-> Hi all. I just read something of interest to share.

-> We all know dogs are pack animals. (So aren't people). Well one thing
-> many of us may not be aware of is an adult dog will nip at a younger dog
-> in a way to correct the younger dog's behavior. They regard little
-> humans as small dogs... in the pack ranks.

Cocker Spanials are notoriously dangerous around infants.

-> THIS is why it's not good to leave small children alone with dogs. The
-> dog isn't always being aggressive if he nips the child's face, he's being
-> corrective. The dog will not correct the child if an adult human is
-> about because the (trained) dog regards the human as the pack leader
-> and the pack leader does the correcting.

-> This all reminded me of our dog Gus who grew up with me and my sibs.
-> My youngest brother as a toddler loved to pull Gus's tail, ears - and
-> not too gently. Gus would always walk away and avoid the baby... well one
-> day that baby started to walk. He toddled onto Gus's tail. Gus whipped
-> around and bit the baby. Bye bye Gus. :(

-> Well it's a sad thing when this happens. Oh the baby was being watched
-> but he got out of sight for a few minutes and that's all it takes.
-> That's why I always think it's not good to have little kids around
-> dogs at all, especially high strung dogs as Gus was.  Bites are not
-> always the dog's fault but the dog always gets blamed.
                                                         
Hurt a child in my Puit Bull's vicinity when I'm not around
and it won't be the kid that's in deep dodo.

I've witnessed Spanky walked when an adult struck a kid.
He drew his teeth back and displayed while rendering an impressive
snarl.
While he did not advance in neither case was the child struck a second
time :-)

That's my boy :-)

I've no idea where he got this behavioral trait from but I'd have no
trouble leaving a child with this dog.

It's the adults that need be on their best behavior as regards to the
child.
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