16-month-old killed by grandmother's pit bull

Detroit Free Press ^ | 4-4-04 | Laura Potts

[Dan from Michigan]

A 16-month-old boy was mauled to death Saturday by his grandmother's pit bull in a house on the city's west side, Detroit police said.

The baby, whom police did not identify Sunday, was playing on the kitchen floor during a visit to the house on Trinity Street around 9 a.m. when the dog attacked, said Detroit Police Officer Glen Woods. When the baby's grandmother, who was washing dishes nearby, tried to intervene, the dog bit off one of her fingers, Woods said.

[Dan from Michigan]

Sad.

[netmilsmom]

Dogs are dogs. I never trusted a dog around my daughters because no matter how much we try to make them human, they are dogs.

[GK_Chesterton]

how many more children need to be maimed and killed before we eliminate this breed?

[Criminal Number 18F]

The baby, whom police did not identify Sunday...

It was probably a mistake to name him Milk-Bone.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[martin_fierro]

Pitbullapalooza!

[netmilsmom]

>>It was probably a mistake to name him Milk-Bone<<

Oh that's just wrong.

[Syncro]

My son has a pit bull.

When he first got it, I told him it would eat his baby's face off.

That pit bull is about 8 years old now, and if you (or anyone) came to harm either one of my Grandchildren, you would be "dinner"

Yes I was troubled at the time, but now I know it is how you bring up a pit bull that is important.

She is friendly to everyone that we approve of, but if a stranger comes on the property he will see that he jumped over the wrong fence.

[Falcon4.0]

DAMN STRAIT!
Everyone I've ever known who owns one of the creatures always talks about how powerful and threatening they are. You don't get one because they're show dogs. You don't get one because they're sporting dogs. You don't get one because they're lovable. You don't get one because they're even good watch dogs. You get one because of they're reputation as vicious attack dogs.

[Cicero]

We have had a whole succession of different kinds of dogs over the years, and none of them has ever hurt a child. But there are some breeds of dog I wouldn't recommend as house pets.

[Xenalyte]

It was probably a mistake to name him Milk-Bone.

Dude, that is FUNNY!

[marktwain]

You don't get one because they're show dogs. You don't get one because they're sporting dogs. You don't get one because they're lovable. You don't get one because they're even good watch dogs. You get one because of they're reputation as vicious attack dogs.

It must be nice to be able to read minds and motivations so well. People have lots of different reasons for doing different things, and they are not as easily categorized as some might think. I would bet that a lot of people get Pit Bulls simply because a pup is available and they want a dog.

I bet that a major reason there appear to be so many attacks by this breed is because they become national news because of the name. We had a small child killed by a Corgi (sp) a couple of weeks ago, and I don't recall any national news about it.

Making policy on anecdotal evidence is folly.

[Ditter]

Any individual dog can be vicious. I have never heard of a Corgi attack, maybe because Corgi's are relatively rare, maybe because they don't usually have a vicious nature. Pit bulls are not rare & many of them do have a vicious nature.

[netmilsmom]

>>We have had a whole succession of different kinds of dogs over the years, and none of them has ever hurt a child. But there are some breeds of dog I wouldn't recommend as house pets.<<

We had a dog named Tootsie who would run in front of a car for you. There are good dogs.
However, I believe that dogs will go to instinct when put into any situation. If I owned a dog (not a pitbull, which can be good minus the inbreeding of the line) I would feel the dog would understand the family is his pack. Most dogs will not hurt a child.
But, I also understand that a dog is a dog and some humans think dogs are people. They are not.

[netmilsmom]

>>I bet that a major reason there appear to be so many attacks by this breed is because they become national news because of the name. We had a small child killed by a Corgi (sp) a couple of weeks ago, and I don't recall any national news about it. <<

Corgi's are not bred to have their jaws lock on bite. Pitbulls are. At one time the Pitbull was a great breed. Remember Petey from the Little Rascals? Now they are so inbred to be fighting dogs, it is rarer to get a good one than one that can turn.

[texasflower]

When I was 7 months pregnant, a neighbor's pit bull attacked me. I was able to move back some, but the dog kept coming after me.

I was with my federal agent husband who was armed with a 45 cal.

He is an excellent shot. National award winning in fact.

It took 4 well placed shots to stop that dog and a 5th to finally kill him. (The last one was a mercy shot)

He hit that dog in the side, near the heart and it didn't stop that dog until he had been hit four times.

I was never so scared in my life.

[Quix]

Have you ever heard of a Lassie type collie or a border collie willfully injuring a child?

They don't even injure the sheep in their care.

Pity the wolf that tries to harm a sheep or child in their care, though!

[Protagoras]

The story is not over, you are foolish to think your grandchild is safe. Pray hard, real hard.

[Syncro]

My grandchildren are safe.

The dog knows that her primary job is to protect the children and the property.

If you don't believe that, I will give you the address and you can jump the fence and grab one of my grandchildren.

Will the Pitbull kill my grandchildren or you?

Don't take me up on this.

[freeangel]

Until people are prosecuted and convicted for negligent homicide, these tragedies will go on. I see no difference in having these dogs as pets than getting someone killed while driving drunk. Both are huge risk factors and russian roulette is the name of the game.