Another Tragic and Fatal Dog Attack

[Little Gifts]

I don't know you would ever get over something like this if it happened to you. Steve from K9 Pro posted about it and wishes there was an opportunity to discover why this happens before the offending dog is pts and the evidence is lost. I get where he is coming from. This one is just all tragedy and no learnings.

 

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/baby-killed-mauled-to-death-by-family-dog/news-story/3ccdf75df6016e0e004030105447d64f

[persephone]

Just awful Those parents will be in three kinds of hell, and  I really feel for the first responders in this one .
edit : I agree with SteveK9Pro.

Edited July 13, 2021 by persephone

[Loving my Oldies]

5 weeks old.  Ghastly and tragic at any age, of course, but such a fragile little being.  You’d never recover.  

[persephone]

Thinking..... how did dog have free access to baby during the night ? That in itself is asking for accidents to happen . Babies smell/they make odd noises to capture a dog's interest - they wriggle ....   *sigh* Poor little mite .

 

Quote

 no learnings.

the only lesson here is not to allow dogs access to unsupervised  babies. 

Edited July 13, 2021 by persephone

[Rebanne]

1 hour ago, persephone said:

Thinking..... how did dog have free access to baby during the night ? That in itself is asking for accidents to happen . Babies smell/they make odd noises to capture a dog's interest - they wriggle ....   *sigh* Poor little mite .

 

the only lesson here is not to allow dogs access to unsupervised  babies. 

but is that what happened?

[persephone]

I figured it was the middle of the night ...everyone would be sleeping ? maybe not - maybe they were doing something with the baby .... you're right...it may not have been that scenario.

[asal]

On 13/07/2021 at 1:22 PM, Little Gifts said:

I don't know you would ever get over something like this if it happened to you. Steve from K9 Pro posted about it and wishes there was an opportunity to discover why this happens before the offending dog is pts and the evidence is lost. I get where he is coming from. This one is just all tragedy and no learnings.

 

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/baby-killed-mauled-to-death-by-family-dog/news-story/3ccdf75df6016e0e004030105447d64f

 

 

A friend rang asking would I put her cattle dog girl in pup, when I asked why, she said Im hoping it will change her attitude to my baby. Immediate red flag to me. asked what’s going on with her. She said "I can’t risk her near my newborn baby." "Soon as she sees the baby she is looking about to attack" told her she might look like a cattle dog, but she sure isn't. If my dad saw that she would be wearing a bullet. Normal ACD takes one sniff of your newborn and it’s added to the list of family additions. , anything with your scent on it is automatically "your" property and now under guard.. Benny and Rosie after introduction to newborn Emma deserted their beds to sleep beside her cot, so Paul closed her bedroom door, so instead they guarded her door. 3 days later Sue and Paul went for a walk. The pair walked beside the pram. Instead of at heel. People coming the other way and crossed the road as they approached. Paul wondered why, so crossed the road and walked parallel to the pram. as the people approached both dogs "smiled" and the person crossed the road. .... That I told my friend is normal acd behaviour. There is something wrong with her dog. She had to build a run for her with a double fence so she could not grab her daughter, nor could the baby get an arm through the first fence to the second fence. I bet the parents of that baby were not reading their dog as well as my friend did with hers. Or their baby would still be alive.

 

 

 

[persephone]

My 'nanny dog' was a farm bred  ACD ...he would guard me from even my grandparents , and as I grew, I could do anything to him - he never minded . He saved me from a snake twice...I remember playing with him, and doing things I would cringe  at if I saw a kid doing. Mum told him to look after me, and he did . 

Edited July 14, 2021 by persephone

[Tempus Fugit]

Certainly not the first time an infant has been killed by the "family pet". I dare say a small minority of dogs get emotionally unstable and commit infanticide just like humans. Incidentally an 8 year old girl in Belgium has also been killed by a staffy in the last few days: https://www.newsweek.com/dog-fatally-mauls-8-year-old-girl-american-staffordshire-terrier-belgium-1609288. 

 

And so it goes: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9785955/Staffy-killed-five-week-old-baby-Central-Coast-viewed-infant-prey-experts-warn.html?fbclid=IwAR0xL0OGBx_Dnm29IfrbOO117Wg0V5vJQNrhSy-BLytleRDMutU_v6694Oo

Edited July 16, 2021 by Tempus Fugit
Additional link

[asal]

On 14/07/2021 at 6:31 PM, persephone said:

My 'nanny dog' was a farm bred  ACD ...he would guard me from even my grandparents , and as I grew, I could do anything to him - he never minded . He saved me from a snake twice...I remember playing with him, and doing things I would cringe  at if I saw a kid doing. Mum told him to look after me, and he did . 

 

even guard kids they just met,  never forget my brothers daughters didn't want to go home after their first visit, so they ran from their dad.  he chased them, next I know brother is running for the house with my acd girl debbi hot on his heels "protecting" my neices.  Breed trait.   daughter wasn't any help either she was laughing too

 

laughed so much I couldn't tell her to stop, he dived in the back door and closed it with me laughing my head off

 

[Ray27]

 There must be something about some dogs that seem to naturally protect infants and young children at all costs, and others for whom things go horribly wrong. The ACD stories above made me wonder if this guarding instint was common to  other  "working dogs" too.  My first dog as a child was already around 5 yrs old when I came along.I am  not sure what mixture of breeds he was, but the closest thing looking back, by his colouring, shape and form seemed to be a  Bordie collie Kelpie cross. He had been adopted from a shelter at around 18 mths, and my parents had no prior knowledge of his background.  There were also no formal socialisation programs for dogs and babies back then.   Despite this my parents must have have trusted him alot as I was placed outside in a pram  for the " sun kicks" that were all the rage for parents to do with infants back in the 60's! Fortunately for me he immediately took on the role of guarding my pram. In a secured backyard he didn't have anything to"guard" me from, but Mum & dad used to show me photos of him sitting by the side of the pram & if guests were in the yard he became quite alert if they came too close.  

 

One particular day however, my mother recounted what could have been a disaster. I was about 18mths and was outside alone with my beloved Sebastian whilst she looked on to the backyard from the nearby kitchen window whilst she washed up.  ( Obviously all the things you should never do with a dog and an Infant!). As my mother watched me interacting with the dog, she suddenly realsised to her horror that she had forgotten to take last nights lamb bone off  our dog Sebastian before I had ventured out in the yard!   Filled with natural anxiety for what would happen, she rushed outside to see me gently taking the lamb bone right out of my dogs mouth whilst he sat there patiently waiting.  It was too late for her to do anything  and she didn't want to rush in and startle him. Sure enough I gave it back to him, (after having a chew on it myself!!), and he calmly continued knawing on his bone!  He was one amazing dog.

[Little Gifts]

When I was a toddler we had some kind of black furry terrier. I would be left sitting in the sun on the back steps nomming on my vegemite bread. Chimmy would often sit on the step beside me at eye level and steal the bread from my hands causing me to cry. Apparently I would sometimes bite Chimmy on the ear after he stole my food and make him cry too. My mother (always watching this from inside the house) thought it was all quite funny and never intervened. It's like dumb luck that some of us weren't mauled by family pets!

[Selkie]

My mum's ACD guards my kids from their own dog. I still don't know if she'd recognise a small baby as human, though.

[leslie]

this breaks my heart! felt sorry for the baby 

[asal]

On 14/07/2021 at 2:16 PM, asal said:

 

 

A friend rang asking would I put her cattle dog girl in pup, when I asked why, she said Im hoping it will change her attitude to my baby. Immediate red flag to me. asked what’s going on with her. She said "I can’t risk her near my newborn baby." "Soon as she sees the baby she is looking about to attack" told her she might look like a cattle dog, but she sure isn't. If my dad saw that she would be wearing a bullet. Normal ACD takes one sniff of your newborn and it’s added to the list of family additions. , anything with your scent on it is automatically "your" property and now under guard.. Benny and Rosie after introduction to newborn Emma deserted their beds to sleep beside her cot, so Paul closed her bedroom door, so instead they guarded her door. 3 days later Sue and Paul went for a walk. The pair walked beside the pram. Instead of at heel. People coming the other way and crossed the road as they approached. Paul wondered why, so crossed the road and walked parallel to the pram. as the people approached both dogs "smiled" and the person crossed the road. .... That I told my friend is normal acd behaviour. There is something wrong with her dog. She had to build a run for her with a double fence so she could not grab her daughter, nor could the baby get an arm through the first fence to the second fence. I bet the parents of that baby were not reading their dog as well as my friend did with hers. Or their baby would still be alive.

 

 

 

 

Just realised, the family of that baby didn't even do something as basic as Paul did that first night they brought Emma home. He shut the door to her room, ensuring the dogs could not go near her unsupervised.  Even though they had proved they had no intention of harming her that first time he found them under her cot guarding her.  Never forget, Pauls best friend was gesticulating one day, just after Paul and Sue began dating. He accidently hit Sue.  Paul had to catch Benny in mid air as he flew to Sue's defence.   As for Robbo, he was utterly shocked, he had grown up with Paul and Benny, yet some how Benny knew Sue and Paul were already a couple and instantly flew to "defend" her from the shocked Robbo. Although cattledogs are a very differently selected breed, herding and guarding their human and belongings, compared to terriers bred for hunting.

 

That is why that poor baby died.

 

I well remember my mum making sure the cat could not get into the room when my brothers and sister were asleep in their cot, she was so sure a cat might suffocate a baby if it curled up with the baby.

 

Duty of care was lacking in that home.

 

 

Is the "fur baby" syndrome part of the problem?

 

Not enough practical education anymore?

 

We were taught far more about animals than modern parents are anymore now all pets are considered "fur children"

 

Leaving a baby unsupervised with even another young child can end in tragedy. Young children left unsupervised can just as easily injure a baby.

Edited July 30, 2021 by asal

[coneye]

Its simple really DO NOT TRUST AN ANIMAL 100%  ,I've never been without a dog my whole life , just never been a time in my life when a dog was'nt there ,  I took in a blue heeler 18 months old   he was / is a fantastic dog , he was brought up by a single mother with a child and a baby ,  she had to find a home so i took him , what a great dog he turned out to be  , so much so that when my son went looking for a dog and he had two todllers i insisted they take him , i knew he was a great familly dog , 7 years later  they still have him , his best mate is my youngest grandaughter he follows her everywhere  she's 18 month old ,  she sleeps   he snuggles up and sleeps with her , she eats , he paitently waits for her too share her food with him ,,  but guess what  we still do not totally trust him , he's a animal    a dog so you always have to watch ,, my little  maltese cross , is the most gentle dog in the world , but i don't trust him around  real small kids , he gets excited around them  and will play a bit rougher  than he will with adults ,, love them , look after them , but never ever completly trust them ,  Just remember they are  dogs not humans , and just like humans , they can snap ,, ,,,  example , 30 odd years ago i had two boxers ,mother and son , i got from the pound ,  well trained , great freindly dogs , everyone loved them   , but one time out with me  they were both on the leash in a busy street  , and for no reason at all both at excatly the same time , took off across the road , they darted that quick and fast , they just pulled out of my hand , run across a busy road ,  nearly getting run over , and baled up some bloke , out of  dozens of shoppers it waas this one guy , they baled him up  growling at him   i run across  got there leads apolagised and just did'nt have a clue why , they chose this fella   , but choose him they did , never ever before or after had they shown any agresion whats so ever , but  it just went to show , there animals  and you always have to watch closely no matter how good they are .