Family Dog Mauls Girl

[D & D]

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/09/1...661_ntnews.html

Don't know how to transfer article into here

[poodlefan]

A TERRITORY girl is lucky to be alive after she was mauled by a savage dog.

Seven-year-old Meg Croton and her brother Connor, 9, had been feeding their family's dog - an eight-year-old mastiff cross - in their Humpty Doo back yard when the girl was attacked by the vicious hound.

"I tripped on a rock and fell, and I think I kicked his leg," Meg recalled the attack.

"And then it hurt very badly and he was on top of me and ripped on my head.

"But my brother saved my life."

Connor said he reacted instinctively when he grabbed the dog by the collar and tried to pull him off his sister.

"I was angry because he attacked her and there was lots of blood everywhere, on her arm, her head," he said.

"She was on the ground and the dog was on top of her. I didn't have time to be scared or to think. He went back to attack her again and again, whenever I pulled him away a bit."

In the attack the dog grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her on the ground before scratching her back and taking a chunk out of her head, exposing her skull.

Her mother said she was "destroyed, distraught and shaken" over the attack that left her girl with scratches and bruises as well as 16 stitches to her head.

"It was gut-wrenching to see my baby bleeding," she said.

She had left her children to play by themselves for a moment when she heard her daughter's "blood-curdling scream".

Troy Croton, a Defence Force dog handler, said he had only saved the mastiff cross from "doggy heaven" a year ago and given him a new home.

He said the dog had not shown any aggression before.

"It was the first and the last time he turned on someone," Mr Croton said.

"Meg was lucky that he was on his chain and it happened just on the edge of the chain.

"And that her brother jumped in to her aid."

The dog was put down less than an hour after the attack.

"People need to be aware not to leave their children alone with a dog, no matter how well they think they know him - I never thought ours would ever turn vicious, but he did."

Meg said she was still worried and wary around big dogs, but after her parents had adopted her a chihuahua puppy from the Paws animal shelter, she had overcome her general fear of dogs.

Dog with unknown early socialisation

Chained dog

Food involved

Unsupervised kids

Hardly a bolt from the blue. You'd have thought a professional dog handler would know better.

Edited September 11, 2010 by poodlefan

[lovemesideways]

Why was the dog chained?

Why where a 7 and 9 year old feeding a dog that has unknown history?

She could have fallen across his food bowl for all we know.

At least they still went on to rescue another dog though, and the girl is ok.

Edited September 11, 2010 by lovemesideways

[D & D]

Dog with unknown early socialisation

Chained dog

Food involved

Unsupervised kids

Hardly a bolt from the blue. You'd have thought a professional dog handler would know better.

Thanks for putting the whole article up PF

All very preventable, makes it even sadder

Sadder still is it's not an uncommon occurance here. :p :D

[Marion 01]

Unsupervised kids with any dog is a no no in my book. Even more so when the dog is an unknown quantity. The father being a dog handler should have been more cautious. If only dogs could talk and tell their side of the story, but no their fate is sealed the minute something like this happens.

Marion01

[Robbi]

Chained dogs are a major factor in dog attacks, the dog is more defensive due to not being able to move away from a situation and their flight defensive being taken from them means that their fight instinct comes to the forefront. I also would have thought a dog handler would have known better

[Souff]

Unfortunately parents cannot be with children every moment of the day. And, ahem, as one of those kids, little Souff did almost everything I was told NOT to do by my long suffering parents!

I would not be too sure that the professional dog handler had not told his kids about leaving the dog alone near food .... we simply dont know what education he had passed on to the kids and if the little girl chose to ignore it all on this occasion. He is now helping to educate other parents of the dangers.

But if I were that little girl, I would feel very pleased to have a brother like Connor! Stick around, Connor, you might have the type of sister that needs you to get out of more scrapes!

Souff

[Adza]

hmmm chained up hey..and especially around food = not good. Don't agree with chaining up dogs at all.

Least the kid is recovering O.K but will prob have a huge fear of dogs now which is unfortunate.