dog bit grandson

seasider has already stated what she and her family have decided to do. I don't know why people are continuing to debate it. It sounds to me as though she is a very responsible dog owner.

Yes - I have to admit we had one slightly irritable hamster. We had to do all the handling and cage cleaning. It had epileptic fits!

Petallus the dog didn't just growl in the previous incident:

'He has been growling at the children and actually went for our 11 year old'. I don't know what you understand by the term 'went for'.

And then you say that incident was before he was neutered, but of course since being neutered it has attacked the face of a grandchild!

I agree with petallus about hamsters. I would never have another one as a pet.

nightowl I think we're allowed to comment on other people's posts - threads don't just come to a full stop when the OP has made a decision, particularly if members have varying opinions and advice to give.

Well, how tall are the grandchildren? It is a schizuh. So long as grandkids are not crawling babies, dog couldn't do much harm I suppose. So long as kids keep upright. And perhaps wear ankle protectors.

Sounds like it was jealous. And perhaps doesn'tknow who is in charge of it. (seaside calls it her dog, but then says it belongs to her son). A dog needs a master.

Riverwalk of course. I have commented plenty after the event. Just said I wasn't sure why we were bothering that was all.

Because threads do go on - and on - and on.....

Whilst Sunday dinners get later and later!

Oh Mishap hamsters are the most useless and boring pet ever! They only like to come out at night and tend to hip when woken during the day.

I'm so glad that seasider's GS is ok and especially that his mum is being reasonable about it. The idea of a cage is excellent. My mum's Staffie loved her cage. It was also her bed and when the door was shut she felt safe and relaxed and was off duty from her looking after mum job.

When I took my DGDs round she was always put in the cage before they came in - she was afraid of children and Staffies aren't known for their ability to just nip. As she felt safe they were eventually able to feed her biscuits through the bars which she would accept with great delicacy and gentleness.

Nip not hip!

Riverwalk someone thought the dog had bitten twice. Do you think 'went for' actually means biting then?

On the occasion of the bite the dog was being teased.

Do you like dogs?

I know a decision has been made, but need to comment that this is a small, and usually affable breed of dogs.
It is most likely that the poor animal was afraid not in attack mode.

Petallus I love dogs, and cats, and most animals come to that.

I grew up with dogs and when my children were young we had a lovely lady Dobermann, Elsa. So I'm definitely not anti-dog.

But I don't think it matters if I like dogs or not, I'm just commenting that the dog has previous.

As for 'went for' I take that to mean that the dog attacked, whether it sank its teeth in is not the point. It's splitting hairs to try to differentiate between going for and actually making contact - the urge was there.

The OP said in the older thread that the dog had been growling at the children, so there was plenty of warning before this incident.

I suppose there will always be a division of opinion between those that like dogs and those that don't. Interestingly I think that rockgran (several posts back) showed a lot of understanding of dogs despite saying she didn't much like them. But then she also used one of my favourite expressions when she said she 'respects' animals. I prefer that to the expression 'animal lover' which I think is a particularly meaningless one.

See, I can't help commenting either!

Jingle I just think that it is a shame you have to be nasty to people and no my brain isn't addled by sentimentality. Could you not manage to put your views across without being so personal. So have you got Shih Tzu dogs, as you seem to think you are an expert. You have to judge these things on the different situations and you cannot always just generalise. I have owned dogs all my life, I presume you have as well Jingle as you claim such knowledge.
Can I ask were you formerly JO8 by any chance?

Riverwalk my post crossed with yours so please believe me when I say I was not getting at you or anyone on here with that post.

Agree Nightowl it is all about respecting the animal.

I have been bitten by patients dogs on two occasions, first time was a chiwowa (? Sp). The second a Pekingese whose owner assured me 'he won't hurt, he's got no teeth! ' it left two painful crescent bruises on my calf though.

Wasn't nasty to anyone. It's the narrow minded, silly, over-heavy way things are taken on Gransnet. That is NOT a personal insult to anything in particular AND so doesn't warrant deleting HQ.

My advice is as good as any on this thread.personally I think it's the best. Especially the ankle protectors.

And since when is saying someone doesn't'tknow what they are talking about, not a personal attack?!

You have no idea of my experience with dogs.

I did say previously that a cage would be a good idea or a muzzle, but didn't realise this was the second incident. My thought now is that this dog is too volatile to be trusted - my friend has a shih tzu, it is very exciteable and an ankle nipper. Seasider is lucky that her DIL has been so understanding. If it was my dog then the decision would be to have the dog put down, heartbreaking though this would be. Next time the damage could be worse, who's to know a child won't let him out of the cage when your back is turned for a second?

Must agree with Mishap and Ana.
If you were reading this in a newspaper, and not on a forum, you would be saying this is dreadful and should not be happening.
I am not going to apologise for being anti-dog, I have seen too much to be sentimental.

I think the dog would go mad with frustration being shut in a cage. Dogs are not animals to be caged. As someone else said,Get a hamster. Quick enough sleight of hand and son might not notice the difference.

Dogs do very well with cages jingl if cages are used responsibly. Many breeders start their puppies off in cages from birth and recommend their continued use.

Hmm. Sounds like the thing with playpens for babies. You have to start early, before the need is there. Too late in this instance I would have thought.