Yep. People don't understand dogs and do unsafe things around them because they see you correcting YOUR dog.
Make a mistake with one of the Livestock Guardian Breeds and the same error with the Pit Bulldog and I have money on the Sheep/Cattle breeds to show aggression first. They are HERDERS & GUARDIANS (thus "nippers" and BITERS) by centuries of selective breeding.
It's the nature of the beasts.
To allow a CHILD unsupervised access to ANY DOG is just asking for trouble because they are *NOT* Alpha to the dog as you would/should be. They cannot be expected to be able to correct the dog for some of the things that come naturally to dogs. And they probably cannot get away with trying to dominate the dog. Usually, a dog will merely try to get away from the child. This will encourage the child to continue it's behavior. Once tired the dog will usualy lie down. Here comes the child and the "check" aint far behind... That's a "bite" to you if you're the parent and definitely is a bite from the perspective of the child.
A dumb thing to expect to end anyway but badly.
Quick anecdotal story about dumb ass dog owner behavior. An ex-co-worker had a wife and two kids that weren't well disciplined from my perspective. He got an English Bulldog from his sister or friend, I don't recall. It was around a year old an very rambunctious playing by himself. He was very gentle with me, pretty gentle with his new owner and the wife didn't interact with it much.
Well, the older kid agitated the **** out of the dog. I could see it. They could not. I mentioned it twice over a 4 hour period and it went ignored. He would snatch things from the dog and constantly tease the dog when the parents weren't being attentive. As we were pouring a wine I heard the dog growl and walked into the other room and the kid was standing straight as a rail, eyes wide open. I told them and they called the kid, told him to sit down. Did nothing with the dog.
Three days later they had to give the pup back to the original owner. Why? Because they could not trust their ill-mannered, horribly disciplined kid around the dog.
So I reiterate: only a damned foolhardy person would allow a kid unrestrained and unsupervised access to a dog.
Make a mistake with one of the Livestock Guardian Breeds and the same error with the Pit Bulldog and I have money on the Sheep/Cattle breeds to show aggression first. They are HERDERS & GUARDIANS (thus "nippers" and BITERS) by centuries of selective breeding.
It's the nature of the beasts.
To allow a CHILD unsupervised access to ANY DOG is just asking for trouble because they are *NOT* Alpha to the dog as you would/should be. They cannot be expected to be able to correct the dog for some of the things that come naturally to dogs. And they probably cannot get away with trying to dominate the dog. Usually, a dog will merely try to get away from the child. This will encourage the child to continue it's behavior. Once tired the dog will usualy lie down. Here comes the child and the "check" aint far behind... That's a "bite" to you if you're the parent and definitely is a bite from the perspective of the child.
A dumb thing to expect to end anyway but badly.
Quick anecdotal story about dumb ass dog owner behavior. An ex-co-worker had a wife and two kids that weren't well disciplined from my perspective. He got an English Bulldog from his sister or friend, I don't recall. It was around a year old an very rambunctious playing by himself. He was very gentle with me, pretty gentle with his new owner and the wife didn't interact with it much.
Well, the older kid agitated the **** out of the dog. I could see it. They could not. I mentioned it twice over a 4 hour period and it went ignored. He would snatch things from the dog and constantly tease the dog when the parents weren't being attentive. As we were pouring a wine I heard the dog growl and walked into the other room and the kid was standing straight as a rail, eyes wide open. I told them and they called the kid, told him to sit down. Did nothing with the dog.
Three days later they had to give the pup back to the original owner. Why? Because they could not trust their ill-mannered, horribly disciplined kid around the dog.
So I reiterate: only a damned foolhardy person would allow a kid unrestrained and unsupervised access to a dog.
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