What would you do?

You should absolutely NOT have the dog put to sleep. The dog simply needs training and needs to be on a leash around people. There are plenty of dogs that are GREAT DOGS that have temporary loss of control, but this is easily correctable with the right trainer.

 

No, don't have the dog put to sleep. The girl and her parents don't want you to do it, so there shouldn't be much to worry about from that side. You know the dog was stressed, so just try to keep it out of stressful situations with people around.

I'm assuming that he didn't badly hurt the girl ... I'd guess it was just a warning snap.

 

After hearing many stories like this, I've come to this conclusion; Spare the dog, put the owner down.

I don't care what kind of dog a person has, or how 'friendly' it may be, it can and will bite given the right circumstance. If its big enough to inflict serious damage and/or you can't or refuse to make sure the dog won't hurt someone at all times, leave it home.

 

I was once bitten by my step mothers dog. I'd known it for years but for whatever reason it just bit me one day. After that, nothing like that ever happened again. I don't think a dog should automatically be put to sleep for what seems to be an isolated incident.

Some dogs do become violent in old age and can become threats to children even if they were docile before. Those breeds you have careful with and putting a dog to sleep is more of an option in those situations. But as long as a dog or a breed doesn't have a history of such problems, such actions shouldn't be thought of as a first solution.

 

Agreed. There are some dogs that are so screwed up they can't get over the training hump, but based on what you wrote, this does not sound like that kind of dog.

 

I wouldn't kill the dog

but honestly it does piss me off when people think their dogs aren't capable of hurting others so they let them go without a leash or otherwise unrestrained, and then something like this happens.

also on my list of things that piss me off are dogs in the grocery store (filthy), restaurants (mostly illegal) and in hotels (increasingly permitted).

 

Do not put the dog to sleep. It was not acceptable what the dog did, but it was understandable given the way that motion could appear to a dog especially one that was under stress. Work on training the dog.

I think the fact that the girl's family doesn't want the dog put down, might just make them feel horrible and guilty if it is put to sleep. Why add to their grief.

When I was a kid I played with a neighbor's dog, and it bit through my lower lip and it required stitches. The dog later did the same thing again. Neither time did I imagine that the dog should be put down, and I would've felt terrible if it had.

 

You shouldn't put the dog down for one bite that is out of his normal character.

 

I definitely wouldn't put the dog down.

 

There are plenty of topics on which t_j doesn't know his head from a hole in the ground, but on this one, I agree with him. My mom had a dog who bit a friend of mine, but it was more about her territory being invaded along with sudden movements by what she saw as the "intruder."

It might be enough to more closely control the situations the dog is in, but if you have the means, a trainer couldn't hurt.

 

This is an odd statement to me. It appears that you obviously are concerned about other kids possibly being bitten, but not your own?

 

Did you really think this one was touchy enough to need the D&D?

Just effing with you, hoping for levity in a difficult situation.

 

I think you've found the solution.

Your wife will come around. She is overreacting and time will bring perspective unless she just doesn't like the dog. If so, you may have a long-term problem. From now on, watch him like a hawk around your kids.

 

Are you a member of PETA?

Rocket River

 

You'll hate Tel Aviv, bigtexxx. In my neighborhood alone the only place I *can't* bring my dog is the grocery store and one bar (of about 12 in my neighborhood). And probably half aren't on a leash.

But I NEVER take him outside without a leash and I never leave him unattended. Most people don't offer the same courtesy, and I've been bitten three times in cafes because dogs have started fights with my dog and I intervened to break them up.

My own dog is a corgi mix and has this habit of trying to nip the ankles of people with odd locomotion (small children, my friend with cerebral palsy, the flamboyantly gay, drunks, and so on). It's not anything I can train out of him, and my vet has said that it's just the nature of the breed and that I just have to be mindful.

And he's small and cute and very friendly and a total chick-magnet, so everyone wants to pet him and stick their face in his and I just tell them, "Don't do that, he bites." The worst are the yoga moms with small children that will argue the point with me when I know very well he can get nervous and nip them, and I have to be forceful with them to prevent me from going to court if he does.

This once happened while I was sitting at a bar with the dog on a leash under my feet, and a mom, beer in hand, with a 2 year old argued with me about letting her kid "play" with the dog, and despite me being very clear that the dog was not child friendly, let her kid crawl around on my feet and the dog. And pull his ears.

And of course he tried to bite her, but didn't because I yanked the leash just in time.

I have to always assume the dog can and will bite someone and I have to always keep my eye on him.

My dog is also seriously freaked out by mopping or sweeping. I'm guessing the original owners probably beat him with a broom or something. About a month ago, a painter was painting my apartment.

I purposely left the dog outside and told him not to go out around the dog under any circumstances if I wasn't around. I went to the bathroom a few minutes later, and in those 2 minutes, he decided to let the dog in, played with him...and then swept the floor. Of course the dog freaked out and bit his ankle and I apologized profusely.

He wanted to see the dog's vaccination record, which I showed him, but he didn't make a fuss about it. But I'm guessing if I had cussed him out for not listening to me he probably would not have been so cool.

I was taught that all dogs can bite, all guns should be treated as loaded and to look both ways when crossing a street, even if it's one-way. And I'm always shocked at a world full of people who don't do this and it requires extra care when dealing with them. At the end of the day, I'm responsible for what my dog does and I am always vigilant of drunks and yuppie moms that want to stick their face in my dog's and won't take no for answer.

I can't trust my dog to be unattended around people he doesn't know, period. But that's not a reason to put him to sleep.

As for cml750 and the unfortunate girl, it sounds like a freak accident, and I would not euthanize the dog. There are some dogs with very careless owners that develop anti-social habits and can't be managed, but that doesn't sound like your dog.