PB Attacks Toddler

Tinaweena · Feb 1, 2006

I think the reaction to this article here is a little silly. That dog should be put down, it almost killed a child. All of you people defending it, I challenge you to put your child in a room with that dog, or any other dog with a history of violence. I know I certainly wouldn't.
I would be saying the same thing if it were a lab, or a border collie, or any other breed of dog.
It almost killed that poor little girl, and certainly disfigured her for the rest of her life.

RedyreRottweilers · Feb 1, 2006

Typical typical typical.

Dog in a home, owner not present.

I would bet money the kid was in the dog's face when it happened.

Tragic.

I hope the child recovers ok. Imagine the mental scars. Wow.

Amstaffer · Feb 1, 2006

Tinaweena said:

I think the Dog should be put down but I also think the owner should lose her right to ever own a dog again. That dogs behavior was created by its life experiences and I bet they weren't very good. Its too late for that dog, I just don't want another dog to be raised the same way.

DanL · Feb 1, 2006

There is a followup article today that states they do not know if the child was unattended with the dog. I wonder why the 2 adults who were in the house can't say yes they were with the child or no they were not?

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060201/NEWS/602010363/1006

RedyreRottweilers · Feb 1, 2006

I agree completely, AmStaffer.

Tinaweena · Feb 1, 2006

I agree with that also, that she shouldn't be allowed to own dogs. But I also think all the people in this thread saying "ohh it was probably the little girls fault, poor dog" is kinda strange to me.
The dog was trying to kill the little girl, and almost succeeded it sounds like. It's not the little girls fault for being in the dogs face, if she indeed was, that's what kids do. It's the adults fault for allowing a small child around a dog that had probably exibited aggressive bahviour, since everybody claims that pit bulls don't just "snap and go crazy".

RedyreRottweilers · Feb 1, 2006

Definitely NOT the child's fault.

It's a 3YO for crying out loud. If the child was in the wrong place doing the wrong thing, it's the PARENT's fault.

The dog should be destroyed.

If anyone does NOT think that dog should be destroyed, it should come to live in THEIR house.

Imagine looking every day at a dog who tried to tear the scalp off a toddler, and would NOT RELEASE!!!

No thanks.

If one of my own dogs ever did anything like this, it would be dead before the sun went down.

PERIOD>

Doberluv · Feb 1, 2006

I think a good family dog has more tolerance for things kids do. I've had lots of dogs, GSDs, Labs, mixes etc with my kids when they were toddlers and although watched, there were occasional times where the kids would do something which I corrected them for, but the dogs were all very tolerant and would walk away if they were being bugged. One time my 2 yr. old son squeezed my GSD's muzzle and turned it like a door knob. He didn't know what he was doing. I told him "no." But it had already happened. The dog made a little wincing sound but put up with it.... and then walked away, quite unperturbed. Another time, my son fell off a table onto the soundly sleeping GSD and knocked the wind out of the dog. He grunted, got up, walked across the room and lay down again.....unfettered. Small kids do weird things and a dog with a decent temperament, as well as proper handling, should be able to tolerate a little bit, especially if it is not trapped and free to leave the immediate area. That is my opinion after having lots of dogs with young children. Dogs have hung out with kids for eons, gone fishing with them, gone exploring and parents didn't supervise them constantly...that's a little older kids anyway.

Back then, when my kids were small, not so much was said about supervising kids and dogs. They just kind of went together. My GSD would hang out with my kids without my watching every second. He was their pal and he loved them like crazy....watched over them, put up with stuff, just wagged his tail and was thrilled to be with them...never one iota of resentment or "crossness" of anything to do with those kids and their friends.

This is indeed a tragic thing. I do hope the child recovers OK. I would definitely destroy the dog. It is unfortunate but simply not safe.

bubbatd · Feb 1, 2006

Same here,Dober. My Goldens were great with my kids. But, I had to teach them that all dogs weren't as docile.

RedyreRottweilers · Feb 1, 2006

A good sane dog should treat an annoying toddler as it would an annoying puppy. At the MOST a dog might correct a toddler by knocking it down. This is a reasonable reaction to an obviously smaller weaker pack member who is teasing or annoying the dog.

Dogs who have good bite inhibition do not bite like this bitch did. I can imagine the history on the dog:

Bred from idiots who have no business breeding dogs.
Placed at too young an age
No training
No discouraging of mouthing at an early age
No bite inhibition training

Who among you would go off and leave your dog loose and unattended with a family member?

I would NOT.

A very sad situation all the way around. The dog pays with it's life for the mistakes of the humans who caused her birth and raised her. The kid pays with a lifetime of a traumatic memory, and scars.

No winners here.

None at all.

mojozen · Feb 1, 2006

My pb mix is more tolerant than children than i am. My nephews have kicked, hit, and punched the dog in his nose. Most of those times Mojo has just looked at them, gotten up and come to me when called. Granted as I have mentioned on other threads Mojo has a very high pain tolerance, and he likes little kids... So I guess it's just natural for him to be tolerant?

I DO agree that the pb that attacked this child should be put down. If Mojo were to pull something like that I'd be taking him to the vet, because I will not tolerate human aggressive dogs. However, I would not make the mistake of leaving a dog and a child together unsupervised.

I was left alone as a child with my small dogs. However, as my dad has pointed out to me in discussions about dogs and things like this, I demonstrated good animal sense even as a little kid. I knew not to run at any animal screaming, nor hit them randomly... soft voices, gentle voices and movements. Maybe my brothers and dad taught me this due to living on a hobby farm... i don't know and dad doesn't remember anymore....

But yeah, I gathered that the mom of the child and the dog owner were different people. And there does seem to be some confusion on if the mother was present in the room at the time of the attack... based on the second article posted.

I guess, everyone is at fault here. There was a lot of things that *could* have been done to prevent the attack. If it was known the dog wasnt familiar with kids, then it could have been put in another room or crated while it's owner was away. If the child hasn't been taught how to handle dogs then she should have been watched like a hawk... and not left alone even for a second.

It's tragic. It's unfortunate. And it brings up a lot of arguements that always come up with these incidents. We as dog owners will probably be arguing about them until either us or dogs go extinct...

And that's just the way things are.

PFC1 · Feb 1, 2006

bubbatd said:

Same with my BMD and my nieces and nephew. I make it a point to tell them that although they can hug him, and pet him, and play with his teeth etc., they can only get away with that because he is so tolerant and loving of kids, and that they should never try that with any other dog. It is so easy for kids to think that because they can behave a certain way with one dog, they can do that to any dog. Of course, even though he is so tolerant and loving, I moniter the situation PERSONALLY (I don't pass this job off to their mother or my in-laws or even to my spouse) to make sure 1) the child does nothing too unacceptable, 2) that my dog is having a good time, and 3) that nothing happens.

Frankly, I monitor my dog to make sure he is using good manners, which is an even higher standard than just making sure he doesn't eat the kids. Thus, it requires even closer attention. I want to make sure that everyone enjoys his company, and that he's not being a pest. I can't imagine just ignoring the situation completely.

pitbulliest · Feb 1, 2006

mojozen said:

That doesn't sound too good...

what are they doing hitting, kicking, and punching a dog in the face?...I hope they were disciplined never to do that again to a dog...regardless of how tolerant it is...

rosebud* · Feb 1, 2006

any good parent, of a dog or child, will know not to leave a child alone with a dog no matter what. They say there was no history of violence with this dog, but that isn't true. dogs aren't like humans they don't bite just for fun. Parents don't hear the warning signs, the growl, the dog moving away from the child. My dog, Oreo is an extremely tolerant dog, despite her upbringing. she was hardly ever around kids and beaten by her first owner. But if she doesn't like what is going on near her she gets up and moves away as far away from the action as possible. She has never bitten anyone but I still wouldn't let her be alone with my kids. I can't protect either of them if I am not there to listen to the warning signs. IMO you need to move the child away from the dog when they give you the signal that they don't like it. Most people yell at the dog to stop, then wonder why the dog attacks later. More than likely the mom stepped away from the living room for a moment and that is when the attack happened

mojozen · Feb 1, 2006

pitbulliest said:

Their parents are useless. My brother, their dad, was in the room with the boys when they kicked and hit Mojo. He started to tell them not to do it, but didn't actively do anything to a. correct them or b. stop them when they attempted to do it again. I called Mojo out of the situation and told my brother he was "useless. And if you don't want those kids getting bitten they need to learn how to treat animals."

My niece was the one who punched Mojo in the face, but she was at best a year old and didn't hit that hard. Mojo licked her fingers after she did it, and wagged his tail at her. I think he knew she was a baby and didn't know any better. Her Mom, also useless, started to laugh at first about how "cute" it was.. and I told her the same thing "Teach your kids how to handle animals. I'd hate to see them get bitten."

She asked me if I was threatening her? I said no merely doing MY duty of a responsible pet owner and aunt making sure the kids are educated properly...
And she tried to throw the fact I chose to bring a pit bull into the family when there were children present... I just told her, "My dog has a high pain tolerance. Not all dogs do... besides he's not bitten you or them... but they have hurt him. Ask yourself... which needs to be educated more?"

She didn't get it. Children will be children... dogs are the ones who should watch out. Or some such nonsense like that.

gaddylovesdogs · Feb 1, 2006

My dogs all love kids, but I never leave them alone with young children. When my niece and nephew where here, my lab let my nephew sit on her and my niece crawl over her. The only thing I'd be worried about her doing to them is stepping on a foot or two. My terrier mix loves children and will put up with almost anything, but she does have a limit and terriers can be snappy. I think it's extremely important to teach kids to respect aniomals.

LuvableLabs · Feb 1, 2006

Maybe I didn't make this clear in my other post now that I look back at it today, but I do feel that the dog should be put down. I feel any dog that is capable of putting someone in the hospital should be put down since unfortuantely something is mentally wrong with it.

Do I feel that this was the dog's fault? NO! Do I feel this was the child's fault or the mother's fault? NO! Do I feel this was the owner's fault? YES!

Here's a little story of what really gets me mad...

Midnite is a sweet dog to people she knows, she can get a little voicey with people she doesn't but as long as you know how to approach a strange dog (don't look her straight in the eye) Midnite will be your best friend. My nieces when they were younger would sometimes bother her and she would gently put her mouth on them to warn them.

But one day my grandmother had fallen in her apartment which was right downstairs from ours and my mother and I had to run down there to help her. My older niece who was probably 6-7 at the time stood upstairs with Midnite who was about 2 years old at the time. Vicky was told a hundred times that Midnite had an ear infection and to not touch Midnite's ears. A few minutes later Vicky came running downstairs screaming, cry and holding her finger that was bleeding. Midnite had bitten her and for the first time ever broken the skin! I was in shock! We cleaned Vicky's finger up and what we thought was going to be this huge puncture was only a scratch. Midnite of course was vaccinated so that eased our mind a bit but now we thought we had a kid aggressive dog on our hands.

Turns out later that day Vicky explained to us that she had been playing with Midnite and yanked on her ear. Midnite yelped and bit her. Let's just say after that Vicky learned her lesson and even though at times bothers Midnite (Midnite will still to this day mouth a hand but never bites down) knows when enough is enough.

Should my dog have been put down? Some would think so. Her father tried to tell us that we needed to put her down. A friend of mine has a cocker spaniel who was sleeping and a little girl because the parents weren't watching her she ran over and pounced on this sleeping dog and out of being startled he bit the little girl. It was the size of a paper cut, but the family is still trying to sue.

Stuff like that gets to me when the child gets a "boo boo" that he/she could have gotten falling off a bike yet the parents want to make a big deal out of it because a DOG did it!

Now this on the other hand is unacceptable and the dog should be put down. Do I feel sorry for the little girl? Of course. But you can't tell me not to feel sorry for the dog as well because I do.

Fran27 · Feb 1, 2006

I hate when that stuff happens. Everyone blames the dog and it's never anyone else's fault. WRONG.

Clearly, as everyone said, the owner is at fault, and I agree that the dog needs to be put down, but because of what the owner did to her. But, even if she was in the room, the mother is also to blame IMO. You don't leave a young child next to a dog who isn't used to children, whether you are there or not. You need to supervize closely. So, unprovoked, that's BS. The dog just wasn't socialized with children, and the mom let her child too close.

mojozen · Feb 1, 2006

LuvableLabs - you make many good points. People don't want to hold those who are accountable accountable and just want to lay blame. The owner of this dog is at fault, not the child... although if the mother truly WASN'T in the room at the time then she could also be held at fault for not watching her kid... But you do have a good point with your story.

Also the dog has been put down according to the second article...

Amstaffer · Feb 1, 2006

My well socialized Sal and Athena are wonderful with children. Historically Pit Bulls have always been wonderful with kids....

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