[News] 17month old killed by Staffie dog

[Easy 10]

I don't really care about a breeds "reputation", whether deserved or not. Its still an animal, it still has powerful jaws, and it only has to turn ONCE to wreak absolute devastation.

I'm confident we'll soon have the "it wouldn't hurt a fly" and "soppy thing, totally out of character" post-mortem remarks. But I now have 2 grandkids, one a few weeks old and the other 3. My blood would run cold if their parents decided to get one of these animals, and the inevitable close proximity it would then be in with them, day in day out. I would have a BIG problem with that, and they'd know about it.

Thankfully they're not stupid.

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

Depends what you call small. 2 deaths and 136 'reported' attacks in 2021 by that breed on its own. How that compares with the UK national average with other dogs I don't know.

We rehomed a rare breed a couple of months ago and she was sadly very anxious and on one occasion bit me. Due to the depth of the bite it was necessary to go to A+E and it had to be reported onto "the system". When we spoke to the breeder about the incident she was so terrified and disappointed that we told the nurse the name of the breed, and said to me "well that's not good news for the breed" - especially as less than 30 puppies were registered in 2020. My response to her, but chose not to say is was "well, it's not good for my hand either". We tried a bit longer with the dog, got a behaviorist in but decided to return her as we were so unsure how she might react with young children.

 

[Dr Q]

First comment would be what kind of tool leaves a dog they've only had for a week with a toddler. Neither would know how to react to one another, completely crazy and very sad!

I've trained hundreds and hundreds of dogs over the last 12 years (both obedience and gundog), and pretty much all of the problems lie with the handler end of the lead. Staffies when well trained are as decent as any dog, it's a shame they've often been associated with the chav/thug element, where poor treatment promotes the desired aggression.

The only two dogs that have genuinely scared me out of all of these dogs over the years, was a Rottie, which was great as a pup but the male owner again wanted it as an image (it started having massive collars, with leather and chain straps like bl**dy armour) and he wasn't wasn't listening to anything. The dog turned on me quick one night when I went to shorten the lead, and it was marched straight out the training barn. Second one was a Caucasian Shepherd. Massive, very scary thing, again bought as a guard dog!!

Only ever been bitten once, and that was me foolishly trying to break up a fight between two of my GSPs.

 

[MJsGhost]

Funnily enough, this story was relayed to me by another dog walker, whilst on my dog walk this morning with my 11 month old strapped to me. She didn't mention the breed, but my instant reaction was that I wouldn't leave a small child alone with any dog, let alone one that had only been in the home for a week.
Our daughter tries the patience of our soft-as-sh|t cockapoo and he's the most placid, submissive dog I've ever known. We wouldn't leave the two of them in a room alone together for more than literally seconds as the risk is just too great, no matter how infinitesimally small that risk is. Come to think of it, she's never alone in a room on her own for more than a few moments unless she's asleep, dog or no dog (though I guess a 17-month old is slightly more independent than at 11 months and pulling herself up on everything as she's just about to walk)

 

[Live by the sea]

I don't really care about a breeds "reputation", whether deserved or not. Its still an animal, it still has powerful jaws, and it only has to turn ONCE to wreak absolute devastation.

I'm confident we'll soon have the "it wouldn't hurt a fly" and "soppy thing, totally out of character" post-mortem remarks. But I now have 2 grandkids, one a few weeks old and the other 3. My blood would run cold if their parents decided to get one of these animals, and the inevitable close proximity it would then be in with them, day in day out. I would have a BIG problem with that, and they'd know about it.

Thankfully they're not stupid.

Agree 100% - why take an unnecessary risk !

 

[Worried Man Blues]

Staffies are bloomin' dangerous just running around if it bangs into your leg you'll know all about it, when you get up! Our friends swear by them so do we!

 

[portlock seagull]

Lots people shouldn’t have dogs. Lots more shouldn’t have children. And plenty shouldn’t have either.

 

[WATFORD zero]

It is Tragic. However, the breed of the dog is completely irrelevant.

1. My advice would be don't have dogs with kids under 10.
2. Don't have medium size dogs with kids under 5.
3. If you don't do 1 or 2, make sure both are closely supervised over a loooong period of time and never leave a child under 5 alone with a dog.

Personally I went for 1, although I know people who have gone for 2 and 3.

 

[AmexRuislip]

I'm ok with dogs, as long as they're controlled by their owners.
My wife wasn't too bad with dogs, up until a few years back when we were walking around our local lido.

A man walked past us with a westie off lead.
Nothing out of the norm, until we heard this yelp behind us.
Turned out another man had come out if the woods, and his alsation had the westie in its mouth, shaking it about.
I ran over to the man with the alsation and shouted at him to get his dog under control, to which he just called his dog back and walked off.
I offered myself as a witness to the man with the westie, who declined and just walked off in the other direction.

Sods law really

 

[Fat Boy Fat]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say dogs and babies/toddlers don't mix.

If you want to have babies, don't have a dog. .. Wait until the children are older and safer!

 

[Triggaaar]

I've said to my better half, if there is even one episode of aggression, or my perception of aggression, towards the kids, they will be put down, not only for my kids safety, but for their own good, because that means it is in them to go through with an attack.

Jesus, that's a bit extreme. They could instead be re-homed to a family without young children. We have a lovely cocker which we've had from 8 weeks and he will moan when the kids go near their resting mum. We get in the way and let him know that's not ok. It would need to be more than some perceived aggression before we put him down.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Daily horrendous stories of Russian atrocities in Ukraine , now we have a story in Liverpool about a 17month old child killed by a Staffie dog .

Terribly sad but totally avoidable . No parent should ever leave a dog alone with such a young child . It’s totally irresponsible and it’s bordering on insanity to bring a potentially highly aggressive breed like a Staffie into a young child’s house.

Yes most of the time these dogs are ok But they are very powerful dogs and one wrong move ( they are an animal at the end of the day ) and their powerful jaws can kill a young child .

I don’t understand the mindset of any parent that would allow their young child to be around such a powerful dog . There’s stupid and then there’s child negligence .

St Helens

 

[herecomesaregular]

Terribly sad situation. Without knowing many of the facts I would say the parents are ****ing morons. What a waste of a young life reliant on them for protection and safety.

Regardless of having my own dog you can never trust them entirely and more so you can never trust other people out with their dogs, sadly. Seen several times some eejet with their dog off lead in an urban area who then attacks another dog on lead and the owner of the off lead dog did not give a shit about it. Why was the dog license got rid of btw? Too many dogs about nowadays imo per se and too many people with MH issues not capable of training a dog and looking after it properly also, imho.

 

[vegster]

Terribly sad situation. Without knowing many of the facts I would say the parents are ****ing morons. What a waste of a young life reliant on them for protection and safety.

Regardless of having my own dog you can never trust them entirely and more so you can never trust other people out with their dogs, sadly. Seen several times some eejet with their dog off lead in an urban area who then attacks another dog on lead and the owner of the off lead dog did not give a shit about it. Why was the dog license got rid of btw? Too many dogs about nowadays imo per se and too many people with MH issues not capable of training a dog and looking after it properly also, imho.

The local FB chatter regularly features owners or dogs out of control by their actions or inactions. Additionally there is the urban myth that Dognappers will target a house holding a dog by putting a cable tie around a lamppost outside the house . Many swear this is true.

Mrs V has been hankering after a dog for some time, either a Puffball or a fannylicker type. I'm not letting her have one as I know which one of us is going to have to do the poo picking.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Terribly sad situation. Without knowing many of the facts I would say the parents are ****ing morons. What a waste of a young life reliant on them for protection and safety.

Regardless of having my own dog you can never trust them entirely and more so you can never trust other people out with their dogs, sadly. Seen several times some eejet with their dog off lead in an urban area who then attacks another dog on lead and the owner of the off lead dog did not give a shit about it. Why was the dog license got rid of btw? Too many dogs about nowadays imo per se and too many people with MH issues not capable of training a dog and looking after it properly also, imho.

Without hijacking the conversation, totally agree about dogs off leads and the behaviour of some owners.

I take my kids (4 and 7) to the park to play football most days. Despite being on a marked football pitch, you'd think we were encroaching on a designated dog walking area and shouldn't be there. Dogs always chase the ball or run up-to the kids, particularly my youngest, and jump up at him. 95% of the time there's no apology, the general attitude seems to be "Oh isn't my dog lovely, I bet you and your children think this is great fun". We don't, particularly. At one time they were terrified of dogs, although I'm very pleased that they've got over this. One of them got a nice scratch in the face a year ago from a dog's claws in this exact scenario.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Without hijacking the conversation, totally agree about dogs off leads and the behaviour of some owners.

I take my kids (4 and 7) to the park to play football most days. Despite being on a marked football pitch, you'd think we were encroaching on a designated dog walking area and shouldn't be there. Dogs always chase the ball or run up-to the kids, particularly my youngest, and jump up at him. 95% of the time there's no apology, the general attitude seems to be "Oh isn't my dog lovely, I bet you and your children think this is great fun". We don't, particularly. At one time they were terrified of dogs, although I'm very pleased that they've got over this. One of them got a nice scratch in the face a year ago from a dog's claws in this exact scenario.

The thread is probably worth hijacking to be fair.

You reminded me of my childhood in Portslade, when letting dogs roam the streets (where they decorated the verges with white dog shit) was the norm. I was chased and bitten dozens of times. It's only in the last couple of years I have realised why this was the case. The clue is that dogs are animals, we didn't keep a dog, and I have had to learn how to manage engagement with humans, so when a dog ran at me, of course I turned and ran. I am far from unique. Fuggers not controlling their mutts has always enraged me. The irony is that 'thoughtlessness' is an unavoidable aspect of my own phenotype....

 

[Easy 10]

The local FB chatter regularly features owners or dogs out of control by their actions or inactions. Additionally there is the urban myth that Dognappers will target a house holding a dog by putting a cable tie around a lamppost outside the house . Many swear this is true.

Mrs V has been hankering after a dog for some time, either a Puffball or a fannylicker type. I'm not letting her have one as I know which one of us is going to have to do the poo picking.

Err....

What ??

 

[vegster]

Err....

What ??

God man, get with the program ! Puffballs are the furry things that look like kids toys, the Cockerpoodles etc and the Fannylickers are the Yorkies/Chihuahua/ Dachshund types that basically lay on the laps of women of a certain age and .. fannylick.

 

[Easy 10]

God man, get with the program ! Puffballs are the furry things that look like kids toys, the Cockerpoodles etc and the Fannylickers are the Yorkies/Chihuahua/ Dachshund types that basically lay on the laps of women of a certain age and .. fannylick.

I've clearly led a sheltered life. My parents were cat people.

I've never had a dog, nor would I. At least not until I'm basically infirm and incontinent and can barely leave the house, ie when my life is pretty much over and I have no remaining ambitions of travelling anywhere or doing anything. FAR too much hassle otherwise, its like adopting a child.

 

[vegster]

I've clearly led a sheltered life. My parents were cat people.

I've never had a dog, nor would I. At least not until I'm basically infirm and incontinent and can barely leave the house, ie when my life is pretty much over and I have no remaining ambitions of travelling anywhere or doing anything. FAR too much hassle otherwise, its like adopting a child.

Cats are good, or at least goodish. If you croaked alone with a dog the dog would probably pine away and die too. If you lived with a cat it would be 2-3 days before the cat decided to start eating yer face. Always remember, no matter how clever a cat is, it does not possess an opposing thumb in order to open a can of Whiskas. Cats are killers and opportunists, they will weigh up the odds.