Clarissa Baldwin was very good this morning on BBC1 Breakfast. So full of tact and reason. So difficult when the woman sitting next to you has lost her son in a dog incident.
Society is very respectful towards folk who have lost their children.
Apologies if what I am going to say offends anyone. But I need to get this off my chest.
The McCann's are always on our TV screens.
I am sure I can't be the only one at home thinking the same terrible thing.
How can they live with themselves?
Intelligent people, leaving their children alone while they go out to eat in a restaurant.
Who on earth does that?
I'd rather go hungry than leave my kids.
But how few interviewers ever make that point?
No one wants to rub it in. Their pain is so obviously so great in any case.
Everyone makes mistakes, but the consequences of this one were just so huge.
If you make a mistake you admit it and then sympathy follows.
I don't think you'd ever forgive yourself.
I'd feel such terrible shame.
The same is true with this woman on our screens this morning.
A young life ended is a tragedy that few mothers can ever recover from.
Is it a displacement activity to move the blame away from the only family you have left?
Is it logical or just part of grief to blame all dogs, rather than the humans in whom you put your trust?
When I entrusted the care of my son to my Mum she would never have put my son at risk.
She knew that babies and dogs do not mix.
And our dogs were Beardies, not Pit Bulls.
If she wasn't capable of making rational decisions like that one what other risks might my son be confronted by?
Might she not realise that boiling kettles should not have a trailing flex or that the bleach needs to be out of reach. But kids who die from other Granny-related bad judgement calls don't make the news and certainly don't result in campaigns to ban kettles.
How many of these incidents does there have to be before people work it out not to take unnecessary risks with their kids. That you don't leave your kids with Granny and your brother's Pit Bull unless you have an agreement that two are not to meet. And that it's not needed to be stated that you don't leave the child to sleep on the sofa with someone else's dog and then introduce food into the equation.
And as if it need saying - you also don't keep unsocialised Rotties locked outside in the yard all the time if you have little kids the other side who can open the door.
And you don't let your half insane tormented guard dogs kept chained on the roof of a pub anywhere near your newborn baby.
And if you do, you accept that you and/or your family have let your son down and you grieve.
True this dog had not killed a child before, but you know other children have already died in very similar scenarios.
Do you blame all the dogs in the world and or is it time for some quiet introspection?
It makes gripping TV, because no one dares to say what they really think.
Tonight's BBC1 documentary at 10.35pm looks to be 60 minutes of edge of your seat tension wondering how much worse they are going to make life for the Staffies especially.
Especially as dog law maestro Trevor Cooper's balancing footage has already been consigned to the editing room floor.
The press blurb comes with a dramatic photo of a dog who is probably barking but still looks scary. It seems people do like doing these easy to make documentaries that press people's buttons.
Remember 10 million dogs and 99.99% of these behaving themselves. But let's just freak everyone out and get some more knee jerk legislation that does NOTHING to make children any safer.
Slippers and balloons* kill more people than dogs and horses put more people in A&E - but let's not let the facts get in the way of a documentary.
Has anyone asked how many kids die while being looked after by grannies?
I think you'll find that dogs are not the biggest risk when grandparents get left to cope.
But are we ever likely to see a Death Row Grannies documentary? or A Dangerous Grannie Act?
I am a mother.
I am a dog lover.
My son is now 11 but I would never, ever have put my son in that situation when he was less than eight - and I certainly wouldn't entrust him to someone who didn't agree with me. And it wouldn't matter how nice the dog or how well brought up. Stairgates are great at keeping dogs and kids apart.
I do feel very sorry for their loss, but surely it is time to grieve and contemplate how this could have been avoided rather than mount an ill-thought out knee jerk reaction campaign.
Would they put a parent on the sofa at BBC Breakfast whose son had wandered out of the front door and been run over? Would they let that mother say that all cars must be made of sponge so this never happens again? Or would they think perhaps granny should have kept her son from danger when she asked her to babysit and that mum really needed to accept that painful fact and allow herself to grieve.
And would the muzzle-every-dog-all-the-time campaign have resulted in a sofa position today if it wasn't to plug a BBC documentary showing later today?
Using a mother's loss to boost ratings.
It's a cynical old world.
And to have a woman calling for more dog legislation who claimed to have not even known about the already existing Dangerous Dogs Act. If the DDA didn't work why did she imagine her brother would have complied with a muzzling order?
Here's the press blurb...
Society is very respectful towards folk who have lost their children.
Apologies if what I am going to say offends anyone. But I need to get this off my chest.
The McCann's are always on our TV screens.
I am sure I can't be the only one at home thinking the same terrible thing.
How can they live with themselves?
Intelligent people, leaving their children alone while they go out to eat in a restaurant.
Who on earth does that?
I'd rather go hungry than leave my kids.
But how few interviewers ever make that point?
No one wants to rub it in. Their pain is so obviously so great in any case.
Everyone makes mistakes, but the consequences of this one were just so huge.
If you make a mistake you admit it and then sympathy follows.
I don't think you'd ever forgive yourself.
I'd feel such terrible shame.
The same is true with this woman on our screens this morning.
A young life ended is a tragedy that few mothers can ever recover from.
Is it a displacement activity to move the blame away from the only family you have left?
Is it logical or just part of grief to blame all dogs, rather than the humans in whom you put your trust?
When I entrusted the care of my son to my Mum she would never have put my son at risk.
She knew that babies and dogs do not mix.
And our dogs were Beardies, not Pit Bulls.
If she wasn't capable of making rational decisions like that one what other risks might my son be confronted by?
Might she not realise that boiling kettles should not have a trailing flex or that the bleach needs to be out of reach. But kids who die from other Granny-related bad judgement calls don't make the news and certainly don't result in campaigns to ban kettles.
How many of these incidents does there have to be before people work it out not to take unnecessary risks with their kids. That you don't leave your kids with Granny and your brother's Pit Bull unless you have an agreement that two are not to meet. And that it's not needed to be stated that you don't leave the child to sleep on the sofa with someone else's dog and then introduce food into the equation.
And as if it need saying - you also don't keep unsocialised Rotties locked outside in the yard all the time if you have little kids the other side who can open the door.
And you don't let your half insane tormented guard dogs kept chained on the roof of a pub anywhere near your newborn baby.
And if you do, you accept that you and/or your family have let your son down and you grieve.
True this dog had not killed a child before, but you know other children have already died in very similar scenarios.
Do you blame all the dogs in the world and or is it time for some quiet introspection?
It makes gripping TV, because no one dares to say what they really think.
Tonight's BBC1 documentary at 10.35pm looks to be 60 minutes of edge of your seat tension wondering how much worse they are going to make life for the Staffies especially.
Especially as dog law maestro Trevor Cooper's balancing footage has already been consigned to the editing room floor.
The press blurb comes with a dramatic photo of a dog who is probably barking but still looks scary. It seems people do like doing these easy to make documentaries that press people's buttons.
Remember 10 million dogs and 99.99% of these behaving themselves. But let's just freak everyone out and get some more knee jerk legislation that does NOTHING to make children any safer.
Slippers and balloons* kill more people than dogs and horses put more people in A&E - but let's not let the facts get in the way of a documentary.
Has anyone asked how many kids die while being looked after by grannies?
I think you'll find that dogs are not the biggest risk when grandparents get left to cope.
But are we ever likely to see a Death Row Grannies documentary? or A Dangerous Grannie Act?
I am a mother.
I am a dog lover.
My son is now 11 but I would never, ever have put my son in that situation when he was less than eight - and I certainly wouldn't entrust him to someone who didn't agree with me. And it wouldn't matter how nice the dog or how well brought up. Stairgates are great at keeping dogs and kids apart.
I do feel very sorry for their loss, but surely it is time to grieve and contemplate how this could have been avoided rather than mount an ill-thought out knee jerk reaction campaign.
Would they put a parent on the sofa at BBC Breakfast whose son had wandered out of the front door and been run over? Would they let that mother say that all cars must be made of sponge so this never happens again? Or would they think perhaps granny should have kept her son from danger when she asked her to babysit and that mum really needed to accept that painful fact and allow herself to grieve.
And would the muzzle-every-dog-all-the-time campaign have resulted in a sofa position today if it wasn't to plug a BBC documentary showing later today?
Using a mother's loss to boost ratings.
It's a cynical old world.
And to have a woman calling for more dog legislation who claimed to have not even known about the already existing Dangerous Dogs Act. If the DDA didn't work why did she imagine her brother would have complied with a muzzling order?
Here's the press blurb...
Death Row Dogs looks at the growing problem of illegal fighting dogs and “status dogs” on the streets of Britain. Despite being banned in the early 90s, pit bulls have become the dog of choice for criminals and irresponsible owners; sentences are lower than for carrying a knife or a gun but the results can be just as severe. However the problem isn’t just confined to pit bulls, injuries caused by dogs are at record levels and rising. Sadly fatalities are not uncommon.
Pitbulls were one of the named breeds banned by the 1991 Dangerous Dogs act – but the numbers being bred and crossed with other, legal breeds like Staffies and English Bull terriers is on the rise – making the job of tracking them down, even harder…
This film gains access to the work of the West Midlands Police Dangerous Dog Unit led by PC Keith Evans, as they try to tackle the growing problem. These officers have the unenviable task of rounding up the area’s dangerous dogs and taking them quite literally to dog death row, closely guarded kennels where the animals await destruction. We see raids on high profile gang members, crack dealers, a suspected fighting dog ring and a mother who keeps a pit bull for protection. Under current law the police sometimes have to destroy a friendly sociable dog, as they are prevented from rehoming and let the potentially violent ones go free.
We also follow the tragic story of one family whose toddler son was killed by an out of control dog. How did it happen? Could it have been prevented? And how have the family dealt with the shocking trauma of such a brutal death?
The film explores why dangerous dogs like the fearsome pit bulls are such an issue and what is being done to stop the problem getting worse...and the film illustrates that the current legislation is left wanting…
Executive Producer: Paul Hamann
Filmed, Produced and Directed by: Jon Alwen
* Someone here thought I was joking about slippers and balloons killing more people than dogs. Here's the book if you'd like to read it.
Dogs are dangerous. And they are more dangerous to children than to adults. Not as dangerous of course, as kitchen utensils, drapery cords, five-gallon water buckets, horses, or cows. Not nearly as dangerous as playground equipment, swimming pools, skateboards, or bikes. And not remotely as dangerous as family, friends, guns, or cars.
Here’s the reality. Dogs almost never kill people. A child is more likely to die choking on a marble or a balloon, and an adult is more likely to die in a bedroom slipper related accident. Your chances of being killed by a dog are roughly one in 18 million. You are five times more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning.
The supposed epidemic numbers of dog bites splashed across the media are absurdly inflated by dubious research and by counting bites that don’t actually hurt anyone. Even when dogs do injure people, the vast majority of injuries are at the Band-Aid level.
Dogs enhance the lives of millions more people than even the most inflated estimates of dog-bite victims. Infants who live with dogs have fewer allergies. People with dogs have less cardiovascular disease, better heart attack survival, and fewer backaches, headaches, and flu symptoms. Petting your dog lowers stress and people who live with dogs just plain feel better than people who don’t.
Yet lawmakers, litigators and insurers press for less dog ownership. This must stop. We must maintain perspective. Yes, dogs bite. But even party balloons and bedroom slippers are more dangerous.
* Someone here thought I was joking about slippers and balloons killing more people than dogs. Here's the book if you'd like to read it.
Here’s the reality. Dogs almost never kill people. A child is more likely to die choking on a marble or a balloon, and an adult is more likely to die in a bedroom slipper related accident. Your chances of being killed by a dog are roughly one in 18 million. You are five times more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning.
The supposed epidemic numbers of dog bites splashed across the media are absurdly inflated by dubious research and by counting bites that don’t actually hurt anyone. Even when dogs do injure people, the vast majority of injuries are at the Band-Aid level.
Dogs enhance the lives of millions more people than even the most inflated estimates of dog-bite victims. Infants who live with dogs have fewer allergies. People with dogs have less cardiovascular disease, better heart attack survival, and fewer backaches, headaches, and flu symptoms. Petting your dog lowers stress and people who live with dogs just plain feel better than people who don’t.
Yet lawmakers, litigators and insurers press for less dog ownership. This must stop. We must maintain perspective. Yes, dogs bite. But even party balloons and bedroom slippers are more dangerous.
31 comments:
Extremely well said
Didn't offend me. I think your right, people just need to learn more about dogs. Stop blaming the dogs!
Didn't offend me!
I couldn't have put it better myself Beverly - stunning piece of writing. This world is over-run with unfit parents who will blame anything & anyone for their own failures. As Ian Dunbar points out in his seminars, the reason the news doesn't feature children killed by their own parents as headline stories in the same spectacular way that children killed by dogs are featured, is sadly because it is so commonplace. In the US, 2 children a year are killed by a dog; 2000 a year are killed by their own parents. It would become as commonplace as the weather report.
What's next? Will they have a long sofa installed on breakfast TV & put all the scum of society on it - then campaign to ban the rest of the world from doing anything on the same basis. The mother who killed her baby? Ok, all women must be sterilised - we need to ban mothers! The Priest who abused young boys? Religion is to be outlawed immediately. The youth who was jailed for knife crime? We must all try to eat with spoons from now on as they are banning sharp cutlery.
We live in a society where there are too many people unwilling to step up and take responsibility for themselves, their own actions & choices, and those who are dependant on them. There are also very few interviewers who are prepared to push for the gritty truth for fear of offending someone. It's just easier to blame the dogs. Makes me furious.
Thank you for a more balanced viewpoint, well expressed, I always ask myself 'Would Jamie Bulger still be alive if his parents had kept a better eye on him?' Dogs & children are a responsibility & a privilege, not a right, not toys.
Not offended at all...a well written article.
Not offended at all...a well written article.
Hear hear!
CLaire
Not offended and well said!I missed this mornings BBC program with Clarissa but did watch The Wright Stuff on C5 which discussed Dangerous Dogs....the first non biased 'anti staffie' program I've watched!!!With the emphasis on RESPONSIBLE dog owners rather than the breeds being discussed-well done C5!!!!!!
I hope you posted this to the BBC, you certainly should. Very, very well said.
More children are killed and injured by their parents and close family (including mum's boyfriend) than by dogs.
My two are the softest dogs but I would never leave them alone with a child - my neighbour's daughter is 8 but she isn't allowed in the house if myself or my son isn't around. I would never forgive myself if anything happened.
"..And our dogs were Beardies, not Pit Bulls."
Would/should the breed make a difference.? So called "Dangerous Dogs" wear all sorts of coats & come in all sizes.
Some Dogs just by the nature of their breed will chase & shake fast moving squealing objects. It's up to us, the owners to know our chosen breed inside out, as well as the nature & temperament of the individual animal.
I see Dog owners more outraged by a Dog on Dog attack than they are by an attack on a child...can that be right ?
It was exactly the point I was making - that no dog should be left with a young child.
Fantastic! Well written and to the point.
Not offended. You put your case forward very well.Cant wait to see the programme tonight.Bound to be feedback from it.Parents need to educate their children in how to behave around dogs, lots of rescue centres will provide educational material to help.
It is using a loss for ratings, and to be honest I would welcome some strict and enforced canine legislation, but lets face it, how the hell can it ever be enforced? Id be ok with dogs on leash unless in designated areas, Id be ok with muzzles being compulsory in parks, but what of the dog that attacks a kiddie at home? what of the numerous 'scrotes' who have dogs for 'protection'? The police cant, and dont have a way of enforcing current leash orders and muzzle orders, so what chance has any legislation got?
Few of the media reports on this case mentioned that the owner of the dog who killed the child had previously owned two other dogs of the same type, and one of those had been killed by the other two. Would you want to have a toddler anywhere near a dog who had already killed another dog? If you owned a dog that had killed another dog, wouldnt you have seriously considered putting it down before it killed again?
Absolutely brilliant!!!
And having had one of his dogs killed by the other two, the uncle of the dead child then went on to breed the two killer dogs, a dog and a bitch, together. Now why does somebody breed two dangerously aggressive dogs together? To produce more aggressive dogs? Not something any responsible breeder would do.
And what did he get when he was sentenced? Just four months in prison!
Well said! Thank you for saying what I've always thought but nobody seems to have the guts to say it, at least not in the media. I didnt see the programme with Clarissa but did catch the mother on BBC tv much earlier this morning saying how she wasnt aware of the Dangerous Dogs Act, well sorry but I find that a little hard to believe. The media coverage of ''banned'' breeds and bull breeds has been widespread for many many years now, did this women not realise that her family owned a Pit Bull & that it was a Bull breed? Just because of her imcompetance at keeping her children safe why should my dogs be muzzled? My oldest dog is 11 years old, has never bitten anyone in her life and has grown up with children from the age of 8 weeks - why should I muzzle her? She isnt a danger to anyone. My children were always supervised around the family dogs, the dogs were always supervised around the children and we've lived as a family with dogs for over 20 years without any of our children being bitten or our dogs biting anyone. Is this luck or is it sensible management of children and animals together? I feel this mother needs to take more responsiblitiy for what happened to her son, tragic as it is, not blame every dog in the country.
Sorry but its not the dogs fault nor the bread of dog that makes any difference!
Its the owner's' that make ANY BREAD of dog they way they are! We have 2 staff's (use to have 3, but the mum died a couple of years back from old age), anyway, all of them are great friendly dogs which have grown up with small children in the family and would never harm them or any other child (or human for that fact).
So that just goes to show that people REALLY NEED TO STOP PUTTING BLAME ON THE DOGS BREAD!!!
Those that do are miss informed and ignorant! Its just the same as singling out a race of religion and saying "he is black so he gunu stab me", which aint right!
Would just like to say thats not a racist comment but a simple example to hit home so everyone will understand that breads make no different, just like the colour of skin dont!
If you think that what breed a dog is makes no difference to its capacity for aggression, why do you think it's only a few breeds that are used to produce fighting dogs?
I wouldnt disagree that the way dogs are raised and socialised can affect their temperaments and behaviour , that there are psychotic dogs as well as psychotic humans, that any breed can throw up the occasional aggressive dog (I've been attacked by a Yorkie),and that some dogs who will attack another dog are not necessarily dangerous to humans, but I still think some breeds/types are more likely to produce dangerously aggressive dogs, and that is why those breeds are used to produce fighting dogs.
ous
While I wouldnt necessarily want to ban those breeds altogether, there could reasonably be a case for more regulation of how those breeds are kept and bred from, a requirement for additional security measures, owners/breeders being licensed to own/breed those breeds etc
Bravo.
Excellent article which I will be sharing. I'll watch the documentary tonight. I really hope the BBC read this, especially the person responsible for editing the balancing footage.
I think you've explained how you feel very well Beverley and I have to say I agree with every single word. There are norms in society that stop us saying how we feel about certain situations. I do think that people who feel guilt when something tragic happens want to transfer the blame onto something or someone else. It's them trying to justify the incident to themselves in an attempt to come to terms with it. I've spent all my life with dogs and I can honestly say I would never leave a child alone with a dog. It's my job as an adult to protect the child but also protect the dog. I'm not looking forward to this documentary tonight...I feel a lot of dogs will suffer because of it. Thank goodness it's not airing during prime time. We can be thankful for small mercies I guess.
Well said Bev, it's about time people took responsibility for their own actions. My children were never left unattended with my dogs and the dogs were always put in another room when friends came to play .
I would never have allowed my children to be left with an unknown dog even if it belonged to a family member.
The comment the woman made about James Bulger was totally out of order.....his mother lost sight for seconds....very easily done! and his killers were two evil pieces of scum that were old enough to know what they were doing. Dont ever blame the mother in that incident, why blame the victims! blame those 2 evil nasty devil kids that should have been drowned at birth!
Breed is not the same as Bread!
Not offended at all. It says everything but in a much more constructive way than I feel I can. Should we curfew all teenagers because there are a some rogue ones terrorising the neighbourhood, courtesy of not being controlled by their parents? Should we murder (put to sleep) someone for their nationality (breed)? No. I can't watch the programme. It makes me too angry to hear such bigotry. There are bad dig owners - we know that. There are bad parents - we know that too. Why Is it ok to judge one by the minority and bit the other?
But who should educate people as to the right kind/breed of dog for them or indeed if they are or are not suitable to have any kind of dog? I cant see the RSPCA making a good job of this, TV prgrammes have dozens of trainers curing problem dogs, but none show how those choose a dog in the first place and why they might of been better not taking on a dog, the problem in society is not helped by TV/press who show others who use these dogs as weapons or status badges which then let other fools think its also a good idea to have, the modern culture of drugs and violence has been shown bythe media to be "part of modern life" and in a twisted way acceptable!
Spot on!
No one wants to take any responsibility for their own actions these days. I work in insurance and it's quite astonishing when people have reversed into a post/garage/parked car, that they blame the object rather than accepting they were not paying attention!
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