I know I'm going to get flamed for this , but I really am very upset and need calmed down. I ,obviously, childmind, and I also have a dog. The dog is kept in the kitchen when mindees are here, and occasionally they will ask if dog can be brought into living room for them to stroke,a nd I do occasionally do this, supervising (holding dogs collar, etc) all the time. Mindee1 is obsessed by animals and often disappears from living room to go and strok dog on his own, despite being asked over and over again not to, I immediately go and get him and explain again that he cannot go to kitchen door to stroke dog without me being there to supervise - not because I think dog is dangerous, but because all children in my care are looked after by me and keeping the dog seperate is a requirement of my registration.. Anyway today he managed to open to gate into kitchen and ran after the dog. He then, after being talked to by me, went away, 5 minutes later he was back, on other side of gate,and I was in the kitchen, the dog was sitting beside (I was opening bisuits) me. I saw mindee1 lunge towards the dog and heard the dog growl, then mindee said dog had bitten him. I was watching at the time, (because I know of midnees obsession with animals and how he tries to suffocate them with cuddles) and the dog growled but didn't bite. I am 100% sure of that.
There were no bite marks anywhere on his hand or arm, I had a good look. However he was crying that he'd been bitten. I definately didn't see the dog bite him. I was standing next to the dog and was looking at him as I knew mindee was there,a nd knew what mindee was like. There is a cut on his hand, on the back below his fingers, but it defiantely doesn't look like a bite mark, more like he's cut it on a knife!(IYSWIM) and now I am really upset. I have policies in place for the dog and how I am managing it, it's never alone with mindees, never in thesame room unattended etc.I've had it for 4 years and minded 2 under 5s who crawled everywhere and they never were bitten. I minded for 10 year siwth 2 dogs and no child was ever bitten nor claimed they were.
I don't know what's happened, if he got his finger stuck trying to open the gate, or he's banged it, but he is adamant that the dog bit him. I don't know what to do. I have filled in an incident form, and have explained it all to the parent who picked up. Do I need to let OFSTED know?
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