Originally posted by Kfamr
PCB -- Great danes are big gentle giants. There's no reason to be afraid of them. Unless of course, they are mistreated.
I thought that too. If I would "blame" anyone, I would be inclined to look at the dog owner. What dog would kill a child? Maybe they were defending their territory or being teased and not necessarily mistreated or anything...

Still, you would have to wonder about a person with ten large dogs not of a generally aggressive breed--that actually attack and kill a child?? Add onto that that one of these dogs was loose. Regardless of whether that dog attacked anyone, NO responsible dog owner would let a dog run loose, regardless of its breed or nature. Dogs and children both need to be contained and watched, because they could get hit by a car or stolen or WORSE. Is that a caring dog owner (or parent for that matter)? Add onto that the fact that this person, owning this many dogs, doesn't have vaccination records for them! It all sounds very irresponsible. Whether this person is accountable for a child's death, I don't know, but he is showing some real lack of responsibility when it comes to his pets. A loose dog can be hurt. An unvaccinated dog can get sick or will be destroyed if it bites someone...

Given the facts presented, I can say there is some question to this dog owner. I don't know the mother and child's situation so well... Is the child vaccinated? Is the neighborhood generally safe? How long was she unattended? Do the other neighbors watch out for the child? Has the child been left alone without problems before? We don't know, so I don't think we should judge. (Whereas, the story makes some obvious statements about the dog owner...)

It is NEVER the animals' fault. Animals rely on two things: training and instinct. If they are mistreated, their instinct is to attack or flee. They will do as they are trained or they will follow their natural instinct. In cases like these, it is generally all people involved are to blame to some extent. Animals do not plot. They cannot be expected to reason or follow laws. They can only be expected to behave as they were taught or in a way to defend themselves or follow instincts.