Children and Staffies warning......

My two grandsons aged 5 and 2 visited today and an incident occurred that could have turned quite nasty if my hubbie hadn't bee around to intervene. It gave us quite a turn and has mde us think twice about the ground rules and we have had to reassess the whole situation regarding them all being together. We have learned a valuable lesson about trust.

The 5 year old had brought a toy sword and pirate gun full of jelly beans and were playing with the emply containers when the incident happened completely out of the blue, it was a completely unprovoked attack and I can only be thankful that hubbie was there to prevent matters going any further. I know this will upset some of you for which I apologies when I tell you that the 5 year old 'shot' Lily in the eye with the priate gun whilst the 2 year old was heading for her bum with the sword!! Well poor Lily didn't know which way to turn and even now, hours after they have gone home, she is lying on the sofa next to me completely traumatised.

So hubby and I have given the situation some thought and have come up with the new ground rules:

* Grandchildren can only visit when accompanied by a responsible parent.
* No toy weapons, projectiles or missiles to be brought into the house.
* Visits to last approximately 2 hours and at least a week apart - and definitley not the two of them together.
* At our discretion, visits can be cut short if Lily shows any signs that she has had enough.

No we think this is perfectly reasonable but children think we have lost the plot - can't understand that, and neither can Lily

Would it not make more sense to put lily in a different room when they are there? I'm assuming the boys came over and the parents got a little break, which is reasonable. They shouldn't be allowed those kind of toys no, but I can't see them visiting much if only one can come unless with an adult.

Hope lily is okay and not to scared. Did the shooty thing hit her eye? Did it swell or weep at all?

No Hayley, Lily is fine. They were all playing fine, it was just a twist on the Staffie / children misconception - meant to be humerous but think it may have got lost in translation, sorry.

Nanny your mean!

I can understand your concern, Pauline.

MOST important of all is your grandchildrens' safety. From your post, it doesn't sound as if Lily retaliated after her double attack - am I correct? All we know is that she "didn't know which way to turn" and was afterwards traumatised.

Secondly is your dog's well-being, and here the children MUST be taught that they should not, under any circumstances, attack your dog or [/i]any[i] dog with weapons, or tease them in general.

I don't want to step out of line here, but I would ask that you don't give your children, or your grandchildren, the idea that you value your dog above them. TBH, your rules do seem a little harsh, except maybe No.2, but especially No.3.

Children, especially little boys, can be excitable, but all they need IMHO is to be taught and take on board that they must not torment animals.

PS Just read your recent reply. I couldn't detect any humour in your orignal post, but if it was there I apologise that I didn't see it.

Hmm. Okay

LOl I did have to have a giggle! Completely reasonable! I have said several times in the last week Oswald is training well....however we may have to get in a specialist to help train our 3.5yr old son!

At least you could intervene.

I was at a BBQ at my uncles once when I was a wee lad and at that time my brother was only a toddler. My cousins, who are not the smartest people around, were playing with one of those laser pens. My uncle had two guard dogs. My cousin put the laser pen on my brothers chest and one of the dogs went to attack my brother. It was very lucky that there was so many adults around or it would have been a disaster.

Oh dear, can I just explain. It was very late last night when I did the posting. It had been a good day and the two grandchildren and Lily were all playing well. The 5 year old would say 'bang' to Lily and the 2 year old was making random movements in the same way most toddlers do - all having fun, no-one at risk. I just thought I would do a parody on the old 'Staffie attacks children' headline where journalists overeggagerate (or misinterperate) the circumstances in order to get a story. I am really not going to restrict their visits or insist that they are accompanied.

poor Lily xx

Pauline i totally agree with what your not saying so i will say it for you, sell the grandsons and the parents too . Lily is so much less work and won't answer back, i hope her patience has been noted and apprieciated by the family because if they had hit me in the eye with a projectile of any kind i would of bitten the little blighters

Don't worry, I understood the humorous twist!

dave742 wrote:Pauline i totally agree with what your not saying so i will say it for you, sell the grandsons and the parents too . Lily is so much less work and won't answer back, i hope her patience has been noted and apprieciated by the family because if they had hit me in the eye with a projectile of any kind i would of bitten the little blighters

Totally agree with this advice!

Had a chuckle at that

I'm stupid and have no sense of humour so it was lost on me I'm afraid

No we think this is perfectly reasonable but children think we have lost the plot - can't understand that, and neither can Lily

That was the bit that made me laugh

It was the list of rules that gave it away for me, i thought it was funny but i have a strange kind of humour i would of just left people guessing

lol Agee with Dave - the list of rules where what twigged it for me - although didn't want to comment incase i'd mis-read the signs lol

Think parliament should pass a dangerous kids law to protect our poor innocent staffie's. I blame the owners

I guess this is one situation me and hubby will never be in as we dont have any children, my nephew does come over with his Dad (my brother) occasionally though. We have an arms amnesty box by the front door just in case

My son has a toy sword and a nerf gun which he randomly plays with !

He 'shot' Diesel with the nerf dart few moaths ago and she responded by eating the dart lol ! My son was gutted but it taught him to keep away from the dogs with toys that do things !

when will people learn that children are dangerous? were they lead and crate trained? housebroken? honestly, the lengths we have to go to to protect our beloved hounds from these horrors!

haha love the humour!!