Castanet

Also, find out how old this dog is....if he/she is still in the puppy stages, then their teeth are extremely sharp and I could see a puppy going for feet but not to be nasty. There are too many unanswered questions and far too many people have an inherant fear of all dogs from the media and simply panic before trying to find out anything or trying to work things out without screaming and yelling. Most people, if approached in a reasonable manner will be willing to work things out in a situation like this. But do due dilligence and find out about the dog before panic.

yyy.

That sure doesn't sound like the kind of pitbull attacks we hear about,that sounds more like a playful nip. I would think that if a pitbull attacks it would not be confused with a srape.

I agree....and if the dog, being pitbull or not, was actually attacking, it would be more than 2 "minor" nips, as the OP said. People are panicking because of all the media frenzy all the time. I agree that this lady needs to talk to the neighbors, if possible, find out more about the dog, and most importantly teach her kids the do's and don't's where strange dogs go....or any dog for that matter.

vernongeek wrote:
My first question, Is the dog really aggressive, or was the dog more trying to play. I never heard of a dog directly attacking someones foot before. And if the dog really is aggressive like you are saying, there is not a chance your son could have out run the dog. Your son's story does not make any sense. **

Bold added by me.

I watched my daughter outrun a German Shepard that was determined to tear out her throat. It was jumping at the back of her head!
She ran faster for approx 30 meters before a family member was able to grab the dog .
Most terrifying experience of my life. I couldn't catch them.

kgcayenne wrote:For starters, never let your kids play outside unattended; make sure they never enter that neighbour's property (I get the impression there is no fence); and speak with all your neighbours and put the word out that this house needs to be watched so that should anything further happen, there are other witnesses to any bites.

You may have to accept there will be a he-said/she-said scenario here, and unless there were adult witnesses to your son's and the other child's bites, then it's a child's word against an adult's.

Spy vs Spy in Kelowna sells dog repellant spray.

Also, if you were to be frequently seen taking video of your kids and their friends having fun, I am willing to bet that the dog owners will be quite wary about allowing their dog to tresspass and endanger your kids.

]For starters, never let your kids play outside unattended; If thats the way you live I pity your kids. What a life.

GrooveTunes wrote:For starters, never let your kids play outside unattended; If thats the way you live I pity your kids. What a life.

You are funny.

My post was for that parent in that situation. We did not ever experience a situation like that, so my child didn’t have to be supervised to that level.

Context

As a dog owner myself, I'm inclined to agree with the posters who say that if the pit bull was agressive it would have done a lot more harm to the child than the OP describes. However, that said, a large dog running at you (even if its intentions are friendly) can be a VERY frightening experience, particularly for someone who is not used to animals.

Obviously this dogs owners need to be more careful so as to not accidentally let their dog get out of the house, and hopefully that is the message the dog catcher gave them. In the first incident described by the OP the children were in the yard without permission, so that incident was not the dog owners fault. But the second incident most definitely was the owners fault.

That said, anyone can make a mistake ONCE, but if accidentally letting the dog out to run loose in public becomes a pattern, then the dog catcher does need to do something about it. A large fine should act as a deterrent, all the way up to removing the dog from the home if the fine doesn't work. But in the meantime, in the interest of good neighbourliness, maybe the OP should ask the dog owners if they can arrange a "safe" getting to know one another session between the child and the dog. Because it's good for children to realize that not all dogs are mean, and that many are simply trying to make friends.

i live in Spallumcheen and will say animal control is virtually nil, not sure if downtown Armstrong is much better.
if the offendeing animal is lose on the street the RCMP will make sure its handled.
if this is happening in the owners yard then the simple answer is dont enter and tell kids not to under any reason.
if the dog is not under the owners care and control and you have any worries then again report to the police, they will call animal control and once reported they have to investigate.
i had a owner in vernon years ago that tied his dog so the animal could easily run out and just make the sidewalk and scare the heck out of you, after 3-4 calls in i reminded them that if someone swerved the car a couple feet the poor animal would be very likely to get run over.
the owner then tied the animal in a more appropriate manor.
no dogs are allowed to run free aggressive or not.

Please dont emphisise pit bulls all dogs can bite

Considering the thread has been inactive for over a year , I am going to have to assume you did a search of "pitbull" so you could post. I would also speculate that you are the proud owner of a pitbull , or similar.

They just don't make pitbull threads like they used to.

Don't see the relevance.

Fancy wrote:Don't see the relevance.

Not surprised