question about camping with a pittbull

BCSnob wrote:
Other articles indicate reports of bites to young children by small dogs but few reports of small dogs biting larger children. I doubt the biting behavior of dogs changed with child size. I suspect reporting of bites by small dogs diminished because the injuries caused to larger children were less significant. Conversely I suspect small children were more likely to be supervised or kept separate from larger dogs than smaller dogs.

The biting behavior of dogs didn’t change; the reporting behavior of bites changed.

Part of this is a lessening of biting behavior. A small child is more likely to play rough, hit, etc., on a dog than a larger child will. Kids under 5 are still learning interactions with cats and dogs, so there will be more mistakes. People often get the pets once they have kids. If they get the pet while the child is small, the child will often mistreat the pet (because the child doesn't know better). The parents ignore the behavior until the pet strikes back and then blames the pet.

In contrast, people who get the pet when the child is over 5 do much better because the child has been more socialized with animals in other homes. So, the child is less likely to do things that cause the pet to strike back. And if they do, the parent is more likely to acknowledge the child's behavior as the cause.