~Rumour~ Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 " Toddler's cheek ripped off by family labrador Georgina Robinson January 4, 2011 - 9:37AM A young girl had part of her cheek bitten off by the family labrador in northern NSW last night. Police said the four-year-old was playing with the labrador while it was eating its dinner at their home in Martin Road, Nimbin, about 7.15pm. The dog is believed to have turned on the girl, biting her face and taking off a large section of her cheek. Advertisement: Story continues below She was taken to Lismore Base Hospital but was later transferred to Royal Brisbane Hospital for surgery. She was in a serious condition in hospital, police said. The fate of the dog has not been decided." http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/toddlers-cheek-r...0104-19e5m.html She was playing with it whilst it ate its dinner? When will they learn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra777 Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Poor toddler, poor dog dumb dumb dumb dumb parents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda K Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 as soon as I got to that bit in the story I just cringed, as I knew what would be next, I agree, just what were the parents thinking letting the child near the dog whilst eating, Poor child and poor dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 The stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Such an easily preventable incident and now there is a child scarred for life and a dog possibly doomed for being a dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyla Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Isn't the one thing you'd drum into a kid especially in a doggy family "Never go near a dog thats eating???" Surely not too hard of an ask to keep the kid away for the 5-10 seconds it would take a lab to devour a meal. To me, it's in the same category as "Don't take lollies from strangers." Poor kid, poor dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siks3 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Bet you if it was a pit bull they would have mentioned the word "MAULED" atleast 10 more times. The part about it eating it's food would have been left out as well. As for the dog being a dog and that's what dogs do.Rubbish NONE of my dogs that I have raised have had food guarding issues. Any member of my family could safely remove a bone or food from my dogs without any problems. Nothing is my dogs including his food I can take it away if I want to without any issues. It's the owners fault not the dogs. Poor training is what got that child bitten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) Bet you if it was a pit bull they would have mentioned the word "MAULED" atleast 10 more times.The part about it eating it's food would have been left out as well. As for the dog being a dog and that's what dogs do.Rubbish NONE of my dogs that I have raised have had food guarding issues. Any member of my family could safely remove a bone or food from my dogs without any problems. Nothing is my dogs including his food I can take it away if I want to without any issues. It's the owners fault not the dogs. Poor training is what got that child bitten. No, lack of supervision and ignoring a very basic rule about dogs, kids and food got that child bitten. Whilst that IS the owner's responsiblity, lack of training is not the issue. Clearly you've never owned a resource guarder siks. Count your blessings that you haven't but don't kid yourself for a moment that its down to your superior training. Edited January 4, 2011 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy21 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Bet you if it was a pit bull they would have mentioned the word "MAULED" atleast 10 more times What that got to do with anything? You are bringing pit bulls into a discussion that has nothing to do with them. What an horrific thing to happen to this child and her family. A good reminder to all of us with children to keep enforcing those rules. I cannot imagine what would go through your mind if you saw that happen to your child. Not to mention the physical and mental scars this child will bear for the rest of her life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyla Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I don't think the issue is trusting your dog. I have 4 labs, all of whom I consider to be 100% trustworthy. That does not mean that I allow my kids to interact with the dogs at feed time. Sure they give them treats, but they don't do "feeds". The dogs know I'm the boss, I make a point of handling their heads when they are feeding, and they know I am not a threat to their food. That doesn't mean I'd allow anyone else to do that, especially a child. Nomatter how much you trust your dog, precautions are still essential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siks3 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Bet you if it was a pit bull they would have mentioned the word "MAULED" atleast 10 more times.The part about it eating it's food would have been left out as well. As for the dog being a dog and that's what dogs do.Rubbish NONE of my dogs that I have raised have had food guarding issues. Any member of my family could safely remove a bone or food from my dogs without any problems. Nothing is my dogs including his food I can take it away if I want to without any issues. It's the owners fault not the dogs. Poor training is what got that child bitten. No, lack of supervision and ignoring a very basic rule about dogs, kids and food got that child bitten. Clearly you've never owned a resource guarder siks. Count your blessings that you haven't but don't kid yourself for a moment that its down to your superior training. It's got nothing to do with what you call superior training. It's basic puppy manners and maintaining pack rank. If you can't control the potentially bad behaviors of your dog you are asking for trouble and you are an irresponsible dog owner. Imagine if you have a dog that does guard food and I am a parent and kids do slip away some time. Then the kid goes and plays with the dogs bowl and the child does get bitten. It is your fault for not addressing the issue. I agree a dog should not be disturbed while eating or sleeping but the animal should not bite a human if and when it does happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubiton Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 They do not say what 'playing' involved but dogs should be left alone to eat not harrassed by a young kid. Parents are at fault but the poor dog will pay for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarracully Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Bet you if it was a pit bull they would have mentioned the word "MAULED" atleast 10 more times.The part about it eating it's food would have been left out as well. As for the dog being a dog and that's what dogs do.Rubbish NONE of my dogs that I have raised have had food guarding issues. Any member of my family could safely remove a bone or food from my dogs without any problems. Nothing is my dogs including his food I can take it away if I want to without any issues. It's the owners fault not the dogs. Poor training is what got that child bitten. I also train my dogs so that I can take their food away at any time and they know I will do it. I often do it just to reinforce to them that I can take it if I want too. However I still will not let my 5 yo great nephew near any of my dogs when they are eating, and he knows not to go near them. He won't even go near my 10 week old pups when they are eating for the same reason. He loves to come with me when I get their food ready and helps get things organised but as soon as the food is put down he is outta there. I work on the theory that even though an adult (In the case of my dogs-any adult can take it) may be able to take the dogs food away with out a reaction a child is a different thing as far as a dog is concerned. So while I may trust my dogs not to go me if I touch or remove their food I won't trust ANY dog if a child was to do the same thing. Another thing to consider is, did the child try and take the food (ie by hand by moving the bowl) or did the child put its face to close to the food and this caused the dog to react. We may never know but in my opinion this could make a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asal Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) Bet you if it was a pit bull they would have mentioned the word "MAULED" atleast 10 more times.The part about it eating it's food would have been left out as well. As for the dog being a dog and that's what dogs do.Rubbish NONE of my dogs that I have raised have had food guarding issues. Any member of my family could safely remove a bone or food from my dogs without any problems. Nothing is my dogs including his food I can take it away if I want to without any issues. It's the owners fault not the dogs. Poor training is what got that child bitten. some dogs are born with that attitude, we had a border collie pup that went skitso if you didnt stay minimum of 3 feet from his food while eating. we tried to get him used to eating without guarding it.. hopeless he got worse instead of better. left alone he was fine. consider how fast he ate anyway 60 seconds and it was gone anyway Edited January 4, 2011 by asal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Bet you if it was a pit bull they would have mentioned the word "MAULED" atleast 10 more times.The part about it eating it's food would have been left out as well. As for the dog being a dog and that's what dogs do.Rubbish NONE of my dogs that I have raised have had food guarding issues. Any member of my family could safely remove a bone or food from my dogs without any problems. Nothing is my dogs including his food I can take it away if I want to without any issues. It's the owners fault not the dogs. Poor training is what got that child bitten. No, lack of supervision and ignoring a very basic rule about dogs, kids and food got that child bitten. Clearly you've never owned a resource guarder siks. Count your blessings that you haven't but don't kid yourself for a moment that its down to your superior training. It's got nothing to do with what you call superior training. It's basic puppy manners and maintaining pack rank. If you can't control the potentially bad behaviors of your dog you are asking for trouble and you are an irresponsible dog owner. Imagine if you have a dog that does guard food and I am a parent and kids do slip away some time. Then the kid goes and plays with the dogs bowl and the child does get bitten. It is your fault for not addressing the issue. I agree a dog should not be disturbed while eating or sleeping but the animal should not bite a human if and when it does happen. It is a lot more than what you say it is too. A dogs propensity to guard a resource that aggressively can also be partly genetic. It can have nothing to do with how responsible the owner is. Good owners can have bad dogs. And no matter how well dog and kids have behaved in the past, there is always potential for a first time for this exact thing to happen if a dog is having an off day and the child unwittingly behaves in an extra challenging way. Rank is fluid depending on the value of the resource and how easily it can be obtained. I am an advocate for physically separating dogs from small children when eating. Not relying on past behaviour or thinking that 'maintaining rank' is always going to work with every dog. It is irresponsible for the owners to have allowed this to happen, exactly same as it would be irresponsible if one of your kids 'slipped away' to play with your dog while it ate - whether your kid actually got bitten or not. Some responsibility may rest with the breeder? Who knows what the dog's parents were like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrinaJ Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 children+ a dogs eating its dinner.... NOT a good combination. Poor wee child. Stupid Stupid parents!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarracully Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 A dogs propensity to guard a resource that aggressively can also be partly genetic. It can have nothing to do with how responsible the owner is. Good owners can have bad dogs. Would have to agree with this to a point. Out of ten dogs we have here all our dogs eat together and pretty well all of them are good about it. But we do have one that came from another breeder and although he doesn't get very aggressive with other dogs he is very protective of his food. He was bought up with our dogs since 8 weeks old but when he eats he literally lays across his bowl and growls while eating. He is the only one that does it and has not been treated any differently than the others. So in his case it may not be genetic (It may be how he was raised before coming to us) but I am reasnoably sure its not from his time here. Must also add he only growls at the other dogs around him. Any adult can still take his food away from him and he will let them. Just protective in regards to other dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I don't have kids but feed my two in their crates so that they can't disturb each other. Soooo easy and they now love their crates. I can take food from them but I wouldn't trust them with a child. If I had kids the dogs would definitely be fed in crates - so easy and makes it so much safer. The stupidity of some parents is mind boggling. siks - I have an MS with fear aggression issues. She was abused and is weak nerved (other dogs who were in the puppy farm with her don't suffer from her fear issues). Despite what I tell myself sometimes, I AM a good owner - better than most out there. It isn't as simple as good owners = good dogs, bad owners = bad dogs. As Greytmate points out, genetics plays a big part in how a dog will react to a certain situation. Good ownership is about recognising that and carefully managing the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I can't believe people still ignore the big rule of don't let young kids near the dog while they are eating! It was a recipe for disaster and now everybody paid for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siks3 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Bet you if it was a pit bull they would have mentioned the word "MAULED" atleast 10 more times What that got to do with anything? You are bringing pit bulls into a discussion that has nothing to do with them. It was a sarcastic joke against the media Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy21 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hardly a funny topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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