When Good Dogs Attack
On Friday, I experienced the horror of watching one of my children be mauled by a dog. It was the single most bone chilling parental moment of my whole life. My son, Daniel, had hopped a fence into my Mom’s yard, against my orders to stay by the car. He walked up to my mom’s dog, a dog that has known my kids all seven years of its existence, and bent down to pet her. Without any warning, the dog attacked my son’s face. I saw it happen, but couldn’t get over the locked fence fast enough to stop it. Luckily, the dog did not pursue my son as he scrambled to get away. I called 911, as I screamed for help. The other kids, who had seen the whole incident, were all freaking out in the van. Blood was everywhere. My son’s upper lip was hanging off of his face. He had several lacerations and scratches. This was something that we never would have thought would happen with a family dog, such as ”Kris-T” was.
Thank God, Daniel is doing well. The plastic surgeon did a fantastic job on his little face. The dog was euthanized yesterday morning. My poor Mom was forced with the choice of keeping her beloved pet, or having her grandchildren visit her. It was a no brainer, of course, but it probably still hurt tremendously to say goodbye to a dog that she loved. Some of her friends advised her to keep the dog. Other people told her that it would never be safe to have the dog around kids, again. I know that she personally felt the need to put the kids’ safety first, and not chance another incident. I wonder, though, what most people choose to do, in these types of situations. Does their love for the pet, cause them to keep the animal and try to prevent further attacks, or does the fear of further possible injuries, drive the decision to have the pet euthanized? What is your take on the matter? Have any of you ever had to make that choice, or have you been on the victim end of the stick? I’m very interested to know the consensus on this issue!
Kadi, Our very first family dog was a Golden Retriever that we adopted from the local Humane Society. After we got her home, we began to notice that she was limping after she would run and play with the kids. When we took her in to have her spayed, the vet did an x-ray, and discovered that at some point, she had been hit by a car, and her hip had been severely injured- which meant hip surgery. We also discovered that she had some brain trauma from the accident too. After her hip surgery, she was never the same. She began growling at us over small things, snapping at us, and eventually, my middle son walked over to her one day while she was sleeping and when he woke her up, she snapped at him. Luckily, she only scratched his chest and didn’t break the skin. We agonized with what to do, and visited at length with our vet. The reality was that our children were very young at that point- our youngest was 1 1/2 years old! We had to be able to trust her with them, and we couldn’t. We made the hard decision to have her put to sleep.
It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, and there were lots of tears all the way around, but the fact is that our kid’s safety was the most important thing.
Being the dog lover that I am, I know this is a very tough decision. I think it’s important to recognize some dogs are just not “kid” dogs and keep kids away from them.
I have a Jack Russell mix and everyone knows when they come visit that small kids are NOT to go near her. She does not like small kids because they pick her up, they squeeze too hard, they pull her legs and tail and she will bite them for it.
I take time to lock Miss Maggie up when there are small kids around or she will go away on her own. She intentionally avoids small kids so if the small ones go looking for her and they get bit, that’s not Maggies fault.
Animals can’t speak for themselves so their owners must get in tune with them and their needs and behavior.
I really wish there’d have been a way to find a childless couple or ranch of some sort for the dog. But I DO understand the position and the choice. I’m just glad it wasn’t me that had to make it.
oh how terrifying for you!
Yikes! I have a Jack Russell mix that we’ve had since she was a puppy, and she usually sleeps and hides from our son, but when we are outdoors they playfully chase one another. I watch her carefully, and we’ve never had any problems. She goes to hide if he tries to pull her tail or on her ears.
My parents’ have a great dane, however, and we are constantly watching the dane. In fact, if The Boy wants to pet the dog, someone always sits by the dogs snout and he is only allowed to pet on the belly. They are never allowed unsupervised together and it can sometimes be very stressful to visit my dad.
I am sure if my dog bit my son (or mauled), I would find her a new home. I certainly would not keep her.
I am so sorry for you and your son and your mom. It’s such a difficult situation! Your mom probably did the right thing. She would have felt guilty keeping the dog..
Sometimes you feel bad for the dog though because, unless they are truly agressive, they probably attacked out of fear you know? But ultimately, you have to choose people over animals – especially your own children/grandchildren.
I hope I never have to make that decision, it would break my heart to consider putting one of my dogs to sleep. Both are excellent with my son, but when he has friends over I usually pen them up. My Border Collie is very protective of her bones and toys. I wouldn’t want to take the chance of her biting someone for touching her toys.
I know in this situation your son jumped the fence – but I’ve seen so many situations where the parents or whomever put a big dog around a small child and to me it’s unfair. Small kids especially are going to pull hair, step on tails etc. and this can scare a dog. My husband wants a boxer so bad – but I just feel like it’s asking for trouble while our children are so little. It wouldn’t be fair to the dog if something did happen.
I am so thankful for my dog Pal. SHe is a Newfoundland retriever (Think St Bernard, but all black.) She is the best dog I have ever met, kids can do anything to her, and all she does is get up and walk away. I trust her not only with my own children, but with any children. I tell friends when they visit not to bug her too much, but for entirely different reasons. Pal just doesn’t deserve it.
When I was young, my stepdad had a shepherd-border collie, who I grew up with, from age 9 to about 16. I went on a long adventure to the coast, being 16 and all, was gone about 8 months, and when I came back, Buddy hated me. Never attacked, but always snarly and baring teeth. Weirdest thing. Luckily, I didn’t live at home anymore, so nothing ever came of it.
There would be no question for me, any dog to attack any children, gotta put the dog down. Kids come first, absolutely.