Dogs are family, they are children you need to look after and care for and are totally dependant on you.
I have had several throughout my life and they have all been very special to me. The one i let down was the first, a little jack russel bitch. I got home from work one night for my ex to tell me she had sneaked out the door while the ex was talking to someone and bit a little girl on the face. We took her to the vets because the ex said she had phoned them and they said once she had bit she would do it again (we had 3 kids) so i bowed down and took her. I passed her over to a nurse and she trotted off tail wagging, 10 mins later the nurse came back with a lead and collar and handed it to me saying "she's gone". I will never forgive myself for not being with her at the end and have never let a dog down since when the time came.
To make things worse the girls grandmother came round later that night and said about 7 children had surrounded her patting and stroking (she was a really nervous dog) and that she had actually scratched the girl with a claw and it would be gone in a week (the ex said scarred for life), when i told her she was gone she cried on my door step.
Sorry to hear that. That's terrible.
Not nearly as tragic as your story, but my daughter had three rats (just one now). Her friend came over one day and the mother brought a few smaller children too uninvited and let them in the house to see the rats (without asking us if it's OK first)... Those younger kids went wild running all over the house and the mother wasn't controlling them. One of the kids that came over actually bit my other daughter.
Anyhow... One of the little kids went in my youngest daughters bedrooms and saw the rats and wanted to hold them. She was told no, leave them alone. (They're friendly to us, but scared of strangers).
When no one was looking she slipped back into my daughter's room again opened the cage and grabbed a rat and got bit. (None of the rats have bit anyone before or after, I suspect this girl was just rough and hurt the rat... These rats love snuggling with people they know).
She had to go to hospital for the bite, not sure exactly what they had to do. I imagine stitches at the least. Hospital actually called us and asked a bunch of questions about the rats (I guess to confirm no diseases).
We felt for sure there would be some instructions from the state to have the rat put down and worried about getting sued (this is America after all). Fortunately never heard more about it.
That family was barred from coming back to our house, but didn't need to bar them. My daughter's friend was told she wasn't allowed to speak to my daughter any more because my wife gave the mother a telling off for not controlling her children and letting them run riot unattended in our house.
