In my opinion, what happened in this particular case could have happened just as easily 30 years ago or more. At no point should a parent ever leave a two year old child, unattended, outdoors. But with no fence, the thought of doing that is even worse!

I used the word "blame" in the question that led off this discussion. I truly wanted to know how folks felt about it, and that's what we've gotten. So please, don't get angry at people "blaming" because it is the question I asked! Some people would blame the humans, and protect the dogs. Some people would blame the neighbor, but not the dogs and not the mother of this child. I feel the "blame" should be distributed among all of adults in this situation, and yes, including the mother of the child.