2 year old Killed by Pitbulls
 

Well, today it happened again here in the SF Bay Area, an innocent little 2 year old boy was killed by 3 pitbulls!! I'm so mad I could spit. I'm sorry, I know it is not politically correct to say but I just have to say it. I HATE PITBULLS!!! No one is ever going to change my mind about them, they are unpredictable and dangerous. On KGO talk radio today the talk show host said that he thinks that if you have kids then it should be illegal to own a pitbull. I really agree. If you are adult and you decide to get a pitbull, then you are consenting to what might happen but a child shouldn't be subjected to the danger. It it like having a loaded gun in your house and you are just waiting for it to go off. It might not be dangerous for a while but then bam, out of the blue they will strike. What do you all think?? I'm sorry about my rant but I feel so sorry for that little boy, he didn't deserve to die like that.

I'm so sorry for that little boy's family. My heart and prayers go to them.
My honest opinion is people need to think about the breed of dog they are acquiring, instead of getting a dog on impulse. Just because a dog is cute, seems manly, or whatever the reason is, is not enough justification to get a specific dog breed. If you're not strong enough, and you don't have the patience to do rigorous training, don't get a pitbull. It's the bad owners fault bit bulls have the bad rap that they do. The same goes for some people that get yorkies. We all know that these cute little faces are a breed of dog that grow attached to their people. They need attention and they need closeness to their humans. Not everyone is capable or owning a yorkie, that's why there are so many in rescues or being re-homed.

A lot of different breeds of dogs require special care and precautions. Whether they are big dogs or small. I don't know the details and it doesn't really matter now as the damage is done, a life is lost, and these dogs will most certainly be euthanized, I imagine.
This is one of the most awful things to happen. My heart goes out to the family.

This is a debate that will never be resolved peacefully. It has gotten to the point that some cities have banned pitbulls from their borders. I don't know the answer.

A lot of people forget that the sweet little dog on "Our Gang" in the movies and on TV, so many years ago was, in fact, a pitbull. That being said. While the pitbull is not the most agressive or the most prolific biter, it does seem to cause the most damage and deaths.

The problem is their physiology. They are built to kill/destroy. That is just the way it is. Their head, teeth, jaws were genetically, over time bred especially to lock on and kill. There is no way for pitbull lovers to get past that fact.

Three yorkies would have nipped that child until it bled and hurt, but anyone around would have been able to stop it immediately. Yorkies would not have been 'locked on'. GSDs who would have done an enormous amount of damage, the child could possibly have been saved because they do not 'lock on'.

Most bully breeds, and pitbulls especially, lock on and it is extremely difficult to get them off before it is too late. Not their fault. Sometimes the owner's are morons and raise them to enhance their natural ''talent''. Sometimes the owner's are good people who have raised a loving pet who for one brief instant went into ''predatory drift'' and the consequences are unimaginable.

An 80something woman was walking her poodle in a small town in our state. Walked past this particular residence frequently. It was apparently a friendly, loving pet pitbull, that had never displayed aggression. Evidently, this poodle did something that set the pitbull off, for a split second, it saw prey and it went. It attacked the poodle and in the process of trying to save her poodle, the pitbull killed the woman. She got in the way of its prey.

All dogs have momentary 'predator drift'. All mine have done it one time or another. It isn't pretty. It is always shocking to see that they really are animals. It lasts a split second and is gone. They've never hurt anything. Never got near anything, thank god. There was a thread on here where a yorkie attacked a little bird and the owner saved it. Her little yorkie saw prey. Kind of like a pitbull looking a 2yr old, and for just a second, seeing it move the wrong way and seeing prey instead of a child.

So sad, No answer.

I would want to see the pictures of the dogs and also the DNA before I started on the pit bull thing.
After reading the book dogs bite but slippers and balloons kill I take new reports of dog bites and the breed it is with a large grain of salt.

I am sorry that a child was killed and it is not ever ok that one even one is lost but blaming a bred of dog as "bad" is just wrong and banning them even worse.

Once they are done banning pit bulls what bred will be next..... in one country that bands dachshunds already. So how long before a yorkie or another small bred gets band.

What bred do we all stand up and go no more banding lets train the owners.

JL

I agree, believe it or not....LOL In my explaining WHY pitbulls are so much more dangerous, I neglected to add, that makes them no less a loving pet than any other breed. Just their momentary lapses are more dangerous. So, if the owners are trained to be a bit more diligent of that, exercise a bit more care. No more than GSDs, Akitas, or any other dog with a reputation for aggressiveness. Just because they do more damage doesn't mean that an attack from any breed of dog should be allowed...so if pitbull owners would learn to exercise the same standard of diligence we expect from all the large """oooh....scary'''' breeds, so to speak.. It would go a long way to resolving some of these issues.

Number one biters are labs and goldens....why cause there are more out there but I see no bans on them...yet. ( that is not going into just how many are bally bred and reactive and never socialized cause they are wonderful kid friendly bred and need no work..yeah right)
Pit bull owners if truly responsible already tend to over training the said problem as they know they live with a "bad" breed.
Let us also get the breeders involved too. If they super socialize the pups out of the gate all pups then aggression do to fear will be less.
Anyone know what it takes to super socialize a litter of pups?

While we are at it.... kids ..got to love them, all need to learn from the get go that hugging a dog, any dog around the neck can get you bit or asking for a face kiss from the wrong dog can get you bit..... I say this as I work with a 2 year old that lives with two great dogs that allow her to do anything but we have to always remind her that not all dogs are like hers and no you may not hug or kiss that one.

JL

Let's face it. 98% of the problem is bad press. When they raid a place like Vicks and pull out pitbulls instead of labs and chows. It is the pitbulls gettin' all the press. And jimbob crackerhead with the flag and dually truck that wraps his manhood in his pitbull with the knobby collar and loves that he has to tell people that its trained to kill cats and little rat dogs...none of that helps. That boy ain't hauling around a standard poodle in the back of his truck. All the responsible owners in the world are not going to overcome the bad press. There have been numerous cases of of non pitbull dogs attacking and killing humans. They get a short blurb and that's it. Never the sensationalism of bully breeds.

First I'll say that I don't think any dog, esp. large breeds, should be left around a child unsupervised. I don't care how nice a dog is. There is still potential for harm.

I don't agree with breed specific legislation for the most part. Pit bulls today, then what tomorrow? Rotties are high on the list as far as causing human deaths (says at least one site) and I guess all the bully breeds are. So there go the Boxers, American Bulldogs, and Mastiffs. There was a study done that showed dachshunds and a couple other small/medium breeds to be most aggressive, it's just that they can't cause as much harm. Pits were on the list, but that was more for dog aggression. So I don't think banning them or putting a ton of restrictions on owning them is the answer. I do think maybe there should be some type of license involved only to screen people b/c they are most often used in dog fighting (huge in MI) and then those dogs are bred which isn't any good for temperament in the breed...

IMO, they can be dangerous, but so can all large breeds. It's mostly an owner issue. I can't say I'd even let a two-year-old interact with a bully breed at all. It would have to be extremely supervised for me.

Most of Vicks dogs to my knowledge where dog aggressive and only one if I am correct that went to Utah for rehab is not ever going to go to a forever home it will stay at the rescue for life.
There is nothing wrong with a dog killing rats... yorkie do it. Cats well not so ok. I be impressed if my cat kill a rat. At least the dog has a job and if I wanted a rat killing dog I go to the guy bragging hes got a good one.
Just like when I brag we have a 4th in the country bred dog in show some will flock to us to get one of our pups.

I also suggest that it not just the "Jimbob crackerhead with the flag and dually truck that wraps his manhood in his pitbull" Guess what I drive......
A great deal of these pits are in inner cities there are no duallys and non of that flag in there.

We may not be able to over come bad press but when we see it we can go no way and try and educate.

I also check you numerous statement of deaths by dogs... less then the press makes out again read dogs bite but slippers and balloons kill.

JL

Sorry double post....

JL

," in general, about 29% of dogs had some kind of incident, including Dachshunds (25%), English Springer Spaniel (24.6%), Australian Cattle Dog (24.3%), Chihuahua (21.4%), German Shepherd (20.9%), Wheaton Terrier (20.4%), Boxer (20%), and the Border Collie (17.8%)."
Dachshunds Are More Aggressive - Dog Aggression Study

Dog Politics: List Of 75 Banned Or Restricted Breeds - Is Your Dog On The List?

"If you have any questions about why these breeds are on the list, please contact Responsible Dog Owners Of The Western States (RDOWS) . So - without further ado, courtesy of the RDOWS, here is the list of 75 - count 'em - SEVENTY FIVE - banned or restricted breeds .....................

1. AIREDALE TERRIER
2. AKBASH
3. AKITA
4. ALAPAHA BLUE BLOOD BULLDOG
5. ALASKAN MALAMUTE
6. ALSATIAN SHEPHERD
7. AMERICAN BULLDOG
8. AMERICAN HUSKY
9. AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER
10. AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER
11. AMERICAN WOLFDOG
12. ANATOLIAN SHEPHERD
13. ARIKARA DOG
14. AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG
15. AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD
16. BELGIAN MALINOIS
17. BELGIAN SHEEPDOG
18. BELGIAN TURVUREN
19. BLUE HEELER
20. BOERBUL
21. BORZOI
22. BOSTON TERRIER
23. BOUVIER DES FLANDRES
24. BOXER
25. BULLDOG
26. BULL TERRIER
27. BULL MASTIFF
28. CANE CORSO
29. CATAHOULA LEOPARD DOG
30. CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD
31. CHINESE SHAR PEI
32. CHOW-CHOW
33. COLORADO DOG
34. DOBERMAN PINSCHER
35. DOGO DE ARGENTINO
36. DOGUE DE BORDEAUX
37. ENGLISH MASTIFFS
38. ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL
39. ESKIMO DOG
40. ESTRELA MOUNTAIN DOG
41. FILA BRASILIERO
42. FOX TERRIER
43. FRENCH BULLDOG
44. GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG
45. GOLDEN RETRIEVER
46. GREENLAND HUSKY
47. GREAT DANE
48. GREAT PYRANEES
49. ITALIAN MASTIFF
50. KANGAL DOG
51. KEESHOND
52. KOMONDOR
53. KOTEZEBUE HUSKY
54. KUVAZ
55. LABRADOR RETRIEVER
56. LEONBERGER
57. MASTIFF
58. NEOPOLITAN MASTIFF
59. NEWFOUNDLAND
60. OTTERHOUND
61. PRESA DE CANARIO
62. PRESA DE MALLORQUIN
63. PUG
64. ROTTWEILER
65. SAARLOOS WOLFHOND
66. SAINT BERNARD
67. SAMOYED
68. SCOTTISH DEERHOUND
69. SIBERIAN HUSKY
70. SPANISH MASTIFF
71. STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER
72. TIMBER SHEPHERD
73. TOSA INU
74. TUNDRA SHEPHERD
75. WOLF SPITZ"

JL

What I was stating was that it was the jimbob crackerheads that use pitbulls for the reason I gave, that are contributing to the bad press. That was not a blanket indictment of all dually truck owners, city or country... or crackerheads for that matter...lol.. my kids are half crackerhead and a lot of guys I know around here have dually trucks. They pull their toys with 'em. They don't have pitbulls, however. I have a lovely Mastiff that lives next door. There are several pitbulls around here. I happen to not think bully breeds are all that attractive, so I've never wanted to own one, although that mastiff is awfully cute. My daughter is co-owner of a bully breed specific couture line, collars, leashes, high end clothing. The other co-owner has bullies and maltese that romp together quite well.

I don't think special licensing will ever work. It would cause black market pitties, or bully breeds, or whatever the breed was. Bottom line, you cannot legislate common sense.

I didn't think I was arguing your original point. I thought I was agreeing.

Its sad but its going to continue to happen until people start to realize their childs life is more important than owning a dangerous dog

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

:(:(:( 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 ?

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.

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 :rolleyes:

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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.

I didnt see a list