2 year old Killed by Pitbulls

[RDB911]

Originally Posted by red98vett

man I just hurt reading stuff like this - what a horrible way for anyone to die and a little baby at that...he had no way of defending himself- ONE dog is bad but 3 ?

Were these family pets or strangers dogs ? We hear too many stories like this and if I had young children I'd never have a potentially dangerous dog as a pet.....so many think they're safe because the dogs are 'good dogs' but at the same time -they can turn quickly and the pack mentality sets in

Bless that poor child. How sad.

I just heard about this on the news. Very sad.

They had a total of 5 pitbulls living in their house. Three were in the garage where the boy was attacked. The county limit is three. Neighbor said they never knew this family had this many dogs.

The family member was arrested and facing charges. All 5 dogs were put to sleep.


Here's the story:

Step-grandfather held in boy's mauling death

[red98vett]

wow. My thoughts are that no 2 year old should be unsupervised and someone def dropped the ball here - what a sad story and I'm glad to see they're going after those responsible ......but it won't bring that little boy back.

Seems after what I read they had problems in the past and why would anyone even have FIVE pitts with young children in the home ?

[Ringo1]

That poor little boy. I agree that NO child should be left unsupervised with any dog and certainly not with five pitbulls. How horrible for everyone concerned.

I've read many articles on momentary 'predatory drift' and it scares me.

Those parents will never be able to lives with themselves; can you imagine the guilt?

[red98vett]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

That poor little boy. I agree that NO child should be left unsupervised with any dog and certainly not with five pitbulls. How horrible for everyone concerned.

I've read many articles on momentary 'predatory drift' and it scares me.

Those parents will never be able to lives with themselves; can you imagine the guilt?

I know many love their dogs whether it's pitts or any other breed - but 5 is too many and also - keeping them in the garage may have caused agression

They should feel guilty and while I do feel sorry for them -- I feel sorrier for that little boy who went thru hell before he died. I can't wrap my mind around that - I've been bitten once by a dog who chased me on my bike as a kid and remember well how badly it hurt and changed my 'fear factor' about dogs roaming loose. I don't trust any dog unless on a leash with a responsible person in control - even small dogs. You just never know these days and it can happen in the blink of an eye as we all know.

[BamaFan121s]

Wow...this thread is really stirring up some strong emotions in me this morning. (TGIF!)

Too many good points have been made to quote them all.

In regards to the statement that Labs are the #1 culprits of serious bites, CORRECT. (YorkieMother?) (Don't ask me for my vote on banning them.)

To the person who referenced the size and structure of the dog as being the issue. (nana911) I could not agree with you more!!! If it had been a Yorkie, or a smaller dog, the end result would not be the same. Some dogs are simply larger and more physically capable of inflicting more harm. Obviously, in this case, 3 dogs with access to this child, you have to question poor ownership or the parents, but even with one dog, in a controlled environment, disaster can happen. Even with well trained, family pets, one act of random agression can be disasterous. You never know when something is "off" with a dog. They can't speak to us to let us know that they have an earache or a sore paw.

And chachi I completely agree that no child should be left alone with a large dog unsupervised. I get nervous sometimes when they ARe supervised.

And Villette, in regards to the harbored guilt...would you like me to write you a book to further stress your point?

(Hope everyone has a great Friday...so far, mine SUCKS!)

[red98vett]

Originally Posted by BamaFan121s

Wow...this thread is really stirring up some strong emotions in me this morning. (TGIF!)

Too many good points have been made to quote them all.

In regards to the statement that Labs are the #1 culprits of serious bites, CORRECT. (YorkieMother?) (Don't ask me for my vote on banning them.)

To the person who referenced the size and structure of the dog as being the issue. (nana911) I could not agree with you more!!! If it had been a Yorkie, or a smaller dog, the end result would not be the same. Some dogs are simply larger and more physically capable of inflicting more harm. Obviously, in this case, 3 dogs with access to this child, you have to question poor ownership or the parents, but even with one dog, in a controlled environment, disaster can happen. Even with well trained, family pets, one act of random agression can be disasterous. You never know when something is "off" with a dog. They can't speak to us to let us know that they have an earache or a sore paw.

And chachi I completely agree that no child should be left alone with a large dog unsupervised. I get nervous sometimes when they ARe supervised.

And Villette, in regards to the harbored guilt...would you like me to write you a book to further stress your point?

(Hope everyone has a great Friday...so far, mine SUCKS!)

haha - nope but thanks for the offer ! I dont need the word 'stress' in my life at this point - I think I'm living that word lately - just wish I knew how to UN stress

[red98vett]

Just to add a comment - I know labs are at the top of the list but in all the years I've known labs - they were always the most gentle non agressive dogs I had ever been around - lots of people I knew growing up had one or 2

I never knew until just last year that they are at the top of the list as far as biting.

It's got to be from bad breeding because by nature they're normally the sweetest most laid back dogs.

Can say that about pitts ....but do know a few where I live and they're very sweet - BUT I don't let my girls near them ...it's that fear factor from all the stories we hear.

I dont let my girls around ANY strange dog - things can happen when you least expect it and the end result can easily be tragic if one isn't vigilant about protecting them from the larger dogs that can easily kill them with one shake.

[BamaFan121s]

Originally Posted by red98vett

I never knew until just last year that they are at the top of the list as far as biting.

It's got to be from bad breeding because by nature they're normally the sweetest most laid back dogs.

That's the thing, I'm sure that bad breeding is the cause many times, but you never really know. How do you explain a laid back dog, who's rolled in the floor with a child and been around it for years suddenly turning on that child unprovoked and losing it's mind for a split second? No abuse from the owner, no shown acts of agression in the past. It's baffling, really. Goes back to what chachi said about supervison. And because it's a big dog, it could inflict serious damage...the end result would NOT be the same coming from one of our little ones. And heaven forbid if a dog even MORE capable of inflicting damage... So I completely understand nana's logic on that one.

[yorkie_mama22]

Don't leave your small children unsupervised around any sized dog PERIOD! A small dog could easily take off a lip if they really wanted to hurt a child. A big dog can kill we all know that. It is so tragic and I don't know if everyone in the world will ever learn this lesson!

Not long ago in Canada a young mother (16 yrs i believe) was at home in an apartment/duplex type house stepped out leaving her 2 or 3 week old baby girl in her car seat on the FLOOR! There was another family who lived in the residence but were not home at the time. That family owned two huskies. Well the mom said she stepped out with the grandma for longer then expected and when they came back in the 2 huskies had mauled that baby to death!

It seems like when certain breeds of dogs are in a "group/packed" these accidents occur more often.

It's so heart breaking I couldn't imagine this happening.

I own a bully breed and never ever would I leave my daughter alone with the dog in the house while I step out! Not even with my little yorkies. Kids get stupid ideas sometimes whether it be taunt the dog, pull on the dog, hug the dog, pull the tail of a dog or whatever else. A dog is a dog the only way of defense is biting.

If you can't watch your darn kids and pets don't have ANY!! So many people shouldn't have children let alone a dog!

[yorkie_mama22]

Pitbulls are another topic to me. I do believe strongly it is the the fault of the owners or even breeders. I think genetics plays a big part of it. I personally would never ever own a pit bull. We had our spinger spaniel attacked by a pit bull for NO reason at all when I was a child. I was playing in our front yard with the dog and this boy who lived down the street was riding his bike with his pit bull and for no reason at all that pit bull ran up to my yard and attacked my dog viciously!! My screaming and the dogs yelping caught the attention of the woman across the street who ran over pregnant and my mom ran out of the house pregnant and they had to kick that pit bull off while my mom picked our spaniel up to get her away from the pit. I can't remember how many other neighbors came out but it took alot of people to get that 1 pit bull away. Not long after that incident the pit bull attacked another neighbors dog and severally tore the dogs stomach open!

That pit bull was put to sleep after they went to court. I know the owners were very irresponsible.

I hate to sterotype but alot of "thug" "gangster" type of guys think that pit bulls are COOL for the very reason because they are vicious or "fighting" dogs. THey think it is cool to make these dogs evil. I see it alot around where I live. They put big chains on the necks with weights to make them stronger and beat them up to make them tough. It's sick.

I think another reason these dogs are so popular is because every time I see them for sale they are really cheap!

In my city they are banned. You have to have 1 million liability insurance, the dog has to be fixed, it had to be grandfathered in in order to count. But for some reason they are still being bred.


I know someone who has bred pitbull boxer mixes and has had the dogs deemd dangerous dogs. Yet they were not required to fix the dog??

Very stupid in my opinion.

[chachi]

Originally Posted by yorkie_mama22

Pitbulls are another topic to me. I do believe strongly it is the the fault of the owners or even breeders. I think genetics plays a big part of it. I personally would never ever own a pit bull. We had our spinger spaniel attacked by a pit bull for NO reason at all when I was a child. I was playing in our front yard with the dog and this boy who lived down the street was riding his bike with his pit bull and for no reason at all that pit bull ran up to my yard and attacked my dog viciously!! My screaming and the dogs yelping caught the attention of the woman across the street who ran over pregnant and my mom ran out of the house pregnant and they had to kick that pit bull off while my mom picked our spaniel up to get her away from the pit. I can't remember how many other neighbors came out but it took alot of people to get that 1 pit bull away. Not long after that incident the pit bull attacked another neighbors dog and severally tore the dogs stomach open!

That pit bull was put to sleep after they went to court. I know the owners were very irresponsible.

I hate to sterotype but alot of "thug" "gangster" type of guys think that pit bulls are COOL for the very reason because they are vicious or "fighting" dogs. THey think it is cool to make these dogs evil. I see it alot around where I live. They put big chains on the necks with weights to make them stronger and beat them up to make them tough. It's sick.

I think another reason these dogs are so popular is because every time I see them for sale they are really cheap!

In my city they are banned. You have to have 1 million liability insurance, the dog has to be fixed, it had to be grandfathered in in order to count. But for some reason they are still being bred.


I know someone who has bred pitbull boxer mixes and has had the dogs deemd dangerous dogs. Yet they were not required to fix the dog??

Very stupid in my opinion.

I agree with you parents should watch their children but what if the child slipped into the garage while the parents were sleeping. Thats why I said it will happen as long as parents own potentially dangerous dogs around small children. I know a lot of people do and they may not agree with me but your taking a big risk

[chachi]

Originally Posted by yorkie_mama22

Pitbulls are another topic to me. I do believe strongly it is the the fault of the owners or even breeders. I think genetics plays a big part of it. I personally would never ever own a pit bull. We had our spinger spaniel attacked by a pit bull for NO reason at all when I was a child. I was playing in our front yard with the dog and this boy who lived down the street was riding his bike with his pit bull and for no reason at all that pit bull ran up to my yard and attacked my dog viciously!! My screaming and the dogs yelping caught the attention of the woman across the street who ran over pregnant and my mom ran out of the house pregnant and they had to kick that pit bull off while my mom picked our spaniel up to get her away from the pit. I can't remember how many other neighbors came out but it took alot of people to get that 1 pit bull away. Not long after that incident the pit bull attacked another neighbors dog and severally tore the dogs stomach open!

That pit bull was put to sleep after they went to court. I know the owners were very irresponsible.

I hate to sterotype but alot of "thug" "gangster" type of guys think that pit bulls are COOL for the very reason because they are vicious or "fighting" dogs. THey think it is cool to make these dogs evil. I see it alot around where I live. They put big chains on the necks with weights to make them stronger and beat them up to make them tough. It's sick.

I think another reason these dogs are so popular is because every time I see them for sale they are really cheap!

In my city they are banned. You have to have 1 million liability insurance, the dog has to be fixed, it had to be grandfathered in in order to count. But for some reason they are still being bred.


I know someone who has bred pitbull boxer mixes and has had the dogs deemd dangerous dogs. Yet they were not required to fix the dog??

Very stupid in my opinion.

Oh I meant to quote your other post where you said the child should have been watched around the dog. I agree with you about pit bulls

[yorkie_mama22]

Originally Posted by chachi

I agree with you parents should watch their children but what if the child slipped into the garage while the parents were sleeping. Thats why I said it will happen as long as parents own potentially dangerous dogs around small children. I know a lot of people do and they may not agree with me but your taking a big risk

That's very true and possible but again very irresponisble. Why would you have your 2 year old toddler running around if your asleep? I keep my doors locked and child safety things on the door. My daughter can't get outside, thats a whole different problem. So many things could happen if your child got outside, hit by a car, kidnapped etc.

I have a dog that is on that list but my dog is not left out in my yard or garage. At night she sleeps in a crate locked in our laundry/storage room, along with my yorkies who sleep in a crate too.

Like with my dog, she may be on that list but shes further down past all the pits and similar breeds.

We don't rough house with her, we don't teach her to "attack". And we certainly do not allow any children to get in her face, pull at her or any sort of bad behaviour that may lead to a bite. We are constantly telling my daughter and reminding her NOT to bug ANY of the dogs. Not to get in their face and let them come to you if they would like some attention or be pet.

My bull terrier is a huge suck and if you were to come over the first thing she would do is "talk" to you, wiggle her butt like crazy, and lick your whole face and "bump" you with her nose. Next she would lay on her back and expect you to give her some loving. She's always wagging her tail and looking for loving attention.

The only time I've seen her "aggressive" Or anything is if she sees a small animal like squirrels, rabbits or birds. If you let her off her leash she would be gone chasing them.

We also have a parrot and when we first had her if she saw the parrot she would lick her lips and we could tell she wanted to get him, it was hard to control her. After lots of careful interaction and training her with a muzzle on, we can now have our parrot out and she will not even look at him that way any more. Of course this took ALOT of time and socialzing on our part. I still would never leat my parrot out alone with her but now I can feel comfortable having him on my shoulder without her looking at him like dinner.


I guess my point is, you can have a dog on that list and children. You need to be responsible and you sure has hell need to be careful. It's all on the owners. You can't have your kids wandering outside alone and you can't be leaving the opportunity for something like this to happen.

Again I'd never own a pit bull because of my past experiences but some of the other dogs on that list are a shock to me to be on there.

[Cha Cha]

It should be a no brainer. If you are going to have dogs (dogs in general) you do what you have to do to keep them and children safe from one another. I just don't get why a parent would go to extreme measures to protect their child/ren from a swimming pool, but not a dog. To me, there just is not much difference. They both can be "potentially" fatal. You don't leave a small child unattended around the water for "obvious" reasons, so why would you a dog for the same "obvious" reasons. I just don't get it. I feel so sorry for the child and the dogs because adults failed them both.

[chachi]

Originally Posted by yorkie_mama22

That's very true and possible but again very irresponisble. Why would you have your 2 year old toddler running around if your asleep? I keep my doors locked and child safety things on the door. My daughter can't get outside, thats a whole different problem. So many things could happen if your child got outside, hit by a car, kidnapped etc.

I have a dog that is on that list but my dog is not left out in my yard or garage. At night she sleeps in a crate locked in our laundry/storage room, along with my yorkies who sleep in a crate too.

Like with my dog, she may be on that list but shes further down past all the pits and similar breeds.

We don't rough house with her, we don't teach her to "attack". And we certainly do not allow any children to get in her face, pull at her or any sort of bad behaviour that may lead to a bite. We are constantly telling my daughter and reminding her NOT to bug ANY of the dogs. Not to get in their face and let them come to you if they would like some attention or be pet.

My bull terrier is a huge suck and if you were to come over the first thing she would do is "talk" to you, wiggle her butt like crazy, and lick your whole face and "bump" you with her nose. Next she would lay on her back and expect you to give her some loving. She's always wagging her tail and looking for loving attention.

The only time I've seen her "aggressive" Or anything is if she sees a small animal like squirrels, rabbits or birds. If you let her off her leash she would be gone chasing them.

We also have a parrot and when we first had her if she saw the parrot she would lick her lips and we could tell she wanted to get him, it was hard to control her. After lots of careful interaction and training her with a muzzle on, we can now have our parrot out and she will not even look at him that way any more. Of course this took ALOT of time and socialzing on our part. I still would never leat my parrot out alone with her but now I can feel comfortable having him on my shoulder without her looking at him like dinner.


I guess my point is, you can have a dog on that list and children. You need to be responsible and you sure has hell need to be careful. It's all on the owners. You can't have your kids wandering outside alone and you can't be leaving the opportunity for something like this to happen.

Again I'd never own a pit bull because of my past experiences but some of the other dogs on that list are a shock to me to be on there.

I didnt see a list