One-year-old dies after attack by Rottweiler dog

[Roova]

This one references the article I read about the dog jumping a fence too.  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5459685/Pictured-baby-one-killed-Rottweiler-dog-attack-NSW-Kamillah-Jones.html

[Two Best Dogs!]

I saw this one mention was a family member dog:

 

https://www.goondiwindiargus.com.au/story/5263235/dog-destroyed-after-attacking-baby-in-inverell/?cs=1829

 

Inverell Sergeant Ross Chilcott confirmed the Rottweiler was owned by a family member.

“The incident occurred within the rear yard of the family premises and the dog was tied up at the time,” he said.

 

 

 

If if it was tied up. Poor management by owner and family to let them so close together. 

 

If if it was some random persons dog. Poor management to have a fence low enough to be scaled by the dog. 

[Maddy]

Asal, I doubt people treating their dogs as "fur babies" has anything much to do with the number of dog attacks. If anything, dogs living inside, as family members, provides far better socialisation than dogs tethered out the back. Closer proximity to dogs means more opportunities for things to go wrong, as does higher density living. But these are unavoidable factors.

My dogs are part of my family- they sleep on our beds, they eat our food, they even (god forbid) have jumpers and coats to wear when the weather gets cold- but we are aware of their breed traits and manage them appropriately. One does not exclude the other.

Chucking the dog back outside and not referring to it as your fur kid, does not magically educate someone about the dog they own. If anything, it's likely to only make the problem worse.

[Diva]

4 hours ago, Papillon Kisses said:

 

Where did you read that, Diva? I can only find articles about the dog jumping the fence.

I saw a uniformed police officer interviewed on TV news. But I can’t  recall now if I saw the clip online on a news site or directly on the TV. No doubt it will all come out in the Coroner’s report. 

Edited March 7, 2018 by Diva

[asal]

17 hours ago, Maddy said:

Asal, I doubt people treating their dogs as "fur babies" has anything much to do with the number of dog attacks. If anything, dogs living inside, as family members, provides far better socialisation than dogs tethered out the back. Closer proximity to dogs means more opportunities for things to go wrong, as does higher density living. But these are unavoidable factors.

My dogs are part of my family- they sleep on our beds, they eat our food, they even (god forbid) have jumpers and coats to wear when the weather gets cold- but we are aware of their breed traits and manage them appropriately. One does not exclude the other.

Chucking the dog back outside and not referring to it as your fur kid, does not magically educate someone about the dog they own. If anything, it's likely to only make the problem worse.

Regardless of where the dog lives, and my aunts foxi lived in the house with them. He could never be allowed in the same room with visiting children, he would attack them the second the adults left the room, grew up with a strong fear of foxies after every one forgot me one day, he latched on in the seconds between everyone leaving the room and mum rushed to the rescue 

[Maddy]

8 hours ago, asal said:

Regardless of where the dog lives, and my aunts foxi lived in the house with them. He could never be allowed in the same room with visiting children, he would attack them the second the adults left the room, grew up with a strong fear of foxies after every one forgot me one day, he latched on in the seconds between everyone leaving the room and mum rushed to the rescue 

And that's either the result of very bad temperament or very bad socialisation. Or a bit of both. Just "in the house" is not the same as meeting lots of new, different people, in different environments. I get that you dislike the term "fur baby" and dislike the anthropomorphisation of dogs but the fact is, the silly dog in the fur-trimmed jacket who gets carted to the cafe, picks up the kids from school and goes everywhere with its family (even if that's in a pram), is learning about different sorts of people and (hopefully, if the owners understand socialisation) that new types of people are good. 

 

You have no idea how many pet greyhound owners tell me that their greyhound was obviously abused because they don't like children, people in hats, people with beards, people wearing red, people on bikes, people talking on the phone. Now, unless the dog actually was abused by some bearded child in a red hat who was talking on his phone while riding a bike, it's much more likely that the dog just hasn't been socialised adequately (something that seems more common in greyhounds, probably because they are a "working" breed) and responds to these perceived "threats" with aggression, if its other options are limited. 

These are preventable issues and go hand in hand with other owner education issues, such as breed traits. 

[asal]

1 hour ago, Maddy said:

And that's either the result of very bad temperament or very bad socialisation. Or a bit of both. Just "in the house" is not the same as meeting lots of new, different people, in different environments. I get that you dislike the term "fur baby" and dislike the anthropomorphisation of dogs but the fact is, the silly dog in the fur-trimmed jacket who gets carted to the cafe, picks up the kids from school and goes everywhere with its family (even if that's in a pram), is learning about different sorts of people and (hopefully, if the owners understand socialisation) that new types of people are good. 

 

You have no idea how many pet greyhound owners tell me that their greyhound was obviously abused because they don't like children, people in hats, people with beards, people wearing red, people on bikes, people talking on the phone. Now, unless the dog actually was abused by some bearded child in a red hat who was talking on his phone while riding a bike, it's much more likely that the dog just hasn't been socialised adequately (something that seems more common in greyhounds, probably because they are a "working" breed) and responds to these perceived "threats" with aggression, if its other options are limited. 

These are preventable issues and go hand in hand with other owner education issues, such as breed traits. 

As for that foxi he had no problem with adults, even complete strangers, he was friendly too.  it was kids he targeted, second it was just him and a child he let them know they did not belong here... get out now!  soon as an adult arrived butter wouldn't melt in the little bastards mouth.

 

You hit a good one there, "abused" is a term so abused its ridiculous.  just because as you said any animal is confronted with something it doesnt feel comfortable the instant assumption is it was "abused".

if they have never seen something before of course they will be suspicious and wary.  never seen any animal abused by a gutter or the drain that runs from it, but sure seen plenty of horses flatly refuse to go near the strange monster they had never seen before. some will even throw the rider and or bolt rather than risk going near the danger lurking there.

 

in horses its called desensitising to let them see the scary thing and check it out without pushing them to trigger the fight or flight response,  even the most nervous can with care end up happily checking out umbrellas, having stock whips cracked beside, over and under along with ropes spinning all around , drums, whistles u name it.

cannot count how many times a child has had their until now dead quiet child's pony bolt as if the devil were after it, when they either decided to remove or put on their coat while still sitting on their horse and again I have never seen a coat attack with or without provocation in any circumstances but see a dog flee form a dropped article of clothing and 99% of people will be parroting that line ," see that, poor thing, it must have been abused"

 

but no one seems to realise the same needs are there to familiarise your dog too

Edited March 8, 2018 by asal

[Maddy]

Not only is the assumption of abuse absurd, it's used to excuse problematic behaviour that should be addressed. And I think that's what peeves me the most. Dogs with serious socialisation issues are not having a good time. A family member of mine took on a terribly ill-socialised GSD and every time I saw it, that dog's body language screamed fear, anxiety and misery. It was so wound up and stressed by everything that went on around it, it simply couldn't cope with a life that wasn't an empty, quiet backyard. The dog couldn't handle men, the dog couldn't cope with children, the dog reacted to other dogs with considerable aggression, strangers were incredibly stressful, everything was scary and the dog lived in a 24/7 state of fight or flight.

And against all sensible advice, that family member kept the dog and tried to pretend that the constant, stressy alarm barking was normal. Any aggression was excused as "previous abuse".

Fortunately for that poor dog, it was euthanised less than a year later, for unrelated reasons. But it just goes to show that with all the educated, sensible advice available to that person (from someone who has dealt with so many socialisation issues, in many dogs), they still couldn't be made to understand. 

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make a horse a responsible dog owner. 

 

On a related note, spending more time at my meat lady's shop has opened my eyes to how incredibly poorly some people interpret a dog's body language. After watching a man almost get his head chomped off by a very stressed and cornered great dane (she's usually a lovely dog and if anything, actually a bit of a space invader herself), it amazes me that there aren't more dog bites. The dog was making her feelings very clear- dog tries to duck past (gets blocked), tries to look away (head gets grabbed), tries to back out of the hands (man follows, pushes his face down into hers), she throws appeasing signals at him, anything, everything: whale eyes, nose licking, head lowered, loins hunched, tail tucked, ears dropped. It all happened so quickly but I was quite sure I was about to watch someone die. Fortunately for the idiot, the dog in question air snapped very suddenly and that startled him enough for the dog's owner to step in. And it makes me wonder how many kids are not learning to listen when dogs are trying to tell them something important. Educating kids won't help in all cases (like this particular story, given it sounded more like prey drive) but it certainly couldn't hurt for children to be properly educated about dogs.

[Rozzie]

And another on the NSW mid north coast.

[Lhok]

https://www.triplem.com.au/news/coffs-coast/two-year-old-attacked-by-dog-at-sawtell/?station=coffs


--Lhok

[Loving my Oldies]

@Maddy you are so right, but your post makes me feel so sad for the dogs.  The owner of that a Great Dane needs a kick up the backside for allowing the dog to be placed into such a position.  And don’t get me started on the stupid other man.  

[Maddy]

4 hours ago, Dame Danny's Darling said:

@Maddy you are so right, but your post makes me feel so sad for the dogs.  The owner of that a Great Dane needs a kick up the backside for allowing the dog to be placed into such a position.  And don’t get me started on the stupid other man.  

In the owner's defence, she absolutely blames herself but it all happened so quickly, neither her nor I had time to react. But she's definitely learned from it and now the dog gets taken out the back when that customer comes in because he certainly didn't learn from it and still insists that everything was under control.

[persephone]

19 hours ago, asal said:

99% of people will be parroting that line ," see that, poor thing, it must have been abused"

  ..and , sadly , over the years we have  given wings to several of our youngsters  who were born broken . Affectionate ..but just don't let there be one thing different /stressful   absolutely heartbreaking to see them like that - that is not living ..and it's cruelty  in my book to feel sorry for , and keep  alive, dogs born this way .  ( I am talking dogs which defecate etc  thru stress/fear) 

Ponies abused by gutters& water  ? of course there are examples ! ( sorry ..just trying to stop being so damned sad & frustrated) 


 

[asal]

6 hours ago, persephone said:

  ..and , sadly , over the years we have  given wings to several of our youngsters  who were born broken . Affectionate ..but just don't let there be one thing different /stressful   absolutely heartbreaking to see them like that - that is not living ..and it's cruelty  in my book to feel sorry for , and keep  alive, dogs born this way .  ( I am talking dogs which defecate etc  thru stress/fear) 

Ponies abused by gutters& water  ? of course there are examples ! ( sorry ..just trying to stop being so damned sad & frustrated) 


 

Glorious photo example.  Never forget the first day I went for a ride on my new horse bought from a cattle station at oberon, that was his reaction to the concrete gutters and the sight of the black holes where the water went underground. Rang Kevin and told him of his fear of them to which he laughed his head off. and told me he had never seen them, or tarred roads either, which explained why he was so wary of crossing the road, as for those scary white lines, yep he jumped them until he finally got up the courage to actually lower his head and check it out and sniffed and licked them  until he decided they were harmless.

 

never forget his response to seeing an eel trying to swim across a flooded road, well half an inch deep water through which an eel thick as my wrist was wiggling along in. after many snorts he sussed it out, gave it a few sniffs, then with his top lip flicked it out of the water and onto the road.  was my turn to be horrifed, what if it had been a snake?  dead neddy.

suspect that kind of behaviour is how so many horses get bitten, so much for horses being afraid of snakes

[JulesP]

14 hours ago, asal said:

Glorious photo example.  Never forget the first day I went for a ride on my new horse bought from a cattle station at oberon, that was his reaction to the concrete gutters and the sight of the black holes where the water went underground. Rang Kevin and told him of his fear of them to which he laughed his head off. and told me he had never seen them, or tarred roads either, which explained why he was so wary of crossing the road, as for those scary white lines, yep he jumped them until he finally got up the courage to actually lower his head and check it out and sniffed and licked them  until he decided they were harmless.

 

never forget his response to seeing an eel trying to swim across a flooded road, well half an inch deep water through which an eel thick as my wrist was wiggling along in. after many snorts he sussed it out, gave it a few sniffs, then with his top lip flicked it out of the water and onto the road.  was my turn to be horrifed, what if it had been a snake?  dead neddy.

suspect that kind of behaviour is how so many horses get bitten, so much for horses being afraid of snakes

 

Had a similar experience when I got a horse that had been wrapped in cotton wool and only shown in hand. He was also from a sandy area. Had no idea how to walk over a ditch, didn't get what a puddle was etc etc Never forget the day I was cracking the shits because he wouldn't walk down a little slope and over a ditch. I finally really looked at him and could see he had no idea where to put his feet. I thought he was just naughty. Learnt a lot about training an animal from that horse.

[persephone]

The Boss's Macca , when young ,was once trapped in a dam on the property where he was born . He was terrific as a light-work stock horse - had a wonderful temperament ..just as long as he was never asked to go anywhere near any body of water which wasn't his trough .  

It keeps on making me sad , seeing how many more people there are now living  cheek-to-jowl , and , naturally , so many want to own a dog . 
Dogs living mostly indoors , as singletons , with set and structured times for everything - and so many owners having so much love, and so little  nous