I am sick of seeing pictures like this all over social media AIBU?

Let's stop demonizing parents

How do you know that dog belongs to the parents of the child?

We have had many gp here complain that parents do not want the GP's dog and their baby in the same room and those parents have been called overprotective

MrsKen33

My step granddaughter has a one year old and another baby.on the way. Their dog has bitten the one year old twice, but although they keep saying the dog will have to go, it hasn’t yet

i think i would be reporting that somewhere.
who is standing up for the child.

Blondiescot
It was me who said that. And if the dog is put down, then it has paid the ultimate price. It is dead. The child - while possibly injured - is still alive

Sadly, there have been several cases in the UK in the past year alone where small babies, children and adults have been mauled to death by dogs.

I had a facial bite to my upper lip when I was 20y old by a West Highland White terrier. A growly bad tempered male dog. I’d hunched down to stroke him. He came over, tail bluddy wagging, put his front paws on my knees, looked so cute, I bent forward to stroke his head ... and GRR! and ‘SNAP’. Shocked the life out of me. Blood everywhere. I needed 12 stitches.

urmstongran
It’s frightening, isn’t it when it comes completely out of the blue.

I've seen lots of photos like this. The parents are behind stupid. There's a family on tiktok who have 5 or 6 of these bully dogs and 3 or 4 toddlers hanging on to these dogs. Morons. I think they've been banned but there are websites everywhere for these idiots to show off

Blondiescot. Yes I agree. Our friend's dog which bit the child was elderly. She had had it years. It never occurred to her that it would attack the baby so she popped into the garden. She shouldn't have done that.

It's totally irresponsible.

In fact, I think it is the baby which needs to be rehomed, a lovely little child like that deserves to have a better and safer home.

Oh my god, that’s horrible, it makes you want to run up and rescue that poor baby.
I would never ever trust a dog around a small child, it can never be worth the risk.

Thank you Sago for the info.

did you read the story that goes with the picture? if not then you should, i did, maybe you would understand the reason for the picture.

Hithere Nexus The photograph was meant to be provocative, the story behind it is immaterial.
It illustrates the madness.
It doesn’t matter who the dog belongs to!

Sago

It’s worth knowing that if you are ever embroiled in a dog attack the best and safest way to stop it is to lift the aggressors two back legs off the ground.
All power is gone from the jaw and the dog cannot physically bite anymore.

I might be being a bit thick here but doesn’t that mean that the other dog can continue biting?

My DH and I kept two large German Shepherds when or grandchildren were little, but we never ever left them alone in the room with them.The dogs always seemed to accept the children and were friendly to them, as long as we were in sight I felt I would never ever trust them to be alone with the children.I have a strong memory of our DGS at three days old being held by his seven year old sister on the settee with the other two girls sat on either side and one of the dogs dying at their feet on the floor but both my DH and myself were in the same room.

I meant lying not dying at their feet, forgive my fat fingers

Shinamae You lift the back legs of the aggressor! If there is another dog involved it will flee or the owner can contain it, if the dog is attacking a human it could save a life.

It certainly worked when my terrier turned on another dog.

Another one:

A four-year-old boy has been left with serious, life-changing injuries after being attacked by a dog in Liverpool.
The child was injured in the face and head by a Bull Mastiff type dog during a visit to a friend's house in Norris Green on Saturday, said police.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-62539930

nexus63

did you read the story that goes with the picture? if not then you should, i did, maybe you would understand the reason for the picture.

I don’t even know where it comes from. Do you have a link?

pensionpat

When my DDiL was about 38 weeks pregnant, there was a scrap between their 2 spaniels. My son unwisely intervened to separate them. One of the dogs sank his teeth into my son’s hands, we think aiming for the other dog. I shall never forget the sound coming from my son. He needed his finger amputating. The dog was no more dangerous than he had ever been. But a timely reminder that any dog is potentially very dangerous.

Oh pensionpat that is terrible! Terrible for your entire family to experience something like that, even just being a witness to it. A scream like that never fully leaves the memory. And a spaniel is a relatively small dog isn’t it? Small but rather ferocious if I’m remembering correctly. So sorry for your son.

Chewbacca

Another one:

A four-year-old boy has been left with serious, life-changing injuries after being attacked by a dog in Liverpool.
The child was injured in the face and head by a Bull Mastiff type dog during a visit to a friend's house in Norris Green on Saturday, said police.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-62539930

I am puzzled why so many seem to like the type / breed of dog that frequently features in these attacks.

Sometimes large, and powerful - what is the attraction? And it seems the victims of such attacks are more often than not, children, sometimes in a friend's house, sometimes in their own. Then the owner is charged with having an 'out of control' dog. Do they understand the nature of the dog they've decided on? Do they even understand the fact that a dog is an animal - you can ascribe as many human characteristics as you like to it, but it's still an animal, descended from a (now extinct) wolf. But, like humans, animals get stressed, irritated and annoyed... and unwell - but they can't really communicate this to humans, except to humans who are well-versed in animal behaviour.

Is it a status symbol - are they 'accessories' to a life-style (like certain celebrities with their hand-bag dogs dressed in cute bows woven into a tuft of fur)? Some people also like to own exotic animals, snakes for example. Why? Unless you have the perfect environment for such a creature - and I don't mean a couple of large tanks in the living room - I personally think it's an abomination to keep them confined in this way.

I'm really not sure the average person is really competent enough to own certain types of dogs. And some, just should not own an animal, full stop.

My neighbour has a greyhound - quite a large one. He and his partner live in a tiny cramped house... the sitting room is so small I doubt the dog can barely turn round in it. The 'garden' is a pocket-handkerchief patch. I hear him barking frequently and can also hear his paws on the steep wooden stairs running up and down whilst his owners are out at work all day. He sounds distressed and that worries me. Or maybe I'm imagining his discomfort, I don't know. Don't greyhounds need a lot of exercise - and not just a quick walk down the road and back after work? Will he one day, just turn round and snap at someone, because he's not living a more natural 'doggy' life?

I think you hit the nail on the head with 'status symbol' Dickens. I am no dog lover but that sounds very unfair to your neighbour's dog.

Totally agree with you, Dickens. Sadly I think many people buy a dog on a whim, often as a status symbol. You can see this with whatever breed is 'trendy' at the time - witness the amount of French bulldogs and pugs around now. And don't get me started on the fad for trendy mixed breeds at the moment either - things like cockerpoos, pomskys etc - which cost an absolute fortune. And the fad for 'accessorising' your dog in all kinds of stupid outfits. Things like that only encourage people to treat the dogs as some kind of fashion accessory.
On your last point, I believe that greyhounds don't actually need quite as much exercise as many people think they do. But the kind of lifestyle that poor dog appears to be leading seems all wrong to me. If you're not prepared to take on a dog and make a lifetime commitment to that animal and give it the kind of lifestyle it deserves, in terms of feeding, training, exercise, medical treatment etc - then don't get one in the first place.

Makes my blood run cold

Maggiemaybe here’s the link pitbulltribe.com/safe-around-babies/

Nexus I read the article. I watched the video it linked as well, something about cute babies and pit bulls. And the problem with it is that they haven’t properly screened the material they’re using. If you watch the video there are instances where the dogs are obviously uncomfortable to anyone who has researched dog behaviour. Some have got their ears pinned back, some are turning away from the baby playing with them. They aren’t comfortable and pose a risk. The people writing the article should be more responsible.

The main issue is that the people purchasing these dogs do no research into dog behaviour so aren’t spotting earth warning signs that a dog is uncomfortable and needs to be kept away from the child.

Hithere Thats clearly a photoshoot type picture. Even if it’s not their dog the parents have obviously allowed it for the photo! It’s not demonising parents, people shouldn’t be so bloody stupid as to allow this kind of contact between a dog and young child.