I'm not sure if my story will help you or not, but here goes, anyway.

We found a stray cocker (approx 6 yrs old) who tested positive for heartworms. We spent the $500-$600 it took to make him well again, and I was committed to keeping him because when we found him, it was obvious that "my" little boy had had a really rough life, and I wasn't going to leave his future to chance. The first couple of times we took him to the vet, he growled and tried to bite everyone but me. The vet said he appeared to be a fear biter, because at home, he was the perfect angel. I quickly grew (too?) attached to him, and his recovery from the heartworms went smoothly and quickly.

About a month later, after he was feeling a lot better, I left to take my oldest daughter to school. Opus (the stray) and the rest of my kids were still asleep. I was gone no more than 20 minutes, and when I came home, I realized this would be one of the worst days of my life.

Seems my youngest daughter (12 at the time) woke up, and let Opus outside. He did his business, came in, and laid down on the floor at the foot of her bed. She leaned over to pet him, and he took a bite out of her face. He latched on about 1/4 inch below her left eye, and left a big mark on her right cheek. She will have a scar on her cheek for the rest of her life.

My daughter wants to be a vet when she grows up, and is a bigger animal lover than I am, so I know she did nothing to warrant this attack. After we both stopped crying, she told me she still loved him, and wasn't mad at him for what he did to her.

Opus was put to sleep later that day. (May 23, 2001) I was with him, and held him as he went to sleep. My daughter wanted to be there with him as well, but I wouldn't let her. She had been through enough that day.

The point to all this is...be careful. If anything happens to your child, you will never be able to forgive yourself. Trust me, I know.