Toddler dies after pit bull attack

WCSC ^

[Omega Man II]

Toddler dies after pit bull attack

From Live5 News

Authorities say a toddler was mauled to death when the family pit bull got loose from inside a laundry room and attacked the young boy.

Brian Palmer died Tuesday morning from his injuries. He would have turned two-years-old in August.

The 2-year-old dog was euthanized, and its head was sent to Columbia for testing.

Authorities say the dog had killed a family cat and fought with another dog within the last month. There were --no-- adults in the house when the attack occurred and the oldest of four children at the home was 16-years-old.

Story Created: Apr 25, 2007 at 8:54 AM EDT

Story Updated: Apr 26, 2007 at 1:21 PM EDT

[Dianna]

Nevertheless, the collie bit a deaf girl that was visiting. We questioned it because perhaps she had stepped on the dog and did not hear it yelp. But the 2nd and third small children bites, which were very close together, were enough. We had the dog put to sleep.

We had a small high strung dog when my older son was 20ish. She snapped at him twice and I was looking to get rid of her. Several neighbors had pups from the same litter, and a friend of one thought the neighbors dog was so sweet.

She had two little boys and I told her outright that the dog had started snapping and I wasn't comfortable with the dog around children. She was SO sure the dog's behavior was my son's fault.

I think the dog lasted about a month at her house. Stupid woman.

[antivenom]

I train dogs too. I am actively involved in “Agility Training” with a 2 year old Bichon Frise. I do so because she is a not a people friendly dog and has a short attention span. I have found that the bond I have developed in active training has made her a more social dog. I do know if she were left to her own devices, she would have the tendency to be an aggressive dog. I am actively involved in making her a compliant dog and add some joy to her life.

I have many friends with larger and more aggressive dogs. Do I trust their dogs; NO, because I know underneath the dog's temporarily controlled behavior there may lie a dog who will resort to their natural instinct if left unattended (uncontrolled).

In the end we are talking about natural instinct, if a person has a rigidly controlled dog, it is probably going to be a good dog, if not...a person has a ticking time bomb on their hands.

I have a friend who took a pit bull in...and to be honest it was a beautiful and wonderfully smart dog. Did I ever trust that dog...hell know...because I understood that the pound per square inch of a bite from a pit bull was a losing situation for a human being. No matter how beautiful and cool an alligator may be in the wild...I am not going to want to mess with it or try to manage it.

In the end...humans with little or no commitment can NOT really manage a pt bull, once a pit bull has made up its mind.

Pit bulls are a breed that need to be eliminated and reintroduced once the gangsta' fad has finally agreed to use Bichons as a threatening status symbol...LOL

[Dianna]

We had a small high strung dog when my older son was 20ish.

Ooops, my son was 2-ish.

[kanawa]

The question I have is why CHOOSE a pit bull when so many other breeds are available?

The simple answer is if it's not affecting you then it's none of your damn business.
Since you've heard all the arguments why are you even bother to ask?
Because you don't accept the answers given?

Your attempt to put all owners in a nice little psychological deficiency box
is offensive and just plain wrong.
I don't base my actions on "public opinion"
I have a higher authority to answer to.

You sound like a likely recruit for my campaign to ban alcohol in post 137.
Shall I send you the literature?

[Finny]

Just ask your vet. I know I’m right about this. There is no such thing as a ‘vicious’ dog breed.

There are vicious humans.

Not personal, Badeye, but just via my experiences with a lot of pet owners -- to me this is the "pet-parent two-step," where one step, you're celebrating how dogs are not like humans, and the next you're celebrating how much they are.

Step one: understand that these are dogs, owned property, subservient enough in the eyes of some to be compared with an innocent firearm laying around the house.

Now quick-change to step two: Understand that many people perceive their dogs as "babies" and themselves as their dog's "mommy" or "daddy." To many people, dogs are individuals with rights. If a dog is involved in an altercation, it deserves due process before any decision to "put it down" (the term "kill it" is too harsh). Adoption is always preferable for these poor misunderstood canine souls.

Hence you have people who think that attempts to stifle dog breeds of demonstrated vicious tendencies, are akin to racial profiling -- yet they defend their "right" to own dog breeds that can and have physically overpowered and maimed or killed adult humans -- on the same premise as gun rights, that they are objects and not subject to oversight. *sigh*

[beezdotcom]

Personally, when somebody suggests my viewpoint is wrong, I’ll at least check the data with somebody thats a professional.

Go tell it to a climatologist.

[ClearBlueSky]

Is not mankind our ‘business’?
Dog fighting with pit bulls is a BIG BUSINESS here in south Louisiana. Every thug alive has pit bulls- and they have them BECAUSE the dogs are dangerous and intimidating. You can be damned sure if someone near me owns a breed of dog that is capable of the damages pits are it IS my business!

Ban alcohol? You have NO idea who you’re talking to! LOL
Save your literature, and your defensiveness.
I see that you’re Canadian. You have more to worry about than people who don’t trust certain breeds of dogs.
The Muslims in your country would ban a HELLUVA lot more than dogs! And the socialist mentality there is helping them make great strides. If you want to fight ‘bans’, the Muslims in your country will keep you very busy.
Rest up.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

The Islamic breed of dogs strikes again.

[zipper]

Ask your vet if there is a ‘vicious breed’.

Or don’t. I did, twice with different vets, got the same answer.

Well, that settles it. The national debate is over. "Badeye" says two vets said there are no vicious breeds.

The families of the dead children mauled by pit bulls declined comment, because obviously the dogs that killed their children are therefore not vicious.

What would we do without experts like "Badeye" and these anonymous vets?

I suggest you sue Google for having so many entries for "vicious dog" since you, badeye, have conclusively proven it to be an oxymoron.

[zipper]

Ban the breed? For my part, I'd be satisfied if I could freely pack heat and shoot the damned dogs if they act up.

LOL

[endthematrix]

"You can be damned sure if someone near me owns a breed of dog that is capable of the damages pits are it IS my business!"

You are more afraid of a dog rather than the owner, or the owner's car, pool, or .38 in the night stand? What about your property? More people are killed using metal ladders than pitbulls. The statistics show that your fear is misplaced if you are.

[RipSawyer]

Yep. I own a Rott/Shepard mix myself. She’s a great dog, friendly to everybody that comes to our house.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A quarter century ago I owned a purebred (championship bloodline) Rottweiler stud. This dog never offered to harm anyone but his presence was enough to scare most people half-witted. My brother had a Rott and German Shepherd male that turned out to be a nervous wreck and finally had to be put down after he lunged and caught the tip of my finger, I probably would have lost the use of my right hand had I not had extremely fast reflexes. He only got the extreme tip but I wound up having to have a doctor cut the infected tissue away from my fingernail and put in a couple of tiny stitches before my finger would heal. I later told my wife that if felt as I imagine it would feel if you took a roofing nail and welded it to the edge of a car door, heated the nail red hot with a torch and slammed the door on the finger, driving the red hot nail through the finger tip. I still shudder to think what would have happened if he had gotten more of my hand.
What was I doing that caused the dog to bite? I was setting a dish of food on the ground for him, the dog knew me well and had never offered to harm me before. I am a big, physically imposing sort with a deep voice and I have made big aggressive dogs turn and go the other way by just facing them down but my brother’s dog taught me not to be so confident.

[RipSawyer]

All I know is, if a collie has a bad day and bites someone they are just bit.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And that is not for lack of bite, the large breed show type Collie lacks the bite pressure of a pit but I know from past experience they are quite capable of slicing someone up in pieces, I have seen the slash wounds left on other animals by a Collie.

[kanawa]

zipper can you fathom that there is a difference between a viscious dog and a viscious breed?

If .00002% of members of a class is “A” does that in your mind mean that the whole class is “A”?

I had a run in with a bear does that mean that bears as a whole are viscious?
For a few moments after it happened I would have said YES,
for a few moments I would have been happy to see 99.98% of bears eradicated
and the other .02% put behind bars in a zoo...,

but then I let go of the emotion and started using my brain again.

I suggest instead of letting these extremely rare and preventable tragedies
and the emotions they engender form the basis for your decision making
that you calm down and use your head.

You say you are a gun owner...
Can you not see how the appeals to emotions,
how the generalizing from a specific case to the whole class
is exactly what the libs do when it comes to guns and gun owners.

To recognize that there are viscious dogs is not to say there a viscious breeds.
There are viscious Golden Retrievers, does that mean all GRs are viscious?
No of course not.
I’ll stick to Aristotle, no matter what Google says.

This dog is viscious
This dog is a pitbull
Therefore all pitbulls are viscious

This the reasoning you’re using and it is invalid.

[kanawa]

The Islamic breed of dogs strikes again.

Thank you for sharing your valuable insight and knowledge.
You, sir, are an intellectual giant.
To be able to sift through all the facts
and come to such a brilliant conclusion
and express it in such a terse form is a remarkable achievement.
Words are inadequate to express the depths of my admiration for you.
Posts such as yours are what make FR the premier discussion forum for conservatives
and a big reason why I continue to post here and support this forum.

[eastforker]

Goodmorning Kanawa, I have what could be a very vicious Jack Russel Terrier (AKA terrorist)haha. It takes alot to manage these terriors.My dog shows no aggresion to any of our cats or humans but will fight another dog at the drop of a hat. But, that is the nature of a JR. He is a very loving dog but has to be put in his place quite often. Terriers need a lot of discipline all the time. A PB or any other terrier that is locked or chained up with little human interaction, as with many other breeds is a ticking time bomb.More bluntly put, some people should not own dogs as well as some people shouldn’t raise kids.Our prisons are full of people that were not raised properly, do we put their parents in jail as well? I don’t think so. But, if a person does not have the fortitude to manage a large dog, they should not own one but this is America and freedom means we have the right to do stupid things.

[carton253]

I know a similiar story of a man who made his pit bull drag around a heavy block of concrete increasing it in weight when it became to light. I asked him why? He said he wanted to strengthen the dog so the day it came after him, he could put it down. He meant he wanted to get in a fight with it so he could it by hand.

The dog was the sweetest thing. But, its fate was sealed by the ass of an owner. I complained, but nothing was done.

I never did know the outcome. But I fondly hoped when the day came...the dog won the fight. Stupid human indeed.

[kanawa]

Dog fighting with pit bulls is a BIG BUSINESS here in south Louisiana.

It is a problem in Louisiana and in Ohio and pretty much everywhere else too.
Being as mankind is your business...What are you doing about it?
Here's some info, while the contacts are for Ohio the rest applies anywhere...

Why Should You Care?

Dog fighting has become a serious issue within our community. Why should you know how to recognize and report suspected dog fighting activities? Because dog fighting is a felony in Ohio and is linked to many other illegal and criminal activities. Law enforcement and animal welfare investigators report:

• dog fighters are often involved in illegal gambling, the sale and possession of drugs, as well as illegal weapons.
• dog fighters and spectators have a history of violent and criminal behavior toward people.
• dog fighting is another entertainment activity for gangs.
• dogs trained for fighting have been known to viciously attack innocent people for no apparent reason.
• it is not uncommon for dog fighters or spectators to involve their children in dog fighting.

Research shows young children who view this type of violence have a greater acceptance of aggressive attitudes and behavior. These children are taught to believe that it's okay to inflict the cruelties they observe and that dog fighting is an acceptable practice.

Other Signs of Dog Fighting

Just because your neighbor owns a pit bull does not mean that he or she is a dog fighter.
Signs of serious dog fighting include:

• ownership of several adult dogs and/or puppies that are confined by thick chains with or without weights on their collars.
• tires or other items suspended from trees to provide jaw strengthening activities.
• hand walking, jogging or using a treadmill.
• a "cat mill" which confines a cat, rabbit or other small animal and encourages the dog to ` chase it may be present. As a reward for its hard, work, the dog will be permitted to capture and kill the confined animal.
• people of all ages coming and going in groups from a residence or other site, some with dogs.

What Should You Look For?

Men, women and children attend dog fights throughout the year. Dog fighting is not a "seasonal sport."
Virtually any area within the community can hold a dog fight:

• an abandoned house
• a vacant garage
• an isolated warehouse
• a commercial or residential basement
• a secluded park
• a farmhouse or barn

Observing adolescents and/or adults with dogs, going to or coming from a site, should peak your curiosity.
The party-like atmosphere surrounding a dog fight is noticeable. Spectators cheer for their chosen dog as the bets stack up. Growling and barking, especially if other breeds of dogs are being used, is sometimes recognizable.

What Breed of Dogs are Involved in Dog Fighting?

Dogs which have the appearance and characteristics of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier or any other breed commonly known as pit bull, may be used in dog fighting activities. Other large breeds of dogs may also be used for dog fighting.
Dogs used in fighting often times have observable characteristics:

• short ear crops
• recent or long-standing wounds and abscesses
• scars on the head, throat, legs, and ears
• wide leather or web collars with heavy rings
• puncture wounds and lacerations
• bleeding dogs and/or blood stains in a confined area
• severe injuries that can result in death from loss of blood and internal trauma.

What Can You Do?

Remember that violence, weapons, and illegal activities go hand-in-hand with dog fighting. Report any suspected dog fighting activities, to the appropriate local agency.
Your report will be kept confidential to the maximum extent possible.
It is up to you and your neighbors to spread the word that dog fighting is not acceptable in your neighborhood.

Who Can You Turn to for Help? In Lucas County, if you or someone you know suspects dog fighting, do not hesitate to contact one of the following agencies:

• The Toledo Humane Society Animal Cruelty Investigation Division (419) 891-9777
• Crime Stoppers (419) 255-1111
• Lucas County Dog Warden Department (419) 255-6119
• Toledo Police 9-1-1

Remember, reporting dog fighting will reduce violence and illegal activities in your neighborhood!
link

[BearCub]

My oldest brother had a black lab that he loved dearly. Then one day it snapped at his daughter. It was put down the same day.

Yikes. That's a little extreme for a 'snap'. I'd have found a nice farm for the dog to live on.

[kanawa]

Every thug alive has pit bulls- and they have them BECAUSE the dogs are dangerous and intimidating.

Every thug alive has a pit bull?
I did not know that! Thanks for the info!

My argument was with your conclusion that every 'pit bull' owner
is a psychologically/socially sick individual with some sort of deficient personality.
I'm pointing out to you that is simplistic and incorrect. You can thank me or not.

You can be damned sure if someone near me owns a breed of dog that is capable of the damages pits are it IS my business!

If the owner is being responsible, if they are containing their dog
then it is none your business why they chose their dog.
Why they CHOOSE it was your original busybody question.
If their enjoyment of their property
is interfering (realistically) with your enjoyment of life
then it indeed becomes your problem and hopefully theirs as well.

Ban alcohol?

My goodness can you not recognize satire when you see?
I indeed do not drink alcohol.
What I did was to take on the role of a nanny stater,
to proscribe other peoples behavior
and base it on an emotional appeal to the common good.
Why would any one CHOOSE to drink alcohol?
There are many other safer drinks available that are just as tasty.
People who drink have some sort of personality disorder.
They are compensating for low self-esteem.
It makes them feel macho.
People who drink are thugs drunks.
Given the damage drunks do it IS my business.
Alcohol is a deadly drug.
No one needs to drink alcohol.
Given all the misery, the horrible deaths and disfigurements wrought by alcohol
and since mankind is my business
then alcohol must be banned for the common good.

It is a simple matter to substitute demon dog for demon alcohol in the above rant and hence the satire.

That is how I would behave if I didn't believe in freedom,
in individual responsibility and accountability.
If I judged everyone based on the actions of a few
and seeing myself as morally superior and righteous
I was therefore justified in curtailing the freedoms of others.

You have NO idea who you’re talking to!

No and you have no idea who you are talking to either,
but that didn't stop you from making judgments on my character based on the dog I own,
did it?

I see that you’re Canadian.

Since this has nothing to do with the topic it doesn't warrant a response.
The fight against liberalism/socialism transcend borders
and is a danger that conservatives from all over the world
can and should join together to battle.