When a dog bites a child

[Breanna]

My parent's neighbors have a little dog, I don't know what he is. He looks like some kind of chihuahua mix, only stockier than a chihuahua. Anyway, the neighbor asked if I can drive over there morning and evening from last Friday to this Wednesday to let him out of his kennel. Yes, he is spending five days alone in his kennel. She and my mom actually once had a falling out because of the way she "takes care" of her animals. Last night my mom took him over to the house because she felt sorry for him being alone for so long. He's been to our house before and our family has been over there before. My mom wasn't looking for a moment and heard my 4-year-old brother crying. When my sister looked, his face was bloody with a slice on his eyebrow. The dog had bit him in the face. Now, I know kids can be rough (and should be taught to be gentle) but in my opinion a dog should know to never bite a child. I know he's been cooped up and for that I feel bad for him, but I still think a dog should never bite a child. Any dog I've ever owned has been trained well that absolutely no aggression toward children is acceptable. Maybe I wouldn't feel so strongly if it wasn't my brother, I don't know. But now I need to call the neighbor and make sure his dog is all up-to-date on his vaccines. How would you feel about this situation?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would have to know more about the dog: age, breed mix if known, etc. There are literally thousands of groups and I am not personally familiar with any in that particular area. When you know the breed, you can google "Chihuahua rescue CA", or something like that. "Toy dog rescue CA", etc.  But you can look for rescue groups in your area on Petfinder. There are tons of them in and near Redding. Here's a link: 

http://www.petfinder.com/awo/index.cgi?location=Redding%2C+CA&k...

[Breanna]

I'll check it out, thank you.

[Breanna]

I saw an email that somebody asked how my brother's face is and now I can't find the comment/message. He went to the doctor and the doctor said he could have used stitches but it was too late and it would be fine. It might scar, but he put him on some preventative antibiotics so he won't get an infection. The neighbor's dog is up to date on his vaccines so no worries there. I am going to talk to my neighbor about her idea of rehoming and give her information if she wants it so that she can find a happy home for him. All in all I suppose this was a good lesson learned for my brother. He has been told time and time again not to reach for dog's faces, hug them, etc. He is good when asking a stranger "can I pet your dog?" but I guess when it's around a friend's dog he thinks the same rules don't apply. Lesson learned for everybody!