There Are No "Nanny Dogs"

A reader sends in this story straight out of Culpepper, Virginia:

Family Dog Bites Infant 30 Times

May 03, 2012 -- An infant boy remains hospitalized after he was bitten more than 30 times by the family dog, according to the Culpeper County Sheriff's Office. A family member found the Jack Russell terrier biting the infant in the boy's bassinet at about 5 p.m. Tuesday in the family's home in Amissville. The boy, who was less than one month old, was flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church and was in stable condition on Thursday.

Sheriff's deputies said the father reportedly shot the dog to death immediately following the attack..

The dog did not appear to be rabid, deputies said.

This story is about a Jack Russell terrier, but once again I am reminded that the latest craze of Pit Bull apologists is to try to "rebrand" the Pit Bull as a "nanny dog".

No dog is a "nanny" for a baby or small child, ever, and that is doubly true for a "butcher's dog" breed like a Pit Bull, a Rottweiler or a Boxer, or a fighting dog breed like a Staffie, or a hunting dog breed like a Jack Russell Terrier or Dachshund, which is designed to tussle with squealing animals like fox and badger in the confines of underground dirt dens.

The code inside a Jack Russell terrier can explode.  Might it explode inconveniently at times, especially if the dog is not exercised and socialized? Sure.

If you have a Jack Russell terrier that you treat like a goldfish, a hamster, or a house cat, do not be surprised if, at the end of the day, that dog has killed the cat, eaten the hamster, and tipped over the goldfish bowl.

The prey-drive that is within a Jack Russell terrier normally comes out as a love for retrieving tennis balls. You see a huge number of Jack Russells on television and in circuses because a Jack will climb a ladder and leap through fire if, at the end of it, you throw it a tennis ball.  But can other things trigger that code?  Absolutely.

One thing that is likely to trigger prey drive is if an animal the same size or smaller makes jerky movements accompanied by high-pitched sound, and perhaps also tries to run away.  Prey-triggers have nothing to do with aggression or hunger; they are simply a genetic response.  If a fox enters a hen house, it will typically kill every chicken in the place. The fox is not hungry, and it is not angry or aggressive; it is simply overwhelmed by the prey code within which is triggered beyond all control by the jerky movement of the chicken and the high-pitched squawking of the hens. A single fox may kill 100 chickens and not eat more than the heads of one or two -- one reason chicken keepers learn to hate fox!

Which brings me back to the core point: No dog should ever be left with a baby.  This is parenting 101 and it is dog ownership 101.

Dogs are only a few thousand years removed from wolves.  Leave a baby in a bassinet alone with a dog, and it's the Darwin project on heels, and that is even more true (not less true) for dogs with prey drive, such as Dachshunds (a badger dog), Jack Russells (a foxing dog) or Pit Bulls (a pig and cow-catcher dog).

I have written and said this all before as is relates to Jack Russells, and so has the the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America. See here and here and here and here and here and here and here.


Of course, the bottom line is that you can paint up ugly, but you cannot fix stupid. And, let's face it, kids die every day because they have very stupid parents.

Children die when their parents do not fence their swimming pools, and they die when they fall down ungated stairs.  Children die when they electrocute themselves on unguarded wall plugs and they die when they swallow candy-coated medicines that are left on the table. Mothers roll over on babies and crush them, and grannies fall asleep drunk and burn down the house with all their grandkids inside.

And are dogs dangerous too? You bet.  That said, I am pretty sure more people died last year falling into outdoor latrines than died from dog bites.

But does that mean we should be ignoring predictable and avoidable risks?  Does it mean we should be sweeping genetic code under the rug and acting as if it does not exist?  Does that mean we should be discounting all non-fatal bites (the baby bitten by the Jack Russell is mending and has had her ear reattached)?

No. Absolutely not.

And so you will not find any nonsense talk about "nanny dogs" on this blog, nor will you find any attempt to "rebrand" the Jack Russell Terrier.

If you think you might want to get a Jack Russell Terrier, I want you to know what you are about to get, and so does the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America (JRTCA).

No surprises.  No lies.  No "rebranding."  

A Jack Russell terrier is a wonderful dog, but like any dog it is a dog.  

It is not a "nanny" -- it is descended from wolves, and it is a hunting dog.

Treat it with respect, exercise it, teach it, fence it, love it, leash it. And please, do the same for your children.
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