Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

BBC News - Four-year-old boy killed by dog

EddScott

Why people have small children with dogs is beyond me.

Poor lad.

Jamescsti

"investigations have begun to establish the breed"

I'll take a guess at staffy, pitbull cross or similar type

Leslie

Yet another tragic story. It has to be accepted that there is no way one can forecast how an animal's mind will work for certain and so it is very foolish to take any kind of a risk.

Les

BOB.T

I bet its owners are irresponsible, regardless of what type of dog it is.

Markus

I'm with Bob, it could be any dog breed, it's no doubt the owners not training it, or not supervising their child with it that has caused this. If I were to prod and poke my very placid lab, pulling her tail and annoying her, then I am more than sure she would snap at me, and I think the same would be said of most if not any dog.

We don't know wether this was just the dog going nuts for no apparent reason, or wether there was provocation.

EddScott

To be honest, I held off on passing comment on the owners etc.

I wouldn't be at all surprised too see them on the TV tonight looking like wayne and waynetta slob but then that suggests that in these cases its the owners not the dogs.

You don't know what any animal will do in the wrong circumstances.

Case in point - this morning, one of our cats got stuck in the blinds in our front window. My 8 year old daughter tried to untangle him. He bit the **** out of her hand and she couldn't help him. I had to and am scratched to buggery!

Now magnify the incident to a big powerful dog and being in stuck in something stronger and you'd be looking at lost fingers.

EddScott

Liverpool Dog Attack: Four-Year-Old Boy Killed In Liverpool | UK News | Sky News

Its not looking good judging by that.

Yet another underfunded, underpoliced sink estate by the sounds of it.

urban

iTrader: (1)

OK, so we don't know the type of dog as yet but its clearly some sort of cross bred illegal dog no doubt.

Question - if the police see an illegal type dog can they not just take it there and then or shoot it?
Then prosecute the owner/keeper?

Nurse Gladys

Here we go again......

All the do-gooders will be on the war path again calling for the destruction of hundreds of absolutely harmless dogs. We have always had dogs - and NEVER had a problem.

It is not the dog, but the owner - some brain dead doleite who thinks he's hard having a tough dog. Well it's about time we started putting the owners down.

Everytime, without fail, that I have read a story like this I wonder what the **** is going through a parent's mind leaving a child alone with ANY dog?

Education is what is lacking here, both on how to look after a child and a dog.

I may be completely wide of the mark, but guess the pictures of the 'family / owner' will tell a story.....

I just hope the poor little lad didn't suffer too much.

CrisPDuk

Two questions;

Why was a four year old still up at midnight, or,

Why was a dog left unattended in a four year old's bedroom.

Either way something's amiss there

austinwrx

I'll take a punt on it being (a) pikey type of dog plus (b) typical pikey dog owner.

why on earth you'd have dogs/cats in the same house as babies/children I do not know.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Don't understand your logic here?

Surely it depends on the type of dog for starters.
My son was brought up in the home and we had a dog - border collie.
He wouldn't have been left alone with the dog though

Cats?
What do they do?

CrisPDuk

A bit knee jerk that isn't it


There are hundreds of thousands of homes across Britain that have pets and children in them

The difference is most of those also have responsible parents present, who know that it's insane to leave dogs and kids alone together

I have a 3 year old Springer, who is as soft as anything. But still I'd no more leave my 7 year old niece alone with her than I'd leave her in the care of Gary Glitter


Cats are a different matter entirely by the way, the vast majority of them know to steer well clear of human young Mine definitely do

nik52wrx

I totally agree.
Blame the so called parents/owners and deal with them via the courts.
Nik.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

It does always seem to be from the lower end of the social strata when this happens, i.e. less money, lower intelligence and the desire to make a show of strength via a Dog, so a person who isnt smart enough buys a dog they cant control and then puts it in a small house with no regard to safety, it isnt exactly requiring a Mensa membership to realise that its going to go wrong.

This is always going to happen whilst we own dogs, it can be mitigated by the right choice of animal, the right environment, training, care, segregation but any dog is capable of hurting a baby, its just the bigger ones are so much more devastating when they do.

We dont leave our little Yorkie Poo around my brother baby as he nips, not nastily but playfully and is usually pinching his biscuit, cant trust him not to bite properly as even though he is only little I have managed to get a finger caught between his teeth and a toy and it f*cking hurts, even a little dog has some serious power in its jaws and a gob full of sharp teeth.

I think its blokes that are the problem, seeing a small Dog as not being a proper dog and that it may affect their masculinity and virility to be seen with somethign that isnt big and scary when in actual fact all Dogs, treated right are engaging creature that are good to have around, you dont need a massive aggressive looking one, I wouldnt have anything I couldnt surpress if it went mental.

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Cats can be dangerous and jealous as well, when my brother was a baby, my mum had a cat who took a serious dislike to having an addition to the family, hissed and spat at the pram, she left the room and came back to find the cat curled up on his face.

Martin2005

Now obviously we don’t know what breed this dog was, so let’s not leap to any conclusion about this particular case.

On the broader point though, the thing I’ve never been able to understand is WHY anyone would want one of these animals in their house? Given the hundreds of breeds of dogs out there, what is it about PitBulls, Staffys, Rotts etc, that makes people want to get one? What is the decision making process that you go through when buying a dog that results in getting something with such potential?

EddScott

"I wouldn't leave my dog alone with my child"

This statement implies the dog isn't 100% trusted on its own with a child. Why take the risk?

Jaybird-UK

A perfect description of wide variety of breeds

rovermb6

Bollocks, it implies that he is a responsible dog owner and parent.

dpb

Whats the chance the owners bought the dog on merits of its image rather than anything else

No sympathy . except for the mutt perhaps

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Whilst a tragedy it's still a rare event (3yrs since last occurence?) so I wouldn't be terminating all dogs just yet.

BTW I wouldn't leave my child alone with any dog ...

TX.

rovermb6

The U.K kennel club states that Grey Hounds and Staffordshire Bull Terriers are the best dogs for being raised with young children.

Given the hundred of different car manufacturers out there, what is it about imprezas, evos, m3s etc that make people want to get one? What is the decision process that you go through when buying a car that results in getting something with such potential?

All depends on whose hands it in really doesnt it.

Just because a wave of irresponsible chavs have taken a liking to something doesnt mean all owners have to be tarred with the same brush.

EddScott

Why can't the dog be left alone with the child?

If theres no danger, why the fuss?


A car won't rip a childs face off when you turn your back on it.

BOB.T

It's only the same as not pointing a gun at someone, loaded or not. Not going under a car that's only on a jack. Turning electric off before doing any work on it... chances are nothing would go wrong but you never know.

I suggest some people on this thread go and read up on dogs. I got my Staffy cos I know they're friendly, playful and lovely dogs to be around. I really didn't get her to have her as some sort of symbol. Besides which, when she meets some one knew she just wees!

Mia, after eating several small children!

EddScott

They were clearly quite tasty

I see your point but you mention inanimate objects. A dog isn't. My view is going to be unforgiving because I've never had a dog. I've always had cats which makes cookstars comment hard to believe because I've never been in that position - although I don't doubt it happened obviously.

It just doesn't make sense to me when its hard enough keeping a child safe in the first place without adding a dog into the mix.

Alg

Cats curl up in prams because it's warm and toasty. Not deliberately to injure the child. They're more likely to slink away than confront anyone.

Jamescsti

Just to clarify my earlier post I have nothing against staffys or any other breed, I own a dog myself.
I do think however that this type of dog attracts the type of owners who cannot control them or probably more likely can't be bothered to spend the time training them and these type of incidents seem to occour.

I do blame the owners over the dog though.

Martin2005

Well there’s some interesting logic, or to be more accurate an interesting way of not answering the question.

The reason I bought an Impreza is because sometimes I like to drive fast, does the logic then follow that; you buy a dangerous dog because sometimes you want it to be dangerous?