Another Child Attacked

A two year old child attacked in Swindon by two dogs believed to be Staffys although not yet confirmed:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-18320701

Believed to be staffs? Bet they're not. Poor little boy, I really hope he recovers soon.

I really do wish they would get all the facts correct before going to press.

they should not be allowed to say such phrases and get their facts right it may wellbe true but at this point it may well be 2 poodles

,hope the little boy is going to be ok,why cant the press do their job and print the facts not what might be's

poor boy ,why they can't check first and them print ? I'm not saying who's fault it was because there is no details but where were the responsible paarents. of course it's a dog's fault- it's easier to say it this way

and on the pic it doesn't look like staffy to me

I haven't seen any pics of the dog involved, but it does sound like it was staff or staff cross.

Poor little boy, I hope he's ok.

I ment the pic they put with the article. I hope is ok too

how awful,i was talking to someone the other day about my dogs as they didn't like the breed so i chatted with them about the breed and my dogs and what it's like to live with them they were surprised at how different they actually are than what is printed and left with a changed opinion but not after asking this "if they are known as a nanny dog and are child friendly and would protect a child,what makes them lose that inner instinct and attack a child?" as most attacks are on children,for this i don't have an answer.

An update on this article link below. It was apparently only one dog that attacked the child, the other was not involved in the incident.:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-18320701

Just a side note. When a dog is ill/old & beyond help we say that it has been 'put to sleep'. When there's an attack, we say it's been 'destroyed'. I wonder why the difference?

Poor dog so sad. Dogs dont attack unless provoked or encouraged by owner, hate to think of a dog being destroyed x

Have seen this on another forum, from what i have read there are two parties at fault parents and dog owner, there are two innocents here the child and dog.

What really annoys me about these stories is the fact that they only seemn too say the breed when they think its a staff/staffx/rotty etc now breed has nothing too do with it there all dogs regardless of breeds and all have the capabilities too hurt someone.

Sky news article now reads Staffordshire Bull Terrier type dog.

I was so sad to hear about the child and wish him nothing but the best and a speedy recovery.
I am gutted the press have used this as another excuse
to bash the breed.


How long before our beloved staffs end up like banned like pitbulls?

They won't be banned. The government knows BSL is a waste of time. There isn't any kind of legislation that I can think of that will stop this kind of thing happening but thankfully it's very rare. Just sad how the media jump on it but that is because it is rare. The amount of children seriously hurt or killed by carers or by cars is sadly much much higher and too common to create sensationalist articles out of

The poor, poor boy and the poor dog. Both let down by people. I hope the boy makes as full a recovery as possible.

We feel sorry for the parents and the child, but in one paper it's reported that the child "wandered into the dogs garden", if this is true why was a child so young out on it's own?

Just found this story in the Sun ( ) Hate to stereotype, but one look at the owner rings alarm bells. They then go on to say that apparently a policeman was bit by what they think was the same dog at the property last year , despite being tasered. If this is true then surely this should have been dealt with by the police last year or awareness raised. Daresay emotions are extremely high at this point and more stuff will come out over the next few days.
If these are the facts then it is right that the dog was PTS , if it was an adult on the property then I would argue the case but normally dogs can acknowledge a child and act accordingly , this was not the case so the dog obviously had the agression in him from somewhere.
What I don't appreciate is The Sun's clearly photoshopped picture showing 2 dogs that clearly are not Staffies

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4355064/This-man-Garfield-King-saw-his-devil-Staffordshire-bull-terrier-dog-maim-toddler-Keiron-Guess-then-blamed-lads-parents.html

all because people dont bring them up right
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/swindon-dog-attack-staffordshire-bull-862558




Post moved to Staffy News

Unfortunately , yes. We are already discussing this on another post , you can find it here if you want to look into what has been said already

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t19462-another-child-attacked

the owner is not going to be prosecuted as they know that legally it was not his fault as the incident happened on his property , but what about the parents surely they should have some ticking off for allowing a child to wander off , the poor little boy is gonna be scarred for life because someone somewhere has been irresponsible, why did the owner not have a more secure back garden? , but yes the sun news paper is gonna be on its crusade again,

roz w wrote:the owner is not going to be prosecuted as they know that legally it was not his fault as the incident happened on his property , but what about the parents surely they should have some ticking off for allowing a child to wander off , the poor little boy is gonna be scarred for life because someone somewhere has been irresponsible, why did the owner not have a more secure back garden? , but yes the sun news paper is gonna be on its crusade again,

Have I missed something about the secure back garden bit , sorry but not been watching TV over the last few days so maybe don't know all the facts

I feel sorry for the little boy, and I hope that he recovers soon, as much as he can anyway Everyone is blaming the dogs/owner, which I agree with to a point, the garden should've been more secure - but what about the childs parents? I know it is hard to keep an eye on them 24/7 (I have two of my own) but he souldve been somewhere where he could not wonder off on his own. What if he had been hit by a car? Then everyone would be blaming the parents! Much easier to blame a staffy though

i dont think they look like staffys tbh,

How on earth can a 2 year old child be allowed to wander and get into a neighbours garden! I wish the lad a speedy recovery but where were his parents/grandparents?

Children have no fear I have had 3 or 4 under 4yr old kids run at Ledger and go to grab his ears or tail in the last couple of weeks with two of them having no words of warning from their parents who seemed to think it was cute and funny! Luckily he has been on lead (flexi) and is not too fussed, he ignores their advances and comes back to me when called but alot of dogs of all shapes and sizes would snap. But you try telling a parent what they should or shouldn't be doing with their child!

Equi wrote:i dont think they look like staffys tbh,

Me neither but is this the actual dogs for definite , the pic in the Sun with the dog jumping mid air looked like a bad photoshop, and they look way too long in the leg to be staffs.
It says somewhere in there about the police being bitten in a "raid last year" What was the raid for . I'm probably going to get stoned for saying this but looking at the owner then I would say the raid was for drugs. Do we potentially have a situation here with a possible drug dealer that maybe had the dogs to protect his business or am i putting 2 and 2 together and making 1000 ???

davemck3834 wrote:

roz w wrote:the owner is not going to be prosecuted as they know that legally it was not his fault as the incident happened on his property , but what about the parents surely they should have some ticking off for allowing a child to wander off , the poor little boy is gonna be scarred for life because someone somewhere has been irresponsible, why did the owner not have a more secure back garden? , but yes the sun news paper is gonna be on its crusade again,

Have I missed something about the secure back garden bit , sorry but not been watching TV over the last few days so maybe don't know all the facts

no i read that child had gone down the alleyway and into the dogs back garden whether it is true or not but somehow someone is at fault for allowing the dog and child to meet so for the dog to get to the child the garden couldnt have been secure either easy for a small child to get into or a hole for the dog to get out ,

as a mother i know u have to watch a child of 2 constantly and while i do agree the dog must have been badly trained and apparently it had bitten before i cant help but think that the parents have to take some responsibility as well as the dog owner ...but hey i am hoping they can sort the little one out the best they can

davemck3834 wrote:

Equi wrote:i dont think they look like staffys tbh,

Me neither but is this the actual dogs for definite , the pic in the Sun with the dog jumping mid air looked like a bad photoshop, and they look way too long in the leg to be staffs.
It says somewhere in there about the police being bitten in a "raid last year" What was the raid for . I'm probably going to get stoned for saying this but looking at the owner then I would say the raid was for drugs. Do we potentially have a situation here with a possible drug dealer that maybe had the dogs to protect his business or am i putting 2 and 2 together and making 1000 ???

i think u possibly could be on the right track

this post link gives the full story. I think it's an awfull thing to happen, poor little boy. It could have as always been any breed but what bothers me most is why was a little boy of 2 playing in an alleyway unsupervised??

What I should like to know is, why was a two year old boy playing in an alley on his own and why were two dogs allowed out in a garden on their own when it obviously was not a secure garden. Unfortunately the dog always gets the blame! As horrific as this tragedy is, and my heart goes out to all concerned especially the little boy, the responsibility is on the parents for allowing such a small boy to be out on his own and the person in charge of the dogs. I would never allow either of my 3 year old grandchildren out of my sight outside of the house and I certainly do not leave my dogs unsupervised in my garden even though it is a secure one. As much as I love my dogs I realise that they are animals who will act instinctively and you can never know what goes on in a dogs head. This tragic thing happened because both the parents of the small boy and the dogs owner were behaving irresponsibly.

Jenny, Amber & Romeo xxx

Jenny, I'm afraid you're right. It was a tragic accident, with horrific repercussions. Unfortunately it's yet another nail in the coffin for staffords & responsible owners.