Our Dog bit the neighbours kid.

jimmycrackcorm

Our dog who we've had as a puppy went and attacked and bit a neighbours kid when he came into the garden to get his ball. So now we have decided that we can't risk keeping the dog. What's the best course of action?

Schlemm

What kind of a dog is it?
How old is it?
Male or female? Neutered/spayed?
Has it ever showed any signs of aggression before?
Are the neighbours taking legal action?
Was it a very bad bite?
Was there any reason that the bite could have been provoked?

jimmycrackcorm

Schlemm wrote:

What kind of a dog is it?
How old is it?
Male or female? Neutered/spayed?
Has it ever showed any signs of aggression before?
Are the neighbours taking legal action?
Was it a very bad bite?
Was there any reason that the bite could have been provoked?

don't know what breed she is.
she's a year and a half.
the only signs of agression were snapping and barking at other kids looking out the door at her.
not Neutered.
No action being taken but the child get a very bad fright.
I'm not sure if it was an actual bite or a very bad scraping, but there was blood.
She wasn't provoked other than I think the Garden is her territory.
The thing is our son gets on so well with her and loves playing with her but we just don't know now if she might turn some day....

Tabitharose

your dog may have gotten a fright which caused her to act the way she did - I'd advise talking to a dog behavourist - pm me if you'd like a recommendation

Jotter

Id talk to your vet about getting her spayed and would see a behaviourist to see if they think she can be helped. Id also talk to your neighbours about being allowed to keep her, they might not be happy with a dog living next door that bites.
Id be really careful about this though, id be of the opinion if you have kids, particularly if your kids are young, that the dog should be rehomed to an adult household. I know your son loves her and you all love her but you need to put your family first. She might be fine with your family but what about when your son wants his friends over or kids call looking for him? Just something to consider.
talk to the pros and see what they say. Best of luck.

Annika30

Make sure the dog is supervised all the time and if I were you I would take him to the vet to have him checked over that it isn't anything wrong with him medically, that would often be the case if a dog attacks for no apparent reason. Or it could very well be that the dog hasn't been properly socialised to children, but you can work on that.

Annika

jimmycrackcorm

We're going with the behaviourist route. She isn't properly trained - won't come when called and jumps up with excitement when I come home for example. I personally get the feeling that she is particularly territorial about the garden - I wonder is this common as I never see her snapping at anyone out side the house.

Jotter

it is common, our old family dog for example was very territorial esp in his old age, he even chased the postman down the road (he could open front door) but after that incident we had to take extra precautions (ie keep door locked), he was too old at that stage to try backtrack.

In saying this he never bit anyone, never growled at anyone, he just barked and chasing the postman wasnt an act of aggression imo, he barked & jumped at door, usually he would open it and lick the person on other side (our fault we thought it was funny that hed open front door) but the postman ran and dog chased. He got a few steps up the road and came back tail wagging.
The neighbours kids could come into the garden uninvited, and there was never an issue of him being considered dangerous, even our postman (thankfully) thought that - he just got a fright from the barking and legged it.

your dog is different in that he did bite so its a bit more than just normal territorial behaviour and youre doing the right thing getting someone in to assess and try sort things out - do talk to your neighbours about your plans though, you need to stay on their good side and show that you are being proactive about the problem.

bongi69

Is there any bit of bull in her breed (i.e. staffie, pitbull bulldog etc.)
They can be very protective of their home patch i.e. the back garden

Demonique

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

Our dog who we've had as a puppy went and attacked and bit a neighbours kid when he came into the garden to get his ball. So now we have decided that we can't risk keeping the dog. What's the best course of action?

Put up 'Beware of Dog' and 'No Trespassing' signs? Seriously, you are both in the wrong, OK, your dog bit the kid, but the kid came onto your property uninvited.

Our man in Havana

Did the child ask permission to enter your garden? Were you home at the time? If not I would say this is normal for most dogs to protect their territory. I would also suggest some socialisation with kids.

I agree with Demonique put up a sign & keep your garden securly LOCKED! Anyone could take your dog if the garden is not secure - kids have to learn to respect the boundry. I would only get rid of my dog if it attacked a person when in my company - dogs take their lead from us humans so if we are relaxed the dog should be as well.

junkyard

The dog did nothing wrong, she was only protecting her own territory. Make your yard more secure and put up signs as some other poster suggested.

funktastic

The dog bit the kid! The owner should have some control over it. Back in the day any dog that went near a kid would be put down as the owners would be ****ting it. Not saying that's right.

junkyard

funktastic wrote:

The dog bit the kid! The owner should have some control over it. Back in the day any dog that went near a kid would be put down as the owners would be ****ting it. Not saying that's right.

Kid went into the dogs territory, dog bit kid as it was protecting its territory. The kid should have asked permission to go into the yard in the first place and this situation wouldn't have happened. The dog shouldn't be punished for doing its job surely.:rolleyes:

Dyr

Higher fence/wall and gate to deter kids from entering or balls from going over
( if they arent already high enough) Add warning signs. TBH if the kids parents decide to act on it you might be looking at the dog being destroyed

funktastic

:rolleyes: Well if the accident was worse. Every time a child is mauled by a dog there is an outcry and rightly so. If a dog has a tendency to do this/be aggressive the owner should know and take precautions. I'm a dog owner myself, and I believe it is the owners responsibility to plan ahead and not moan about the fact afterwards.

Our man in Havana

What are dogs traditionally got for??? To protect the HOME!! Anyone who enters a garden/house with a dog on guard deserves to get a nip or 10! I have 10 dogs & would hate to think what would happen if someone walked in unannounced! The dog is not at fault.

If the dog had been running free & bit a kid then yes the owner is at fault & the dog should be given a warning if it was only a nip - obviously a bad bite that caused a lot of damage/stitches would result in the dog being put to sleep.

Dogs get 1 warning for a nip - its after the second bite that draws blood that the dog warden/guard can insist the dog be put to sleep. Obviously a serious attack would mean the dog needs to be put to sleep straight away.

peasant

Bond007

errr ... why do you state here so casually that the dog should be destroyed while saying in the same sentence that it is the owner's fault ?

If the owner is found incapable of controlling their dog properly ...by all means take the dog away from him/her.

But why "automatically" destroy the dog for either doing its job or acting on its natural insincts? (A severe attack of course would be a different matter)

That's not right!

Oh but hang on ...yeees, I forgot ...this is the country were tens of thousands of dogs get destroyed every year for no reason at all ...so it would would be seen as overly leniant, I guess, to actually let the dog live in that case.

Sorry for the ill tempered rant...but between this thread and the "hit your animal" one, there's a bit too much destruction of dogs going on for me not to cross my "calm and collected" threshold.

jaggiebunnet

so because a dog is "trained" to protect it's territory it is ok for it to take lumps out of kids? the minute a dog bites someone it should be destroyed. it is at the end of the day only a dog. much better that the dog is put down and noone is ever seriously injured than waiting for the day when the dog goes that extra step and really goes to town on a kid.

happened to my dog when i was a kid and even if i didn't understand it at the time the decision is vindicated every time you see a story about a dog attacking kids.

Our man in Havana

peasant wrote:

Bond007

errr ... why do you state here so casually that the dog should be destroyed while saying in the same sentence that it is the owner's fault ?

If the owner is found incapable of controlling their dog properly ...by all means take the dog away from him/her.

But why "automatically" destroy the dog for either doing its job or acting on its natural insincts? (A severe attack of course would be a different matter)

That's not right!

Edited to my post to make my thinking more clear (I hope) Now whilst its the owners fault unfortunately its the dog that will pay for any unsocial behaviour! Many owners do not keep their dogs under control & pack instincts can & do take over!

So in short the owner is at fault - but a dog that bites BAD & causes a lot of damage should be put to sleep! Of course in an ideal world the owner will also be thrown in jail too!

junkyard

jaggiebunnet wrote:

the minute a dog bites someone it should be destroyed. it is at the end of the day only a dog.

Well that kind of says it all to me how you feel about dogs. There's no way a dogs should even be harmed if it was protecting its own territory i.e. its own house or garden or yard. If someone breaks in they're fair game as far as I'm concerned either for me or my dogs.

fenris

So what should the owner have done to avoid this incident?

There has to be some personal responsibility taken here by the kids parents.

If the kid tripped and fell in the back garden rather than being nipped by the dog what would have been the response? - pad the garden and carry out regular inspections for trip hazards, and Safe Pass for all kids before they leave the house???

What if the kid scratched their face badly on a rose bush? - license all rose bushes with regular thorn removal and on the spot fines for un-licensed spikey plants???

There was a dog involved, the dog added an additional element of risk to the trespass of the kid, don't automatically kill the dog because the neighbours kid couldn't be arsed to ring a doorbell.