If you read this and think "would be fine with my dog", I say the same, but remember the kid can mess with the dog and the dog will defend itself. Do you know for sure what the dog will do if the kid pokes it in the eye? The dangerous part is more what the kid will do.
Infant scratches you. Sometimes in the eyes. Most animals seem to understand they are infants and not fighting, like puppets biting, but some dogs just have their head messed up.
Nobody is blaming the victim, perhaps read again. I am in fact reinforcing your point. A baby can't be blamed for poking an animal, they are a baby. But it can (and often is) the reason for the attacks. Blame is different from cause and effect. I don't blame gravity for dropping my stuff, but it is responsible.
It's the same as saying humans can't be trusted. Of course you can trust some humans, and of course you can trust some dogs. Just first make sure... my dog took so much "torture" from my kids, and yet they were inseparable. Would I trust some random dog on the street? Of course not...
I got bit by a dog a few years ago and it was a real wake up call. It wasn't that I wasn't aware that a dog will bite under the right circumstances - I knew that.
I had believed that I understood when a dog was unhappy. The dog that bit me gave zero indication that I could see. I walked past it and it attacked. I have no doubt that someone very perceptive might have seen it coming but my policy now is to treat all dogs as if they're unhappy until I get super clear sense that that's not the case.
Dogs have instincts, and that's the problem. Apparently you can trigger one of those by approaching a dog from behind and put your hand on the dog's shoulder. At least that's the explanation I've seen for when a kind dog out of the blue attack a child reflexively. Obviously this is not something I'm willing to try out myself.
A dog killed an infant as it slept in bed with its parents. The baby's father awoke during the attack, saw the injuries to the child, and immediately killed the dog.
The family dog killed two-month-old Julius who was in her infant bouncer while her father was sleeping. Julius was taken to the hospital where she was declared dead
An eight-month-old girl in a bouncy chair was attacked by the family pet while in the care of her grandmother. Fire and rescue declared her dead at the scene.
That doesn’t mean that the overwhelming majority of well-trained dogs belonging to non-aggressive breeds are not almost entirely trustworthy under most circumstances.
Of course unnecessarily risking the life of your child is still a horrible idea (especially considering that a dog might still hurt it entirely unintentionally).
If you read this and think "would be fine with my dog", I say the same, but remember the kid can mess with the dog and the dog will defend itself. Do you know for sure what the dog will do if the kid pokes it in the eye? The dangerous part is more what the kid will do.
From what I understood the dog can go beserk like elephants do, no need to blame it on the victim. I mean, what can an infant do except make noise?
Infant scratches you. Sometimes in the eyes. Most animals seem to understand they are infants and not fighting, like puppets biting, but some dogs just have their head messed up.
4 replies →
Some dogs might, others are not necessarily much more likely to behave that way than some humans.
Nobody is blaming the victim, perhaps read again. I am in fact reinforcing your point. A baby can't be blamed for poking an animal, they are a baby. But it can (and often is) the reason for the attacks. Blame is different from cause and effect. I don't blame gravity for dropping my stuff, but it is responsible.
It's the same as saying humans can't be trusted. Of course you can trust some humans, and of course you can trust some dogs. Just first make sure... my dog took so much "torture" from my kids, and yet they were inseparable. Would I trust some random dog on the street? Of course not...
I got bit by a dog a few years ago and it was a real wake up call. It wasn't that I wasn't aware that a dog will bite under the right circumstances - I knew that.
I had believed that I understood when a dog was unhappy. The dog that bit me gave zero indication that I could see. I walked past it and it attacked. I have no doubt that someone very perceptive might have seen it coming but my policy now is to treat all dogs as if they're unhappy until I get super clear sense that that's not the case.
To be fair, the same thing can be said about humans. Sometimes one will attack a person for no apparent reason and with no warning.
Dogs have instincts, and that's the problem. Apparently you can trigger one of those by approaching a dog from behind and put your hand on the dog's shoulder. At least that's the explanation I've seen for when a kind dog out of the blue attack a child reflexively. Obviously this is not something I'm willing to try out myself.
From my other comment, quotes from Wikipedia :
A dog killed an infant as it slept in bed with its parents. The baby's father awoke during the attack, saw the injuries to the child, and immediately killed the dog.
The family dog killed two-month-old Julius who was in her infant bouncer while her father was sleeping. Julius was taken to the hospital where she was declared dead
An eight-month-old girl in a bouncy chair was attacked by the family pet while in the care of her grandmother. Fire and rescue declared her dead at the scene.
That doesn’t mean that the overwhelming majority of well-trained dogs belonging to non-aggressive breeds are not almost entirely trustworthy under most circumstances.
Of course unnecessarily risking the life of your child is still a horrible idea (especially considering that a dog might still hurt it entirely unintentionally).