Terrible story today about a 3 year old girl in Farmingdale who was mauled by a 100 lb rottweiler. My first thought when I read the headline was 'thank God it wasn't a pitbull!' It is a tragedy no matter what breed the dog was; a dog is dead (shot and killed by an officer responding to the scene) and a little girl is in the Shriner's hospital with head injuries, several surgeries ahead of her and a long recovery. A grandmother will never be able to forget the images that the event has burned into her head. Apparently she threw herself over the girl to protect her from the dog after the initial attack.
So, what happened? It seems that the dog was chained to the side of a barn, wearing a choke chain. The girl wandered into his area and was attacked. The dog's collar then broke and he was able to continue the assault on the girl and her grandmother who had stepped in. EMTs then responded to the scene and the dog was so aggressive that responders could not treat the child. The dog was then shot and killed by a police officer.
Who is at fault? The dog? The child? In my opinion there are couple of people at fault and none of them are the dog or the child. The idiot who treated this dog so poorly as to chain him outside by a choke chain in an area that a child could wander into is the biggest one at fault. Aggressive dogs should be contained in a fence that keeps others out of the dog's range. Chains do nothing to protect others from a potentially dangerous dog. Also, if you have an aggressive dog, why would you add to the aggression by using a choke chain? Choke chains (I prefer the term walking collar) have their uses, and I don't deny using them; however, they ONLY belong on a dog when the other end is attached to a leash being held by a human. A walking collar has nothing to stop it from tightening around a dog's neck, causing discomfort, possibly pain and eventually stopping the dog from being able to breathe. All of these things could INCREASE a dog's natural tendency toward aggressive behavior. NEVER EVER should a dog be hooked to an immobile object by a 'choke collar', nylon or chain. It is cruelty and neglect and is unacceptable. The dog here never had a chance.
The next one I would hold at fault here is the adult who was responsible for the child. A three year old should not be allowed to wander into the area of a dangerous dog. A dangerous dog in this scenario would be ANY DOG. People need to realize that ANY dog with teeth is a potential danger to a small child. Dogs do not always see children as they would other humans. Often dogs, even 'nice dogs', see children as threats or as lower beings that need discipline (a nip or bite) either view can cause a small child to get bitten or even seriously injured. I do understand though, sometimes 3 year olds get away from you and bad things happen. This is what happened here... so sad.
My children grew up with a couple of very large German Shepherds. My family was always convinced that dogs were going to eat the babies. They never did. My dogs were taught from the start that the children out ranked them. My kids hand fed the dogs, placed them in their crates (or helped). But, most importantly, the children and the dogs were always supervised whenever they were together.
Here is a link to the article in the KJ.... http://www.kjonline.com/news/3-year-old-Farmingdale-girl-rushed-to-Maine-Medical-Center-after-dog-attack.html
Until next time... write on.
So, what happened? It seems that the dog was chained to the side of a barn, wearing a choke chain. The girl wandered into his area and was attacked. The dog's collar then broke and he was able to continue the assault on the girl and her grandmother who had stepped in. EMTs then responded to the scene and the dog was so aggressive that responders could not treat the child. The dog was then shot and killed by a police officer.
Who is at fault? The dog? The child? In my opinion there are couple of people at fault and none of them are the dog or the child. The idiot who treated this dog so poorly as to chain him outside by a choke chain in an area that a child could wander into is the biggest one at fault. Aggressive dogs should be contained in a fence that keeps others out of the dog's range. Chains do nothing to protect others from a potentially dangerous dog. Also, if you have an aggressive dog, why would you add to the aggression by using a choke chain? Choke chains (I prefer the term walking collar) have their uses, and I don't deny using them; however, they ONLY belong on a dog when the other end is attached to a leash being held by a human. A walking collar has nothing to stop it from tightening around a dog's neck, causing discomfort, possibly pain and eventually stopping the dog from being able to breathe. All of these things could INCREASE a dog's natural tendency toward aggressive behavior. NEVER EVER should a dog be hooked to an immobile object by a 'choke collar', nylon or chain. It is cruelty and neglect and is unacceptable. The dog here never had a chance.
The next one I would hold at fault here is the adult who was responsible for the child. A three year old should not be allowed to wander into the area of a dangerous dog. A dangerous dog in this scenario would be ANY DOG. People need to realize that ANY dog with teeth is a potential danger to a small child. Dogs do not always see children as they would other humans. Often dogs, even 'nice dogs', see children as threats or as lower beings that need discipline (a nip or bite) either view can cause a small child to get bitten or even seriously injured. I do understand though, sometimes 3 year olds get away from you and bad things happen. This is what happened here... so sad.
My children grew up with a couple of very large German Shepherds. My family was always convinced that dogs were going to eat the babies. They never did. My dogs were taught from the start that the children out ranked them. My kids hand fed the dogs, placed them in their crates (or helped). But, most importantly, the children and the dogs were always supervised whenever they were together.
Here is a link to the article in the KJ.... http://www.kjonline.com/news/3-year-old-Farmingdale-girl-rushed-to-Maine-Medical-Center-after-dog-attack.html
Until next time... write on.
I have a comment to a remark in this blog. "Thank god it wasnt a pit bull" I own a pit mix puppy and had a pit mix before she passed away. Pit bulls are aggressive due to the way they are raised not because of the breed. The two mixes that I have had have been more then half pit and have been the most lovable dogs that I have ever seen. Our pup who is seven months old will lick you to death before she even uses her teeth, and the other dog we had would rather just look at you then care if you were around. So please blame the owners not the breed.
ReplyDeleteThat was kind of my point... I am sick of seeing Pitties take all the blame in the media, so when I see Dog attack articles I am always thrilled when it is something besides a pitbull... As a trainer I have met more Golden Retrievers I would not trust than I have pitbulls... which is NOT a breed, but a catch all term the media uses to include a number of different breeds.
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