Speechless

[Husky_mom]

once again peoples fault... they saw it happen once... why didn´t they used a behaviourist.. or something.. and even so.. leave unattended with that precedent... it doesn´t matter the size or breed, any dog can do damage it´s just the amount due to size that makes a difference..

I´m sad for the girl.. and for the dogs.. who probably didn´t deserve such owners...

[king2005]

When will people learn to NEVER leave their family dog(s) alone with young children??!! & in this case it was a KNOWN aggressive dog!!!

What the hell were the parents thinking??!!
This is 100% the parents fault, period!!

[Alysser]

once again peoples fault... they saw it happen once... why didn´t they used a behaviourist.. or something.. and even so.. leave unattended with that precedent... it doesn´t matter the size or breed, any dog can do damage it´s just the amount due to size that makes a difference..

I´m sad for the girl.. and for the dogs.. who probably didn´t deserve such owners...

I agree. ALL dogs need to be socialized properly from a young age. The sad thing is this all could have been prevented. Such a sad, sad case all around.

[Laura's Babies]

I had turned away for two seconds and heard a growl,' Mr Sim told the Standard.

The man told the Standard: 'He was playing with the dog and he turned away and the dog bit the girl on the face

It sounds like the father WAS in the room but had just turned away..

Taylor's grandmother Alison Leadbeater said her daughter had asked vets to put the dog down two weeks ago after it bit her brother Gary’s hand, but they had refused.

They had tried to take action..

I am not trying to defend the owners in any way and maybe there was more they could have done but if he had taken the dog out prior to this and shot it, most probably he would have been arrested for animal cruelty. They could have taken him to a shelter and given him up as to dangerous to have around their children.

For those not wanting to read the full article

Miss Leadbeater said she was worried about his behaviour and spoke to the vets as she was concerned about the children.
‘But they said they could retrain the animal and they could not put it down.

I feel sorry for all involved, especially the child.

My own thought is I would be afraid to have ANY big dog around a small child.

[NicoleLJ]

Your missing one key point. All the dogs were intact and the one that attacted was male and they had an in season female at the time as all this. So I am sorry but I disagree with you. This was 100% preventable in my opinion.

This person did a lot of mistakes. One major one is that one of the dogs was admittedly in season. THis will make both males and females more tempermental. THey will and can act more out of character then normal because of elevated hormones and responses to the dog in season. THey can get more aggresive, teritorial. Some get more loving and docile. Each dog is different. And because you don't know how the hormones will affect the dog a person with any dog in season and other dogs around it should be a lot more vigulant.

Next was if because of the dog that was in season the other dog already bit once, why was it not already contained or seperated from the children?

And last why is any dog allowed to play loose in a childs room? My dog is a German Shepherd. And they are all trained that they can only go into my childs room if I am there and then only to lay in the corner as we are doing things. Not jumping around or playing.

THis dog was already agitated because of the dog in season, his admittedly playing with the dog in the childs room increased it's excitement level.

I feel very badly for this man and his family but as far as I am concerned very little of this is the dogs fault. It was 100% preventable based on all the info that was in that article. If you are going to have intact dogs then you need to take responsibility for them. In a case like this one it was defiantely the owners responsibility not the dogs. A little common sense and this would not have happened. I know I sound harsh but this really bothers me.

[Twisterdog]

They had tried to take action..

I am not trying to defend the owners in any way and maybe there was more they could have done but if he had taken the dog out prior to this and shot it, most probably he would have been arrested for animal cruelty. They could have taken him to a shelter and given him up as to dangerous to have around their children.

No, sorry, not buying that. If you know you own a vicious dog, and you go to your vet to have it euthanized, and your vet refuses ... then you go to a different vet. Or call Animal Control. Or the police. Come on.

And not that I am advocating this, but no, shooting your own dog is generally not cruelty to animals, if it is a clean kill shot. You can't torture your dog to death, but everywhere I've ever lived, yes, you can indeed shoot it.

And for Pete's sake, where is the common sense here?? Even it they absolutely couldn't get the dog euthanized, which I don't believe for a minute, and they had to keep it ... what the heck was it doing in a room with their child?? Period.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

3 big dogs in one not very big house.......seriously, what is wrong with people? why take on animals that you clearly cannot cope with!!!

[moosmom]

STUPID, STUPID PEOPLE!!!!!! Everytime I see someone with a dog intact, I make a very subtle remark that they hear.

There are some people who have no business owning pets, let alone having children.

Sick.