Dear me.... poor little lad :(

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2003849/Boy-3-left-horrific-facial-injuries-Labrador-savages-Poole-Harbour.html

Poor little mite :(

People will not learn, this is a snippet from the mother:
'I didn't see what happened but Logan wasn't running or shouting and didn't do anything to provoke it.'
To ANY dog, being satared at intently by a child can be 'provoking' especially when the child is appraoching directly to the dogs face and ignores the very subtle signs from it, that it is uncomforatble (NOT the childs fault atall).

What a DOG deems as 'provocation' and what a human deems as 'provocation' are very different things.  Peope with kids - dogs are ANIMALS they do NOT think like people do, please, please, please think carefully before allowing your child to approach a strange dog.

That is not to say the dog was in the 'right' but I get sick and tired of the way parents put thier children at risk by not repsecting the fact a dog is a DOG, they do not all 'know' that a child approaching in a 'threatening' manner (that looks innocent to a person) is NOT a threat, that said, the owner of the dog should have had it on-lead around children for exactly the same reason and be vigilant.

Another silly comment in the article:

The attack was especially shocking as Labradors are not known for being dangerous
Dogs are dogs are dogs. The government obviously doesn't agree or they wouldn't be going to the trouble to replace the current DDA with 'deed not breed' regulations.
The media demonises some breeds which gives a FALSE sense of security to many people about the non-demonised breeds.

So very sad, a completely AVOIDABLE incident.
A girl that went to school with my boys suffered a similar injury from a collie, she too never 'provoked' the dog - she merely ran up to it and hugged it. She (or her mother) never learnt anything and will still run up to dogs and fling her arms around thier neck :(

These incidents can be prevented but people never learn anything form them, they blame the dog and fail to see the situation that caused the attack was the reason, so people do not think to avoid recreating the situation, they think dogs are either 'freindly' or 'aggressive'.

Sorry for the rant, but it makes me cross because these things can be prevented, there was no need for that poor little boy to suffer the pain, fear and trauma of that incident, the parent and the dog owner should have been using thier heads :(

Keep your dogs under close controll around children & keep your children under close controll around dogs - how hard is that??

Schools should be teaching kids to be animal savvy then even if the parents are ignorant it would give them a head start.

> Schools should be teaching kids to be animal savvy then even if the parents are ignorant it would give them a head start.

It is a good idea. Following the incident at my boys school, they did start to run some 'dog-savvy' classes, to help teach children how to behave around dogs, a bit about dog body language and how one should never approach a teathered dog etc..
Sadly, depsite being a good idea, it doesn't help the pre-schoolers who seem to be the most at-risk :(

Nothing to add but I just wanted to say that's an excellent post mastifflover

That's so sad!

Personally I would never have my dogs off lead near children playing. When our pup (now almost 10 months') was a bit younger I was having terrible trouble with her jumping up at people so it didn't bear thinking about her jumping up at a child, although joggers seemed to be her biggest weakness! thankfully she seems to have grown out of it!

I find it very difficult to imagine a dog randomly attacking a child through no provocation at all. If the situation is exactly as the mother explained it, then I think there is something else we're not being told. If the mother had turned her back to the child, how can she say what that child was doing? Perhaps he picked up the dog's ball/stick  (let's face it, there could be 101 different things the child could have done.

So according to the news report, mother goes to stoke puppy, large dog savages child and nobody really knows what caused the attack. Everyone thinks dog should be destroyed..

Like Mastifflover, I have had problems in the past with people (adults and children) thinking they can come and bear hug my dogs. I won't allow them to invade my dog's personal space. I don't worry about upsetting them, although I'm never rude. I certainly wouldn't stay quiet to avoid an upset. Saying all this though, my baby (10 month old bitch), loves to go and "check out" children in buggy's. If walking by, a soft wet nose and  outstretched hand will often make contact. I just know she'd be great with children, she seems to absolutley LOVE them (funny dog:)).

I was bitten badly as a child. I loved animals and went to pet a farm dog which was tethered but could reach the gate. He let me stoke him for a while, then turned and mauled my hand. I have scars on both side, 4 puncture wounds on the palm and a large thick scar on the top of my hand. From memory about 15 stitches. It was absolutley awful at the time (I was 6) but I knew I shouldn't have touched the dog through the gate... The dog in question was eventually PTS after it bit another couple of people (5 in total!).

I know I wouldn't put my dog down if I wasn't sure what the cause was... just too many if's and buts. If on the other hand my dogs showed random and unprovoked aggression then I would have to seriously consider what to do.

I hope the little boy does recover quickly, such an awful and shocking thing to happen!

> Schools should be teaching kids to be animal savvy then even if the parents are ignorant it would give them a head start.

Sorry but schools don't have the time to teach everything a parent should be teaching their children. Schools are strapped for time as it is and there just aren't enough hours in the day to include yet more and more things that should be taught at home. Responsible parenting along with responsible dog ownership is what is needed.

In an ideal world schools would cover a million and one subjects but we don't live in an ideal world and parents do have to take responsibility for their children. Our school does have a visit from a PAT dog who comes in to our Year 1 classes once a year but there isn't enough time to cover every aspect of responsible pet ownership and very young children do need to have more input than twenty minutes once a year :-)

> but there isn't enough time to cover every aspect of responsible pet ownership

Of course there isn't, but it's not every aspect of pet-ownership that children need to learn. they need to learn, to NEVER approach a dog without asking the owner, NEVER rush towards a dog and to NEVER stare at a dog in the face (other things would be usefull too, but lets not guild the lilly ;) )

It IS parents that should be teaching thier children this, but for some reason, plenty of people seem to be under the impression that if a dog is un-muzzled in public, it's perfectly OK for thier child to rush up to it, staring at it's face, generally with a crazed expressionon thier face (excited, focused children often look possessed!) and are shocked when the dog reacts negatively.

Parents obviously aren't teaching thier children, schools have enough to teach as it is - what can be done?
I too am not worried about offending parents/children when a child wants to rush up to my dog, but even for the most on-the-ball dog owner, it is not always possible to keep a determined child away from your leashed dog.
Buster had one climb on his back recently, despite being told not to by me- what could I do???? All I had left to do was keep Busters focus my way by shovelling treats down his chops while I moved him away. If that was my last dog (lab cross) he would not have been tollerant, he WOULD have bitten with a very frightening vocal out burst to go with it.

There is only so much, even a responsible owner can do do keep other peoples children safe.

If really is about time PARENTS were made accountable for thier childrens actions.
My children were on reins right up untill they went to school. I spend my life trying to responsible as a parent and a dog owner and feel rather peeved off that so many others bumble through life without even bothering to kick thier brain in gear when it comes to the safety of thier children

I've got no idea what they teach in schools nowadays but 20 minutes a week on this subject would be useful, even in pre-school nursery. I know I would've enjoyed learning about being around dogs much more than my double metalwork lessons where I never produced anything useful.

The family according to the article were having or had a picnic in the park.  Is it not possible that the three year old may have had the remains of spilt food on his clothing, around his mouth, on his hands, may have still been eating or holding food or just the aroma of food from his mouth.  Knowing labs and how food is such a big attraction could the dog not have lurched forward for something he like the smell of and snatched which unfortunatly was too aggresive and caused these terrible injuries.  We only have the newspaper version it may not tell the whole truth.

Do hope the little boy recovers well and is not scared both mentally and physically. 

Parents have to be far more responsible and aware of where there children are and what they are doing at all times. Too often children come up to dogs as though they are cuddly toys even when on a lead and sometimes it is quite difficult to attract the childs attention and even more so the parent to tell them to take their child away from a dog they do not know.  The poor dogs seems to always get the blame often for a situation that it does not understand or does not realise that it has even over reacted.    

Know it is natural for us to jump to the defence of the dog and I know the report was in the Daily Mail but one has to take it as written. The Mother and child were having a picnic in the park and a loose dog, breed is immaterial, bit the child it would seem it is only one bite but it should not have happened. Both the Mother and the dog owner owe it to the child not to let this happen.

You can't blame a toddler no matter what it did to the dog, the adults were responsible, in particular the owner of the dog.

Yes, would be good if children were taught how to deal with dogs, and cookers, and rivers, and, well just about everything but until they learn we the adults have a responsibility of care.

dogs should be kept on leads around small children but when kids do something stupid like start poking dogs then you really can not blame the dog if it has a little nip at the child, like i soor the other day

Can't help wondering if some children today treat animals like toys.  Dogs are portrayed in films and nintendo games as cute and cuddly, having voices and never peeing on carpets!  Then buy a puppy or met a strange dog in the street and wonder why they aren't like this!

to add to this sadly there are too some dogs that really should be muzzled in public regardless of breed.  People think labs/lab crosses all guarenteed great temperament but I've met a scary aggressive one and I'm sure he isn't only one!  some dogs have bad background and are dicey round kids/strange people. may well be that the poor child did nothing wrong ....

The only dog that has attacked my dogs (all bitches) with real intent was a male black lab, totally untypical, but so many are as they are not responsibly bred, but a favourite of puppy farmers who don't select for anything other than reproduction.

there was a case round here a while back, 3 year old boy had opened somebodys gate,ran up to a TETHERED dog at the back,and got bitten-big sob story in the local paper-The mother"called for"Everyone to make certain their gates had a catch"that no three year old could open"-I ask you!  - almost as an aside,a one line sentence at the end"the dog was put down".it was years ago and it still makes me cross,I hadto write in,i put,among other things,Im sorry for the child,but even more sorry for the dog,who spent his life chained,and is now dead" as you can imagine,there was an irate reply from the boys mum,saying how can anyone put a dog before a child"but that wasnt my point!she should have been watching the child.in that case i dont blame the owners for the incident,although i dont agree with chaining a dog up,and i certainly couldnt blame the dog.still makes me mad today.