West Yorkshire Coroner David Hinchliff told the court: "This is the time of the year people will acquire pets. I think the advice is that, though it's laudable to get rescue animals, it may be the younger the better so the child and the dog grow up together."

Child killed by family's pet dog

What's an American Bulldog then?  I would love to know.

An American Bulldog is not a recognised breed over here but is becoming quite popular.  There are two different types one is more stockier than the other.  They are not normally aggressive dogs to people (well, not to my knowledge from the few I've met) and are popular in America as family dogs.  (Chance in Homeward Bound was the leggier variety American Bulldog)

I think the fact that the dog was reputed to have had a nervous temperament and only been in the family for about a year shows that this dog in particular has been mistreated by previous owners which probably added to her reaction to the child.  When dogs are asleep we as adults know that even the most docile of dog can become alarmed when someone or something suddenly approaches them / steps over them and they can 'lash out' - although this is a horrible incident and I really feel for the family involved I think it may well have been a mixture of bad past / phantom pregnancy and being suddenly alarmed that made this dog act in this way.

My thoughts are with the family - sleep soundly little babe you are now a bright star in the sky for all to see :(

A guy at my training class has an American Bulldog he took on from rescue - it was previously kept in a shed in the back yard of someone's house, had never been indoors and never been walked, trained, nothing. He weighs eight and a half stone and is still growing, and when he first came to class he was muzzled, and really anti-social, in about three weeks he is walking brilliantly on a lead, no longer wears a muzzle and is a big softy. He is a huge dog though, terrifyingly huge, with a very strong mastifft-ype head. Lovely, gentle dog, but could be terrifying, and certainly not to be taken on lightly.

:(

"Mr Hinchliff said parents should also get as much information as possible about rescue dogs' backgrounds before buying them."

Its the same with any dog!  But I want to point out that it can be quite difficult to get information on a cross-breed or a mongrel as many rescue centres are unsure as to what is actually in the mix in the first place (some can be quite obvious but with others they can but guess!).  As a parent myself I know that with children it is of extreme importance to get either a dog which is used to children (of the same or a very similar age) or get a younger dog which will more readily become accustomed to the normal noises and actions of youngsters.  But whatever steps and preventative methods are taken will never always ensure that something, somewhere won't go wrong (this incident being the extreme) and no matter what no dog (as with any animal) can ever be 100% trusted and we always have to respect that.  My heart goes out to the parents, family and friends affected by this tragice event :(

Tragic. But so true. I don't even let Willis and Phoebe near baby Archie, because its too much responsibility to put on them with him being so small. Better safe than sorry IMO.

Very wise Carla :)  There are so many things you have to keep a baby safe from it seems so logical to include the dog/s.  Things can happy in such a twinkly of a second and I would imagine the crawling time would be just about the most perilous.

:) Even though my two have been raised with kids, baby crawling time is just too much for dogs to cope with. Its not just the worry of an attack, but the size and clumsiness of the dogs you have to be careful of. My kids were raised with dogs, and I have a piccie of Mollie asleep in the dog bed with my old Dalmatian, and Willis and Phoebe adore them - but I never let them mix at the crawling stage - its just too weird for the dogs IMO.

Its not just babies though - in my experience a toddler is fast and vocal and a pre-school aged child can be very boistorous and constantly tests the boundaries.  So its safe to say that whatever age the child, until they understand how they need to react around any animal (inc. calmly and respectfully) they need to be watched like hawks when with them

Ditto Carla . I personally would never ever have a crawling baby near a dog no matter how much I thought I could trust it.

>Its the same with any dog!  But I want to point out that it can be quite difficult to get information on a cross-breed or a mongrel as many rescue centres are unsure as to what is actually in the mix in the first place (some can be quite obvious but with others they can but guess!). 

I think this is exactly that point that Mr Hinchliff was trying to get across, peewee. Which is why he gave the cautionary warning about parents of young children needing to realise that the difficulty of getting this information is something to take into account before opting for a rescue dog.

And while there's no guarantee how any dog will turn out but you can be a deal more certain about the background of a pup bought from a reputable breeder. 

This was a truly tragic case but I thought that most rescue organisations didn't rehome dogs in families with very young children and from the press reports it seems that the little lad who died had a brother who was only 5 at the time of this dreadful event.

Thats the point I was trying to make Roz :)  I know that the rescue centres around us (and we've trawled all of them for the last 5 months!) are quite strict with regards ages of children they'd rehome a dog with - and rightfully so!  When a dog has been brought in by its owners and they've been told info regarding its background, how its been socialised and what/who with they tend to have detail of ages of children that the dog(s) have been around.  When putting it up for rehoming they utilise this detail and if the dog was around a 4yr old would rehome it with a family with a 4yr old (providing its shown them no 'signs' that would suggest otherwise).  If it had only ever been around/in contact with older children/teenagers then they would recommend this.  The problem they have is that so many dogs are brought in as strays and to some extent they have to 'guess' judging by its character and personality in the situations they 'assess' the dog in.  I fully understand that rescue centres can only assess what information they've been given and/or what they see of the dog when in their care and do the best they can to match each dog with prospective owner(s).  This is a such a tragic case but, as it says in the topic heading "A Timely Warning" :(  I just hope that people aren't put off by rescue animals as the vast majority make wonderful pets :)

I know two well known rescues that will not home the American Bulldog with children under 10.  It's horrible.   I love American Bulldogs but they are a specialist kind of dog, certainly not one for the novice owner.

children under 10?  That's interesting.  Why would that be? I wonder why they choose 10 as a cut off point?

I belive its mainly because they are a 'hog catch' dog thats mainly used for working in the states, because of their potential power they have that cut off point for the safety of younger children.  Not that it would make a huge lot of difference anyway if an AB or a breed of equal size did decide to attack a child of 10.

Normally they are great family dogs, its hard to say what went wrong without having any history on the dog involved, but it has been reported that they family also owned a Dogue De Bordeaux that fought off the other dog during the attack.  American Bulldogs and Mastiff type breeds do not generally get along when living together, this was just an accident waiting to happen - Two huge dogs from working backgrounds, living with children one without any known history :(

It just seems strange to use age as a reference point and it suggests that it is just plucked from the air.  You would think if rehoming a powerful dog such as these needs particular expertise they shouldn't be rehomed with children at all as children cannot be deemed to have expertise in anything.  Surely if a prospective owner was being persistent then rescues should use weight and size of a child rather than just age as a guide for suitability

When my daughter was 10 yrs you could have knocked her over with a feather

Most rescue's these days have an age policy, all the ones I know do not rehome to children under five, thats any dog.

It does sound like an arbitrary age limit, chez. To the best of my knowledge the only other responsibility that kicks in at 10 is that for criminal action which doesn't apply here! I also think that it all sounds like a dreadful accident waiting to happen and I wonder why anyone would want two potentially confrontational and huge breeds in the same house as such very small children. Indeed, I'm wondering why anyone would choose this combination regardless, especially when one is a rescue dog. You also have to ask questions of the organisation that chose to home the dog where they did unless they'd been seriously mislead about the home circumstances.

I were discussing the American Bulldog with a good friend of mine that owns two.  Funnily enough she were on about rescue American Bulldogs (As there do seem to be quite a few popping up in rescue these days).   One American Bulldog bitch was taken into kennels where she works, it took FOUR YEARS to rehome the dog with the right people.  She got into saying if anything was to happen to her, she would instruct the people closest to her to have her own dogs put to sleep, as she simply would not trust them to be anywhere else.   Not that they are aggressive dogs, infact they are quite lovely.  She was more worried about novice people taking an intrest and this very same thing happening.   I agree rescue American Bulldogs especially those with no history or background should not be homed to people with children & families with other dogs as they generally do not take to smaller dogs or other Mastiff type breeds.