Posted on 04/22/2009 3:26:21 PM PDT by Chet 99
EASTPOINTE, Mich. - Police say a family's pit bull terrier has fatally mauled a 1-year-old boy.
Lt. Darrell Corsi says the boy's parents were home when he was attacked by the dog shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday in Eastpointe, which borders Detroit on the northeast. The father, whose name was being withheld, shot the dog to death with a handgun.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
He purely loves that animal.
And the love is returned tenfold.
So these parents left a 1 year old alone in the house .. with a Pit Bull!! Those are ugly, vicious dogs ... just like their owners.
The pit bull murdered a one year old baby. The owners of the pit bull obtained it for the purpose of terrorizing their neighbors and are responsible for the murder of that baby. We need legislation to put such pit bull owners to death, IMO.
Roger Dat!,,,
No matter how much info/news/facts are posted some folks
do that because they have nothing else to say,,,
Few can find news about attacks other that pits that are
not years old,,,Just look at the numbers,,,
If somebody is killed or mauled in any town/city it is
reported first by local media by calls to their news lines
or by scanners or police reports,,,Then it goes on the net.
Not all Pits are bad, and not all Labs are gentle, but were talking the law of averages here.
You are playing the odds, and taking a gamble with any animal that can overpower you or your kids.
I believe there is enough evidence to indicate that Pits are a unique and elevated risk, and therefor should be restricted or regulated in some way.
They can become a public danger in short order, and therefore the public has a right to regulate them.
Here’s an update (blocked site):
If the dog would run right to the fence and go nuts that’s
just what they do next door,,,
After all they went through they let a damn dawg kill that
Baby...
>I guarantee that this guy would proclaim to anyone how sweet a gentle hit dog was, and how it would never hurt anyone.<
From the article:
“In the family’s yard is posted a black-and-red sign that reads “Beware of Dog.” Baumgartner said the dog was known to be hostile to passersby, and his owner told him not to come near their fence because the dog might nip at him.”
That’s a Shih Tzu... a vicious beast of an animal.
The tongue on this varmit will lick you to death.
But your point is valid.
And if he knew the dog was a danger, some jail time is in order.
>I should have been more specific. Most people seem to think that about dogs in reference to their own family.<
Sadly, many people think of dogs not as they actually are, but as either Lassie, or as little people in fur coats. Dogs are ruled by certain drives, one of which is called “prey drive”.
Now prey drive can, in the hands of an experienced dog trainer, be used to mold the dog in remarkable ways. For example, police trainers use prey drive to start protection work in young dogs, and they could not teach search, drug or bomb detection without accessing this drive. Even those who train dogs for hunting and for herding work must activate the dog’s prey drive.
Pit bulls tend to have strong prey drive, backed up by a trait those who know this breed call “gameness” (tenacity). Shepherds have strong prey drive, as do many other breeds. It is absolutely essential that an individual recognize this fact, before adding this breed to his family. This breed MUST be trained and socialized, in addition to being appropriately confined. One of the reasons you see so many incidents with pit bulls is because they appeal to people who refuse to raise them knowledgeably.
I would bet money that the dog in this article was an intact male, and was never around very young children, especially when it was a puppy. I would love to know if the parents kept this baby away from the dog as a rule. Did this family isolate the dog from strangers, to make it protective of their family? The “beware of dog” sign may or may not be a clue. It’s very, very obvious that this dog was allowed, somewhere along the line, to regard the baby not as a family member, but as a prey object.
I would also be inclined to bet that this dog did not consider himself to be beneath all of the adult humans in his life. I seriously doubt there were any parameters set on his behavior, and so, like any dog who lacks a defined alpha in his life, he took the role as pack leader. Cesar Milan points this out to people weekly on his dog training shows.
All dogs need socialization, despite what some on this board seem to think (they believe Lassie was real). Dogs need to understand their place in the family structure in order to be comfortable around people and to react appropriately to children. In a healthy household, a puppy gets this socialization in the normal course of being a pet, without any conscious effort by the family, from the normal comings and goings of friends, from being included when the family goes on walks, etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.