Has your family pet ever turned on you or a child?

yes, i had a dog. shags that i got from the piund. i love that dog and he loved me. yet, he hated everyone else, my kids included. when i had my little girl i had to get rid of shags. he is now living in a great house in Delware

Nope ours hasnt but growing up my husbands dog did on him and bite him, and his father took him out to a field and beat the dog down.

Our dog has never bitten anybody, there were just times when he got angry. These happened when my mother gave birth to our youngest. When the baby was brought to our home from the hospital he suddenly started barking loudly, and he wouldn't stop. He kept following whoever is carrying the baby. We tried to silence him by giving food but he doesn't want to eat. His weird behavior lasted for 3 days, we were already worried because he would not eat. Somebody advised that we should give the dog attention because he was just jealous and threatened of the baby's presence. What we did was treat him like the way we treat the baby. It turned out to be effective, he started eating afterwards. He started to like my baby brother too.

It all depends on the circumstances, some dogs nip/bite for attention (working dogs do - i had a couple) & other's haven't be trained to tolerate children. I would never leave my daughter alone with a dog, no matter how well behaved or friendly he was (incuding my own as all dogs can bite - it's a natural instinct). I wouldn't have my dog put to sleep unless it had attacked visciously for no apparent reason - my dogs wont bite if i'm there - but every dog is different. I also wouldn't have it destroyed if my dog bit one of my nieces or nephews - for a start, they know not to go up to where my dogs are & they'd have to do something pretty nasty to provoke my dogs to bite (one of my nieces has been taught to kick & i'd be pretty annoyed myself if she just came up to me & kicked me) - in that case, i don't consider it to be the dogs fault, i'd snap too if someone did something to me. I think the child just need to know their boundaries when it comes to dogs & if dogs need to feel safe around children otherwise they can get unsettled which could cause them to react.

Only once has my dog turned on my daughter. My daughter was waving a piece of cheese around and the dog jumped up and went for the cheese, but got her cheek instead. She needed a few stitches, but that was the last time that dog bit anyone.