I've had dogs that range from terrier/lab mixes to my current pair of mismatched hounds. None of them ever looked at a kid sideways past thier puppy years. At the same point, what's unsupervised? I wouldn't leave my 2 year old alone with my beagle becuase he likes to chase him with large trucks/toy shopping carts and such. The dog runs and I stop it, but if he cornered the dog and really put it in a position where it was getting hurt, who knows? My 3 kids alone with the dogs, sure. The toddler by himself for more than a moment or two out of earshot, not so much. Dogs are great animals, and I love them being there to help me keep an eye on my brood, but put a hurting on or scare them and they're still animals. At the same time every dog I've ever owned has been bodyslammed by small kids at one time or another, most were tolerant, some loved it. My second daughter used to nap with her head on the terrier/lab. I think the big thing is to know your dog and be honest with yourself about what you have. Too many people blindly have faith in their animals.. and their kids for that matter.

Little girl next door got bit in the face 2 days ago. Five years old, red head, cute as a button. Loose dog.

No one's dog ever bites, except for the 1000 emergency room visits per day. 77% of dog bites are to freind or family of the dog owner.

"When a child less than 4 years old is the victim, the family dog was the attacker half the time (47%), and the attack almost always happened in the family home (90%)."

http://dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html#Childrenfrequentvictims

The responsibility lies neither with the dog nor the children but rather with the owner.

I agree with rock rat. My oldest granddaughter was doing nothing with the dog (toy poodle) when the dog walked over and bit her in the face bad enough to draw blood. The dog was part of the family and we think jealous of the attention the new baby gets. The dog was moved to My daughter's in-laws house and is not allowed around the baby anymore.

Certain dogs, yes. Others, no. But unintentional reaction bites can happen, especially with high strung dogs.

Have to tell you a bit more about my old Newfy again. I went to the Detroit Dog Show, biggest in the world, trying to find a dog that would be great with kids. A half dozen neighbor kids were always in and out of my house and yard - I think their parents sent them over to get them out of their hair. The Newfies caught my eye because kids were cuddling up to and crawling all over them (75 Newfies were at the show). The dogs all seemed to love it. That made up my mind.

Not sure if I told this story before - A neighbor brought her newborn over and laid her on a blanket in the drive. Beau, all 175 pounds of him, came bounding around the house and spotted the baby. He ran over, stopped about a few feet away, got down on his belly and crawled toward the baby. When he got a couple of feet away he rolled over on his side, and with his head down on the blanket pulled himself up to the baby, then licked her toes. Everyone was a stunned. The mom cried. I trusted him, and so did others, alone with many kids.

The question is about gun dogs, not cockers or chihauhau or poodles. Case studies show these three breeds will bite children.

I will not trust my labs, as kind and obedient as they are, alone with kids. Maybe you sense what I'm about to say. When I'm gone, the authority in their lives leaves when I leave the room. That certain connection is gone. There is a noticeable change, have you seen it, or been told about it from someone close within the family structure?

oh and he was a 120 LB lab

My Lab is fine with little kids. Once they start looking like gangbangers in a Walmart parking lot, the game changes. He has tried to bite a couple of adults who were shifty loking characters anyway.

I think bj264 sums it up nicely. You have to know the dogs and the children or there is no possible basis for that trust. My example of my soon to be 3 year old who is being taught better, but he's also still at an unpredictable stage in life. I was horrified 6 years ago when one of the neighborhood kids and mother came to the door and the 8 year old child grabbed my 10 month old wiemer/lab by both ears and pulled it's face into hers. (miss that dog, my only loss to a car). Dog handled it well. I quickly intervened then looked at the child and her mother "what happened to her face?" as I then noticed the transparent tape and stitches. "My brother's shepherd mauled her on Saturday. We've known that dog for years, no explaining it." That kid was never right, and I didn't particularly like my daughter associating with her, but the mother, who'd just spent a day in the emergency room while her child recieved what I believe was something like 60 sutures from scalp to jaw on both sides of face, and then watched as her daughter pulled the same stunt obviously wasn't all there either. I trust my dogs if treated as we all are aware they should be or I wouldn't own them. I don't trust people, and that includes my own toddler, who's just beginning to pass "smart dog" intelligence himself.

my lab has never gotten aggressive with kids but will warn unknown adults when they come around. regardless of the animal, you just have to be careful.

I think that my dog is the best baby sitter in the world. He will run around the back yard with the kids for hours and then lay down with them a take nap.

Gone are the days where you could bring a unaltered puppy to a school or daycare to socialize a puppy and educate the childeren.
As to the question,I don't trust any child around a good dog.Especially redheaded childeren with orange and white Brittanys.Either one will forget who is playing with who.

My parents had a rot when I was younger. She was VERY well bred, and trained. She won several obedience trials in the lowcountry when she was just 6 months old. I used to beat her in the head with a hammer until she tired of it. Then she would take the hammer from me and hide it giving her a few minutes respite. On a side note, she was a great retriever except she mangled most of the doves she brought back.

My dog is fine around children.