Another child killed by a dog........?

Pit bulls have had very bad press...but lets all be honest it the owners at fault..but how can we be certain only reliable people will own these dogs? We cant...till a reliable way of knowing these dogs will only be owned by responsible owners then they should not be allowed to be owned by Joe Public...

It ia a lot of factors. Obviously we don't no the whole story because if it was a harmless pet the child would be alive now. we dont no if the child was playing with anoyhter dog at on point in time and that dog may have been an enemy of the dog who did the mauling. Dogs communicate by smell. They have a great since of smell. They smell pherimones. Or maybe the dog was suffering from a mental disease. Or maybe he was being abused. by a friend or family who knows. Dogs don't just snap for nothing. People don' either. Can you imagine turning on the news and the report stated that a healthy 22 year old male was watching t.v. and all of a sudden he went on a rampage. He just killed everyone in the house for nothing. Obviously there was something wrong, some type of issues. Weather it is a mental problemn or major family or interpersonal issues.So in conclusion things don't just happen. There is a cause and effect for everything. (Please respond back.)

i agree that when a child is killed by the family dog it is the owners fault. they know the dog, they know if it is dangerous, they are responsible for the safety of both the child and the dog.

if a kid smacks a dog and the dog bites the child who's fault is it? if the dog has been chained in the backyard and beaten who's fault is it when it bites?

"family pet" can be a misleading term. to some people it means that dog is a part of the family that lives in the house and constantly interacts with the family. to others, it just means a dog that happens to live on the same property as the family, not necessarily a "part" of the family.

the owners are ******* blind if they can't see the warning signs of a bite or aggression in their dogs.

there are times when i seriously believe that people should need a dog owner's license before they can own a dog. guns are restricted, cars are restricted, driving is restricted, why not restrict dog ownership as well. that way, we would have a better chance of keeping complete idiots from owning dogs.

Okay , Yes there are bad dog owners. Yes, there are children who don't know how to act around dogs. And YES, there are bad dogs. I have owned a reportedly aggressive breed of dog for over 30 years, the doberman. I also have raised 4 children during this time. I have never had any problem with either not ever once. I do buy very expensive pups from very reputable breeders.I had a very good friend whom I saw at least 3 times a week. She raised a litter of pits as responsibly as I have ever seen. They were never abused, had the best of feed and vetting. They were never asked to be aggressive and were taught right and wrong. These dogs were never treated in any way which would cause them to be aggressive or mean. One night while visiting I was getting ready to leave. I had known these two dogs they kept from this litter for 5 years. They had been on rides with me and always sat with me while I was there, this night being no different. I did nothing more then to put my hand on the doorknob and the dog viciously grabbed my leg and tore it all apart. I wear the scars to this day, now 25 years later.Talk about unprovoked. This dog had shown me love for 5years. No one will ever convince me that in the case of pits that they are safe dogs for anyone to own or be around.NEVER!!

I think it is one of those things, such as drunk driving..People just don't believe that it can happen to them, and are of the same ilk, and not inclined to being responsible.

I do not think that any breed specific legislation is the answer, but only making owners more accountable for this kind of neglect.

The biggest problem that I see, is the lack of accountability for one dog attacking another owner's pet. There is no law concerning this, but only small claims court to resolve any such issues..Laws and fines would encourage owners to keep their dogs under control, no matter what the breed or size.

If large fines were imposed for one dog attacking another, and jail time required for one's dog attacking a human, I think that perhaps hitting the irresponsible person where it counts most would curtail the problem to some extent..

Early education would help a lot! Teaching the very young about responsible pet ownership, as well as how to avoid dog attacks would go a long way toward creating more responsible adults, and safer children.

Unfortunately, I am the first to say this, it is the parents of the children's fault most of the time a child gets attacked. Regardless of whether the family has a dog, all children need to be taught how to approach a dog. Most of these cases are from a child getting to close to their neighbors yard, walking up to a strange dog who thinks they're even stranger, teasing dogs and so forth. This will never stop, they are just going to keep euthanizing the dogs and doing nothing. And by the way, they normally are Harmless family pets who get startled and defend themselves. My dog is well behaved with friends, but I'll be honest, she doesn't always like strangers. I guaruntee she would attack if someone strange came into our yard and she was for some reason out there alone. And you bet your butt I would defend my dog and press to file negligence charges on the family of the child who was attacked. Also, when a child is attacked by their own dog, its another case of negligence on the parents. Especially a young child, who pushes, pulls hair/fur, hits, etc....not all dogs like this.

A family pet is only as well behaved as it's been TRAINED to be. It's not the dog's fault that the owners don't understand pack drive and rank. The owners should be held liable, not the dog who is acting on instinct. Where's the PARENTING here? Who's the alpha? I'm the alpha in my home and if my dogs had an inkling to go after my kids 12 & 16, they'd get a correction like they never imagined. Of course I do not rely on my children to watch the dogs or correct the dogs, that's my job. My dogs are not left unattended at any time in the house. If my eyes aren't on the dogs, the dogs are in their kennels or outside in my walled/fenced yard. See, I OWN my dogs, I don't just house them.

Yes, something should be done indeed. We should start blaming the ignorant and foolish people who do not train, socialize, and take proper care of their dogs. Because when a dog does not get these things, he becomes so angry at the world and because he cannot speak for himself, he has to take his sad anger out on the world, SOMETIMES in the form of a child, adult, sheep, dog, cat, you name it.

Why does he do it?

The people who keep him.

They believe he is FINE to live outdoors on a chain, free to bark incessantly at anything that passes him by, and that ONE bite that goes seemingly un-noticed, starts a wave of negative behaviors and dangerous, destructive acts.

And then of course, the ignorant folks of society can only blame the dog, because so many of his breed have been labeled dangerous, because so many of his breed's owners have failed to care for their dogs properly.

Thus, a wave of furry over a certain group of breeds, labeled as hideously dangerous.

And a fine breed of many generations is taken aback due to their few number of bad apples.

The Doberman Pinscher.

The American Pit Bull Terrier.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

The Rottweiller.

The German Shepherd, even!!

ONCE AGAIN:

Blame the people, NOT the dog.

Blame the deed, NOT the breed.

Blame the real perpetrators...NOT the innocent dogs who received NO behavioral training, and thus, lashed out unfortunately on someone standing by.

Why don't you ask the parents that, you know, the ones who let thier kids run wild unattended? I'm sure that would help with part of the problem. Other than that, maybe if they didn't let idiots with no knowledge breed dogs and give them to anyone and had harsher animal cruelty laws and made people take care of their animals like they should. There really are no "dangeros dogs", just unfortunate ones who fall into the hands of dangerous people.

Any dog, any breed, can be dangerous. What needs to happen is people need to be taught how to act around dogs. If they are mean, abusive, etc to people or animals, they should NOT be allowed to have a dog.

A stop has to be put on all of the back yard breeding which is creating dogs with emotional and behavioral problems that sometimes can not be worked with.

This is not "breed specific." The media just does not sensationalize it when a lab kills someone....

http://www.libertydogtraining.com/

The dogs are not the issue. It,s the irresponsible owners that are the problems. But then again today's parents will not even parent there children which more often than not these days behave more like animals than the dogs! So the question is not what to do with the dogs! But what to do with the irresponsible people that own them.Dogs like children will behave if you are a responsible parent! Most aggressive dogs are taught to be that way by some jerk who thinks that it makes him tough! Like kids who's parents let them watch M.T.V.Act like gangsta morons!