The baby was attacked by two dogs, one a Staffordshire and one a Jack Russell. The baby was being cared for at the time by the grandmother, and the dogs were, according to neighbours, very friendly normally. I'm not sure the term "idiot" applies here - but clearly people need to realise that they should never leave a baby or small child alone with a dog for all the reasons mentioned above.

The story hit home here as it happened just a few miles away but also because a day or so earlier I'd been working on a song with a group of children about the famous folk tale of Bedd Gelert, in which a dog is killed on suspicion of eating a baby when in fact it had been defending the child from a wolf.

Anne