1 yr old dies after being bitten by friendly pit mix

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I once heard from a trainer that the risk for dog bites goes up after any changes in developmental stage--crawling, walking, etc. Perhaps even more for pitts, but just want to say ANY dog can be a bite risk with toddlers/young kids.

This isn’t a bite risk we’re talking about. This is about a dog killing a little baby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for starting a new thread. I posted this article yesterday near the end of the thread where somebody asked if pit mixes were safer. I thought the article was relevant since this is a pit mix. There are so many deaths and disfigurement caused by pit bulls. But boy do they have a vocal advocacy group behind them. I would never own a pit or a pit mix. Easy to avoid. There are so many other breeds to choose from that I cannot understand why anyone, especially someone with a child or plan to have a child, would own one.

I believe this probably started from the right place, which was wanting to re-home the tons and tons of pitbulls that are basically clogging the shelters, but it was really misguided. In an effort to save these dogs you have them going into homes that have NO business owning a dog like this. And talking them up like they're such amazing family pets? Unconscionable. The Pitbull PR machine acts like it is a totally normal, rational thing to adopt them, but it really, really is not. In a world without mutts and shelters, would anyone in their right mind be like, "oh, no. Forget the Golden Retriever, a much better choice for you and your 3 young kids would probably be a Pitbull," conveniently ignoring that the propensity to maul without warning is a genetic feature not a bug? Of course not. Honestly, so what that there are a lot of them in shelters. When you're bringing a dog into your home, you need to think about what is going to be the best choice in bringing in a new member for hopefully the rest of its life. For mine? That will never, ever be a pit or pit mix.

Absolutely this. It boggles my mind that people love dogs because dogs were affirmatively bred through human selection for specific traits desired by humans, but then people don’t look at what those traits were in deciding whether a dog is appropriate for their life! A dog bred to attack with tenacity is not appropriate for a family, a dog bred to herd sheep all day is not appropriate for a lazy homebody that lives in an apartment, etc. We created these animals for specific things and it’s not fair or realistic to then ignore that when choosing a life for them.

[Anonymous]

Pit mixes are my favorite. I love them. You can't leave any dog along with a baby or toddler, especially around their food. I hope the Newfoundland owner was speaking in jest.

[Anonymous]

A relative has one of these dogs and it is pure muscle. The head is heavily muscled. They have a lot of separation anxiety and the personality of a pit. I am a dog lover, esp big breeds but I would never sleep in a room with this dog, even thought it is knee high. He is "forceful", I was petting him and went to get up and he grabbed my wrist in his mouth and tried to pull me back down in the chair. He has also been aggressive toward female relatives on their period. The big head on the small body has an "ugly cute" appeal but this dog makes me uneasy. I am not surprised that they can be so dangerous. Despite the small size, they are extremely strong and you can see the bulging jaw muscles from the side. Poor kiddo.

[Anonymous]

We adopted a shelter puppy and were told it was a lab mix. We did wisdom panel which suggested 50% american staffordshire terrier (which I think is a type of pit). It's completely not agressive, wonderful with children, and I could take food out of its mouth. We've had it for nearly two year without any incident.

But I am also in the camp of no pit is safe. We're unlikely to get rid of the dog, but I can't help being a bit worried. What would you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We adopted a shelter puppy and were told it was a lab mix. We did wisdom panel which suggested 50% american staffordshire terrier (which I think is a type of pit). It's completely not agressive, wonderful with children, and I could take food out of its mouth. We've had it for nearly two year without any incident.

But I am also in the camp of no pit is safe. We're unlikely to get rid of the dog, but I can't help being a bit worried. What would you do?

Some pitties are aggressive but many are not. They're not high energy dogs, typically, and can be quite docile. They also are very reactive and may bite unexpected movements or when startled. This explains all the stories of pitties who were sweet family dogs until...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We adopted a shelter puppy and were told it was a lab mix. We did wisdom panel which suggested 50% american staffordshire terrier (which I think is a type of pit). It's completely not agressive, wonderful with children, and I could take food out of its mouth. We've had it for nearly two year without any incident.

But I am also in the camp of no pit is safe. We're unlikely to get rid of the dog, but I can't help being a bit worried. What would you do?

You develop habits to mitigate risk: very, very strong training. Dog should come and sit by you on command, always. Walking on leash AND muzzled. Always. Never unsupervised around children. Separated from any guests who are the slightest bit uncomfortable or toward whom behavior is not perfect.

[Anonymous]

My 1 year old would never be near a dog, certainly not while eating. This is the parents' fault. Heck the baby wouldn't even be near my 5 pound chihuahua. Babies grab and pull and that's never, ever a good idea.

It's irresponsible owners that give dogs a bad rap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We adopted a shelter puppy and were told it was a lab mix. We did wisdom panel which suggested 50% american staffordshire terrier (which I think is a type of pit). It's completely not agressive, wonderful with children, and I could take food out of its mouth. We've had it for nearly two year without any incident.

But I am also in the camp of no pit is safe. We're unlikely to get rid of the dog, but I can't help being a bit worried. What would you do?

We adopted a shelter puppy. Mom looked like a lab. As he grew, he looked more and more like a pit mix. He has a big head and massive jaw. If he wanted, he could do some very serious damage. This is the true issue with pits. All dogs can (and will) bite. A pit has a massive jaw so they can easily kill.
What to do? Training. Training. Training.
He is great with our children. They are older (11 and 14) so they know how to treat dogs. But I would never leave him alone with strangers. People come over, he goes in the crate.
If I had younger children we would have re-homed. But we already had a dog, and our kids were both in elementary when we got him.
As far as feeding, we do it differently. For both our dogs, we leave their food bowl out all day every day. Fill up when it gets empty. This makes them not food insecure and they have no food issues. Anyone can touch their food bowl and there is no problem. They are both normal weight for their size. If food is always available, dogs will self regulate.

[Anonymous]

Pit bulls are the worst and so are pit bull apologists. So many people in this thread tacitly making excuses (the child touched the food!) A one year old baby was brutally mauled to death by one of these monsters. This is a public safety issues but people these days are too blinded by dog obsession to think rationally about it.

[Anonymous]

My spouse works in an ER and treats kids who've been bitten by dogs. Sometimes they're pits, but often not. Aside from the pit issue, all dogs (even family-friendly breeds like goldens) are capable of biting kids. Usually the family is surprised, the dog has never done anything like this before, they were just alone w/the kid for a second, etc.

All that to say, even if pit bulls are more likely to bite or more capable of inflicting serious damage, ANY breed is capable of biting kids.

We took a class when I was pregnant that teaches how to read signs that a dog is about to bite. Often little kids miss these signs, or think the dog is "smiling" if baring teeth. Just something to keep in mind, especially if getting a new dog. We tried to "dog-proof" our kid to decrease likelihood of bites by making sure to always supervise them together, not encourage kid to climb/pull on or corner dog, making sure dog had a safe place to retreat, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The baby would feed the dog snacks from her hand

https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-old-dies-she-bitten-173706925.html

Feeding a dog snacks from her hand is different than being near the dog's food bowl while she was eating which is what happened. It said the child grabbed at her food. Not justifying what the dog did of course, but it's very different. Dog was also 4 years old so they had it before having the baby. Perhaps baby is just getting mobile. None of these things justify what happened to the child, but they do explain why the dog might have reacted that way.

My German Shepherds would drop anything they were eating before biting a child. This tragedy is a combination of a truly dangerous breed, poor training, and irresponsible parenting. Babies should never be unsupervised near a dog. Especially while it’s eating or sleeping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We adopted a shelter puppy and were told it was a lab mix. We did wisdom panel which suggested 50% american staffordshire terrier (which I think is a type of pit). It's completely not agressive, wonderful with children, and I could take food out of its mouth. We've had it for nearly two year without any incident.

But I am also in the camp of no pit is safe. We're unlikely to get rid of the dog, but I can't help being a bit worried. What would you do?

Older children - teach them how to behave around dogs. Teach them not to poke or pull on the dog. Teach them basic dog training (eg. if they want the dog to get off the sofa teach it "off" and give the dog a treat). Teach them dog body language.

If the children are younger - never leave them alone with the dog. I would never leave a young child alone with ANY dog regardless of breed. If I'm not supervising either the children are contained or the dog is contained.


My completely perfect mutt (I'm sure she's got some pit bull because she's just a random dog from rescue) developed some joint/ health problems and began showing signs of aggression towards the younger child (who was learning to walk). I believe she was scared he would land on her and hurt her or poke at her or pull on her fur - and she was in pain. Fortunately, I was there and when the dog growled at the toddling child I snatched the child up. As younger child has gotten older, we have slowly allowed them to interact more, but always supervised. Her joint condition has treatment, but it's never going to away (Arthritis). So even a very even tempered dog can become aggressive in certain circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 1 year old would never be near a dog, certainly not while eating. This is the parents' fault. Heck the baby wouldn't even be near my 5 pound chihuahua. Babies grab and pull and that's never, ever a good idea.

It's irresponsible owners that give dogs a bad rap.

+1 No kids near the dog’s bowl. Generally ok for 1 year old to be somewhat near the family dog with constant supervision, if dog is not eating or sleeping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A one year old can die from basically any dog's bite, even a chihuahua. Never leave your young child close to an animal like that.

This is absolutely ridiculous! In theory maybe a chihuahua could kill a mobile toddler, but show me a case where this actually happened. A chihuahua might snap and leave a scar. This pitbull, and the other pitbull attacks through out these past three months alone, did not snap at a child. They tore these children apart. This dog didn't snap like a chihuahua might, it crushed her skull. Pitbulls are not safe for any home, and they are especially the wrong choice to make as a household pet around children.