And Another Pitt Bull Attack

[DIGGER]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/29086897/detail.html

[MacDragon]

That is just too bad... the parents must be devastated...Prayers for the baby and family.  Dog needs to go.

[3fan4life]

Investigators said the 13-day-old baby was asleep in a cradle in the office of his grandparents' Cypress home when the dog....... came in, began to sniff the infant and attacked.

Neighbors said the family has several dogs. Investigators said the dog that attacked was a 100-pound pit bull.

My question would be: Who lets a 100 lb dog of any kind around a 13 day old infant ?

Dr. Cindy McCauley said dog owners need to be aware of their dog's behavior and talk to a vet about discipline if an animal displays aggression. She said pit bulls are sensitive to certain noises.
"Very loud, high pitched noises tend to bother them, so a child that's crying, or any kind of sound, can set them off into kind of an attack mode at times," said McCauley.

To me this speaks volumes about the unstable nature of Pit Bulls.

McCauley said it's a good idea to keep dogs on a leash when small children are in the home so owners are able to grab and pull the dog away if necessary.

How about keeping large dogs of any type away from small children.

According to investigators, the dog is under a 10-day quarantined and in the custody of animal control. After that, detectives will determine whether it's a threat and may need to be euthanized.

Why is there any question ?

The dog killed a human infant, he needs to be put down.

If it were my dog, he wouldn't have lived long enough for the cops to even get there.

Where are people's heads when the value of a dog's life is placed anywhere near the value of a child's life ?   

[The Anvil]

Investigators said the 13-day-old baby was asleep in a cradle in the office of his grandparents' Cypress home when the dog....... came in, began to sniff the infant and attacked.

Neighbors said the family has several dogs. Investigators said the dog that attacked was a 100-pound pit bull.

My question would be: Who lets a 100 lb dog of any kind around a 13 day old infant ?

To a 13 day old baby any size dog is potentially a serious threat. But I've had my infant girls around my dogs. My dogs (especially my German Shepherd Brando) would sooner kill anyone who threatened them. But I don't keep Pitbulls. 

[Titan]

Here we go.  Let's queue up all the excuses and reasons that it wasn't the dog's fault.

It was the grandparent's fault. They haven't been properly caring for him.
It was the parent's fault. They shouldn't have brought that dangerous baby to the house.
It was the baby's fault. He apparently did something to antagonize the dog.
He didn't get enough love.
He didn't get fed on time this morning. Wrong brand of food.
Somebody obviously has been abusing him.
He was a really sweet dog and wouldn't have done this. Somebody's lying.
The baby shouldn't have been squirming around.
The dog was really just trying to show the baby love. He didn't mean to bite so hard.
The media only reports these incidents when a pit bull is involved.
If it had been a Chihuahua you wouldn't have heard about it.
Pits are no more dangerous than any other breed.

I'm sure I'm missing a couple of dozen here. But somebody will fill them in.

The baby's dead.

[Serk]

My question would be: Who lets a 100 lb dog of any kind around a 13 day old infant ?

*Raises his hand*

They were a little older than 13 days by virtue of them having spent their first month of life in the NICU, but we let our 110 pound Doberman around our triplets shortly after they came home... We introduced them to each other in a very controlled and monitored environment, but have no problems or fears that he would harm them at all...

I'll admit I'm not a fan of pit bulls, although I don't agree with breed bans, but the size of a dog isn't really a determining factor in how trust worthy it is, and as was stated above, to a newborn infant, even a Chihuahua could be lethal... (And you wanna talk about a breed that should be banned? Chihuahuas are just.... Well, I don't trust any animal that shivers when it's warm! )

[sugerbear]

target practice.........

[3fan4life]

My question would be: Who lets a 100 lb dog of any kind around a 13 day old infant ?

*Raises his hand*

They were a little older than 13 days by virtue of them having spent their first month of life in the NICU, but we let our 110 pound Doberman around our triplets shortly after they came home... We introduced them to each other in a very controlled and monitored environment, but have no problems or fears that he would harm them at all...

I'll admit I'm not a fan of pit bulls, although I don't agree with breed bans, but the size of a dog isn't really a determining factor in how trust worthy it is, and as was stated above, to a newborn infant, even a Chihuahua could be lethal... (And you wanna talk about a breed that should be banned? Chihuahuas are just.... Well, I don't trust any animal that shivers when it's warm! )

Just be cautious and ever vigilante with your dog around your babies, he can injure them without being agressive.

When my son was 5 yrs old we got a Great Dane / Lab mix, she was a great dog and would've protected any one of her "family" from anyone or anything.

However, for the first few years we had to be really careful about him playing with her.

She never intentionally did anything to hurt him, but she had NO idea just how big of a dog that she was.

And she could easily knock him down (which she did several times) or scratch him with her claws (she scratched his face pretty good once).

You are correct about any breed of dog being able to injure a small child, but large breeds are more likely to do so simply because of their size difference.

BTW, I've never been a big fan of Chihuahuas either, but you do have to get a kick out of them, they have absolutely no idea that they aren't HUGE dogs.

[franco6]

That story sounded familiar, it corresponds to the same article in the houston chronicle where the dog is identified as a labrador mix.
when bringing any new life form into the den environment of dogs ,great care should be taken.
my new two months old grand child will never be left alone with the two sheperds even though they are matured. I ve seen them do silly things, all in play.
The grand parents should be charged.

[Fudd]

So they are going to quarantine the dog for 10 days to decide if it is a threat?  Let me save them the trouble and answer the question.

Kill the dog.

This story needs to become an educational aide to new parents about the danger of such dogs to children.  What should be common sense to most people apparently doesn't register with everyone.  What a shame.  Sad situation.

Had the parents left the baby in a room with a "hypothetical pet alligator" and the baby was killed. It would be no question that the parents would be charged in the death.  Yet a large pit bull is potentally just as dangerous.

[G-Man]

Been bit 3 times in my life by dogs...none of them were pit bulls.  Was knocked right off my bicycle when I was 7.  Dog came out of know where and t-boned me.  Then took a chomp at my thigh when I was on the ground.  Owner of the standard poodle said "she'd never did that before, never bit anyone before".  Second time I was offering my friends dog a doggie treat. She said it was fine.  snuggler snapped and got the fat pad in the heel of my hand.  The Toy Poodle "never bit anyone before".  Same thing happened about 15 years ago.  I little piece-of-crap dog grabbed onto my arm and I couldn't shake the snuggling thing loose.  Finally after smacking it the head a couple times, the Bijon Frise let go.

I think all poodles, and any little piece of crap dog that even looks like a poodle should be banned.  They are little vicious wanna-be's that have Napolean complexes and can't be trusted.

Oh, and pit bulls, there are two on my block that love everybody and play very nicely with my boxer.  There are two that come down to the dog park that are also very friendly and get along great with all the folks and all the other breads.