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My springer spaniel bit my daughter.


HOGEYE

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Another thing to think about: Were you witness to the bite? If you didn't catch him in the act, then he doesn't know he was wrong.

He bit + the ear pulling stopped + no punishment = reinforced behavior

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You need to weigh your desire to keep the dog against the chance your dog will do serious damage to your daughter's face if it bites her again. If it bit her once, it may bite her again. Easy choice - get rid of the dog.

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This can be adressed quickly and humanely. Talk to your vet and get referred to an "animal behaviorist". There's a lot of confusing issues when you live in a pack. (and you, your kid and your dog all do. Especially, when you all don't speak the same language. This is not necessarily cheap but it humanely fullfills your responsibility to the dog. If an evaluation or continuing aggressive behavior shows a problem then decide QUICKLY to get rid of the dog. Try local springer clubs to find correct home or as a last resort, put him down and remember him for his best and not his worst.

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Hard decision for sure but an easy one in my book.

From personal experience. We had a wonderful sweet dog for 10 years. After 2 of those years we had kids. The dog just didn't like kids. We trained the dog and eventually trained the kids. Primarily just kept them apart. We figured as the dog and kids got older the dogs temperment would ease and the kids would be more responsible and he might see them as adults. We had them walk the dog, do obedience training and nice petting sessions. Well one time while trying out her new Heeleys my daughter accidentally fell on him. He went after her with a vengeance. Had my wife not been there to stop him he probably would have torn her apart. He even bit my wife, probably out of fear. We tried to find him a new home but here is what they said. "He's too old. He's already a liability. If he went to a home with just adults they have neighbor kids, grandkids, nephews, nieces, etc." Our dog bought the farm. No way am I going to take a chance with my children's safety at risk. What about neighbor's kids? You had better up your insurance big time. As stated, your dog has bitten once. I can just about guarentee it will do it again. Can you live with what might happen. We tried to make it work and got lucky but at that point it was over. Not even an issue. It's a child. It's just a dog. You choose. We still have other dogs and their great with the kids. It was just the one that we had trouble with.

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To those that say its not the dog's fault and its the kids fault for pulling on it ears. I say B$. A dog should never bite a human. Period. Not in my pack. I'd remove the dog without question.

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To those that say its not the dog's fault and its the kids fault for pulling on it ears. I say B$. A dog should never bite a human. Period. Not in my pack. I'd remove the dog without question.

I totally agree! Love my dog but it would be gone.

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Is your daughter afraid of the dog now? If yes then give it away, there are plenty of people out there that would take it, i would only euphanize a dog if it was very sick or became crazy aggressive, i see that as the very last option. Give it a second chance its part of the family

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My first thought was take it out back and shoot it, but then after you calm down and think about it, you may or may not had warning signals. But you cannot watch both the dog and kids every second of every day. This does not say you area bad parents like mentioned above. You have a very hard decision to make and am sure you will make the right choice for your specific situation. Remember this a older dog will get cranky and not put up with things the way they did in the past. And once a dog bites or nips at a person it may very well do it again, and hopefully not worse than the first one> glad to hear your daughter is doing well. And good luck with your decision. I would find a new home, My opinion. Good luck.

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I agree with Harmonica Bear 100%. It IS the dog's fault. A dog should never bite a person no matter what that person does to it. I would remove the dog from being indoors right away and then try to find a new home. I think that will be very hard to do with an old dog that has bitten someone.

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I hate to say it but I totally agree with Harmonica Bear too. I have two dogs, one 13 one 8 and a 1 year old daughter that thinks they are stuffed animals. She crawls on them, pulls ears, pokes eyes ect. If the dogs have enough they get up and move, simple as that. I don't tolerate any growling let alone biting. Its not my dog, not my family and not my decision and I certainly don't envy your position. Two stitches in the cheek would be enough for me to say that this dog doesn't understand what is acceptable and what isn't. You have to ask yourself if you could live with the consequences if the dog decides to take it a step further next time. I know I couldn't.

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My kids have picked, prodded, pulled, tried to ride and all the other things that little kids do to my britt and never once a growl. She knows better. If she gets annoyed she will just walk away from them. Once they bite, its all over in my book as much as that may stink. There is no dog more important than my kids!!

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I would first take the dog to the vet to make sure there is not an underying issue. A sore tooth or somthing that hurts him and then the kid hits it could certainly make him angry enough to snap at a child, but that is not an excuse.

All I will say is I do not envy your situation in the least and wish you and your family the best in this very difficult situation.

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All of you who have chimed that your kid can punch, prod, pull, and crawl on your dog without any repurcussions are making a large mistake. Maybe your dog does have a great temperment and wouldn't ever bite, but by allowing that behavior you are teaching you're kid to handle animals in a way that could be dangerous to them in the future. What they are able to do at home might get them mauled somewhere else. Not everybodies dog is trained and of an even temperment. Also, it only takes once for your dog to wake up and decide that it's had enough.

Don't get me wrong. My dogs are so trusting and obedient it's hard to think about them ever biting a family member. I've pulled porcupine quills and even stitched them up without anesthetic when a vet wasn't available. Still, I don't let my boy mistreat them just because they would let him. I tell him 'gentle' and show him how to act around them.

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All I can say to this post is WOW! Unreal!

Do whatever you have to do... But please do not ever get another dog.

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Why not ever get another dog? As I said, we had to put one down but we went out and got another one. We've had all good dogs and we have trained them well, for the most part, but if you get one that bites it needs to go. You can still get another good dog. Work with the kids more on how to treat the pets and all should be fine.

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As a kid we had situation in which our dog was overly protective of us(3boys) she(German Shepherd) was never harmful to us. As a matter of fact she was was very loving. But if you came within 2' of any of us the dog would come unglued. 110lbs of raging fury was too much for my dad or the neighbors to handle. My dad found a farm for her to live out her days.

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Easy decision: Get rid of the daughter.

1 - She would be much easier to find a new home for. After all, it wasn't her that did the biting.

2 - College is cheaper for dogs than it is daughters.

3 - I doubt some punk-looking teenager is ever gonna show up at your door to take your dog out on a date. If he does, you could just pull him aside and tell him how much the dog loves to have her ears played with.

Sorry ... it's a serious discussion, I know. But sometimes a little levity goes a long way.

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I don't have kids but my friends kids can come over and pester my dog to no end. I don't like it and I will educate them how to behave around dogs but the bottom line is the dog bite a child. I would never trust that dog around a child again. Maybe there won't ever be a next time but if there is it could be worse with a different child or a complete stranger and who knows how they would react if they found out the dog had a history (lawsuit?). I would not want to be in the owners position but the course of action is very clear to me.

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Putting the dog down is not the solution. Find a home for it - in the meantime keep them separated - or try to make a teaching moment out of it for your dog and your daughter

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The kid should have tought to not pull on the dog. Parents probably thought it was cute when the kid was little and nows it trouble. To many people get animals and then dump them when everything isn't perfect. I hate when people come over to my house with little kids that get to do what ever they want, jabbing my dogs in the eyes while the parents laugh. They are affraid to tell the kid no because they will cry.

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If you hunt the dog and thus want to keep him as a hunter, waiy until the weather is warm and build a good dog house and use a cable runner until you can put in a exterior kennel.

The child and the dog need to be seperated now and in the future.

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I said that because the dog did nothing wrong, really! The kid kept poking it and pulling on its ears and it finally had enough. It did what all dogs do, it nipped at the problem to tell it to knock it off! It's what they do to all other dogs when they are telling them enough. Unless it was a vicious bite, which it didn't sound like it was, it was simply going off instinct. The parents should have not been allowing the kid to do this, AT ALL! If one cannot enforce this behavior, it'll just happen again, and again, and again...... how many dogs will need to be killed?

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I agree. Just don't go out and make a rash decision to execute your dog. Try the separation thing. 3 years olds shouldn't be left with any animal, cat/dog/whatever unattended. Don't kick yourself (as a parent) either. It is a huge learning process. I think this whole event will blow over, as long as you separate the dog from the child for the time it takes the child to learn how to respect the dog. If anyone has the answer on how to make a 3 year old listen, I am all ears. I have one now. (Luckily, he is very "shy" around our dog)

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If anyone has the answer on how to make a 3 year old listen, I am all ears. I have one now. (Luckily, he is very "shy" around our dog)

And if anyone has that anwser for a two-year old I'd pay good money for it. laughgrinwink

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I've loved my dogs to death.

Never been faced with exactly this same situation, but had a close one with a young pup.

There's also no question that the dog would have a very short leash, while I figured out what to do, and my kid would be no where near the pooch until I was confident and knew for sure.

Our Old Dog in his later years slept in Jr.'s room, the two of them "protecting" one another. They were fast friends, and Jr. became comfortable with and accustomed to playing with the dog.

When the "pup" came on board after the Old Dog died, he had a puppy incident where he went after Jr.'s throat, and the next few days were nip and tuck as to whether the pup would survive the week. I was ready to put him down, if necessary.

The pup was being a pup. He was playing with Jr. like he would have played with his littermates, but the problem was that Jr. didn't have a tough hide and fur on his neck....

The pup spent a day segregated, while I contemplated things.

We went out into the yard, and I set it up to expose my neck and face while we were playing. Sure enough - he went for the kill, I thumped him royally, screaming and shouting and going absolutely berserk, not allowing him to get up before rolling him again. It was awful, and I felt like a monster during and afterwards.

It worked. Ben ended up being the most obedient and gentle family dog you could hope for, while still grabbing his fair share of ducks and partridge and pheasants.

Take the kid out of the equation. Set up the same situation. Don't take any prisoners if the dog reacts the same way.

BTW, the new pup (known as The Great Black Hope) is sleeping on my feet as I type this.

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Originally Posted By: Harmonica Bear
A dog should never bite a human. Period. Not in my pack. I'd remove the dog without question.

I totally agree! Love my dog but it would be gone.

HAHAHAHAHA.... A dog needs to defend it self. Since it cant talk, biting/growling is the only way it can.

Thats like saying you should never raise your voice.

You guys crack me up.

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2thepoint - if you want to let your dogs growl and bite kids thats fine with me. I don't have to pay your lawyer bills. This post is all about opinions and you don't need to ridicule someone else's opinion. I agree 100% that a dog should never bite a human, unless it is trained that way as a guard dog. That is my opinion and I would expect you to respect that opinion as I would respect your opinion that it is OK for a dog to bite a 3 year old.

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Well, I am going to go home afterwork and pull on my dogs ears and probably try to ride him, it will probably [PoorWordUsage] him off, hopefully he doesn't try to defend himself or I will have to put him down. Then when I am done with my dog, I will go pull my wifes ears, and hopefully she doesn't try to defend herself or I will have to put both of them down. I can't believe some of your posts. The dog got sick in tired of the parents letting the child abuse the dog. I hope your daughter is doing better, but like mentioned before do not get another dog till your daughter is old enough to understand that pulling on a dogs ears hurts.

If I was the dog, i would hope for a new home.

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Easy decision: Get rid of the daughter.

1 - She would be much easier to find a new home for. After all, it wasn't her that did the biting.

2 - College is cheaper for dogs than it is daughters.

3 - I doubt some punk-looking teenager is ever gonna show up at your door to take your dog out on a date. If he does, you could just pull him aside and tell him how much the dog loves to have her ears played with.

Sorry ... it's a serious discussion, I know. But sometimes a little levity goes a long way.

good one pike!

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You can tell the parents from the non parents in this thread. I am assuming the dog wasn't nailed to the floor when the kid was aggravating it. The dog needs to get up and leave if he doesn't like what's going on. I doubt that biting was the only option this dog had. He simply wasn't going to give up his space to a kid that he feels he's dominant over.

On a related note, I have a cop friend who has a canine officer living with his family. When the dog acted aggressively towards his daughter, he lifted the dog off the ground with the leash and a choke collar. When the dog passed out, he laid him on the ground and set his daughter on top of the dog. When the dog came to, he assumed the girl had done it to him and submitted to her from that point on. I don't know if that would work here or not but it's something to think about.

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