# Cockapoo attack news story



## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Just read this on the mail online (sorry datun - I'm trying to give it up...honest!)
Not the usual characteristics of the dogs we all love & own, 
But just goes to show any dog can have the potential to attack, wether out of fright, protection, fear or dominance.
Feel sad for the young girl though.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-bitten-face-door-neighbour-s-COCKAPOO.html


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

tinman,,The thing is you don't know what she might of done to the dog.like my first wife got bit by a dog and just because she hit it with a hammer, so you will never know what this little girl did to the poo. i dought very much if that dog just bit her for no reason at all. it could be ,,but i don't believe it..


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Indeed I don't! It could very well of been a provoked attack by the young girl startling or hurting the dog.....?
What I want to know is why on earth would wife No.1 hit a dog with a hammer??


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## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

I think there are a number of issues that make this story very unusual

First of all it appears from the story that the child wandered into the neighbours house without anyone knowing, this is likely to have taken the dog by surprise as well and interpreted as an intruder. Secondly it says the dog had its lead on in the hallway. Presumably this means it felt restrained. The child then approached the dog. Many dogs would alert their owner to this but if it didn't know the child was there until the last minute (which seems possible as the woman upstairs didn't know the child was in the house either) it may have been a defence action through instinct.

Also, on the 'shock' of it being a cockapoo - just because a dog is cute and fluffy doesn't mean its constantly docile or toy-like without feelings of fear or territory or anything that any other dog feels! I do think that whilst cockapoos are often well socialised because they attract the attention and get used to people from when they are young, the flip side to that is sometimes children (and adults) don't leave them alone when they need space and think they can always be touched or picked up and cuddled. In any case though this was an unsupervised, unexpected situation and a 6 year old child would be too young to interpret behaviour/ warning signs of the dog feeling stressed. It is sad that she is scarred on her face, but it's such an unusual situation for anyone to be in - had it been a burglar rather than a child I don't doubt this story would have a different tone. I'm not sure anyone can draw any conclusions from it other than make sure to supervise dogs and children and keep your doors locked so that no one wanders into your house!


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

Haaaaaaaa Haaaaaa she was 7 years old .and the dog was laying asleep under a parked car.and she said she wanted to wake it up so it would not get run over Haaaaaaaaaaaa Haaaaaaa


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

your so right .the child had no business in the house in the first place .i in now way blame the dog ...make your kid know she is not to walk into some ones home uninvited ok


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

sugerlump said:


> Haaaaaaaa Haaaaaa she was 7 years old .and the dog was laying asleep under a parked car.and she said she wanted to wake it up so it would not get run over Haaaaaaaaaaaa Haaaaaaa


Is this wife number one with the hammer & the dog??
How random... No wonder she was bit!
I assume the dog was 7 years old?
Or was the wife 7 years old when she hit the dog with the hammer incident??
Ha did she make the newspapers too?


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Imagine sleeping under a car only to woken up by a hammer weilding 7 year old? 

As to the original story there is something very odd about the whole thing. Why was a full grown dog on lead in the house? Why was a seven year old wandering into the neighbour's uninvited? Most curious to me why is the girl not under the care of Britains best plastic surgeon? Her bandages and stitches look like something I could have cobbled together.

Lastly, obviously the dogs owners did not know about the importance of teaching bite inhibition.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

I don't understand what kid just wanders into someone else's house. It's not like the dog chased her outside the house? Do you Brits have different rules about privacy than we do?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

The whole thing sounds very odd and no we don't generally have different ideas of privacy so no idea why she was wandering into another house.

A dog on a lead, no adults around and small child confident with dogs and anything could have happened and caused the bite. Having an interest in dog behaviour I have read quite a lot about various "dog attacks" and generally the story initially in the press and the closer to the truth story which eventually emerges are very very different.

The bottom line is bites have nothing to do with breed and any dog is capable of biting in the wrong circumstances to children and dogs should always be supervised especially if not totally familiar to each other.


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

a generation or two ago it was pretty common in some area's for people to pop in and out of others houses, guess there was more community then, but having said that even then I can imagine the mum would have popped her head in and said 'little so and so wants to play here for a while, is that ok?', we will probably never know and it is very sad for the little girl. (and sad for the dog if it ends up being put down without proper assessment).


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

When I was young - about 8 I think I can remember going to hug a friend's labrador that was lying down relaxing it growled and air snapped at me - it could easily have been my face. I was upset - I loved dogs and knew the dog well. It was explained to me at the time and it still makes sense to me now that I had startled the dog and then put my arms around its neck and was going to put my head over its shoulder... to the dog this was a very dominant thing for me to do and it responded instinctively with a 'get off'. Dogs are not people and hugs do not mean the same thing to them.
This little girl was unlucky I think and I hope that the cockapoo is assessed properly, if it had meant to bite and had been attacking the girl I suspect she would have had multiple bite wounds.
Sad all round.I do think that all children would benefit from having lessons about how to behave around dogs. Inzi used to come into preschool with me and she has also been to two local primary schools where I would demonstrate how to approach a dog you do not know, how dogs like to be stroked and how it was absolutely necessary to always ask the owner before you touch a dog. Inzi also got to show off and she loved being the centre of attention. I think local dog clubs should offer the services of suitable dogs to be child educators - or PAT dogs should go into schools and regularly interact with children while children are given clear guidance about how to be safe around dogs.


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## whatsuppup (Mar 9, 2015)

Wow - as far as I'm concerned that child was trespassing and clearly in the wrong. I too, dont believe the dog attacked without being provoked in some way.

However, I do now wonder about kids and pups. One of my neighbours children loves animals and comes over as often as she can to see DaVinci. She is constantly holding him in various positions and doesn't like to put him down at all. Should I be worried with him as a pup? He tolerates it, and I assume he is okay with her because he doesn't even try to puppy nip except on slight occasion. Now I can't help but wonder if those occasional nips are puppy nips or I'm annoyed nips? How can I try to tell? 

Is letting kids handle the puppy incessantly a good idea (pup will be accustomed to it) or a bad idea?

I want to make sure I do things right to avoid anything like this from happening! Should I be worried?


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Rufus loved to tumble and cuddle with the special needs kids I worked with. The rule was they had to be sitting and he was allowed to escape when he'd had enough. I always sat right with them to ensure the rules were followed and that neither party got hurt. I would not let a puppy get any negative associations re: children, too dangerous in my view.


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## whatsuppup (Mar 9, 2015)

Thank you Fairlie - I am going to instill that same rule - if he wants to get down he must be allowed and can't be picked up right afterwards. How long (if at all) is an acceptable amount of time to allow before being picked up again? This particular child likes to walk all around (in our home) with him in her arms, though she will sit for short periods with him in her lap.


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

She sounds like a real puppy lover. Can you let Davinci decide? The rule could be if she sits and he climbs on her lap then fine, if not find another game.


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## whatsuppup (Mar 9, 2015)

fairlie said:


> She sounds like a real puppy lover. Can you let Davinci decide? The rule could be if she sits and he climbs on her lap then fine, if not find another game.


Perfect - I will have her sit on the floor as opposed to the couch (totally overlooked that option)! That way he can actually reach her lap should he decide to go back. Now I'm quite interested to see if he will. I'm doubtful as with everything going on when my kids have their friends over he will be too excited to sit still. Sounds like I should put a stop to her actually "holding" him altogether, as well. Thank you so much for your advice, Fairlie. Very much appreciated!


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## whatsuppup (Mar 9, 2015)

Yes, she is most definitely a real puppy lover!


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## Biscuit (Feb 21, 2015)

No matter how beautiful, cute or fluffy the dog, and poos are amongst the most appealing, we should never forget that they are related to wolves. We love our little wolf to pieces but appreciate that she is an animal with her own needs, fears and instincts. Bite inhibition training is so important to minimise the risk of people or other animals getting hurt. I got a nasty cut on my lip within hours of getting Biscuit as she got over excited and jumped up at my face, raking her sharp little tooth down my lip - ouch!!


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

I quite like the 5 second rule for kids (and adults ) explained in a little more detail here but basically if you are stroking or cuddling your dog after 5 seconds give the dog the choice of continuing or going and doing something else http://woofsandiego.com/five-second-rule-for-petting-dogs/ 

I would probably stop her picking him up too - he will soon be too big for her to hold comfortably anyway I would imagine?

Well done Inzi and Marzi - I agree it would help hugely if children were taught how to interact with dogs the right way and I am sure would prevent many of the bites which are down to a lack of communication between the two.

Molly was brought up with two children and her first owner told me how she loved to be cuddled and carried round by them and would let them to anything with her. When I asked what she liked to play with I was told she did not play but she did like cuddles  she was 17 months old.

A few years on and she loves to play, loves children and likes to be held (but only when SHE wants to be held). She is actually much less tolerant of mauling from children than adults so I would say was regularly pushed too far by the kids and whilst I doubt she had bitten I am sure she threatened to, that all contributed to them finally deciding to rehome her.


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

fairlie said:


> Rufus loved to tumble and cuddle with the special needs kids I worked with. The rule was they had to be sitting and he was allowed to escape when he'd had enough. I always sat right with them to ensure the rules were followed and that neither party got hurt. I would not let a puppy get any negative associations re: children, too dangerous in my view.


Excellent rule. I like floor sitting when interacting with pups too - if a wriggly pup manages to escape from the arms of a child who is walking around and falls/jumps to the floor there is a risk that they might damage themselves.



2ndhandgal said:


> I quite like the 5 second rule for kids (and adults ) explained in a little more detail here but basically if you are stroking or cuddling your dog after 5 seconds give the dog the choice of continuing or going and doing something else http://woofsandiego.com/five-second-rule-for-petting-dogs/
> 
> I would probably stop her picking him up too - he will soon be too big for her to hold comfortably anyway I would imagine?
> 
> Well done Inzi and Marzi - I agree it would help hugely if children were taught how to interact with dogs the right way and I am sure would prevent many of the bites which are down to a lack of communication between the two.


The 5 second rule is brilliant - and the video is very good. 

Inzi is a dog who does not really enjoy being fussed over, apartt from late at night or very early in the morning  but in schools she was excellent because she would never initiate interaction, which Kiki and Dot would be desperate to do....
Inzi will put up with anything for a ball - so would allow children to brush her, stroke her etc as long as at the end of the session she got to play - the children would hide her ball for her or throw it for her if we were outside. Amazingly she would win over the most dog wary child because she would never be in their face and would give them a feeling of control as she would do what they asked (although actually she might look to me for a hand signal confirmation )
She is a star.


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

I would be very concerned if one of my dogs bit a child in the face for any reason. I would definitely consider having it put down.


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

WHAT... you can't put a dog down for that ..there are to many reasons that you can't just like there are so many reasons why your dog bit her. i'm so sorry but you can not take a life for that.. .i'm a dog lover and i tell you a dog would have to do a lot more then bit a kid that you don't even know what the kid did to your dog ..that is so unfair sorry for my rant


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

Lumpy rant away no problem but I still stand by what I say. No one could love my dogs more than I do. I don't have any grandchildren yet but I would never keep a dog that had bitten a child already and would be a risk to them. I very much doubt if my children would even let them come over either.


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

Tess. forgive me sweety ,,but this girl walked into some one house. .i really don't know but i bet ginger would get very upset if she walked into my house.. and ,if she didn't i sure would ,you can come in my house as long as i'm there with her .i really don't know what would happen if you walked in and i wasn't there ..Hmmmm i should try that and see ..she all ready don't like the two small boys across the back yard from me . they are all ways swinging sticks .and ginger don't like that .so when there mom brings them over i put ginger in the house .ok you have to really think about it sweety thank you for hearing me out


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

Lumpy I don't think Ginger would bite a child in the face for one minute and I don't believe Dexter or Bonnie would either. The details of this particular case sound a bit vague and no one really knows what happened. The thing is if a dog deals with a stressful situation by biting then that is the nature of the dog. 

The other day a small child who was a guest in my house tried to pick Bonnie up and put her onto a small wooden chair. She had been asked by me and her mother not to do it as Bonnie was looking alarmed but she kept on doing it. Bonnie then let out a most bloodcurdling yelp that made everyone including the child jump. Thankfully that was her way of dealing with the stressful situation and she has done it at other times too ( at the vet and the groomers!) I would have been horrified if she had bitten the child and would have felt I could never trust her again. 

I hope I do have some grandchildren soon (my son is about to get married!) and I would feel I couldnt keep a dog who was a danger to my grandchildren - a bite in the face can be so serious. I hope this explains my way of thinking a bit and hopefully it will never happen!


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