My springer spaniel bit my daughter.

[nofishfisherman]

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.

I have a hard time believing he was able to lift a full grow dog (likely a German Shepard) off the groud by the chain and hold it there until the dog finally passed out from lack of oxygen. It would also likely kill the dog. I won't even go into the animal cruelty aspects as I'm already sure you realize that it could very well be considered criminal in nature. If a dog simply shows aggression that is no excuse for choking it until it passes out. Hopefully your friend is just talking big.

[Dave D]

I just went through this with my 3.5 year old Rott and my 1.5 year old son. While my Rott never bit my son she did have some territorial aggression and in the end we made the decision to put the dog down even though we loved her and she was a great dog.

My .02. If you have the uneasy feeling in your stomach you know what the right decision is. Next time it might not just be some glue on the cheek. You can't watch the dog and the kid 100% of the time. If something happened you will never forgive yourself.

On another side. We recently picked up another dog, a basset hound puppy from a reputable breeder and wouldn't you know it, he caught my little guy on the cheek(1/2" cut) and off the the ER we went. The big difference here is this happened during the two of them playing over a balloon and the pup went for the balloon and caught cheek. No stitches and no glue just some meds and TLC. Difference here was to young ones playing vs. the aggression we dealt with our Rott.

Good luck with your choice, you will do what you know it right.

[PierBridge]

If the Dog can still hunt Upland Game. I'd be willing to take it during the Hunting seasons......

I vote the dog live's!

[CrappieFshr651]

Yep i say find it a new home too. You will probably have issues in the future now that the dog knows he can bite when being harrassed, but there's absolutely no reason the animal should die because a child was pulling on it's ears and it had enough. Just about any dog would do that to any person after a while. Best thing to do is find a new home without small children. I'd be furious to hear this dog was euthanized.

[Steve Foss]

Originally Posted By: DaveT

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.

I have a hard time believing he was able to lift a full grow dog (likely a German Shepard) off the groud by the chain and hold it there until the dog finally passed out from lack of oxygen. It would also likely kill the dog. I won't even go into the animal cruelty aspects as I'm already sure you realize that it could very well be considered criminal in nature. If a dog simply shows aggression that is no excuse for choking it until it passes out. Hopefully your friend is just talking big.

This is a bit more intense than most, but is still a fairly typical situation between a canine officer and his dog. All dogs are pack animals and need to know who is in charge. Most police dogs have a strong nature. They need it to do their jobs effectively. It takes the right kind of cop to be a canine cop, to be sensitive to what messages the dog is delivering, but also in charge of the dog. For most canine cops/dogs, every now and then you really have to show those dogs who is boss, and that often involves flipping them up in the air, slamming them down on the ground on their backs and holding them there until your dominant status is reinforced. Not everyone has the ability to do that to a dog.

Also, if it's a male German shepherd dog weighing about 100 pounds, any fairly strong man can suspend it in the air by using both arms for the time it takes for the dog to lose consciousness.

Cruel? Of course, by our standards. By a dog's standards? Not cruel at all. In fact, normal pack dominance behavior needed by a strong-willed dog to know where he stands in the pack. Dogs that are content being subservient rarely, often never, need that type of treatment. We humans tend to impose our standards on all creatures around us because we are arrogant, and it's not always best for the animal to be treated like a person.

A dog IS a dog, not a person.

Just my long-winded IMO.

[2thepointsetters]

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.

HAHAHAHAHA... Ten thousand comedians out of a job and your trying to compete with them. Good luck...

Where did I say it was a ok for dogs to bite kids? (please find and quote that for me)

Just becasue I dont agree with putting the dog down, doesn't mean I am for letting kids get bit. What if the another kid bit the kid? Then we put the kid down because it might grow to be aggressive.

(and by the way my dogs put up very well with kids and will not bite so no lawyer will be needed)

[2thepointsetters]

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.

Very well put. I agree 100%

[caseymcq]

I am a parent and I have two dogs. My daughter is not allowed to abuse the dogs. The dogs are not allowed to abuse my daughter. If any of them step out of line on this rule they are dealt with accordingly.

I still stand by saying the dog is not to blame in this situation. The growls were the dogs way of saying it did not like the treatment it was getting. There should have been some corrective action on both the part of the dog and the kid. Should have let the dog know it wasn't acceptable to act aggressively towards the kid and should have let the kid know it wasn't acceptable to abuse the dog.

[caseymcq]

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...

WOW, maybe a dog of that type shouldn't be with kids. First and foremost, I would hate to see the kid get hurt. I would also hate to see tens of thousands of tax payers dollars go down the toilet if the dog would have died because of the bone-headed way that guy dealt with it.

[jigman]

If you pulled on your wife's ears and she said stop and you kept it up what would you think she would do .if your abusing a animal it will react same as any human being. daughter needs to be supervised around any animal at the age of three and if people were around at the time should of stopped her .from pulling on the ears. im surat three she doesn't under stand that well and a three year old should be supervised around any, or all situation. There in a learning stage. IM SURE THE DOG HAS BEEN FINE UP TILL THIS POINT OF EAR PULLING and for the domination of pack animal if your being hurt as pulling her ears sooner our latter you'll react. also a springer spaniels back cant hold the weight of a 3 yer old what 36 to 60 lb could do serious harm to the dogs back and if the dogs 8 and no problem for those years just supervise the kid

[HOGEYE]

I appreciate everyones opinions and feed back. As far as the judgements go... I'll leave those to GOD.

Anyways, I have decided to keep the dog and my daughter. The dog is not by any means a dangerous dog. His ears were, and still are infected, and are getting better with the meds and continuous cleansing.

The occurance was the parents/my fault. It was hard to hear at first, but I am now in full agreement. It was a nip and not a dog in fury. The dog is going to stay (no execution!)and we the parents have learned our lesson. The distance will be kept and more dicipline will be given to daughter and dog. We will allow them more time togethor after my daughter understands better.

By the way; my wife was right there when it happend and punished the dog appropriately. The warnings were there the whole time and we failed to intervene.

Also, for what it is worth, we have more than 1 dog. Lesson is learned and we will make sure that it does not happen again. My garage is heated and I am installing a kennel and door flap to ensure continued seperation.

[goose89]

Thanks for the update Hogeye! You sure got alot of good insight from a wide range of views. Glad to hear you were able to make a decision, and I think you made the right one. Best wishes in the future.

[2thepointsetters]

I appreciate everyones opinions and feed back. As far as the judgements go... I'll leave those to GOD.

Anyways, I have decided to keep the dog and my daughter. The dog is not by any means a dangerous dog. His ears were, and still are infected, and are getting better with the meds and continuous cleansing.

The occurance was the parents/my fault. It was hard to hear at first, but I am now in full agreement. It was a nip and not a dog in fury. The dog is going to stay (no execution!)and we the parents have learned our lesson. The distance will be kept and more dicipline will be given to daughter and dog. We will allow them more time togethor after my daughter understands better.

By the way; my wife was right there when it happend and punished the dog appropriately. The warnings were there the whole time and we failed to intervene.

Also, for what it is worth, we have more than 1 dog. Lesson is learned and we will make sure that it does not happen again. My garage is heated and I am installing a kennel and door flap to ensure continued seperation.

Sounds like a great plan. Hopefully it works out for dogs and kids alike.

[walleyes12]

[BeastLight]

Whatever you end up doing will be the right decision because there is no correct answer to the problem, "Is now a good time to bring up abortion."

[pinkfloyd4ever]

yes, good luck hogeye

[jigging-matt]

Good luck, I hope it all works out for the best.

[icehousebob]

Good luck with it, Hogeye. I was spoiled by having the perfect dog when my kids were small. When I brought my last three sons home from the hospital, I laid them on the floor and unwrapped the blanket. My dog would sniff them and lick them and they were her kids. She slept under the crib and would come and get us if the baby woke up. Keep in mind that this was a Blue Tick coon hound that I had seen tear a coon to pieces in a fight. Her defence against too much poking and pinching was a ten inch long tongue. No kid could stand more than two face licks.

We did spend a lot of time with the kids trying to teach them to pet, rather than pull or pinch. No one says that parenting or dog owning is easy. But they're both worth the effort.

[setterguy]

I have to disagree with everyone saying the dog was defending itself. Unless the dog was tied up, the dog could have got up and left the situation. I'm sure a springer is much faster than a 3 year old. My fathers dog growled at my son once when he was about 2, now when we come over the dog simply leaves the room until the kids are gone. They can choose how to behave. I don't think anyone here lets their kids abuse the dogs but in the process of learning how to pet dogs my 1 year old has done all those pulling poking things. She is getting better and now "hugging" the dogs is her favorite thing to do. The dogs are not allowed to show any anger toward the kids, they can get up and leave. The dog did choose.

[Dave S]

HOGEYE,

it was a tough decision you had to make and often times it takes a little time to let it all sink in of what actually happened.

Thanks for the clarification of "it was only a nip". People hear of a dog bite and immediately think the dog ripped someone to shreds. It's a sign the dog didn't intend to hurt your daughter. However, this could be a progressive thing and get worse as time goes on, which you've recognized and are taking the appropriate action.

You made the right choice.