Well said and I totally agree with you.

Further to the question of 'burying the dog' I'd rather it be the dog and NOT the child, and by seeing the injuries she had it could have turned out that way.

I cried too.

I think the owners were asking for trouble as they didn't appear to have given either dog much training. I think they should have sought the help of a trainer after the first little girl was bitten.

In the phone call VS said the dog "might have" a neuro problem, and most of us have assumed the owners did not seek tests from the vet, but let's not forget the programme is edited and give them the benefit of the doubt, they may have had tests done on Benji.

Totally agree. The fact that the owners seemed surprised that the dogs were even capable of "sitting" on command makes you wonder if they'd given their dogs any kind of training before Victoria's arrival.

is it going to be repeated i missed it ?

This program really touched a nerve with me, after once being the owner of a golden cocker spaniel, wrongly diagnosed with epilepsy after one "episode" and written off as suffering from rage.
I too had a young child, but I had the dog first and no I never considered having him put to sleep. My dog was very well trained and I could sense when he had a " rage" for want of a better word brewing. He did bite my son once, more a warning nip than anything else, but I made damn sure that he never had the opportunity to do it again, just by being aware.
Those owners failed that dog, firstly by not training it in the first place and seconndly by not continueing with the training victoria had started, they were useless, as soon as the dog tried to push again, by getting off the mat at meal times instead of putting in extra effort with him, they excluded him. Basically they gave up on him, and that was not emphasised in the program and that was really what I had an issue with. I felt the wife always wanted the dog pts and to say the husband hadn't trained the dogs she was with them all day she should have taken charge, what was stopping her. Also I think the vet agreed to pts over the phone from what I could tell. Personnally I think they all failed that dog badly.

Ahh but you are a special case Patch

Well said Dawn, I completely agree with all you have said.

I agree with you Dani...and with alot of what Patch has said also.

I did not see the programme so I'm just commenting on what I've read here.

Owners with dogs in adult only households have alot of responsibility in owning a dog, owners with children and dogs have to take even more responsibility in my opinion. Both dogs and children need thorough education in interacting with one another and it is up to the owners to realise this from the start.

This bite in this incident sounds unprovoked...but how do we know how the dog and child have been allowed to interact in the past?

I'm only saying this because I know some parents allow there kids to act really quite inconsiderate to pets and many I am sure have to put up with all sorts of tugging on them and general pestering and irritation and in a way I think so many pets have an incredibly high tolerance level because 1 day with some kids would be enough for me. In some cases I think it's like what ever the children want goes and the pets have to just put up with it.

Take my sister and family for example. They are a well educated family but don't know squat about animals...I have always said in my mind, please don't let them have animals! My nephews are quite loud and irritating and from what I have seen unless they are scared of an animal they take the upper hand and generally harass it, chase it, squeal at it, poke at it etc. They had a cat and the poor sod spent most of it's time when it did come in the house, as far back in a cupboard as it could get and they still would shove there faces in pestering it. A few days after bringing Keena home as a little pup they came to visit, I told everyone they needed to be calm and quiet but as alot of people do they ignored thinking 'people first animals second' and as long as they were happy it didn't matter...first thing they did was lunge at her, she ran under a cupboard (she was shy and was settling in) then the kids laid flat to look under at her and were shoving their hands under to try to get at her...I only left it that long because I was waiting for my sister to say something and she didn't, she must have thought it was acceptable behaviour towards animals. Anyway I told them all to get out and leave her alone.

Now my dogs are grown, no more chasing infact now they know it isn't possible to harass them because the dogs are stronger then them they don't go near the dogs, don't even pet them, the youngest goes to start with the squealing and all the excitement but actually just cries if the dog so much as looks at him...they prefer timid animals that run from them and don't 'play' back...so now my dogs are left alone If I had of had small dogs though, no doubt the kids would still be up for harassing them.

They went to a petting zoo and got to hold some small critters including a Ginnie pig (sorry spelling) apparently the youngest really tightly squeezed one while holding it and made it squeak, it was because 'he really liked it'...It made my sister laugh. I just thought how is that funny? and said, he was lucky it didn't bite him, you have to be gentle with animals. She just said aww but he doesn't know and it was only because he liked it.

So can you imagine if they got a dog?

Kids do come first (if you say so ) BUT they must be taught to pay all animals respect.

In a child and dog household your work must be cut out, constantly monitoring how they are both trained to live successfully together and respect one another's space and show understanding etc...In to many households I feel this isn't the case at all, dog is either there first, baby comes along and no new training is given for the new living conditions or baby is there first and then they get a puppy and just expect it to act as some sort of glorified soft toy for the kids and are horrified when things go wrong.

This is not to say at all that this had anything to do with this families situation but it is my opinion on kids and pets together in general, which does play a part in many other cases where the adults have failed in bringing kids and pets together successfully resulting in other animals being put to sleep.

We live in a 'throw away' society if it don't work properly get rid of it...In some situations perhaps there is no choice...I always feel that in some cases work can be done to put the dog right but putting the animal to sleep is the quick and easy solution I agree that there are 100's of 'easy' animals all awaiting rehoming but are people really that fickle that no one in a controlled adult only household could be found to take on the dog and offer it the life it was better suited for?

I feel really sorry for dogs that people have messed up and other people arn't prepared to work with

I agree that once a dog has bitten it will most likely do it again, unless drastic changes are made in the lines of training and controlling the environment but I'm not so sure that once taken out of that situation and placed in a life more suitable that they couldn't be totally turned around...and I always see that glimmer of hope.

You are totally correct Trouble regarding this little dog having had very little or no training whatsoever, he had no consistency at all in his short life and had been allowed to rule the roost for too long. However, whatever their failings as dog owners/trainers, the family obviously loved their dog and it must have been a heartbreaking decision (especially for the father). I just hope they have learnt from this tragic experience.

"No animals life is worth more than a human." Someone said this at the beginning of the thread, and I hate it and disagree 100%. Who are we to say we are more important than another living soul?!? After all we have put animals through making them work for us, for hundreds of years, it is not their fault WE CHOOSE to keep them, and to bring them up irresponsibly (as so many do).
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good post Mys!
Easy to read too, with punctuation marks and paragraphs! (some people haven't met them yet!)

"I feel really sorry for dogs that people have messed up and other people arn't prepared to work with "

This is becoming my worst nightmare, working with people and dogs. They ask you to come round to do some work, and they don't realise that the thing that needs trained is them. They don't realise how much effort they actually have to put in do they..
Dogs are easy, people not so much!