It was one of our family dogs, and we all loved her dearly. I was playing on the couch and fell off, landing on her tail and hurting her. She instictually snapped and it resulted in, unfortunately, the worst possible outcome (it is shitty, but it is one of my first well formed memories). Despite it being a freak one off, my parents couldn’t feel safe given what happened and rehomed her to a family friend who didn’t have children. She lived a long happy life and my dad still got to see her regularly, as he was heartbroken that he had to make this choice. I personally don’t think my parents letting their kid play around the family dog, one that they had since before I was born, should have their faces readjusted.
I’m sorry I wrote that, I hadn’t considered it was a family dog accident. A lot of the time I see people walking aggressive looking dogs and I always fear they will get off the leash and hurt little children. And it’s never the dogs fault of course.
Well done to your parents for finding the dog a new home. Also I’m sorry that you still have to remember that.
All it proves is that no dog is 100% safe or guaranteed to not harm your child, regardless of what fanatics say. Having a dog around small children will ALWAYS pose some level of risk.
Supervision and training is definitely required. I often worry about status dogs like rottweilers and pitbulls, but they can be the most placid family dog with the right training. Surprisingly a lot of dog attacks are from Labradors, which might be due to their prevalence as a family dog.
No problem, sorry if that came off as snippy. it is something I actually still feel some latent guilt(?)/regret about since it was technically my fault that my parents had to lose one of their pets (I know it is illogical and I don’t actively blame myself, this happened 24 years ago and I was a literal toddler).
The memory sucks, not gonna lie, but I luckily don’t remember the pain aspect. it had the positive effect of making me a staunch proponent for the well being of animals, even those perceived as dangerous. If it could happen with our sweet dog that had never shown any signs of aggression, I think we owe it to these creatures that rely on us to show them compasion.
I agree completely that it is never the dog’s fault, and irresponsible dog ownership hurts the dog as much as those put at risk by the owner’s carelessness.
No, I didn’t think you were snippy and I really agree with all your points here. Nobody knows what they are doing as a toddler. And the poor doggy was just responding as a reflex. We definitely have to take care of animals :)
It was one of our family dogs, and we all loved her dearly. I was playing on the couch and fell off, landing on her tail and hurting her. She instictually snapped and it resulted in, unfortunately, the worst possible outcome (it is shitty, but it is one of my first well formed memories). Despite it being a freak one off, my parents couldn’t feel safe given what happened and rehomed her to a family friend who didn’t have children. She lived a long happy life and my dad still got to see her regularly, as he was heartbroken that he had to make this choice. I personally don’t think my parents letting their kid play around the family dog, one that they had since before I was born, should have their faces readjusted.
I’m sorry I wrote that, I hadn’t considered it was a family dog accident. A lot of the time I see people walking aggressive looking dogs and I always fear they will get off the leash and hurt little children. And it’s never the dogs fault of course.
Well done to your parents for finding the dog a new home. Also I’m sorry that you still have to remember that.
All it proves is that no dog is 100% safe or guaranteed to not harm your child, regardless of what fanatics say. Having a dog around small children will ALWAYS pose some level of risk.
Supervision and training is definitely required. I often worry about status dogs like rottweilers and pitbulls, but they can be the most placid family dog with the right training. Surprisingly a lot of dog attacks are from Labradors, which might be due to their prevalence as a family dog.
No problem, sorry if that came off as snippy. it is something I actually still feel some latent guilt(?)/regret about since it was technically my fault that my parents had to lose one of their pets (I know it is illogical and I don’t actively blame myself, this happened 24 years ago and I was a literal toddler).
The memory sucks, not gonna lie, but I luckily don’t remember the pain aspect. it had the positive effect of making me a staunch proponent for the well being of animals, even those perceived as dangerous. If it could happen with our sweet dog that had never shown any signs of aggression, I think we owe it to these creatures that rely on us to show them compasion.
I agree completely that it is never the dog’s fault, and irresponsible dog ownership hurts the dog as much as those put at risk by the owner’s carelessness.
No, I didn’t think you were snippy and I really agree with all your points here. Nobody knows what they are doing as a toddler. And the poor doggy was just responding as a reflex. We definitely have to take care of animals :)