Rescue snapped at grandson, advice needed. Behaviour

As yous know i have a rescued irish staff,Bruno.I was in the kitchen with Bruno and my other two dogs.Also my 18 month old grandson was with me.He pulled Bruno's face with both hands.Bruno snapped at him but did not bite him.Kane is always rolling with the big two.Anyway my o.h said Kane wasn't to go back near Bruno.But on Thursday night i was upstairs.Kane's nanna,mum an dad were in the kitchen.The 3 dogs were in the kitchen as well.Kane was in the living room the door was open.No one saw Bruno go into the living room.Bruno was lay on my chair.Next thing Bruno snapped at Kane again.No one knows if Kane hurt Bruno,but Kane had been on his own with Bruno.Bruno has never shown any aggression to any child before.Or to any other dog unless the dog growls at him.I am gutted i am on another site and have been adviced to have Bruno put to sleep.I am heart broke cos i don't want to send the dog back to the home.Plz can someone gve me advice

I wouldn't recommend having Bruno PTS, certainly the first incident was provoked and no-one knows what happened the second time, there is no way a child as young as your grandson should have been left alone, surely someone would always be with a child that young?
I think you need to be extra vigiliant in future to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Becky

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x183/jane-bone/PICT0032.jpg
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http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x183/jane-bone/IMAG0132.jpg
pics of bruno with new pup and of kane.

If i hadn't gone upstairs it wouldn't of happened.I have loads of pics with bruno and Kane.The dog has never done this before.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but please do not leave your grandson alone with this dog - even for a moment - it's a tragedy waiting to happen.
Only very recently a grandmother left her grandchild with her son's staffie and it killed her.
Please, please, please don't allow it to happen to you.

I never heard about that,do you have any details?

You say he is a rescue,do you have any history of this dog?

Jannie - You do know don't you that the sort of noises that young todlers regulary make are interpreted by all dogs as similar to prey. This is not a reason to have a dog PTS but it is a reason to ensure absolutely 100% that no todlers are ever left alone with a dog, not just your dog but any dog.

Humans tend to assume that all other creatures react the same as they do which is quite blatantly both patronising and wrong.

As Maholi has said no one knows what happened the second time but it's reasonable to assume the todler did something or made a noise which your dog interpreted the way all dogs would.

If there's a situation where your grandson could be alone with a any dog, prevent it by one of the many ways possible.

I could go into details but I'm sure you don't need it spelled out.

Treat what happened as a warning, there's absolutely no reason to have a dog PTS because it snaps at someone once or twice.

Don't worry my dog will not be left with no children.And yes a grandmother left her grand daughter whom died.This already went through my head.But Bruno is no where near like that dog.It has been a big debate,in the family believe me.But any dog would retaliate this way if hurt.If i hadn't gone upstairs.But someone should of been watching Kane.An yes my dog shouldn't of been left.No one knows how i feel inside.Only them who have made the same mistake.You don't sound harshly.You have said what i feel and i like people to be honest.Thank you.

Hi Sal we are talking about the incident at new year in Liverpool where the young child died.It was all over the media.Bet you remember now.But my dog is no where like that.If he was i would do the buisness myself.I showed you a pic of Bruno.I will send some pics of bruno an Kane.No the dog was a stray rooming the streets of St.Helens.

these are recent pics.Hope yous get them.

In that case it wasn't a Stafford but a PITBULL.
When A Stafford was mentioned it threw me and of course they are totally different breeds!
Having no history you don't know how he's been treated by children before.
I can only echo what's already been posted.I love my dogs,they are very much part of our family,but I would never leave them alone with my kids,not even for a second.

Love the Pics!

I think you have answered your own question :smt001

Many a dog provoked will react with a warning, if he had meant to bite your grandson i am sure he would have...

As the others are saying please dont leave your grandson alone with the dogs anymore he is very young and couldnt possibly grasp the understanding of a dogs body language..

My daughter was messing about once on top of the sofa and fell onto one of our danes the dog growled out unfortunately she caught the side of my daughters mouth and she had only a slight tooth mark (but enough to make it bleed a little) but it could have been much worse even if it was accidental...

Hi Jannie,

I doubt anyone here would suggest such a thing as having Bruno destroyed for reacting in a perfectly understandable way

Unfortunately a lot of people allow very young cildren to do as you described, pulling on a dogs face with both hands. Its very painful for a do to be mauled like that [ no other way to put it :? ], and all but the most incredibly stoic of dogs will react in some way. Its also a very real invasion of a dogs personal space by what they see as a small and frankly `strange` small child.

Dogs do view children differently to adults, they make noises as already mentioned on the thread which can cause a reaction for that alone, and, [ not wishing to have this taken the wrong way ], pre-puberty they have a completely different scent to adults - for a dogs pov, children may as well be a different species.

Children at such a young age simply can`t communicate well enough with a dog for the dog to know the face grabbing is not being done out of malice, a child that young has no idea how much they are hurting a dog by doing it, and also from the dogs pov if being `mauled` and the dogs owner does not prevent it the dog has no option but to deal with the situation on its own instincts - either to get up and escape the small person, or to growl - which such a young child won`t understanding the signals of that as a `leave me alone` warning, and then to snap.

Its why no dog should ever be put in that position, not just once, but to then be alone with the same child which the dog felt so uncomfortable with the previous time - its devastation waiting to happen and through absolutely no fault of the dog nor the child.

You have obviously taken on board that it was circumstance that was at fault, not Bruno, and I`m sure you will be determined to never allow him to be put in that situation again :smt058

It took guts to post about this when in your heart you already probably knew that no dog of any breed, size, or age, should ever ever ever be left alone with a child.

Hopefully this thread, so long as it remains educational as it has been so far, will help more people to realise that no matter how good their dog has always been around children, any child at any time can inadvertantly hurt or frighten a dog if the adults around don`t take steps to ensure such accidents and repercussions can`t happen.

Thank you for your reply.It has been educational,and the replies have helped me.I hope it has helped other friends on this forum.It did take alot of bottle to tell yous but i knew i could rely on yous to help me out.Thanks to everyone who has replied.It is one lesson i won't forget in a hurry.My grandson was lucky and it will never happen again.

Maybe Bruno needs a space to call his own a crate or sommit where he can go to get away from baby, and the baby is at a good age to learn that the space is Brunos and to leave him when he is in there .

there is NO way Bruno should be PTS,

But you must make sure Kane is supervised at all times & try to teach him some doggy manners. As the child gets older you dont want him going up to strange dogs right in their faces.

just echoing what the others have said.
I truly believe that had bruno wanted to react he really would have bitten your grandson.

Kids can be mean without realising it and dogs are not babysitters so i would ensure that you dont leave the two alone in future but also try to do some bonding things with the dog and the baby - ie : perhaps see if bruno is comfortable sitting and letting Kane pet him, do this every time and 18 months is old enough for kane to understand that he needs to be "gentle " with the dog - I am already teaching my 11 month old, gentle and cuddles for my bruno as he loves to be near him but tends to be rough.

Staffies can take on a lot of roughness as they are hardy dogs but not from an unsupervised child.

good luck
dani

Definitely try to let him have somewhere he can retreat to and not be annoyed once he has had enough, I have always done this with my dogs, it helps avoid any escalation and kids being kids can be boisterous, noisy and hurt a dog even though it may be unintentional, both of my two dogs can walk away, leave the room and go and lie somewhere quiet and peaceful if they want.

When we first got Carrie she was three years old, she snapped at my then 11 month old son, Carrie sitting at my feet and my son leaned over from his dad's knee and pulled her jowl, it happened very quickly, we were there and she was simply reacting to something that hurt and in no way meant anything other than a warning. But that is how easily it can happen and we were there to defuse it! After that she was never at ease round our son as a toddler and we managed the situation, she didn't like him being a few feet away from her and would get up and distance herself from him. Which is possibly a reason why your second incident occurred? He associated the toddler with the incident before. She is fine with our son now, he is five years old and understands how to be with dogs now. Even older dogs who have been with kids all their lives can be less tolerant and patient as they once were.

Just be aware and be there so that you know when Bruno is starting to feel overwhelmed or uncomfortable, being able to help your dog out of the situation is a lot better than what could happen otherwise.

Do not put him to sleep, may be a dog gate would help to keep dog and child seperated when you can't be around to supervise. Or a crate? Just always be vigilent I know what youngsters can be like they are torments , I know I watch mine luckily for me Zak just walks away when he has had enough

I'm sorry, I have just realised from another post that you have had Bruno pts?

I didn't notice your other post sooner so apologise for replying to this post since you have made your decision, difficult for you though it must have been.