expect dogs to be tolerant of EVERYTHING !! They have personal space just like people do and certainly understandable when they act out due to fear, anxiety, or other. This is not acceptable to put a dog down due to an isolated incident.

  128. We r4ecently lost our beautiful Kerry Blue terrier Parker at the grand age of almost 14. Parker was trained to do many tricks and heel-work to music moved and would happily demonstrate these to children we met near our home and then I would tell them the correct way to meet unfamiliar dogs (that is ask the owner if ok to do so and stroke on chest not on top of head).
    At the same time we have our other Kerry Izzy who was a cruelty/neglect case and therefore not comfortable with being stroked by people she does not know. I bought her a yellow hi-viz jacket and had the words “NERVOUS DON’T TOUCH” printed on in huge letters but this did not stop people wanting to pat her. In fact the only sensible comment I got was from an 8 year old who asked to tough the dogs and I replied that she could touch Parker and she said “I knew I couldn’t pat the other one as she is frightened”

    The yellow ribbon scheme is a waste of time in my experience as doesn’t stop people from trying to pat your dog. They all seem to think they are the one exception your dog won’t be scared of!

    Parents also seem to think ok to allow their kids to do anything to your dogs. I was walking mine at an outside car boot sale and a 3 or 4 year old suddenly threw themselves across both dogs’ backs! Fortunately Izzy didn’t react (Parker had a bomb-proof temperament) but I told the parent it was not a good idea to allow her child to do this as not all dogs would tolerate it!
    I have also tied my dogs outside a charity shop for a few minutes (it had floor length front window so I was constantly supervising them) and a Mum was in there with her 3 kids. The kids decided to go outside and run around and then the youngest one went and barked in my dog’s face. I had seen him riding up to the dogs so was instantly there in-between him and the dogs and told him not to do that -it was naughty to annoy the dogs like that (he was very loud). Of course the mother then came out and said my dogs shouldn’t be left outside if they were aggressive (they aren’t but I don’t think they should have to put up with being tormented like this).

    Let’s face it some kids can be plain nasty and I have also had to step in-between my elderly dog when at a park as a child rode straight at him on his scooter (Parker was walking to heel and plenty of space on the path to go past him) and tried to run him over. I stood in front of Parker and stopped the child from hitting him and said “don’t do that it is naughty”. Trouble is parents don’t like you saying their kids are being naughty but I am not having my dog hurt because of someone’s kid being out of control.

  129. I disagree qith this quote strongly.

    This cartoon tries to get people to treat dogs like people, but dogs are not people. Anthropomorphic emotional issues aside, dogs are social animals, but not in the human social way. I’m going to apologise in advance for the long post, I believe it’s worth reading (but I’m biased since I wrote it 😀 )

    Our kids take our dogs food away from them (sometimes because the kids are behaving badly, most often because the dogs have identified something as food that they should not have). They take the dogs toys away (for the same reasons as previously, and sometimes to play with the dogs), They put their face in the dogs face, they hug the dogs, they ride the dogs (only the oldest can successfully be ridden, the rest lie down), they grab and pull ears and tails, and they scream and make a lot of noise. In short, they play with the dogs. And the dogs love it. They play with the kids. They jump on the kids, they run around barking when the kids run around screaming (because they are having fun, not because they are alarmed), they lick faces and actually COME TO US FOR HUGS. In fact, hugs are what they want most when they are scared. I don’t know about messing with them when sleeping – our dogs never seem to need sleep…

    A bit of background – I’m a person who has always owned dogs – as a child and an adult. We currently own 4 dogs. I have been bitten twice in my life, once when I stuck my hand into a fight to help my dog (who had been attacked), and once by our neighbour”s dog when my back was turned. I cannot guarantee that what I’m saying will hold true for all dogs, but this has been my consistent experience over the last 40 or so years, and many dogs (the most at any single time was about 24).

    If you want to make sure that your dog is happy and doesn’t bite, understand that dogs follow a pack hierarchical structure. Ensure that you (the human primarily responsible for the dogs) are seen as the alpha. Do this by consistently enforcing discipline – reward good behaviour, punish bad behaviour, provide comfort when the animals are scared.

    This WILL be difficult at first. As with children, sometimes harsh punishment is required, but should ALWAYS be followed by reconciliation. Be careful when punishing a dog for something that happened more than ~3 minutes back – if you cannot be 100% sure that the dog understands why it is being punished, you are being counter-productive.

    It will be difficult at first, but once you are seen as the Alpha, and consistently and fairly discipline and reward, your dog(s) will be happier. The older dogs will teach any new dogs that come into the pack. They will get less freaked out by fireworks (we make sure the front door is open, and our dogs are generally happy lie just inside), they are less likely to bite visitors (ours never have) but more likely to bite anything that threatens you or your family – dogs understand aggression and intimidation, and will defend their family (pack) by following the lead of the Alpha, or next most senior member of the pack.

    Dogs living in a defined and disciplined pack are HUGE amounts of fun. As are children living in a disciplined family, for that matter. They do not spook easily, they are playful, expressive, trusting and happy. The appear to be more intelligent than average. They are more tolerant of mistakes and eager to forgive. They are more obedient. I am, of course, referring to both children and dogs.

    On a final note, all dogs understand the concept of children (puppies). My experience has been that puppies are never attacked by disciplined adult dogs. Adult dogs have other ways of dealing with puppies, and those tools work with children too – moving away, refusing to respond, growling, etc. Any dog that nips or bites children should be punished harshly, and immediately (as should any child that deliberately & intentionally hurts a dog) – do not make excuses for inexcusable behaviour. This does not mean that children should be allowed to run amok with dogs. They should be taught to treat people and animals kindly, but the only extra stuff they should be taught about dogs is a little about how dogs communicate. What does licking mean, what does growling mean, how to tell when a dog is happy, threatened or scared.

    It goes without saying that you should treat all your animals with love, and should be teaching your kids the same. The attached photo (webpage link) was REALLY difficult to take, because I only have two hands, and the dogs I couldn’t hold kept running to my daughter, who was taking the photo, trying to get attention.

    Our oldest dog, Fuzzball (the brown one to my right) is about 13. The youngest, Squonk (pronounced skwonk, the black and white one under my left arm) is ~6 months old. Bonnie has the white throat and is trying to jump and lick my face (which should explain my expression), and Max (Maxine) is in front and is about to push squonk out of the way. I’m the human in the middle. Excuse the lawn, it’s still recovering from winter and drought.

  130. I think there are good points in both the article and many of the comments. Yes, child need to be taught not to abuse (pull tails, ears etc.) animals. Many times little children see small animals as toys and they don’t understand that what they are doing is hurting the animal. However, dogs need to be taught as well. Any child can walk up to our dogs and take food out of their mouths. This is because we trained the dogs to allow this, and to understand that the item/food would be given back. However, we trained them careful and humanely while both the dogs and the children were young. If the dog growled when one of the children got too close to the food bowl or them while chewing a bone, either my husband or myself would step between the dog and child and take the bowl/bone. After about 5 minutes, while being right there to keep anything from happening, we had the child give back the bowl/bone etc. On the flip side, our children got into trouble for pulling, attempting to ride, etc. We would have them bush the dog, pet nicely etc. while we were sitting with them to make sure they were gentle about it. Our dogs also had a no kids zone (not a crate– our bedroom) where they could go and be away from any chaos, children, loud noise, or really anything that was bothering them. The kids were not allowed to follow them in there or go in there looking for the dogs. The dogs knew they could come and go as needed. (many years later, they will still go into our bedroom for alone time). So I believe that yes, dogs need to be trained not to bite or show aggression toward children (and I fully believe they can be trained,) children need to be taught too, and parents should be responsible enough to recognize when a dog is becoming aggravated. Giving a dog a place where he can get away from the situation without feeling like he is being punished, isolated, or locked up is important. Having an animal requires time and the same responsibility as having a child. Just like children need to be taught, so do animals. If you don’t want that responsibility, then don’t get an animal – even if that puppy is so cute your heart melts…. Puppies grow up!

  131. This is so typical in todays world though, when I was a kid 40 years ago, we had Irish setters and they were trained to hunt and were also house dogs and our pets, very good ones at that, well mannered and very smart.

    I train my own Labrador retrievers and only ever had one dog that I had an issue with growling when eating and bit me once as a puppy when training, I however am different than most people and I bit the dog back, it never happened again. Bite on my hand bite on her paw…lol! people thought I was crazy, I did it instantly so there was no time to let the dog forget what it had just done was wrong along with a short scolding of NO and the bite.

    It is our job as pet owners to train our pets just as it is our jobs as parents to train our kids. People need to wake up and put their cellphones down and take a look around! Pay attention to your surroundings and discipline your children. My son will be 21 soon and is a fine man, I only ever had to spank him 2 times in his life, maybe I got lucky or maybe, just maybe he was taught how to act correctly from the start with positive reinforcement, no different than you would train your puppy!

    Great article! Keep up the good work! God Bless!

  132. One thing that I think is being missed in the “humans should be able to take food from dogs” comments is this: yes, you should make sure that your dog looks at it as a positive thing when you take their food. This means that you should be practicing this behavior. When you take a bone away from your dog, you should be rewarding her with something extra-special. If you’re going to put your hands in your dog’s bowl, leave a piece of cheese or boiled chicken there. Rather than asking your dog for blanket submission in all situations, you need to teach your dog that good things happen when she lets you do what you want. And for heaven’s sake, if someone treats a dog in appropriately and the dog reacts with calmness or avoidance, praise and treat the dog. When you reprimand a child in front of the dog for the way they treated the dog, the dog “absorbs” some of that reprimand. Instead, treat and praise the dog and then deal with teaching the child better behavior–starting with offering the dog a treat as an apology!!!

    *stepping off soapbox now*

  133. I’m reminded of the 7-8 year-old… er, child, in a bus queue with who I took to be his grandad, who suddenly lunged into my dog’s face and made a barking noise as I was walking her past.
    Had she not been a placid dog, he could have lost part of his face, me my pet and she, her life.

  134. All of these posts have been very informative. I have 2-year-old twins and two dogs, a poodle and a mini schnauzer.

    Even at this young age, I am teaching my twins how to behave with the dogs, just as my mother taught me from their age. Never disturb a sleeping dog. Never go near a dog while its eating. Never put your face near a dog. Don’t make eye contact. Never hug a dog and never (as I have seen in too many Youtube clips) roll or lie on a dog. Act gentle and slow towards them and let them come to you.

    My poodle is very patient with them. My schnauzer gives them a gentle growl when they are annoying her and the kids move away, if they don’t, she moves away. But I also try to be ever vigilant and not leave them alone, just to be on the safe side.

    While I have had dogs since I was born, I have also been a dog groomer for the past 30 years, so I have had an occasional nip or bite while grooming customers’ dogs. As previously mentioned by another poster, there are nasty dogs and there are nice dogs and lots of different temperaments in between.

    I think vigilance when children and dogs interact, teaching children to respect animals and watching your dog’s behaviour to make sure it is appropriate all help towards healthy relationships between dogs and kids.

  135. I agree. Keep the damn kid out of the dog’s face! Why are dogs expected to take the crap from stupid parents’ kids when the dog doesn’t know the intention of the kid. People have a breaking point and so do animals. I am so sad that the dog had to pay for the price of stupid parents!

  136. We are fostering a chihuahua 7month old. Today, he bit our tenant, 7years old. The boy was standing still and fearful. I had our dog on a leash as he approach the child to sniff his leg. Very carefully our dog bit him and the boys leg bled. It was awful . The child is scared of dogs and since we are considering keeping this dog, we though it good they get to know one another.
    Now we don’t know what to do. We adore this dog and he has never, in 3 weeks done anything like this. Out children are teens.
    He is friendly with all other dogs and anyone we run into when walkngin in the trails.
    Feedback please.
    Im concerned we should return him so he can find a different home.

    Heather

  137. Can anyone help me? We have our adopted dog Ben, who is a St. Bernard/Black Lab mix. He’s been anxious of children, has growled at our 9 yr old but that was several months ago when we first got him and not since we had him neutered. We have had him 8 months, he is 3 yrs old now. Last week he was on a leash and I was holding him when our family arrived for the weekend. A 9-yr old cousin (about the same size as our own 9 yr old) came up to our other dog and let him smell her while she petted him so he would calm down, I then called her to me to say hi to Ben and give him some “loves” so he would calm down too. I see now maybe he was guarding me as he is definitely my dog, he already is anxious with kids, he could have smelled their dog on her too. She ran up too. She ran up, reached out, all in a second he sniffed her, growled, reached out and latched on. His size is incredible and so is his strength. I tried to pull him off but could not. Not until I grabbed the sides of his mouth and our teenager simultaneously threw his weight on him did he release. She had 2 deep puncture wounds on her arm, and scratches all over. It was prob over in 10 secs. She was very traumatized and went to the hospital.
    Our 9 yr old could previously lay on him, nicely pet him and hug him. Now I wonder if he was tolerating “his” kid and never liked it as was building up to this bite incident. He would also sleep with her in bed, or lay at her door sort of like a guardian. He would even crawl up into her lap and lay on her like a 95 lb lapdog! (He did that with all of us too)
    The only reason my husband didn’t kill him that night was because I asked the sheriff to call him right away to explain why the dog must be kept alive for 10 days. It’s a week later and I’ve talked my husband out of forcing me to euthanize Benjamin, but I’m lost on what to do with him. Please anyone, can you send any advice? My husband will NOT allow him to stay in our home, which kills me because I want to start training classes at a nearby Cesar Millan accredited school, but what point do I say there’s nothing I can do to 100% make sure he won’t bite another kid? He’s definitely always been an anxious dog, for what reason or just naturally I don’t know since he wasn’t ours the first 2+ years of his life. He piddles when excited or we clip leash to go outside. He is the type that can’t stand and is very afraid of fireworks or loud noises like vacuum cleaner or lawn mower, he has even ran away afraid of me sweeping 10 feet away in the kitchen!
    I can’t just pass along his issues to someone else, I want and need to make sure he is treated with care and patience, the possibility of someone running out of patience to an already fearful dog is a absolute no for me, both for his sake, and the increased likeliness he will bite another kid. (I’m assuming his aggression is shows to kids not adults for the size related to him, he’s XL dog).
    What do I do with Ben? How do I help him, and prevent him from hurting another child?

  138. I have a 10 year old rescue dog. When my son was a toddler, she started showing dislike for him. She bit him in the face. It was my fault, the dog was sitting on the chair and he kept approaching her trying to pull her hair. I wasn’t paying attention.
    Fast forward 5 years, and my son got bit in the face a second time. This time, my son admitted to headbutting the dog 3 times in a row before she finally bit him. My son did this after being constantly told for years not to put his face in any dogs face and to respect boundaries. The dog spent the next couple of months muzzled when my son was around. We live in a small space, and my son will still approach the dog and get his face too close. I just can’t control his actions 100% of the time. I have decided that I need to rehome my dog. I can’t handle the constant worry that he will be bitten again. I’m worried she may bite his eye next time , as both times she came within inches of puncturing his eye. I’m heartbroken about it, but my son will just not leave her alone. He is very strong-willed and lots of times hyperactive. It’s not a good combination for a dog that just wants to be left alone. Any advice to help me rehome my senior dog is much appreciated.

    1. Hi Heather, I’m sorry to hear about your situation. I would contact local animal rescues in your area and explain the situation, often they will take in the dog (and it’s a much better option than many shelters who may put-down). Other than that I’m not sure how much help I can be :(. Best of luck!

  139. Our dog of 4 years bit my son young, but he totally asked for it. We were more careful about watching him interact with the dog. Now at 16 he is still too rough, but not to the point of provocation. I would not have put a dog down for defending itself, only if it got too aggressive.

  140. I wish my dog gave cues before biting. So far, he barks and immediately pounces. He bite my goddaughter’s face today and I am unsure of what to do, besides keep him kenneled in another room away from her. It surprised me because I had my dog on a leash while my goddaughter was playing with her toys and not even interacting with the dog when he bit her. All I can think about is that her face must have been at his face level, even though she wasn’t touching or interacting with the dog at all. Does anyone have any ideas? I got my dog from the shelter about 9days ago. I probably introduced him to a toddler too soon. But I am flabbergasted that my dog didn’t give a warning bark/growl/air bite before actually biting a child’s face.

  141. Heather. If this is how your son is with the dog, at this age, how is he with other kids? It is especially alarming that the young boy was not put off by being bitten. Seems like, even if you rehome your poor dog , your son will still have fairly serious behavior problems. Please do not be offended – I had a very challenging daughter. She could seem to love our pets, but at other times could be indifferent to their well being. Has your son seen a specialist. Do you consistantly give your son consequences for not listening about the dog? You know, if you let him get the better of this dog, he might just direct this behavior elsewhere. I’d say, let the dog have alone time in a safe place, such as your bedroom. Lock the door if necessary. The old dog will probably appreciate it. Then, gradually allow supervised time with the dog. This sounds like alot, I know, but eventually you will need to deal with your child’s behavior. It never gets easier. I sent my child to an after school program that had a teacher who dealt with challenging behaviors. I felt really guilty, because I was a stay at home mom, but it was helpful. My daughter is now successful, but still very stubborn, and still emotionally sometimes warm, sometimes cold. Still, she has two cats that she loves and takes great care of. I think that they are a comfort to her when she finds other people irritating.
    On another note, if you have kids, put down that Eskie puppy before you take it home. Do not believe advice you read that says they are good with their own kids. I adore my Eskie beyond reason – but, if you have kids, just don’t.

  142. Thank you for this information! We have a wheaten terrier and he’s a sweetheart and a cuddler. He doesn’t seem as attached to our oldest daughter who is 8, I think because she interacts with him differently. Today, he bit her. He didn’t break skin, thank goodness, but he barked and snarled and bit. He had stolen food from the kitchen, and she went to grab it away from him. He was in trouble and so was she. I’ve tried explaining correct interaction with dogs, but she is not always respectful. I think this article might prove helpful for her.
    Where I come from, our dog would be gone today and I will get a lecture for not getting rid of him, but he’s really a good dog. If he had wanted to, he would have really hurt her. We’re going to work on fostering their relationship, because I don’t think he would have reacted the same to anyone else.

  143. We r4ecently lost our beautiful Kerry Blue terrier Parker at the grand age of almost 14. Parker was trained to do many tricks and heel-work to music moved and would happily demonstrate these to children we met near our home and then I would tell them the correct way to meet unfamiliar dogs (that is ask the owner if ok to do so and stroke on chest not on top of head).
    At the same time we have our other Kerry Izzy who was a cruelty/neglect case and therefore not comfortable with being stroked by people she does not know. I bought her a yellow hi-viz jacket and had the words “NERVOUS DON’T TOUCH” printed on in huge letters but this did not stop people wanting to pat her. In fact the only sensible comment I got was from an 8 year old who asked to tough the dogs and I replied that she could touch Parker and she said “I knew I couldn’t pat the other one as she is frightened”

  144. We r4ecently lost our beautiful Kerry Blue terrier Parker at the grand age of almost 14. Parker was trained to do many tricks and heel-work to music moved and would happily demonstrate these to children we met near our home and then I would tell them the correct way to meet unfamiliar dogs (that is ask the owner if ok to do so and stroke on chest not on top of head).

  145. thank you so much for your post i really got some awsome information about dog bitten cases and now i can stay more careful as i also got bitten many times by dogs

  146. Wow!
    I completely disagree! I absolutely love dogs but the OWNERS need to be responsible on where they bring them and who is around them. If they don’t accept the fact their dog may not be social or not like kids THEY need to be held accountable. Abuse and overly obnoxious is one thing but exposure of your dog everywhere doesn’t mean we all need to stop and obey the potentially dangerous even deadly idiosyncrasies of your special dog. Get over it! You need to be a responsible dog owner and not expose your dog to other dogs, people and especially kids especially if you are aware of this. I have a large dog and I make sure she’s comfortable with our toddler. We still watch any behavior from both but I think it’s crazy to ignore a dogs aggressive tendencies or behavior and put it on a child.

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