I usually don’t post links to articles, but this article http://slate.com/id/2109937/
offers some very pertinent thoughts about pet ownership and responsibility. We do not have any pets. My kids would love to have a dog, but I refuse to have a dog unless it is a properly trained and socialized dog. I’m too busy training and socializing children to spend time on an animal right now.
There were several points in that article which I found interesting:
So called “dangerous” breeds are no more likely to attack than “friendly” breeds, but when they do attack they are far more likely to do serious damage.
The person most likely to be injured by a dog is not a burglur or stranger, but a child who simply acted unpredictably. Young children and dogs must always be supervised together even if there is never a problem.
A dog who has been traumatized and has become prone to violence has no business living around lots of people, particularly children. If you want to “rescue” an unpredictable dog, you’d best live someplace rural.
My neighbor across the cul-de-sac owns a traumatized and rescued dog. I have never seen that dog be anything but friendly. I still do not allow my children to run over and play with the dog unless I am standing right there. Another neighbor owns a big friend pony-size alaskan malamute. The kids love it, but I’m always right there because the big friendly pony could trample or squash a toddler without intending to. Chalain and Chaliren frequently bring their dog to our house. The kids love running with her in the yard. All the adults love watching, but we always WATCH.
Animals can add so much to the lives of people, but pet owners must be responsible and parents must also be responsible so that fun can be had, not tragedy.
the thing i noticed about the “dangerous” breeds (excluding the rottweiler) is that they’re all large – the malamute, the german shephard etc – while they may be as likely (or less likely) to attack than the smaller size dogs, because of their size it stand to reason that if they attack, they will do more damage/attack fatally.
I grew up with german shephards and rhodesian ridgebacks and was never in any way harmed nor saw the dogs act agressively, but i totally agree with you – if you are going to let your kids play with the dogs, they should be watched.
Watching kids with dogs is as much for the dog’s safety as the childs. A bored 4-year-old can get horribly creative.
This is – incidentally – why my family got a dog in the first place. My younger brother is 10 now; he was 6 (I think) when we first got the dog. Maybe 7. Point is, he liked playing with the cats… but to him, playing with the cats included things that cats didn’t particularly like, particularly as our cats were getting fairly old at that point. Things like cuddling them tightly, etc, and not understanding that the cat wanted to get away. We wanted him to have a pet that he could play with, and that would be a lot more active and interested in him than a cat would. And he’s treated the dog very, very well – although he was older (I believe?) than any of your children by the time he got it.
The dog, by the way, is a Bichon Frise, and I can’t recall any situations where one has endangered the other at all… but that doesn’t mean we weren’t keeping an eye on them.
i agree
i was .. a little terror to nina, to the point where mum had to create a space where only the dog was allowed to go. not pulling tails or stuff, but i had a trolley that i would sometimes try and hit the dog with.
Luckily, the dog was smarter than i was at the age and I never did any serious damage, and nina never bit me, or hurt me in any way.
i grew up around newfies (like st. bernards, but usually slightly smaller and often of a solid coat) and you couldn’t find a better breed of dogs for kids. the only problems i ever saw was that they get big (140 or so pounds) really fast, and don’t always realise that the child they played with since they were tiny doesn’t get bigger as fast as they do. still, they’re bred as water rescue dogs so they tend to not play too rough. they do have a tendency leap into the pool after you and drag you out of the water. there was one time (as witnessed in a dog show by the newfies owners) that a small toddler had gotten away from parents and was harrasing a doberman, who promptly began mauling. a newfie heard the baby’s yells, snapped the chain on it’s colar, ran over, slammed the doberman into the ground by it’s neck (killing it) and wouldn’t leave the side of the baby till help arrived.