Quite a challenge for a young babies immature immune system.

 

 

A good idea...kinda.

I inherited a well trained German Shepherd from a buddy who was dog trainer.  He has been assigned to go to Germany and he couldn't Flame with him.  So he gave him to me.

Flame became the guardian of my four children.  But he became especially attached to my oldest daughter.  She was about 7 at the time.

One evening she had been misbehaving in the living room and I rolled up the newspaper to swat her on the butt with.  Flame came up and gently took my wrist in his mouth as to say, "No, no...you can't do that to Sarah."  From then on if I had to discipline Sarah for anything I had to take Flame out in the back yard first.

He slept at the foot of Sarah's bed and would only allow me to go up to her bed and awaken her.

Kids are a part of a dog's family.  They love them and protect them.  While flame was partial to Sarah he was good with the rest of them too.

Noel

 

"Isn't it risky to have a toddler around so many big dogs?"

"Naw, the dogs can take care of themselves."

You do realize that they aren't dangerous if you raise them right. And neither are the dogs.
 

5 hours ago, birdguy said:

I inherited a well trained German Shepherd

Good story, Noel. Thanks.

Hook

PS. From the comments:

"I’ll bet this child grows to be one of the most balanced, confident, happy people possible. And with one of the most resilient, toughest microbiome/immunity ever."

 

Edited January 30Jan 30 by LHookins

15 hours ago, birdguy said:

Kids are a part of a dog's family.  They love them and protect them. 

 

Yep, often, but not always. One of my next door neighbors in the UK had a dog. Twice it savaged their daughters face. 

There's still an element of risk. 

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

Twice...

Anyone else horrified that it was allowed to happen again?

Hook

Looks like they are managing it at least! haha, maybe a bit too many dogs for my taste - more like a farm at that point.

As a dog owner myself (Rottweiler and Staffordshire Bullterrier), the key is to set boundaries and understand that it might not be a good idea to e.g. let a child be alone with a dog that could potentially inflict serious injury. Even though dogs are generally quite good at understanding situations, and extremely unlikely to attack, things could easily go wrong if a dog misinterprets something. This is far more likely with children that just don't have the brain to keep these type of considerations in mind (e.g. pulling the dogs tail thinking it is all just big fun, until it is not). Luckily in Sweden there is strict liability related to dogs so most people are pretty good at avoiding incidents but they do happen from time to time. 

2 hours ago, LHookins said:

Anyone else horrified that it was allowed to happen again?

Hook

 

 

Yeah, she wasn't young at the time, I'm thinking 18 or so. No idea what the circumstances were, but I'm thinking maybe it was the fact she was cuddling it face to face or something. 

 

Quote

Dog attacks on children are a significant, rising health issue in the UK, with thousands of children injured annually, predominantly by family pets. Hospital admissions in England for dog bites have risen, with over 1,700 annual admissions for under-18s, while 70% of child injuries involve head trauma. Children under 10 are the most vulnerable. 

 

• Quote

   

  • Commonality & Age: Children under 10 are most at risk of hospital admission for dog bites.
  • Severity: Dog attacks are the leading cause of severe facial lacerations in children, with around 28,000 facial bites reported annually, of which over 19,000 require specialized treatment.
  • Attack Profile: The majority of these attacks involve dogs known to the family.

   

 

 

I think you certainly have to be VERY confident in your dogs temperament with kids in close proximity. And personally, I would never risk it with a very young baby. I've never been a dog owner so I'm not talking from experience, but I would think you would have to educate your child how to behave with a dog, too, educate them in terms of the dogs body language. So they know when the dog wants them to back off.

 

https://petbc.org.uk/dogs-and-children-can-be-complicated/

 

 

Edited January 30Jan 30 by martin-w

I remember back when my son, Michael, was probably about 6 or 7 months old and I had my very large 2 year old Yellow Lab, Mac.  I would put Michael on a blanket in the middle of the living room floor.  Mac would guard the perimeter of the blanket but never actually go onto the blanket.  When I let the two of them interact with each other it was a hoot!  Mac would lick Michael senseless.  I have a great picture somewhere with Michael's arm down Mac's throat up to his elbow.  I guess Mac wanted to get every bit of that baby food off.  I felt completely at ease with the two of them together.  Mac would have protected him with his life.

On the flip side, we've had a couple of dogs I would never dream of letting them anywhere near a child.  Our pit-beagle Buddy in particular.  We were afraid to let him near adults.  Buddy bit me a total of 10 times, but my wife and I were determined to let him live out his life with us.  We were Buddy's fourth owners because of his aggressive behavior.  He eventually mellowed with us and became quite a good two person dog.

10 times... Yikes! Hope you weren't badly hurt.

40 minutes ago, martin-w said:

10 times... Yikes! Hope you weren't badly hurt.

My ankles paid the price, but thanks for your concern Martin.  Buddy was lucky he was so darn cute and could be a real love at times.  In the first ten days we had him he bit me twice and five other people.  We decided he was too much of a liability to keep and took him back to the shelter.  My wife and I cried all that night then went back to the shelter and got him the next day.  In the end, we were happy we gave him a good life, but never again.

Edited February 2Feb 2 by tdflightsim

"Went back to shelter next day"

Laudable.

Sounds like the boy had a rough time before you gave him a home, hence the aggression 

From the original video:

Roman doesn't look like a German Shepard. He looks more like our Winston and Remington, the Anatolian/Great Pyrenees mixes. I'd trust them completely around children. The largest dog I ever saw was a German Shepard. From the back of his head to the tip of his nose was the same distance from my elbow to the tips of my fingers. Owner said he was about 190 pounds. Very gentle and they talked about having him around toddlers.

Other dogs I don't trust so much. Sentry, the foxhound, gets really nervous around kids. 

Taz, a Boston Terrier mix that we had some years ago, loved babies. Any babies. I saw mother cats let him step over them to check out new born kittens, totally calm about it. Once we had a cat go into labor and Taz got really excited, knowing what was coming. He did just fine with our son. Taz once went next door to check out a colt, annoying the owner. I just told him she loved babies.

Layla, the Black Mouth Cur, wouldn't intentionally hurt a child but is so hyperactive I wouldn't trust her completely. I've got bruises from her.

When my son was a toddler, I saw him one day with a cat foot in his fist, running his finger through the end to see what the sharp things in there were. Cat was totally calm about it. That cat used to dig through his toy box looking for things to play with.

I watched another video earlier today with babies and toddlers around several kinds of animals. While I trust dogs and cats, I can't say the same for chickens and other birds (I've seen them peck at eyes), horses, goats, a monkey and others. Some of these animals I wouldn't trust around adults. The comments on the video weren't very favorable.

When I was a baby/toddler, my mother had a Cocker Spaniel that would babysit me. She said if I crawled too far the dog would drag me back by the diaper amid my loud protests. I remember once trying to ride the dog and getting growled at. 🙂 

Babies and dogs are fine as long as the dog seems to understand that they're dealing with babies. Most do.

I once watched a dog maul a toddler. That's not a story I like to tell.  She remembered it as an adult, and I was able to tell her that it wasn't her fault, she did nothing to make the dog attack. The scars on her face blended in with the various laugh lines, so they weren't noticeable as she got older.

Hook

 

To funny Hook.  We have similar dog names.  Layla was our late Shepsky(Shepard-Husky mix) and Winston is our Pointer.  I guess it's true, great minds think alike😏

Ooo!  I forgot. Got another Taz story.

When he was a puppy, he had only two speeds: ON and OFF. One day he was racing through the house at full speed, suddenly stopped in the middle of the floor, turned around once, dropped down and was instantly asleep. That influenced his name, Taz, short for Tasmanian Devil, from the cartoons.

But gentle as could be with babies.

Hook

12 hours ago, LHookins said:

From the original video:

Roman doesn't look like a German Shepard. He looks more like our Winston and Remington, the Anatolian/Great Pyrenees mixes. I'd trust them completely around children.

 

As I said, ive never had a dog, but I wouldn't trust any dog "completely" around children. You never know if your trustworthy canine is capable of an unexpected, out of character, outburst due to some random neurological event.