My daughter has bin bitten by our pet dog whohas never been aggressive before should I let the authorities put him asleep?

Can you give us more detail on what happened and how you think this came about?

Where do you live and how did the authorities get involved

If you could give us more detail on the situation and why the dog bit, the age of your daughter, where you were when it happened, and what your daughter was doing when the dog bit, we could offer a little more reassurance for you.

We need more details. Did your daughter provoke the dog? How old is your daughter? How old is the dog? Where they left alone, unattended? How bad was the bite?

A lot depends on the circumstances.

If you left your child and the dog alone, and the dog bit the child, then the child likely provoked the attack, especially if the dog has never been aggressive before.

You can't blame the dog if the child was provoking it (hitting, pulling on fur, taking away food etc).

If you weren't in the room when the attack happened then you have no one to blame but yourself.

I wouldn't put the dog down. Most attacks can be prevented, if the owner of the dog is careful.

Depending on how severe the bite was... why not try a training program for the dog? How old was your child, did she get in the dogs face or pull fur?

A dog trainer told me 75% of all dog bites involve children. They can do funny things and dogs do not always recognize them as their alpha due to size and stability. Training the child to be the alpha can be more importatnt to training the dog.

Had to spread the rep Ballengerb, but I agree, all children need to be taught proper etiquette when it comes to dogs and having them live harmoniously and safely in a home.

Also, parents with young children shouldn't leave their kids alone with a dog, no matter how well behaved it is.

Little kids, even those taught to be around dogs, poke, pull, prod and do things they shouldn't. Not because they're being cruel, but because they're little and don't know any better.

The fact is, there's only so much even a very well trained dog will put up with. It's up to the parents to supervise their children playing with the dog. If you leave the room, junior hits the dog on the head with a toy, and the dog bites, it's really not the dogs fault. It's yours.

Hah.. I have nothing to add... I agree with it all.

The dog didn't do anything wrong. It is your fault. You shouldn't leave your kids alone with dogs. Dogs, no matter how good they are, are unpredictable. They are animals, they will act like animals... animals are unpredictable and will bite or snap at something they don't understand... kids being one of those things they don't understand. Kids do not smell like people, they smell like everything but.

If you are so concerned it will happen again, contact a rescue for your breed.. not a shelter, but a rescue. Shelters will euthanize at the very word "bite".. Rescues will place the dog into a home without kids.

Killing the animal for your own mistake is not tolerable in my book. There are plenty of people out there who don't have kids that would be a good placement :)