My springer spaniel bit my daughter.

[Dave S]

I am a parent and have at times reminded both my kids and my pets who the boss is in the house.

Again, my apologies for putting it the way I did, but you have to establish the grounds. Not only with the dog, but your daughter as well.

Hopefully she learned from this and will refrain from tormenting the dog.

Best wishes.

[2 DA GILLS]

This is a tough situation to read about. I know what my gut tells me, but my gut feeling is not based on what may or may not have happen in your situation. If it were me, the dog would have to go.

My 2 cents and thoughts on the subject in general. In my opinion, it is very important to remember that any and all dogs should be monitored around small children. I trust my dog as much as I can trust any dog around my kids. That trust means that my 6 year old can be around the dog unattended, but not the 4 year old and for sure not the 20 month old. This of course has to do more with how the kids act compared to the dog. Beyond kids, anyone that states my dog would never hurt anyone or they are harmless probably needs to reassess how they view their dog. For the safety of all involved. How does it go? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Good luck with your decision.

[caseymcq]

It's good to hear that your daughter's injury isn't as bad as it could have been. I hope this doesn't sour the little tike on dogs.

She is almost three and is always pulling on his ears and trying to ride him...

[jigging-matt]

Tough choice, I don't envy your position. I am not trying to criticize your parenting, but if your daughter is constantly trying to pull on his ears and ride him and he is growling at her, why was there no seperation until someone was bit? When my daughter was born my dog was 10. You could have beat on him to no end and he would never even wimper, but I still always watched my daughter around the dog and taught her to be gentle around him. She is now almost 7 and our dog is 2, I still keep an eye on them from time to time due to how hyper he is, but I trust both of them together. My daughter has worked enough with the dog that she obeys my daughter better than my wife. Wish you all the luck with your decision. Like I said I am not trying to be critical, you have enough to think about. Good luck.

[NWBuck]

Tough deal, no doubt. For me, the dog would be gone. Before I had it put down, I would make an effort to find a home for it, being completely open with a potential new owner about the situation. It sounds like to me the dog could be a good fit for a family where there are not young kids around.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Another thing to think about: Were you witness to the bite? If you didn't catch him in the act, then he doesn't know he was wrong.

He bit + the ear pulling stopped + no punishment = reinforced behavior

[elkhuntingfan]

You need to weigh your desire to keep the dog against the chance your dog will do serious damage to your daughter's face if it bites her again. If it bit her once, it may bite her again. Easy choice - get rid of the dog.

[fisheater]

This can be adressed quickly and humanely. Talk to your vet and get referred to an "animal behaviorist". There's a lot of confusing issues when you live in a pack. (and you, your kid and your dog all do. Especially, when you all don't speak the same language. This is not necessarily cheap but it humanely fullfills your responsibility to the dog. If an evaluation or continuing aggressive behavior shows a problem then decide QUICKLY to get rid of the dog. Try local springer clubs to find correct home or as a last resort, put him down and remember him for his best and not his worst.

[art321]

Hard decision for sure but an easy one in my book.

From personal experience. We had a wonderful sweet dog for 10 years. After 2 of those years we had kids. The dog just didn't like kids. We trained the dog and eventually trained the kids. Primarily just kept them apart. We figured as the dog and kids got older the dogs temperment would ease and the kids would be more responsible and he might see them as adults. We had them walk the dog, do obedience training and nice petting sessions. Well one time while trying out her new Heeleys my daughter accidentally fell on him. He went after her with a vengeance. Had my wife not been there to stop him he probably would have torn her apart. He even bit my wife, probably out of fear. We tried to find him a new home but here is what they said. "He's too old. He's already a liability. If he went to a home with just adults they have neighbor kids, grandkids, nephews, nieces, etc." Our dog bought the farm. No way am I going to take a chance with my children's safety at risk. What about neighbor's kids? You had better up your insurance big time. As stated, your dog has bitten once. I can just about guarentee it will do it again. Can you live with what might happen. We tried to make it work and got lucky but at that point it was over. Not even an issue. It's a child. It's just a dog. You choose. We still have other dogs and their great with the kids. It was just the one that we had trouble with.

[Harmonica Bear]

To those that say its not the dog's fault and its the kids fault for pulling on it ears. I say B$. A dog should never bite a human. Period. Not in my pack. I'd remove the dog without question.

[tedl]

To those that say its not the dog's fault and its the kids fault for pulling on it ears. I say B$. A dog should never bite a human. Period. Not in my pack. I'd remove the dog without question.

I totally agree! Love my dog but it would be gone.

[mrklean]

Is your daughter afraid of the dog now? If yes then give it away, there are plenty of people out there that would take it, i would only euphanize a dog if it was very sick or became crazy aggressive, i see that as the very last option. Give it a second chance its part of the family

[bak2MN]

My first thought was take it out back and shoot it, but then after you calm down and think about it, you may or may not had warning signals. But you cannot watch both the dog and kids every second of every day. This does not say you area bad parents like mentioned above. You have a very hard decision to make and am sure you will make the right choice for your specific situation. Remember this a older dog will get cranky and not put up with things the way they did in the past. And once a dog bites or nips at a person it may very well do it again, and hopefully not worse than the first one> glad to hear your daughter is doing well. And good luck with your decision. I would find a new home, My opinion. Good luck.

[fivebucks]

I agree with Harmonica Bear 100%. It IS the dog's fault. A dog should never bite a person no matter what that person does to it. I would remove the dog from being indoors right away and then try to find a new home. I think that will be very hard to do with an old dog that has bitten someone.

[setterguy]

I hate to say it but I totally agree with Harmonica Bear too. I have two dogs, one 13 one 8 and a 1 year old daughter that thinks they are stuffed animals. She crawls on them, pulls ears, pokes eyes ect. If the dogs have enough they get up and move, simple as that. I don't tolerate any growling let alone biting. Its not my dog, not my family and not my decision and I certainly don't envy your position. Two stitches in the cheek would be enough for me to say that this dog doesn't understand what is acceptable and what isn't. You have to ask yourself if you could live with the consequences if the dog decides to take it a step further next time. I know I couldn't.

[anyfishwilldo]

My kids have picked, prodded, pulled, tried to ride and all the other things that little kids do to my britt and never once a growl. She knows better. If she gets annoyed she will just walk away from them. Once they bite, its all over in my book as much as that may stink. There is no dog more important than my kids!!

[Farmboy1]

I would first take the dog to the vet to make sure there is not an underying issue. A sore tooth or somthing that hurts him and then the kid hits it could certainly make him angry enough to snap at a child, but that is not an excuse.

All I will say is I do not envy your situation in the least and wish you and your family the best in this very difficult situation.

[charliepete2]

All of you who have chimed that your kid can punch, prod, pull, and crawl on your dog without any repurcussions are making a large mistake. Maybe your dog does have a great temperment and wouldn't ever bite, but by allowing that behavior you are teaching you're kid to handle animals in a way that could be dangerous to them in the future. What they are able to do at home might get them mauled somewhere else. Not everybodies dog is trained and of an even temperment. Also, it only takes once for your dog to wake up and decide that it's had enough.

Don't get me wrong. My dogs are so trusting and obedient it's hard to think about them ever biting a family member. I've pulled porcupine quills and even stitched them up without anesthetic when a vet wasn't available. Still, I don't let my boy mistreat them just because they would let him. I tell him 'gentle' and show him how to act around them.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

All I can say to this post is WOW! Unreal!

Do whatever you have to do... But please do not ever get another dog.

[art321]

Why not ever get another dog? As I said, we had to put one down but we went out and got another one. We've had all good dogs and we have trained them well, for the most part, but if you get one that bites it needs to go. You can still get another good dog. Work with the kids more on how to treat the pets and all should be fine.

[muskyhunter57]

As a kid we had situation in which our dog was overly protective of us(3boys) she(German Shepherd) was never harmful to us. As a matter of fact she was was very loving. But if you came within 2' of any of us the dog would come unglued. 110lbs of raging fury was too much for my dad or the neighbors to handle. My dad found a farm for her to live out her days.

[pikehunter]

Easy decision: Get rid of the daughter.

1 - She would be much easier to find a new home for. After all, it wasn't her that did the biting.

2 - College is cheaper for dogs than it is daughters.

3 - I doubt some punk-looking teenager is ever gonna show up at your door to take your dog out on a date. If he does, you could just pull him aside and tell him how much the dog loves to have her ears played with.

Sorry ... it's a serious discussion, I know. But sometimes a little levity goes a long way.

[fivebucks]

I don't have kids but my friends kids can come over and pester my dog to no end. I don't like it and I will educate them how to behave around dogs but the bottom line is the dog bite a child. I would never trust that dog around a child again. Maybe there won't ever be a next time but if there is it could be worse with a different child or a complete stranger and who knows how they would react if they found out the dog had a history (lawsuit?). I would not want to be in the owners position but the course of action is very clear to me.

[DuckDog]

Putting the dog down is not the solution. Find a home for it - in the meantime keep them separated - or try to make a teaching moment out of it for your dog and your daughter

[2thepointsetters]

The kid should have tought to not pull on the dog. Parents probably thought it was cute when the kid was little and nows it trouble. To many people get animals and then dump them when everything isn't perfect. I hate when people come over to my house with little kids that get to do what ever they want, jabbing my dogs in the eyes while the parents laugh. They are affraid to tell the kid no because they will cry.