Icompletely disagree that small dogs are safer than large 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 mixedbreed 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 have had manyBigger dogs while I was growing up (including a Labrador and many German Shepherds)who did not 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 theMore massivedog of being a Biggerthreat 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 likely tohit the news headlines. I remember very well in the 1980′s, reading about the horrific savages of children 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 state it was horrific. It is what led to the Dangerous 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 theBigdogs that are the problem? Of all these dogs who savaged children – how many of them were taken to obedience classes? How many were treated