General Chat

my children love dogs,but when they were small i wouldnt let them stroke a strange dog. they were made to ask the owner if they could stroke their dog. my littluns couldnt understand why,because our dog was so docile,the only thing she done was lick you to death. susie

My daughter's got a Bull Mastiff, she's big and beautiful and we love her to bit's, she's so gentle with my grankids and at any strange noise will go and lay at their feet. We trust her 99.9% but, any kid's parties or they have lot's of friends round she comes to visit me for a few hour's, i love it and it's just not worth the risk. Sue

As many have already said it isn't the breed - all dogs have the potential to be dangerous, as do all animals and all people - it comes down to the way they are brought up. I have a German Shepherd who is the biggest fairy going and wouldn't hurt a fly, but they are amongst the breeds that get a bad press. I wouldn't leave him alone with a child, partly because he is scared of them and it would be torture for him, but it's just not a good idea to leave any young child alone with a dog. Sometimes the problem is that Parents don't teach their children how to behave around dogs or not to approach strange dogs. The number of children that have put their hand out to my German Shepherd without even a thought is scarey - luckily he's not at all vicious, but it still annoys me because I know he doesn't like it. My Husband's Brother has a little girl who was always a bit of a Madam and on one occassion she came to our house and decided that she wanted to stroke Storm (my GSD), we told her - in front of her Parents - that he was scared and didn't want to be stroked, in fact the poor dog ran away and tried to escape from her - but she just wouldn't leave him alone and her Parents wouldn't make her! I was so cross with my Husband for putting both us and our dog in that position - if Storm had bitten her then all hell would have broke loose and I expect there would have been calls to have my dog put down? I don't agree with people keeping dogs purely as Guard Dogs - that in itself is asking for trouble in my opinion, if you train a dog to be aggressive like that then it can never, ever be trusted around anyone - I don't feel that this is fair to other people or the dog. We are supposed to be a Nation of Animal Lovers, but let's be a Nation of Responsible Animal Lovers too. Kaye x

Very sad. I think all dog's in public places ie park's where children are should be muzzled unless they are on a lead. I love all animals, but I would not trust any dog alone with any of my grandchildren, especially a guard dog. I feel so sorry for the people involved but it was not the fault of the dog's. One of my sons was about 10 and was not sure about dog's. He was playing tennis with his brother and a dog ran after him. He was in a terrible state. We told him just to stop running as the dog was only playing. Well, he did stop, so did the dog, it then lifted up it's leg and peed on him lol. He still isn't that keen on dogs. Marion

jayvee im sorry i flew off the handle and i understand why you reacted that way. it was only after a few visits of this so called friend that we caught him in the act. for a while we were puzzled why ,everytime we opened the back door ,kruga would cower in the corner of the kitchen. he normally jumped up at us and showered us with sloppy kisses lol. when we found out the reason we were disgusted.!! kruga was the 1st shar pei we brought and we adored him. all of our dogs were pets,they werent shoved in kennels in the garden.they lived as part of our family. it was the worst decision we had to make to have him put to sleep,but having grandchildren ,i couldnt take that risk. saying that,he wouldnt hurt the littluns,it was only men that he hated,which is understandable . sorry i snapped susie

Susie In your first post you said this friend did it every time he visited and even after you'd told him not to, he carried on. This suggested to me that it wasn't a one-off incident. However your second post gives more detail so I'm sorry if my comments upset you. As a fellow dog lover, I hope you can understand why I reacted as I did.

this so called friend used to arrive un announced . we werent in the vacinity of the kitchen,we were in the lounge. how dare you say we were bad breeders. as soon as we heard the door open we went straight to the kitchen which is where we caught him in the act. i ,on several occasions told him to get out or leave my dog alone. my husband banned him from the house. my dogs always came first ,we didnt need people like that tormenting them. so i suggest you apologise. susie

'every time a certain friend of ours visited he used to get our broom and sweep kruga into the corner of the kitchen!! i told him not too as he would make him nasty but he carried on.' I'm sorry but I can't believe a breeder of pedigree dogs could allow this to happen. What an admission and what an awful 'friend' to have ! And the dog ended up paying the ultimate price.....

Morfydd has got it right. All breeds have the potential for aggression and attack. I would say that the majority of the cases we hear about are caused through inadequate vigilance on the part of adults/owners. If you have dogs and children in close proximity there's ALWAYS the potential for disastrous consequences. Dogs and young children should never be left alone together and young toddlers should never be allowed to stray out of sight, it's as simple as that.

i adore dogs. over the years we have bred shar pei and now we have british bulldogs and an american bulldog. i think all dogs can be dangerous if not treated properly. for instance,we had one shar pei that was beautiful as a puppy but every time a certain friend of ours visited he used to get our broom and sweep kruga into the corner of the kitchen!! i told him not too as he would make him nasty but he carried on. it got to the point when kruga wouldnt let anybody into the house and eventually he went to attack my son in law. we had no option but to have him put to sleep. it broke our hearts but there was no way we could keep him after that . a neighbour has 4 rottys and they are adorable. i dont think its the breed of the dog,its the way they are handled and treated. my daughter has a staffy and she also is placid and adorable. susie

A letter in today's Daily Telegraph makes the point that this is only the second fatal dog attack in the UK in eleven years. Each year around 850 people in Britain are killed by humans, 150 of those are children killed by their own parents. Maybe we should retain dogs but ban humans? Jerk, Reaction and Knee come to mind.

All dogs have the potential to attack, whether big or small, I know big dogs can do more damage. But breed doesn't come into it, it's temperament that counts and that comes from the way the dog has been handled by it's owners. On one side of me, I have a staffie/pit bull and he is lovely, he's gentle, funny, he loves to be fussed, on the other side a rottweiler and she is so quiet and docile, you wouldn't know she was there unless you saw her. My mother has a chihuahua and I wouldn't trust him an inch, he is so spoilt, he rules their house, he's horrible. The thing is now it happens to be rottweilers that are in the press, it could so easily have been alsations, terriers or poodles. I believe that we should all take care when there are children and dogs together, because nasty things happen as these two attacks have shown. M.

The problem is, if someone gets bitten by a small dog it doesn't make the news but a large dog has the potential to do a hell of a lot of damage. The problem is we believe our pets have human thought and emotions. At the end of the day they are animals and no amount of breeding is ever going to eradicate their instinctual behavior in certain situations.

It's inbred in dogs like Rottweillers to attack, however nice they may appear on the outside it's what they were engineered to do. I am sure there are exceptions, but personally I wouldn't like to take the chance with my kids.

I have a little westie - well she is fat really - like me - but was never in contact with children until she was about 6 and when grandchild came along I was always careful - little hands grabbing etc. But how must the grandmother of the latest victim be feeling - let us hope the little fella makes a complete recovery. I assume the dog has since been put down - have not heard anything about it this morning on Sky. All so very sad. Mary in Spain

I don't like big dogs, if I see one in the street I avoid it I was attacked by one when I was little, I know it's not the dogs fault. I think if the breeds are classed as 'dangerous' people should be advised wether to keep them or not. I definately wouldn't have one.Sorry if I've offended. Heather x

i love dogs too and my step children have a rotty , i am very worried now out of all dogs they do seem to have a bad reputation, with people but make excellent guard dogs, personally i would never have one . and being a pussy they scare me any way

After the second attack what are your feelings? I adore dogs and my own is just gorgeous but this has made me wary as we have a rottweiler a few doors away that my 4 year old loves, Cazxxxx