Wednesday, January 30, 2008

It’s Not The Dog’s Fault.

Noah Newbold is two years old. He can’t be blamed for pulling the ears of the family dog. Cassey, the dog, is a mastiff-staffordshire cross, and can’t be blamed for behaving as any normal dog would. When Noah kept pulling the dog’s ears, Cassey turned on him and bit him on the face. Noah is very lucky to still have the sight in his left eye.

Noah’s mother, Alicia, claims that until now the two of them were great playmates and there has never been any sign of trouble between them. But the fact is that young Noah at two years old is too young to be left safely with such a big strong powerful dog. At two years old, he simply cannot understand the danger of teasing any dog, and the consequences if pushing a dog too far. When the dog weighs 50 kilos and is a potentially aggressive bread, this is a recipe for disaster.

Of course, kids and dogs can be great together, but at this early age constant supervision is essential, and even then most people would think twice about letting their child play with a mastiff. At the very least, most people would immediately stop their child from pulling the dog’s ears.

Once again, people have been caught out by forgetting that dogs are animals, and have behaviours that are not the same as cuddly cartoon characters. It’s not the boy’s fault, it’s not the dog’s fault, but Mum should know better.

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