Boy, 9, savaged by dog at home

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#1
To me, this just sounds like a stupid kid who was probably
teasing the dog.

Otherwise, what kind of idiot sits on their fence
and dangles their feet into their neighbors yard when
they know they have a dog?
Clearly the parents where not watching the child
and they are to blame, not the dog.

A SYDNEY boy is recovering from surgery after being attacked and mauled by a dog.

The nine-year-old was sitting on a fence in the backyard of his home at Tregear in Sydney's west on Friday with his feet dangling into a neighbour's yard.

“It is believed the boy was attacked by the dog around the legs and feet,†a police spokesman said.

“He sustained cuts to his legs and tendon and ligament damage and has undergone surgery in hospital.â€

Police said the attack was being investigated by detectives and council rangers who may recommend that the dog be destroyed.

Channel 7 identified the dog as a female American pit bull, named Sugar.
Nice to see the paper did not try and dramatize the breed in there Title this time though.

found here
 

bubbatd

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#2
More stupid parents !!! I hope that they don't blame the dog !!!!
 
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#3
Descriptions are always misleading. Just like the kid who got chewed up by our dogs almost 10 years ago was said in the court report thingy to be "helping us in the garage." In reality, she had been told to go home, and decided instead to scream at the top of her lungs and go running into the garage while the dogs were looking out from behind the screen door to the house. For some reason I doubt that this kid was just sitting benignly on the fence, enjoying his day.
 

bubbatd

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Baham .... fill us in !!! That must have been horrible for you !
 
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#8
Baham .... fill us in !!! That must have been horrible for you !
Yeah, it was pretty yucky, and not something I'd ever want to deal with again. The short version is I owned two dogs that had been undersocialized and poorly bred, and they didn't like the neighbor's daughter. Kid was always hanging around, making trouble, not watched by her parents in spite of our requests. She would do things like squirt the hose at our dogs, stand outside the window and tease them, get right up next to the fence and drive them nuts. (I always stopped it when I saw it.)

One day, she was hanging around, we told her to take a hike, instead she started screeching and ran into our garage. Dogs were watching out the door, started barking when they saw that, and one of them jumped up and hit the latch. Girl turned to run, tripped on her baggy pants, fell on her face on the concrete, and the dogs got her. She ended up with a split on her face where she hit her head on the concrete, and a bite on her arm and foot. Our dogs were seized and euthanized, and we were sued for $100K. (Insurance settled at $75.) Her mom was driving a nice Corvette after that, and thankfully they moved shortly after.

I have a lot of regret from those days. I was 18 and had never experienced anything like that. It kind of dimmed my opinion of "protective" dogs, and also backyard breeding. Those dogs existed because we'd bred them -- they were a Pit Bull/Akita mix and Pit Bull from the same litter -- and they were unsocialized because we allowed it. The factors which led up to the attack were arguably not our fault, or at least not all our fault, but we should've done better.

Its just one of those ugly things in my resume that I don't like to talk about unless it can help somebody else not to make the same mistake.

ETA: The girl is a teenager now. And ironically, she loves Pit Bulls, and wants to start a rescue. She came up to me a few years back, and we had a moment of closure, which was nice. It seems like she grew up with some kind of sense in spite of her parents, and in spite of what happened to her.
 

Paige

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#9
Baha at least you grew from it hun. That sounds awful.

I just... never know what to say.
 

Lilavati

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#10
Just to ,make a point, I suspect you are right that the kid was not sitting on the fence enjoying the sunshine . . BUT

why his parents let him sit on a fence that high: I'm average height for a woman, and my legs would dangle if I was sitting on a four foot, or even three foot fence. So just saying his legs were dangling gives no idea of how high the fence was. (I didn't see the height given)

I sat on fences all the time, including boundary fences, as a child, and no one thought anything of it (though, admittedly, my legs were usually on MY side of the fence).

Maybe the kid's parents weren't home . . . or were home but not watching him. Maybe parents should watch their children at all times . . . though how they are supposed to do that, and whether its a good idea, is another question. But frankly, I was allowed out of the house, pretty much alone, on our own property, at that age, and I really wouldn't think twice of letting my kid (if I had one) play out in the yard while I was, say, working upstairs.

The kid could have provoked the dog. The parents might have told the child not to do that. There might have been problems before and the parents never corrected the dog. There are all sorts of ways the kid or his parents could be at fault.

But saying the parents are bad because their child was sitting on a fence sounds like 1) the need to blame someone, and 2) the overprotective, smothering culture of extreme risk avoidance that I am convinced is ruining the current generation of children.
 

smkie

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#11
you could think your watching all the time and there will always be that one time. I don't think there is a parent alive that will say differently, one time they do something that shocks us because we thought we WERE watching. A dog should be socialized, and trained, and should not bite the neighbor children, even if they were sitting on the fence. IF the dog is not a hundred percent with children, they should not live where children are likely to be. OR the fence should be raised to a height of safety and beware of dog signs posted.
 

darkchild16

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#12
Oh im not saying that a kid should be watched 24/7 god knows i wasnt but I also had some common scense something this kid is obviosuly laking. I mean come on who goes out and thinks (Lets dangle my feet in front of this dog in his property) now me. I give a dog ultimate respect on his property just as anyone should. SO maybe i worded what I meant wrong but shouldnt the parents have taught the child hey its stupid to do that. I know if some kid came and did that on my property Walker would get excited try and "catch" the dangly object and the kid would get hurt. And I also know the normal height of a APBT and a average 9 y/o boy even on my tiny (3-4 Ft.) fence the dog would have been higher up on the boy then his feet and ankles. It would have had to have been a normal size fence thats just logical.
 
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#14
Well either a) the parents did not do their job and warm the child about
interacting with animals b) they did, but the kid did it anyway, in which case he is clearly either very lacking in common sense or was trying to play with/entice the dog.
Either way if the parents where watching it would probably not have
happened.
 

Lilavati

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#15
Well either a) the parents did not do their job and warm the child about
interacting with animals b) they did, but the kid did it anyway, in which case he is clearly either very lacking in common sense or was trying to play with/entice the dog.
Either way if the parents where watching it would probably not have
happened.
Well, if they never warned hi, that's one thing.


Children ARE lacking in common sense. That's why we don't turn them loose on society until they are eighteen years old. As they get older, they develop some common sense (a 14 year old has, or shoudl have, more than a 9 year old), but by and large, people don't have much in the way of sense until, well . . . maybe I shouldn't answer myself there . . .

But children, particularly 9 year old boys, have no sense. They may obey their parents, but their judgement is awful. They may also disobey their parents, because they have no sense and think they know better. If his parents warned him, and he did it anyway. Perhaps his parents were there, thinking, reasonably enough, that their son was playing happily in the yard. I don't blame them for that unless they never instructed him on proper behavior, or KNEW that he would disobey. Nine is old enough to play by yourself close to home.

But didn't I just say that children lack common sense? Oh yes . . you know how they develop it? By experience . . . and some of that experience comes from mistakes. Its unfortuante that this was a VERY harsh lesson (having the dog snap at him and pull off a shoe would have taught it just as well). In most cases, that's the sort of thing that happens . . . there's a close scrape, kid is scared, kid learns something . . about dogs, about listening to his parents, about life.

Do I sound cold hearted? Perhaps. I don't advocate dumping your children in dangerous places or not teaching them safety. But I also realize that unless you lock them in the house and literally never let them out of your sight, they will get into dangerous situations. Most of them will come out of those situations perfectly fine, but healthy and wiser. The alternative, locking them inside and never letting them out of your sight means . . . they'll never develop that kind of experience and common sense . . . at least not until they get to college . . and their parents arent' there, they have a car, and there are all SORTS of trouble to get into that just um . .. aren't an issue with 9 year olds.

I don't know enough about the dog to know if the owner was partially at fault as well . . . and the parent's might well have fallen down on the job. But child hurt by dog does not equal bad parents.
 

darkchild16

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#16
Lila, I was 9 and grew up on a farm as did many kids around me. You know how many of my friends got bit by a dog before 15 years of age. ONE and we were around dogs, bulls, horses, you name it. Most of the dogs in the area were *gasp* APBT's. Did our parents let us play outside alone? Heck at 5 I was allowed whereever I wanted as long as my dad knew where I was going. I could go into town by myself too. We were taught not to go up to strange animals, not to tease animals, basically to respect animals. At 9 I still followed that rule as did most of my friends if not out of respect of our parents but out of common scense. To say a 9 year old boy can not rationalize that hey dangling my feet here in this dogs yard is bad, is to me a load of bull. If they cant figure that out then heck they do need to be under supervision at all times.

I also dont know this dog, owner or kid but I know kids around animals. I know what a responible parent will do because I was raised by one and so were 95% of my friends. And if I didnt live in a city if I lived back where I grew up my daughter would have the same freedoms growing up but I don't and she won't becuase I can't trust people sadly. But to say a 9 year old automatically because they are 9 has no common scence is jsut wrong. If parents go about it correctly a 9 year old has the brains and common scense to know that hey this action is dangerous so lets not do it.
 
A

Angel Chicken

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#17
My son is 8 years old.

Seeing you say that any child at that age has no common sense is highly offensive. Kids at that age have common sense, sometimes they don't use their best judgment, is all.

Both of my boys have been bit by dogs... they have common sense, they know how to act around dogs, but they still have been bitten.

Why exactly? Because they simply pushed the limits when they aren't supposed to. EVERY kid does this.

This child probably did the same. To generalize and say ALL kids that age has no sense, to me, is a little biased.
 

Lilavati

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#18
My son is 8 years old.

Seeing you say that any child at that age has no common sense is highly offensive. Kids at that age have common sense, sometimes they don't use their best judgment, is all.

Both of my boys have been bit by dogs... they have common sense, they know how to act around dogs, but they still have been bitten.

Why exactly? Because they simply pushed the limits when they aren't supposed to. EVERY kid does this.

This child probably did the same. To generalize and say ALL kids that age has no sense, to me, is a little biased.
This was the point I was trying to get at. I perhaps used the wrong language. I did not mean that kids are stupid (in fact, they are quite clever, that's part of the problem) . . . and yes, they perhaps possess common sense . . . they just don't USE it when they should. Yes, the kids know they are supposed to do it . . . and they do it anyway.

I also grew up on a farm, and ran around pretty much loose. I was well taught. I DID get bitten by a dog, and the event was totally my fault. I was 8 and I knew it was my fault. The first thing I said, once I got over the shock, was, don't blame Toby, it was my fault. I don't blame my parents, my grandmother (who's dog it was) or Toby, the dog, for getting bitten. I blame myself, and I blamed myself then. I knew better, but I was 8 and not thinking, and I did what I KNEW I was not supposed to do.

It being the time and place it was, no one thought to blame my parents or my grandmother, or come after the dog. They stiched me up, (it was not a very serious bite) and told my grandmother that if I didn't have any sense, she should keep the dog away from me. (Unnecessary, I treated that old dog with immense respect until they day he died).

I probably would not have dangled my legs in the yard of a strange dog, or a dog known to be mean. (Definately not if it was known to be mean). But I'm quite sure that there are children who have been told better, especially not farm kids, who would do so. I grew up with a deep understanding that animals are generally nice, but unpredictable.

We don't have the facts. But the automatic blaming of the parents isn't fair either. Perhaps they never dreamed he would do such a thing . . . I did lots of things my parents never dreamed I'd do . . . I was their first child, and they were always learning that I could get into the most amazing scrapes . . . There may be good reasons to blame the parents . . . or there may not be. I mostly object to the knee-jerk reaction that if a child is hurt it is automatically the fault of 1) the parents, 2) the goverment, or 3) Society, 4) Whomever was nearby or owned the property. Sometimes it is the fault of one of those. Some times its the kids fault. Sometimes its no one's fault because the kid didn't have the judgement to even know there was danger (or the danger was inobvious enough that most people wouldn't know) and accidents happen.

We can't protect our children from all risks, I'm I'm rather convinced that we shouldn't try. One because a lot of risks are very small risks, and two because I know how I learned. My parents told me not to do things, and sometimes I listened . . . and sometimes they told me not to do something. I did it anyway, and I learned that I should really, really listen to my parents.

I think I had very good parents, who gave me about as much responsibility as I could handle . . . enough that I could learn through experience, but not enough that I could get into REALLY dangerous situations. But that's a tough call for parents to make . . . you may know your kid very well, but luck is a factor.

We simply don't know enough about this situation to judge.
 

darkchild16

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#19
Lila I think we are saying somewhat the same thing but its coming out wrong. What Im trying to say is blame the child but also in blaming the child look at the parents and see what they have taught this child. I know alot of people around here let their kid run up to Walker, Patches, Scirrocco any dog that they see without teaching them that hey this is stupid. You should not run up to a dog.

I got bit by one of our farm mastiffs when i was 6 I decided to kiss the dog on the ear :rolleyes: i was a weird kid. What we didnt know since he was a drop off and never had any ear issues was that he didnt like his ears messed with. And the Dr. did the same thing with me. So I think we are saying the same thing ultimately LOL. I jsut think parents and the child should be hed responsible before the dog.
 

Lilavati

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Lila I think we are saying somewhat the same thing but its coming out wrong. What Im trying to say is blame the child but also in blaming the child look at the parents and see what they have taught this child. I know alot of people around here let their kid run up to Walker, Patches, Scirrocco any dog that they see without teaching them that hey this is stupid. You should not run up to a dog.

I got bit by one of our farm mastiffs when i was 6 I decided to kiss the dog on the ear :rolleyes: i was a weird kid. What we didnt know since he was a drop off and never had any ear issues was that he didnt like his ears messed with. And the Dr. did the same thing with me. So I think we are saying the same thing ultimately LOL. I jsut think parents and the child should be hed responsible before the dog.
Agreed.
 

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