Are small dogs safer pets around children? – Part 1

I completely disagree that small dogs are safer than big dogs around children. When I was a toddler I was bouncing around on my parents bed. The small family pet terrier decided I was too close to her bone (which she’d left near the bed), and so she flew at my face biting me just above my eye. I had to go hospital and have paper stitches put over the wound. Luckily, it healed well, but if it had been lower she may have permanently damaged my eye. Later on, another small-medium mixed breed family pet growled and snarled at me for no apparent reason and only missed biting me because I leapt backwards out of the way. My sister was bitten on the leg by a small-medium sized dog of her friends on her birthday when her friends decided to give her the bumps. And our neighbours child was bitten quite badly by his Jack Russell, which was given the blue needle the same day by his horrified parents.

In contrast to that, we’ve had many larger dogs while I was growing up (including a Labrador and many German Shepherds)who didn’t show any aggression towards us. As a matter of fact they were much friendlier to us and a bit protective. At one time, we had a black Labrador and a mixed-breed small terrier. The Labrador was a gentle soul but had a loud bark, and the terrier looked less intimidating but hated strangers. Visitors would be nervous of the Labrador (who was adorable), and not bothered by the terrier (who would have cheerfully tore their face off). I suppose we instinctively suspect the larger dog of being a bigger threat to us because of it’s size – but is our fear justified?

In my personal experiences, it seems that smaller dogs seem to bite more frequently. However, even though larger dogs may not bite so often, when they do they could potentially inflict more serious injuries, making them more apt to hit the news headlines. I remember very well in the 1980′s, reading about the horrific savages of kids by lock-jaw dogs. I remember seeing photo’s of kids with stitches all over them because some pitball, or rottweiler or staffordshire terrier had turned on them. And believe me when I say it was horrific. It is what led to the Perilous Dogs Act and the banning of American Pitball Terriers in the UK. Since then, children have still been savaged to death by these types of dogs.

Yet is it really the massive dogs that are the problem? Of all these dogs who savaged children – how many of them were taken to obedience classes? How many were treated