| I suppose you may call me stupid, but I would and did leave my son alone with my Rottie, Bear. Bear was three years old when Tyler my son was born, Bear was always very gentle with Tyler, they played together. I completely trusted Bear and Tyler together, when Tyler was five and six (Bear died when Tyler was 7) and would go outside, Bear was always by his side. Not only did I not worry about Bear hurting my son I knew Bear would always protect him.
Before Tyler was five years old, I never left them alone, but only because I wanted to make sure that Tyler knew not to misstreat Bear--no pulling ears, no hitting, no riding his back, etc. So not only do you need to train your dog, children must also be trained.
Bear was trained very well and we socialized him very well too, he was just a wonderful gentle dog. I'm sorry, but if I couldn't trust my own dog around my child, I wouldn't have the dog. But I realize that some people never take the time to train the dog OR the child and that is when stupid things happen, like a dog attacking a child. It is so sad.  |