Can Someone Give Me Some Advice..........on A Two Year Old Pure Lab...

[lilacben]

Is it possible a dog who has been bought up with four children and always been good with them...suddenly go for a child?..........my daughter has two labs and had to let the younger one go to another home at the weekend...the new people who had her has just phoned and told my daughter they want to bring her back becasue she has gone for their three year old grandchild.? The child ...it is said ..didnt do anything and the dog went up to the childs face as if to bite it ...they said they got the boy away just in time.?
Do you think this could happen just like this after four children for two years.? The dog has always been great with my other daughters 3 children also...it just doenst make sense.?
could I have your opinon please.? As my daughter has told them to bring her back and is going to have her put down tomorrow.?

[lilacben]

My daughter has just told me she has "told" the other people she is going to put the dog down to see if they own up to the truth,,,,providing these people have a heart.! if they do still bring her back then my daughter is going to take her to the rescue centre tomorrow... I really hope these people dont turn up tonight. Or just own up.? Thankyou all.. for your replies you have said ,and ,thought just like me but I wanted others opinon as well. Pup will not be put down I promise you. xx

[Peaspeculiars]

Phew, glad to hear that Lilacben!
And, it is good that your daughter is responsible enough to re-home the dog whether it be herself or via a rescue kennels. It can't have been an easy decision to re-home one of her animals, but given her circumstance and the amount of money that dogs can cost if injured it may be the right decision. As previously mentioned, labrador's do tend to find homes easily especially if only young so there shouldn't be an issue - If the rescue centre spots any behavioural problems they should be able to assess the dog fully and work on any problems (if any at all, of which I doubt). I hope the dog finds a loving home very soon.

[woofgang]

I hope they do bring her back. It doesn't sound like its going to be a good place for a dog.

[Peaspeculiars]

^^ wholeheartedly agree Woofgang

[Sycamore3House]

http://www.labrador-rescue.com

Try these people. They will have someone in your area and the dogs are usually housed in people's homes rather than kennels until they find a home i have been informed.

[lilacben]

Many thanks I have passed that onto my daughter,, they did bring her back and still stuck by the story...they think if they hadnt had moved fast then she would have bitten the boys face...But who know? thankyou all again

[Hypognosis]

@Lilacben

it's a bit after the fact, now but, logically, if the couple henuinely had a dog/grandchild incident, it was down to them to take the dog to the vets to be destroyed. At their own expense, of course. Suddenly they want to cop out of that and return it for a refund? Hmm.

To be fair, the most recent fatality and the last two or three attacks before that were all dog/grandchild interactions. Establishing the pecking order througn biting is normal pack behaviour, for dogs. I wish more people understood this and not mix kids and dogs until the child has developed some sense of dangerous situations.

I don't know if I'm odd but I can't remember much before age 4. I don't know if children of three can cope with complex instructions (on how to behave around a dog) but it appears that many people think they can and look what happens.

I hope the dog finds a happy home soon and you come back to update us about it.

All the best.

[lankeela]

Most reputable rescues would assess and child-test a dog before rehoming, but it sounds to me as though they just wanted rid. If the dog didn't actually bite the child, how could they know it intended to? I would certainly give it a second chance but let any adopters know what happened in case they have children visiting, especially as it has lived with children previously. I don't see how the dog would have been confused, as it would not know it was being rehomed, it would have just thought it was visiting. Who knows what the child did to the dog?

[janbee]

Definitely give the dog to a home for re-homing. Don't have it put down.

[woofgang]

Hypgnosis where do you get this stuff from? Puppies use their mouths in play as part of learning NOT to bite. Adult dogs who have had the opportunity to learn dog communication as pups (and even some of those who haven't) use body language and gesture to communicate and establish the boundaries between themselves and other dogs. In general a dog biting is doing it because its previous communication has been ignored, or it has been so brutalised that it sees it as the only option.

[Hypognosis]

@woofgang

//Hypgnosis where do you get this stuff from? //

Probably a misunderstanding of things to do with territoriality on this prog:-

http://www.cesarsway.com/channel/dog-whisperer-tv

//In general a dog biting is doing it because its previous communication has been ignored, or it has been so brutalised that it sees it as the only option.//

So, you're suggesting that, in previous bite cases, where it often seems to be the under 5s, the various dogs all attempted to communicate with a toddler, whi failed to respond in the correct way? (ignored, you said)

As for brutalised? By a toddler?

Note: I am not referring to the incident in the OP, I am focussing on dog attacks as highlighted by the newspapers.

I am attempting to put forward the proposition that dogs and toddlers don't mix but specifically in cases where the dog holds the territory (house/garden/street) before the child arrives on the scene. How many couples get a dog (as a pseudo baby) before they try for children.

If you get the dog after the child is born, it always knows it is in 4th or 5th place in the pecking order.

[lilacben]

Update today,, the dog was returned and they pleaded with my daughter not to have her put down....hmmmmmm.?? but assured her that the dog went for the little boy twice... So daughter has given them the money back,,, later on in the evening daughter had a text from the other people saying it was a shame and prehaps it would be an idea if the dog was taken to classes for her training.? So as I thought she must have been to hyper for the new owners and they couldnt cope.! She is now at home again ....and seems very spoooked for some reason. which gives me the impression she wasnt treated very well. once again thankyou to you all xxxxx

[Peter Pedant]

I agree Rabet - we dont kn ow the dog was gonna bite the child

also agree we cant wait until the dog sortof rips the child's face off

[B00]

Please tell me she's also rethinking the rehoming idea?

Surely this was a 'sign' that this dog should stay with her home, that she's known for 4 years, and not be shunted off again.

I find all this incredibly sad, no wonder the poor dog is "spooked" she's no idea what going on around her, her world keeps being turned upside down.

[Prudie]

I'm sorry but I feel absolutely gutted for this poor dog. I don't see why your daughter can't keep it if she's keeping the older dog. Poor thing getting booted out, it's presumably been with the family since it was a pup. I find it heartless - if circumstances stopped her keeping any dog then perhaps I could sympathise.

[B00]

Great minds Prudie, great minds....

[kvalidir]

A few years ago we had an Alaskan Malamute *** that they had previously tried to re-home twice, she had been returned both times for aggression towards other dogs. We had her and found a very frightened bewildered girl who had been rehomed the first time alone and had 'attacked' a dog which came into their garden. The second time she was rehomed with 2x yearling collies who I suspect just zoomied her into aggression as she would already have been frought being 5 years old and torn away from her home. She was stressed and scared stiff and introduced slowly to our other dogs under supervision once she had become sure of her place with us. We had no issues, not because we did anything super amazing but because we used common sense and everything was done gently gently and the dog's security issues were dealt with. People can't just expect a confused and bewildered dog to toddle along with their new plans because their life has changed.

[chaptazbru2]

But sadly kval an awful lot of folk do and this is why there are so many unhappy, sad and confused dogs in the world, and then when they attack out of fear, they are destroyed. Makes me so mad.

[lilacben]

For all of you once again thankyou...The dog is going to be staying where she is now... the children love her very much and we have offered to try and help with her training...I lost the second of my beautiful dogs in august and although I really do not feel ready to have another one I will see how she is with me..

[B00]

oh that's brilliant news!

the post upset me, couldn't stop thinking about how bewildered this poor dog would be.