You are absolutely right, it is misleading. Really I think the real truth of the mater lies somewhere in between " should never swim in your pond" and "perfectly safe", however you convinced me in your last thread that it is ok to take an extreme viewpoint for,,, emphasis,,, shall we say, no mater how misleading it may be. If I'm going to get "punished" for doing so, so be it, I can take it. An about the assumption that all these swimming ponds don't have fish in them, guess again. Here is a excerpt from one of the articles : "No blue tiles and chemically treated water for these folks. They much prefer to swim in natural ponds surrounded by colourful aquatic plants and, in the case of Heidersdorf, whose pool was designed and built by fellow artist Sylvain Racine, a handful of beautiful koi. "Over the years they have become very friendly," says Heidersdorf, a painter who own La Palette Gallery in Beaconsfield. "They swim alongside me." I know some people in this forum don't think it's safe to swim in backyard ponds, and even go to the point of trying to forbid others to speak of it, but the truth is lots of people swim (or at least wade) in their backyard ponds with no ill effects. The links in this thread show that the trend goes beyond just the occasional dip, that people are designing the ponds for the purpose of swimming. Are these ponds totally safe? Truthfully there is no way of rendering any body of water (natural or man made) totally safe and consistently free of pathogens and harmful amoeba, but does that mean we should never swim in them? It's sort of like driving on the city streets and highways. Are they safe to drive? No it's not completely safe, there is always some sort of danger out there ready to harm or kill you, but do we drive anyway? for the most part I think most of us do. I guess that the decision lands on each individual to make that assessment based on his own individual, and hopefully, properly informed choice. I do know that there are people out there who have never swam before in there lives and have always avoided the water like the plague. So maybe that has something to do with the differing opinions in this forum. Personally, in my childhood I swam just about daily in the local lakes and streams. The worse thing I ever got was swimmers itch, but I learned how to avoid that by drying off as soon as I got out of the water. I did, for the most part, avoid stagnant ponds, only jumping in once in a while to grab a turtle or a frog.

Certainly looks like a Fishtail (Caryota mitis). They do form a pretty dense clump. I've not had the roots of mine get into any mischief. They're probably a lot less messy than a lot of other palms. The fronds stay on for a long time. They are invasive though, birds carry the seeds around and spread them.

In Junior High I had to take a shower with the group...no swimsuits, nothing and we had to drop our towel get in and get out. The idea that showering (in the group) promotes cleanliness is way off base as I experienced it...NO one even used soap. We were too intent on getting out clothes back on. And YES the gym teacher stood at the shower and made sure everyone got "wet"...in fact she had a clipboard to make off names as we went in. So, part of our grade was whether or not we "got wet." No one learned anything about being clean...in fact one girl in school smelled terrible every day, and the required "shower" didn't help at all. It was embarrassing to every one of us, and at the worse possible time in our lives, when our bodies were changing. We teach our children to say "NO" to anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable, yet some states still "require" showering in the nude with your classmates?!? For an example I once worked at a high end clothing store in Calif. where instead of individual dressing rooms, they had one big dressing room. Often when I took someone back to try on clothes, they were shocked and left (without buying anything) rather than take off their clothes in a 'group setting>" These were women who could keep their underwear on and they were still uncomfortable. So why wouldn't our children also be uncomfortable? I was and many student are too. Someone said it didn't "hurt" them...well, how do you know? How do you measure that? If it hurts one child, and it certainly looks like a lot more than one, why force something like nudity? I think children are vulnerable and easily influenced and most are also very self conscious. Once again it goes back to how you were raised and I think it's definitely a topic that requires individual views, but no one has the right (in my eyes) to force a child into being naked.

Your first obligation is the safety of your family. It sounds like the aggression is not only food-related situations. From your post it sounds as if the aggression is not something that only occurs infrequently. It doesn't really matter why Belle is exhibiting this behavior, what matters is what you do about it. Scolding her and sending her to her crate is not going to stop the behavior. Life is hard and you have to do what is best for everyone. Perhaps Belle would be better off with an owner who lives alone. I have an old gal who has "bitten" two children at my home. She bit the first at about age 6 when she began having problems with pain from hip dysplasia. These two incidents were precipitated by the kids teasing my old gal (still not acceptable). Old gal has never broken the skin on a person, she just gives a warning bite when she's had enough. She has never shown agression toward myself, DH or my daughter. If she had shown any aggression to my daughter, she would have been rehomed. I would not put up with that worry of not knowing if and when she would bite again. My gal has been with me since she was 3 months old and was rescued by me from an abusive home 12 yrs. ago. We have made every accommodation so as not to put any child at risk. We have locked old gal up when children were visiting, etc. The last incident was about 5 yrs ago. We had a family over for a bbq and swimming in the pool. Old gal knows that when there is company at the pool, she won't be swimming. All 3 dogs were in the yard, occasionally running up and down the fence line while we were in the pool. My friend's son kept putting his arm through the fence gate teasing with old gal. She just gave a bite on the top of his arm. No skin broken, but I was very concerned about the child and my old gal. I feel the parents weren't watching the child, but on the other hand, I should have been in control of my dog. She has never since been in a room with a child unaccompanied. This particular child had a small bruise on his upper arm. I felt as did the child's parents that if my old gal really wanted to, she could have torn the child's arm off before we could be up out of a chair and to the situation. She gave a warning bite and let go. (still not a great scenario) My nephew and neice 9 and 6 have been around old gal since they were babies and they know not to sit on her or tease her. There have never been any incidents with them. It seemed to be a stranger thing. Kids who were not common to our house. I did have our trainer come over and work with old gal after the last incident. This was about 5 yrs ago we started working with her again. We went back to her initial training and started reinforcing her with the common commands, sit, stay, come, etc. The trainer did comment that old gal was picking up on my anxiety about the children visiting and I needed to change some of my behavior when people visited with children. I haven't had anymore incidents, but I will say that the kids are older now that come to the house. There seems to be a problem with a certain size/age children with dogs that bite. They feel threated for some reason. A pack thing apparently as explained by the vet. I don't know how old your daughter is, or your dog (what breed), but I don't think I would keep Belle. You were very lucky that she didn't bite your daughter's face. She may not, but then again, there are no guarantees with a dog that bites. The aggression shown by Belle is directed at your husband and child (living in the house full time). I just wouldn't take the chance. I knew my old gal hadn't shown any aggression toward any of us and has never made any signs of aggression toward any extended family member. I guess what I am saying is - do you want to worry about your daughter's well being constantly? You also have to worry about anytime she may have a friend visit. It is a difficult situation to deal with. If you cannot make it 100 percent safe for your daughter and any other person visiting your home, you need to seriously think about finding a new home for Belle. Have you spoken to a professional about this behavior? There are alot of behavior specialists who you could consult for answers to what is best. I wish you the best of luck. I haven't been exactly where you have been since old gal hasn't ever been aggressive with DD, but I have experienced another parent's anxiety when old gal did her warning bite. Not good.