What can be done?

I don't have an answer for it, but do agree with everything you said!

Statistics show small breeds/mixed in top of the list for bite cases, but does anyone bother to look??

I think that people are just lazy, and rather to blame anything else, but themselves.

Every bite case should be look at individually!

This is just an example, just one that sticks out in my mind: few years back a pit bull killed a little 2 1/2 years old girl, in the Nashville area, and everyone went ballistic about pit bulls, and how bad they are.

I deal with all breeds/mixed of dogs, including pits, which I'm very fond of, and, naturally some people inquired me about the case, and were "surprised" to hear the rest of the story. They heard it before, but closed their ears and minds as soon as they heard the word pit bull.

The whole story: young couple with their toddler daughter, were at a trailer park looking at one to rent. Not paying any attention to their child, she wondered off 300 feet away, carrying a stick in her hand, with which she approached a dog, who was chained up, on his property, and waived it at it. VERY naturally, the dog attacked the little girl, who entered his territory, and it doesn't take much to take the life out a such a little body.

Not one person said anything about those parents who had no business letting their child 300 feet away from them. No one said a thing about the fact that is a natural istinct for a dog to go after someone waiving a stick at it, nor the fact that it's also a natural instinct for a dog who's chained up, to protect its territory. No one was at fault, but the bad pit. Of course the dog was euthanized, and the parents got away scot free.

I'm my opinion, those parents should have been charged with second degree murder in the death of their daughter, and sentenced accordingly!

People don't take responsibility, not for their children, not for their dogs, not for any pet.

We live in a society where the easy way out is the number 1 choice for most of the people, who live in denial, and couldn't care less to change it!

I have always said that the owners should be held 100% responsible for what their pets do! Then there would be no vicious dogs, just vicious owners. Everyone has an excuse why it is not their fault that their dog attacked and it is BS. I have toy dogs and small dogs are usually anti social and nip or bite all the time. I go the extra mile to socialize them and train them. If my dog bites then I have failed to keep control of it and it is my fault. Dogs do not have a reasoning process, theirs is one of reaction; therefore, any dog will do whatever it can get away with. You have to train them to be nice and not jump on people and not pee in the house.

** Side note, The little girls parents should have had something done with them. They would be the irresponsible parents that have many excuses why it is not their fault; however, a human life is far more valuable than a dogs and the owner of the pit needed to look far enough ahead and think "what if....." This situation could have been avoided in many different ways **

I agree with amccoy for the most part but I think that when a dog owner see's aggression in his dog it needs to be addressed not blown off because he is the families beloved pet. The jack russel that killed a 5 day old baby is a perfect example. I'm sure the dog was probably food aggressive or showed some other signs before this toke place. I would never place my child around a animal I think had the least bit of aggression and especially a food aggression because if your 10 month old went crawling over to that animals food bowl it would not be a good situation. Identifying the problem is the key.