Girl Mauled, Dog Faces Death Row

[Chezy]

education on both sides could have prevented this, but even when on lead this could have happened . I had a small child bolt over to Chopper and wrap himself around his neck in a bear hug, luckily Chopper thought this was great and enjoyed every min of it, the mother had a heart stopping moment as she had got him out of the car and turned to get a bag and he was gone . neither of us were quick enough

i think maul header was over dramatised for headlines , but a child still got hurt and a dog may get pts , always bad things to happen on both sides

[Crisovar]

The dog ran up to the kids...

It is unrealistic to expect a THREE YEAR OLD to know what to do.

The only way this could have been prevented is if the owner had it on a leash and under their control.

The child could have just as easily run up to a dog on a leash, has happened to me countless times. You almost need to beat some of them off they are so keen to get in your dogs face. It is frightening how many parents just stand and watch while it happens too!

Unfortunate for the child that this time it was bitten, sadly it means possibly the death of a dog.

Children are what they are, but so are dogs they cannot tell a child to back off, they snap that is what appears to have happened here.

[KatrinaM]

Or her 12 year old brother stopped her because he remembered something he had been told/taught and prevented his sister from touching the dog.

I bet she has heard "look both ways before you cross the road" "don't go off with a stranger" "get down low and go, go, go" and probably had swimming lessons too. Why is it OK to be proactive and educate children and parents about all other childhood hazards except dogs? Why is blaming irresponsible owners more important than keeping kids safe?

[Trisven13]

Not trying to take on ounce of blame away from the owner, but doesnt anybody think, particularly for their own safety that children should be taught its not OK to approach/pat/hug strange dogs without permission? This incedent could also have been prevented if the kids knew how to act appropriatly around unfamiliar dogs. I am not saying the kids are responsible at all, just that their behaviour contributed significantly to the outcome.

Absolutely they should be! Unfortunately children aren't always reliable. It has been drummed in to mine almost obsessively yet I still wouldn't trust her to always ask. Half the time when she's asking her hand is already stretched out ready to pat the dog and if the owner says yes my daughter often gets in the dogs face. It doesn't help that she has no fear and I am border line paranoid so we aren't a good mix. Obviously I am there with her but it's always nerve wracking for me, not wanting to put the fear of God in to her and pass on my paranoia but also trying to teach her to respect anything with teeth is proving more difficult than I would have ever imagined.

Children are their own little personalities, not robots, so we can't always assume that a parent has been negligent in their duty to teach a child certain behaviours if the child behaves inappropriately.

Sorry Katrina, I've just reread your post and I am not having a go just discussing ankle biters and how unreliable they can be.

You just said exactly what I had been thinking!!!

McKenzie was bitten by a rescue dog when she was 3 1/2. We had always been so careful about making sure all rescue dogs were fed on their own, that she was supervised around them etc etc. But...... fast forward to the day we had a donation of chicken carcasses and fed the dogs a little earlier than normal. Allie, the mastiff X (read pigging mix) was fed a chicken carcass in her crate and I didn't think to supervise the kids in the loungeroom, where Allie's crate was. Stupid of me. McKenzie got bitten (very small nip to her hand resulting in a bruise, nothing more), I yelled at Allie and then asked what happened. Stupid me!!! McKenzie had opened the crate door and tried to take the chicken carcass of Allie.

McKenzie went to day care the next day and said "Allie bit me, it was my fault".

Both kids will still hug dogs they don't know and I cringe inside - how to balance teaching respect AND lack of fear is not an easy thing. I was bitten on the face when I was 2 and still love dogs.....

[sandgrubber]

McKenzie went to day care the next day and said "Allie bit me, it was my fault".

Both kids will still hug dogs they don't know and I cringe inside - how to balance teaching respect AND lack of fear is not an easy thing. I was bitten on the face when I was 2 and still love dogs.....

Some of us have to be bitten once to be wise the second time.

I don't think a bite is so much worse than falling out of a tree, crashing your bicycle, or getting your hand caught in the car door when your brother/sister slammed it on you, or any of the other little painful incidents that happen to kids when you allow them a little freedom. Reality occasionally draws blood and breaks bones. Kids heal rapidly.

As I've said before, I think the problem is the use of the word 'maul' when 'bite' would be more accurate.

There are dangerous dogs who might kill a child. Identifying, castrating, and confining such dogs should be a social priority. But most of the dogs who bite are basically harmless, with zero chance of escalating to a life-threatening attack.

It is very sad for all dog lovers that the media is unable to distinguish between dangerous dogs and dogs that will bite if they are pushed too far.

[B-Q]

^^^ I totally agree with sandgrubber.

Such a sad, preventable situation. Everyone involved messed up, dog should have been on leash, kids should have been better educated, parents should have been supervising. And the dog and the 3YO are suffering for it.

But I know when I was a kid, I remember being told repeatedly not to approach strange dogs but still thinking "but its okay because I am GOOD with dogs" I cringe at those thoughts now.

I own a Border Collie, I might even describe her as "timid". She has no problem with polite interactiosn with adults or kids. But to her a polite inteaction is a scratch under the chin and thats it. She doesn't even like a pat on the head much and a hug would send her reeling backwards to get out of the way. I'm always watching like a hawk when I'm around kids with her to intervene if I need to and tell them how to approach her properly, I don't want her to get frightened and ever give a nip.

[persephone]

Old dogs, too get surprised easily ...

Some years ago we were having an Easter BBQ in the evening ,and one friend had his gorgeous old dog on lead and happily accepting praise and admiration. Old dog was snoozing under his owner's chair .. while owner was off getting food ..and a little kid came up and hugged dog !

yep .. dog snapped .

Screaming kid..blood everywhere- some bad words ... A 250 km round trip to emergency to have a lip sewed back together .. and a bit of a dampener on our evening! Luckily the parents saw sense and ,although they were not happy campers, they agreed kid should not have hugged a strange dog ..as he hugged their own dog at home ... the owner of the dog was mortified ... and was going to leave the BBQ - but everyone agreed - dog was doing what dogs do .. he was woken to a headlock, and responded .

No hard feelings , luckily , and kid recovered well

[aussielover]

The dog ran up to the kids...

It is unrealistic to expect a THREE YEAR OLD to know what to do.

The only way this could have been prevented is if the owner had it on a leash and under their control.

The child could have just as easily run up to a dog on a leash, has happened to me countless times. You almost need to beat some of them off they are so keen to get in your dogs face. It is frightening how many parents just stand and watch while it happens too!

Unfortunate for the child that this time it was bitten, sadly it means possibly the death of a dog.

Children are what they are, but so are dogs they cannot tell a child to back off, they snap that is what appears to have happened here.

I agree in general, you can't prevent kids running up to your dog.

But that wasn't what happened in this situation, unfortunately the dog ran up to them. No one can really say whether the kids would have still run up and hugged the dog if it were on lead. Hopefully the owner could have intervened when he saw the kids approaching (although doubtful given that he didn't see the dog being off leash as a concern ).

I think in this particular situation, being on leash could have prevented the incident. I also think the penalty for the dog may be more lenient had the dog been on a leash and the owner given a warning.