Dog bite

[Fun&care]

I understand sometimes maybe the dog can't be blamed but I can't imagine how stressed I would be on a daily basis if I had a dog in the house who had the potential to bite and cause that much harm. I guess it makes me very grateful to have an amazing dog. You can put your hands in her dog bowl while she is eating, she won't bite, nip or even growl. I have never ever seen her even come close to growling or showing any sort of aggressiveness towards my kids or daycare kids. I am such a safety nut that I know I wouldn't be able to stand it if she was anything but amazing with the kids.

[bright sparks]

I understand sometimes maybe the dog can't be blamed but I can't imagine how stressed I would be on a daily basis if I had a dog in the house who had the potential to bite and cause that much harm. I guess it makes me very grateful to have an amazing dog. You can put your hands in her dog bowl while she is eating, she won't bite, nip or even growl. I have never ever seen her even come close to growling or showing any sort of aggressiveness towards my kids or daycare kids. I am such a safety nut that I know I wouldn't be able to stand it if she was anything but amazing with the kids.

We had a long haired border collie who was so amazing with my kids when they were babies it was ridiculous. I have pictures of my daughter at age 18mths or so sat on him. She also dressed him in a yellow sweater and a baseball cap....friendliest dog ever. When he was about 13 and started to deteriorate he had a couple of fits. When he came out of the fits he was like a possessed wild dog. He lunged for anyone who dared make eye contact and charged around the house like a bull in a china shop. We learnt from the vet that if we locked him in the garage with copious amounts of water to drink in the dark, he would calm much safer for his own self and would obviously keep the kids safer. Two fits later, and a no guaranteed answer to the cause if we spent over £10K that's pounds not dollars so a lot more, on tests, we decided as he had lived a good age, and was temporarily extremely dangerous around anyone not just the kids, to have him put down. It was heart breaking to take a dog into the vets that day wagging his tail and so friendly to put him to sleep but it was for the best and saved him more suffering while keeping our family safe. I couldn't imagine having a dog in the company of someone else's children, the liability is to great in my mind. Perhaps it's just because it's been so long since we have had any dogs. Funnily enough, my husband is actually allergic to dogs. He grew up with a minimum of four dogs in his home at any given time as his mum worked and showed border collies. At one point there were additionally 3 German shepherds along with the border collies and 4 kids lol I can't imagine. It was only once we had no dogs and visited a pet store that he noticed the flare up. It limits our choice of dog now but he seems to be fine around short haired friends.

[bright sparks]

I understand sometimes maybe the dog can't be blamed but I can't imagine how stressed I would be on a daily basis if I had a dog in the house who had the potential to bite and cause that much harm. I guess it makes me very grateful to have an amazing dog. You can put your hands in her dog bowl while she is eating, she won't bite, nip or even growl. I have never ever seen her even come close to growling or showing any sort of aggressiveness towards my kids or daycare kids. I am such a safety nut that I know I wouldn't be able to stand it if she was anything but amazing with the kids.

I think every dog has the potential to nip or bite even those with an excellent nature, they are animals after all. It sounds like you have a great dog in your family whose very nature seems ideal, but when an animal ages, their nature can also change, having less patience, and/or if dementia sets in it can change the very nature of an animal, not to say at all that this will happen with your dog, but it only takes that one time for an animal to snap and no matter how great a pet is, the risk is always there in my opinion.

[Fun&care]

I agree there is always a risk which is why it should never just be a free for all...there should always be supervision and here there is limits and after a few minutes of petting we move on, we don't overwhelm Stella and we give her space etc etc which is why she is probably good natured, I don't let the kids bug her too much.

Sadly it is looking like we are probably going to have to put her down though,I imagine in the next few weeks. She started limping not long ago and it's serious. She is on pain meds for now but it's getting worse. We can't afford the 800$ for X-rays and not only that but vet said treatment would most likely mean major surgery and we for sure can't afford that either so not much of a point getting X-rays in the first place. Definitely keeping an eye out for changes in temperament but she's been great.

I have to say I've always been a bit surprised when clients sign up here considering she is a border collie so a fairly big girl. I know I probably wouldn't put my kids in a daycare with dogs so when I started up it was a bit of a dilemma wondering if I would even be able to get clients! I imagine after she is gone spots will probably be easier to fill though as I have definitely had parents say to my face they love the daycare but the dog not so much.

[mickyc]

We have border collies too. Our girls are outdoor dogs though. They are old and I know I cannot trust them. Shortly after finding out I was pregnant the dogs were put outdoors 100% of the time. When I started daycare we built them a pen attached to our huge shed. They are in there 100% of the time during daycare hours. We had cats in the house for about a year during daycare. I am pretty sure I lost a client because of them. They were kittens and liked to jump up on people. I could see it in the one mom's face when they did - she detested cats. OH well! Lol. After about a year they became 100% outdoor cats as well (we don't live in the city). I don't miss the cat hair. The kids love the cats when we are outside. I do agree that a pet free home is more idea for a daycare setting. For myself any pet that harmed a child for whatever reason who be put down. We know our dogs and know they cannot be trusted alone with our daughter so we don't put them or her in that position of having to make that decision.