Posted on 04/21/2010 10:46:49 PM PDT by Chet 99
5-year-old mauled by pit bull in Hurricane
April 20, 2010
HURRICANE -- Many owners of American pit bull terriers say the dogs get a bad rap, that they can be as sweet as any other breed and can make great family pets. But if a pit bull attacks, one Utah mother says the results can be devastating.
A pit bull mauled Katie Weeks' 5-year-old daughter, Saleena Wickward, in Hurricane Monday night. The little girl is now recovering from reconstructive facial surgery.
"She's already asked her mom for a mirror, and we're waiting on that," Weeks says.
Right now, Saleena's face only resembles what she used to look like: swelling, stitches and staples consume her innocent face.
"I was so afraid to walk into that room and see my little girl because I just thought she would never look the same again," Weeks says.
But she says her daughter already looks better than she did right after the attack.
It happened Monday night in Hurricane around 5:30. Weeks says her daughter wandered to the next yard over to catch a caterpillar.
According to the dog owner, Saleena was throwing rocks at the pit bull. Then, it lunged at her face.
"The dog was on a chain, but he grabbed her and didn't let go," Weeks says.
The owner had to pry the jaws off of Saleena's head. Neighbors called 911.
Saleena stayed conscious while waiting for an ambulance.
"We got a towel and pushed the skin up against her, and just wrapped it around and held it there until 911 got there, and just rocked her and tried to comfort her the best we could," Weeks says.
At Dixie Regional Medical Center, the 5-year-old had six and a half hours of reconstructive surgery. Two plastic surgeons helped put Saleena's face back together.
Stitches go from the middle of her lip, to her nose and cheek, then around her ear. A plate and screw are stabilizing her fractured cheek.
Now, doctors and family members will have to wait to see if there's any nerve damage. In the meantime, weeks says her emotions are all over the place.
"Fear, hope, more prayers than I've ever said in my life," she says.
The dog owner didn't want to comment. Weeks doesn't place blame on the owner. She says the dog had played with her kids before.
Hurricane police say the pit bull is with animal control.
I absolutely loved a friend’s response, “Maybe it’s not oil. Maybe it’s an evil stain.” Someone else mentioned maybe something smells wrong there or maybe there are open underground lines that we don’t notice, but she senses. I was going for the mundane explanations, rather than the less mundane paranormal explanations, like my friend’s “evil stain” theory. Haha!
I like the Evil Stain Theory! Obviously the fabric of space/time was punctured by some nefarious, trans-galactic stiletto allowing an inter-dimensional, oleaginous hippo to escape and become one with the sidewalk...
The funny part about having Molly is that I had never put Staffordshires or American Bulldogs in the Pit Bull category. I notice when I have walked her, people immediately come up to her, saying how beautiful she is and want to get petted (while she tries for hugs and kisses). They completely seem to forget that she’s one of “those kind”.
Oh, you’d be surprised what works it’s way into the ‘pitbull catagory’! I posted a link upthread to a Rhodesian Ridgeback that was misidentified as a pit.
I’d love to see pictures of your dog, if/when you get some!
>Bought!<
LOL. Too bad we can’t buy a few copies for some of the dog-behavior challenged we run into.
I posted them on my Easter Foodie thread, because people asked, but I might be able to post them to my profile in a bit. :)
Around certain groups of people my dog is a plain ole Red Heeler not a Pit mix and this seems to make him much less dangerous.
;<)
Maybe she doesn’t know what it is....cookies can lure her close enough to check things out and see they are safe....maybe one person holding Molly as close as she feels comfortable to get to the stain and another trusted person standing at the stain with a yummy treat. Once she sees it safe she might be okay.
Just don’t pet or try and sooth her with words while she is acting afraid or frozen this will only reinforces that behavior. Sometimes thats all it takes.
Oops! I just searched you in forum and der, I already saw her! She’s got such a pretty smile!
If Wikipedia is to be believed, the ‘Staffordshire’ moniker was applied to the regular ol’ American Pitbull Terrier, in an effort to legitimize it as a breed; so the Staffis you see have been refined and bred for the show ring since the 1930s, but most people would consider them ‘pit bulls’. Registered APBTs have been bred for pulling, which means they’ve gotten small and compact; the pullers I’ve seen were barely bigger than a Jack Russell Terrier; the pit bulls one sees on the street vary so wildly in size, shape, and temperment it’s hardly fair to categorize them all together.
Ugh! After I went through all the trouble of updating my profile just now. :/
malibu was a good song especially that low refrain....”and I know...love can tear u apart...hey hey...u know what to do....”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeLXwFRKK_Y
I love her spotty little ears!
The dog my husband tried to bring home before Swiper had ears like that. I put my foot down because I didn’t want a pit bull in the house, and insisted we get this beautiful red labrador/mix I had just found... (Wo)men plan, God laughs.
Nice profile, as well!
Had a facebook friend keep saying how brave I was for letting her into my home and has said she is frightened to meet her.
Hi guys hope the weather is as great where you are as it is in Michigan...we have sun and warmth for a change....Poor child, hope things turn out all right for this poor kid...But its much more fun to talk about Hippo’s isn’t it..GG
That’s so sad, it just goes to show the power of propaganda. It’s good Molly will get the chance to be an ambassador for the breed through your SCA activities!
Yup! She gets to be the new “ghost dog” when the “bogeyman” takes the children trick or treating and probably the mascot that Moses was. :)
Heh heh...when he was little, he was huge!
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