[chul3l3ies1126]

OH MY FREAKING LORD is all I can say... they're going on and on about how these dogs are monsters... blah this blah that. Then they JUST SO HAPPEN TO MENTION...

"Because the pit bull is nursing a litter of pups, authorities didn't take the dog."

OH MY GAWD!!! Dont they understand that a Poodle could have attacked, a Lab could have attacked? A Golden?! If they are nursing they're puppies... and they dont know the people coming to pet her... UH DUH!!!! She is PROTECTING her puppies! OMG... I know that good breeders make sure that their bitches are properly socialized to prevent this... but they still have that instinct to protect their pups.

This just boils my brains, for once we have somewhat of a clear picture why it happened. (I am not saying that owner is a great one... she does have a list of citations before this incident, but well ya know what I mean)

http://www.wpxi.com/news/18977086/detail.html#-

*Scoffs* Monsters my A$$.... sigh...
Nessa

 

[Inga]

Yet another story of unattended children with dog. Dog nursing puppies to make it even worse. The man spoke of the woman leaving the dog unattended but where was he when the child went in to see the dog? The owner of the Pit bull already has multiple citations against her. Obviously NOT a real responsible dog owner to start with. So sad to hear she is breeding her dogs too. Shameful, just shameful.
On a side note, My parents have a picture of me when I was a child with similar injuries. I was bit in the face by the neighbors German Shepherd dog. Want to know why? I also went to visit the dog without an adult and I did something a kid would do... I blew in the dogs nose. She gave me a bite to my face for my troubles. You want to know who my parents blamed? ME! and Them for not watching me close enough. The dog lived another 7 years in our neighborhood and never bit another person. I suspect nobody else was stupid enough to blow in her nose.
These stories just make me sad. They are ALL preventable.

 

[KaseyT]

OH MY FREAKING LORD is all I can say... they're going on and on about how these dogs are monsters... blah this blah that. Then they JUST SO HAPPEN TO MENTION...

"Because the pit bull is nursing a litter of pups, authorities didn't take the dog."

OH MY GAWD!!! Dont they understand that a Poodle could have attacked, a Lab could have attacked? A Golden?! If they are nursing they're puppies... and they dont know the people coming to pet her... UH DUH!!!! She is PROTECTING her puppies! OMG... I know that good breeders make sure that their bitches are properly socialized to prevent this... but they still have that instinct to protect their pups.

This just boils my brains, for once we have somewhat of a clear picture why it happened. (I am not saying that owner is a great one... she does have a list of citations before this incident, but well ya know what I mean)

http://www.wpxi.com/news/18977086/detail.html#-

*Scoffs* Monsters my A$$.... sigh...
Nessa

There is nothing in the aticle that says the dog was was with the pups when it attacked her.

"Flynn said Jenna went into an upstairs bedroom with one of Gasch's children and was petting the dog when it turned on her."

It's unlikely the dog was nursing pups in the upstairs bedroom.

 

[chul3l3ies1126]

The dog lived another 7 years in our neighborhood and never bit another person. I suspect nobody else was stupid enough to blow in her nose.

Awe Inga you gave me a chuckle.

And yes... all extremely preventable... if the father wants to get all huffy and puffy about them being unsupervised, someone should find out where he was when it happened.
Nessa

 

[thebruxer]

Thats just ridiculous! i agree any mothering dog could have acted that way. But because it's a pittbull people are going ape about it! don't mess with a mother dog and her pups, and don't leave your children unattended!

 

[Eyssa]

So while the dog was unattended by a clearly irresponsible owner... where was the parent at? It goes both ways. I just really hate to see people bad mouthing "Pit Bulls" (I hate that term) because of these idiots' irresponsibility. A child that young shouldn't be allowed to go off like that... and that owner shouldn't be breeding and most likely should not even have dogs.

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

There is nothing in the aticle that says the dog was was with the pups when it attacked her.

"Flynn said Jenna went into an upstairs bedroom with one of Gasch's children and was petting the dog when it turned on her."

It's unlikely the dog was nursing pups in the upstairs bedroom.

The article didn't mention any thing besides how awful the dog is, so who is to say that is even the entire story.

And why is it unlikely? Apparently the owner is already irresponsible, so why wouldn't it be possible the dog wasn't nursing in an appropriate set up?

 

[Breezer158]

I had a German Shepherd Cross dog in 2000 that had 5 pups and one of my cats stayed with the litter and was playing with the pups and the mother dogs was okay with it. She was also okay with rabbits I had, as long as the rabbits were inside. I'd leave her alone with the rabbits and all she did was eat their poop.

But at the same time, she had her pups, I had another female dog, who was suffering from porcupine quills at the same time, and this same dog was bullying the mother when the mother was a puppy.

Anyway, this other female attacked the pups and injured one of them and it died. The mother dog grabbed her by the throat and she was stiff and I thought she'd killed her. It drew blood but the other dog was okay and actually acted like it was a compliment.

But after that I had to keep them apart. The mother dog ended up getting porcupine quills again and died when the pups were 8 weeks old.

The cranky female dog lived.

children ought to be taught some responsibility, such as not teasing dogs, especially if it's not their dog.

I had another dog a long time ago and she only had one pup in her first litter. She spoiled the pup rotten. In her second litter, it was the first pup that was protecting the pups, not the mother. The mother didn't have a problem with people handling her pups, but the older pup was guarding them and guarded any kind of baby animal. She wasn't used to children, but as long as I told her it was a "baby" she was okay. One time a man came here with his 5 year old grandson and I told my dog, "He's just a baby." so she'd be good. She knew the word, "baby" but the boy got angry and said, "I'm not a baby." I was talking to the dog and had to use words the dog understood. I'd say next time don't bring your kid then. If the dog would attack the kid, would they like that better?

 

[cshellenberger]

This isn't a matter of a child teasing the dog, it's a matter of the child having no ADULT supervision with an STRANGE DOG. That should have NEVER happened. Put the fact that she had recently whelped, whether she was with the pups or not, and it's a recipe for disaster no matter the breed.

 

[Beethoven]

Yea, that's irresponsible parenting by the parents of the child. Many people are nervous about letting their child go near a "dangerous' breed in the first place, why the heck would they blame their awful parenting on a dog? Even if she weren't with the puppies in that room, she's still under a lot of stress from just having had puppies, right? The child isn't smart enough to know not to go near a dog like that... What dumb parents, blaming someone else for their parenting mistakes.

 

[tirluc]

There is nothing in the aticle that says the dog was was with the pups when it attacked her.

It's unlikely the dog was nursing pups in the upstairs bedroom.

why is it unlikely?....if i had the room in my bedroom to do so, that is where my girls pups would have been for at least the 1st couple wks....2 breeders that i know of have there pups in their bedrooms to keep the mother more at ease w/ the comings and goings of people and the other dogs....

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

Yea, that's irresponsible parenting by the parents of the child. Many people are nervous about letting their child go near a "dangerous' breed in the first place, why the heck would they blame their awful parenting on a dog? Even if she weren't with the puppies in that room, she's still under a lot of stress from just having had puppies, right? The child isn't smart enough to know not to go near a dog like that... What dumb parents, blaming someone else for their parenting mistakes.

I'm one of the crazies that doesn't even let children pet her dogs in any situation. Not allowing it with my doxie is legitimate, he does have some issues, but the other two are perfectly friendly. They didn't grow up with children, and kids, especially strange kids, are unpredictable and I'm not taking the chance one of them will do something stupid. Even though I'm certain they wouldn't bite, I'm not putting them through a fur tug or a scare.

Not that that works. I had my doxie with me in a small local pet store a few days ago, and a little girl (No parents in sight) asked to pet him. She was old enough to understand and I said "No, he's very frightened of people and doesn't like to be pet." and she went away. A few minutes later I was in a different part of the store talking to a woman who complimented and this same kid out of no where runs full sprint and dives at my dog. He simply peed and ran, but now I'm hesitant to bring them anywhere people I don't know are. If he bit her, I would have understood why, but I doubt many other people would have.

 

[nikkilugi]

When I was a girl my uncle had a Pit that was kept at my grandma's house. She was awesome with us kids and family even when she had pups. My uncle set up my grandma's back bedroom as the room the dogs would be in. I would go back with an adult and play with the puppies - although once we were back in the room and an older lady came over to visit and look at the puppies and Candy nipped her on the nose when the lady was reaching down to touch a pup.

 

[KBLover]

I was bit in the face by the neighbors German Shepherd dog. Want to know why? I also went to visit the dog without an adult and I did something a kid would do... I blew in the dogs nose.

Now that's a first for me. I can't say I've seen many kids trying to blow in Wally's (or any dog's nose) nose!

I'm one of the crazies that doesn't even let children pet her dogs in any situation. Not allowing it with my doxie is legitimate, he does have some issues, but the other two are perfectly friendly. They didn't grow up with children, and kids, especially strange kids, are unpredictable and I'm not taking the chance one of them will do something stupid. Even though I'm certain they wouldn't bite, I'm not putting them through a fur tug or a scare.
.

Yeah, when kids want to pet Wally I make them wait until I get Wally settled down (don't want him running and them chasing thinking it's a game when they are really scaring him more) and then have them approach calmly. They don't have to creep up but no "mad dash to pet the cute doggie" type things.

Always watch what they do and Wally's reactions to what they do, and always to let him sniff their hands first, especially if he [Wally] takes interest in sniffing them, which he's been doing more of lately. I tell them "he wants to know who you are and what you've been playing today" when he wants to sniff them, especially if they get a little anxious about it.

And of course, I'm right there with Wally, keeping him calm too so the whole thing goes over well. The kids feel happy they got to pet and meet a dog and Wally can continue learning kids aren't out to eat him, especially since he's started to gain confidence around them.

 

[Inga]

Now that's a first for me. I can't say I've seen many kids trying to blow in Wally's (or any dog's nose) nose!
.

LOL Well to be fair I was pretty young. The dog came over when I was sitting on the ground and started sniffing my face. I put my mouth on his nose and blew. Don't worry, I learned my lesson. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THAT BEHAVIOR!!! I learned the hard way. I looked much like the pictures of the girl in that video. The dog could have done much worse I guess. I am thankful that it just gave me a firm NO.

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

Yeah, when kids want to pet Wally I make them wait until I get Wally settled down (don't want him running and them chasing thinking it's a game when they are really scaring him more) and then have them approach calmly. They don't have to creep up but no "mad dash to pet the cute doggie" type things.

Always watch what they do and Wally's reactions to what they do, and always to let him sniff their hands first, especially if he [Wally] takes interest in sniffing them, which he's been doing more of lately. I tell them "he wants to know who you are and what you've been playing today" when he wants to sniff them, especially if they get a little anxious about it.

And of course, I'm right there with Wally, keeping him calm too so the whole thing goes over well. The kids feel happy they got to pet and meet a dog and Wally can continue learning kids aren't out to eat him, especially since he's started to gain confidence around them.

My boyfriend's family has a lot of young children around (newborns to 5 year olds), and I'm comfortable with the dogs being around them as long as I'm there to supervise. They're lovely with kids despite the fact they're all rescues and I don't know their backgrounds (save Jonas, the doxie, but he didn't have a fair start at life and socialization in general) but I just can't bring myself to trust strange children (and in Jonas' case, I don't allow them to pet Jonas because he just has so many problems) especially because almost every time we go out we have a bad experience. People seem to think a pet store is a giant candy store where their kids can run around unsupervised and grab any dog they want.

Luckily for Jack, my Elkhound, children often don't want to pet him. They think he looks scary, haha.

 

[Mac'N'Roe]

There is nothing in the aticle that says the dog was was with the pups when it attacked her.

"Flynn said Jenna went into an upstairs bedroom with one of Gasch's children and was petting the dog when it turned on her."

It's unlikely the dog was nursing pups in the upstairs bedroom.

Okay, so it doesn't say the pups were with her...but why is it unlikely the dog was nursing in the upstairs bedroom? Speculation at best.

 

[KBLover]

My boyfriend's family has a lot of young children around (newborns to 5 year olds), and I'm comfortable with the dogs being around them as long as I'm there to supervise. They're lovely with kids despite the fact they're all rescues and I don't know their backgrounds (save Jonas, the doxie, but he didn't have a fair start at life and socialization in general) but I just can't bring myself to trust strange children (and in Jonas' case, I don't allow them to pet Jonas because he just has so many problems) especially because almost every time we go out we have a bad experience. People seem to think a pet store is a giant candy store where their kids can run around unsupervised and grab any dog they want.

Luckily for Jack, my Elkhound, children often don't want to pet him. They think he looks scary, haha.

Yeah, I get some of that mentality too - see dog, kids run to try to touch dog, parents just grin and smile while the kids all but mob us. I've learned to not have a problem saying "don't run, and come slowly" and start organizing the whole scene. One kid at a time, just petting on his back (no taps, or hyber rubbing, just long slow strokes). I made one kid cry because I told him Wally ain't interested in you (and he wasn't) so I wasn't about to let him bother Wally. (I don't know why Wally didn't like him. He just wouldn't sniff him, but he sniffed the other kids )

Wally doesn't have the "un-cute" protection that Jack has Wally just looks like a little, shaggy, soft, white puppy. Those big eyes don't help his cause either (especially with the girls, one little girl always tells me how pretty Wally is even if she's just passing by) I wonder if this is how a father feels when boys start taking interest in his daughter(s). I just feel like beating them off with a chair and a whip sometimes!

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

Yeah, I get some of that mentality too - see dog, kids run to try to touch dog, parents just grin and smile while the kids all but mob us. I've learned to not have a problem saying "don't run, and come slowly" and start organizing the whole scene. One kid at a time, just petting on his back (no taps, or hyber rubbing, just long slow strokes). I made one kid cry because I told him Wally ain't interested in you (and he wasn't) so I wasn't about to let him bother Wally. (I don't know why Wally didn't like him. He just wouldn't sniff him, but he sniffed the other kids )

Wally doesn't have the "un-cute" protection that Jack has Wally just looks like a little, shaggy, soft, white puppy. Those big eyes don't help his cause either (especially with the girls, one little girl always tells me how pretty Wally is even if she's just passing by) I wonder if this is how a father feels when boys start taking interest in his daughter(s). I just feel like beating them off with a chair and a whip sometimes!

Sometimes there are just packs of 5 or 6 kids running around grabbing at dogs. Once a little boy ran at a rather large labradoodle a lady was standing with and his father grabbed him and said "You never pet dogs you don't know, and you never pet them without asking their owner." and it brought a tear to my eye to finally see a responsible parent. I must live in a wild child zone, because I've tried to say "You just have to come slowly and let him smell you first. If he doesn't want you to pet him, it's not your fault, he just doesn't like to be pet." and they'll blatantly ignore me and grab him. Most of the parents, if they're even in sight, can't understand why I pick up my doxie and just walk away.

My mutt and doxie just attract people like crazy. I feel bad Jonas just doesn't like to be pet, because he's so pretty and just a tiny, cute thing and I know if I saw him and he wasn't my dog I'd just want to squeeze him. My mutt loves attention, and is so goofy looking people are just drawn to her. Adults RAVE over Jack McCoy (we basically have NO other Elkhounds in this area) but kids have actually jumped away from him! And he's just the sweetest guy and it would take a lot to upset him. He's a favorite of the handicapped, if that doesn't sound too odd. We met a little handicapped girl who just stroked him for what seemed like hours. They all love how soft an puffy he is. We're working on passing the CGC because he'd be a wonderful therapy dog.

 

[Breezer158]

I think children should be taught to not approach or tease a strange dog without first getting permission from the dog's owner and have adult supervision. Some dogs are not used to children. My Happy, for example, is not safe with cats and would not be safe around children. Happy has problems. The last few mornings, she'll be sleeping beside me and wakes up and attacks one of myother dogs who's on the bed. This morning I grabbed Happy's collar before she had a chance to attack and held her back till she calmed down. I don't what's gotten into her lately. She bites them pretty savagely. She's been doing this in the mornings when she's sleeping and just before she wakes up. I told her "It's just a dream. Don't blame Skippy."
She's 10 and been like this since she was a little puppy.

I think it's natural for animals to protect their young.
Another thing I read is that dogs think kids are below them in rank. This is the old alpha theory. The idea is to get the dog to think that the kid is a higher rank than he is, so he'l respect the kid. It also said that kids unknowingly use behaviors that are interpreted as submissive behavior by the dog and so the dog assumes he's dominant.

I used to have a dog named Sister who wasn't used to kids, but she'd tolerate them and be good if I told her it was a "baby". She was very good with any kind of baby animal. She helped me raise kittens, that the mother cat had abandoned, by licking their bums for me. It helped a lot. She took her "job" seriously and she protected them.

I don't think I'd have let her be alone with a kid though. She was a dog who only would bite if she was protecting something. She protected me, and any animal that was sick or injured or any kind of baby animal. She wasn't used to children.

I think in the story of the pit bull it sounds like they are picking on pit bulls. I don't know anything about pit bulls. Any dog could have done it. I bet my Happy would have done the same thing, with no puppies. Happy has always had an ornery streak, since she was a young pup. She's okay with me, but a kid would have to stay away from her.


With my Sister, my previous dog, one time a man came and he had kids. I had lots of kittens in the yard and his kids wanted to pet the cats, something understandable. I told him, "If they touch the cats, the dog will get mad." Then he told the kids not to touch the cats, but they did anyway and then wanted to take one of the kittens. At first I said I never gave away any of my cats but the man said, "I have mice and you have lots of cats." So they took the kitten.


Many years ago, I was at a zoo, and there was this big cougar in a big enclosure. She was sleeping in a tree and the cub was active and some little boys were poking sticks in between the bars and having a lot of fun teasing the cougar cub. Their mother was telling them to stop. She seemed like she thought it was dangerous for them to be doing that. The adult cougar was sleeping.

Another time I was at a circus and after the show, people went to the cages where they had the tigers. There was a clown there growling, "Get away from the tigers." Clowns are supposed to be funny and a lot of fun, but at this circus, the clowns were growly and miserable. I'd say, instead of worrying about pit bulls so much, maybe keep an eye on your kids around those clowns.