Attack by pit bulls leaves boy 'critical':
Reason to Blow Up the World:...
A young boy was in a battle for his life late Wednesday after three pit bulls turned on him in his own backyard and mauled him before neighbors armed with tree limbs and a baseball bat raced to his rescue.
Witnesses and neighbors who tried to help the boy, identified as Gregg Jones, said he suffered severe bite and puncture wounds around his mouth, jaw and throat.
Detectives obtained information during their investigation Wednesday evening that at least one of the pit bulls had been relocated to the victim's Stone Ridge Park home because it had been banned from another municipality, Guzman said.
Preach all you want about how great Pit Bulls are and how it's the owners not the dog, I'm not buying it. When was the last time you heard that a kid was mauled by Schnauzers? The breed is a scourge.
this info can be found at www.fataldogattacks.com
THE BREED FACTOR
Many communities and cities believe that the solution to prevent severe and fatal dog attacks is to label, restrict or ban certain breeds of dogs as potentially dangerous. If the breed of dog was the primary or sole determining factor in a fatal dog attack, it would necessarily stand to reason that since there are literally millions of Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and German Shepherd Dogs in the United States, there would have to be countless more than an approximate 20 human fatalities per year.
Since only an infinitesimal number of any breed is implicated in a human fatality, it is not only unreasonable to characterize this as a specific breed behavior by which judge an entire population of dogs, it also does little to prevent fatal or severe dog attacks as the real causes and events that contribute to a fatal attack are masked by the issue of breed and not seriously addressed.
Pit Bulls in particular have been in a firestorm of bad publicity, and throughout the country Pit Bulls often bear the brunt of breed specific legislation. One severe or fatal attack can result in either restrictions or outright banning of this breed (and other breeds) in a community. While any severe or fatal attack on a person is tragic, there is often a tragic loss of perspective as to degree of dangerousness associated with this breed in reaction to a fatality. Virtually any breed of dog can be implicated in a human fatality.
From 1965 - 2001, there have been at least 36 different breeds/types of dog that have been involved in a fatal attack in the United States. (This number rises to at least 52 breeds/types when surveying fatal attacks worldwide). We are increasingly becoming a society that has less and less tolerance and understanding of natural canine behaviors. Breed specific behaviors that have been respected and selected for over the centuries are now often viewed as unnatural or dangerous. Dogs have throughout the centuries served as protectors and guardians of our property, possessions and families. Dogs have also been used for thousands of years to track, chase and hunt both large and small animals. These natural and selected-for canine behaviors seem to now eliciting fear, shock and a sense of distrust among many people.
There seems to be an ever growing expectation of a "behaviorally homogenized" dog - "Benji" in the shape of a Rottweiler. Breeds of dogs with greater protection instincts or an elevated prey-drive are often unfairly viewed as "aggressive or dangerous". No breed of dog is inherently vicious, as all breeds of dogs were created and are maintained exclusively to serve and co-exist with humans. The problem exists not within the breed of dog, but rather within the owners that fail to control, supervise, maintain and properly train the breed of dog they choose to keep.
CANINE AGGRESSION - AN OVERVIEW
It is important to emphasize that dogs bite today for the same reasons that they did one hundred or one thousand years ago. Dogs are no more dangerous today than they were a century or millennium ago. They only difference is a shift in human perception of what is and is not natural canine behavior and/or aggression and the breed of dog involved.
Examination of newspaper archival records dating back to the 1950â??s and 1960â??s reveal the same types of severe and fatal attacks occurring then as today. The only difference is the breed of dog responsible for these events. A random study of 74 severe and fatal attacks reported in the Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia, PA) from 1964-1968, show no severe or fatal attacks by Rottweilers and only one attack attributed to a Pit-Bull-type dog. The dogs involved in most of these incidents were the breeds that were popular at the time.
Over two thousand years ago, Plato extolled a basic understanding of canine behavior when he wrote "the disposition of noble dogs is to be gentle with people they know and the opposite with those they donâ??t know...." Recently, this fundamental principal of canine behavior seems to elude many people as parents allow their children to be unsupervised with unfamiliar dogs and lawmakers clamor to declare certain dogs as dangerous in response to an attack.
Any dog, regardless of breed, is only as dangerous as his/her owner allows it to be.
Addressing the issue of severe and fatal dog attacks as a breed specific problem is akin to treating the symptom and not the disease. Severe and fatal attacks will continue until we come to the realization that allowing a toddler to wander off to a chained dog is more of a critical factor in a fatal dog attack than which breed of dog is at the end of the chain.
Only when we become more knowledgeable, humane and responsible in our treatment of dogs can we hope to prevent future tragedies.
I completely agree with the article, I do agree that it is not necessarily the breed itself, but what the owners teach them. I have a Dalmatian and a Lab...everyone always asks me about the dal and how aggressive she is...she is a lady a sweetheart...when I first got her she was not, she had been passes from person to person until she found me and her forever home, her behavior has changed drastically. So it does depend on the humans who house the dogs.
I have heard of labs being aggressive also, but never seen it.
Thanks for the article!
Are there more attacks by specific breeds because they deserve their reputation, or because people that want aggressive dogs choose those breeds?
Again, I'm not particularly well-informed on the issue, but I try to keep in mind how the media treats other cases. Are attacks by other breeds generally passed over because they don't generate enough outrage?
I suppose the only way to show conclusively how dangerous, say, pit bulls are compared to other breeds is to get information on as many attacks as possible, exclude cases of rabies and mistreatment (which might be difficult, I admit), and look at the numbers.
Personally, I think pit bulls are ugly and don't know why anyone would want one, but hey.
An American has a one in 50 chance of being bitten by a dog each year.
Cause of injury - Emergency room incidents annually
Baseball/softball - 404,364
Dog bites - 333,687
Playground accidents - 268,810
All-terrain vehicles, mopeds, etc. - 125,136
Dog bites result in approximately 44,000 facial injuries in US hospitals each year. This represents between 0.5% and 1.5% of all emergency room visits.
Every year 2,851 letter carriers are bitten. (US Postal Service.)
The face is the most frequent target (77% of all injures). Mail carriers are an exception where 97% involve the lower extremities.
In the US from 1979 to 1996, 304 people in the US died from dog attacks, including 30 in California.
The average number of deaths per year was 17.
DOG BITE LAW
Consider asking yourself these questions, at least.
Even if these breeds are chosen because they're easier to train to violence, in the end, aren't the people who trained them responsible?
Can we really justify destroying or banning a breed of dogs because some people choose to abuse their aggressive nature? Isn't that a dangerous path to start down, even for animals?
If we did, wouldn't the same people just find another breed and start over? Where would it end?
To be honest, I'm not a dog person. I've never owned one, I don't plan to. Legislation regarding certain breeds really wouldn't affect me, but... I'm very averse to government legislating any aspect of our everyday lives. I suspect that, short of eliminating dogs everywhere, some attacks are always going to happen. Start holding people responsible (when applicable), and start applying stricter penalties. Train your dog to kill (or just treat it so poorly that it's dangerously violent), get charged with murder if it does... makes sense to me.
http://www.atts.org/statistics.html
American Pit Bull Terrier 83.4%
American Staffordshire Terrier 83.3%
Staffordshire Bull Terrier 93.2%
Cocker Spaniel 81.5%
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 78.6%
Average of all breeds tested 25,726 dogs. 20,848 passed 4,878 failed. Avg. 81.0%
MOUNTLAKE TERRACE - A Tacoma woman is in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center after being mauled by a pit bull Friday afternoon.
SEVEN POINTS - A 4-year-old boy who was mauled by a dog while waiting for a school bus near Seven Points Monday returned to surgery Thursday. The pit bull was bound on a chain when he attacked Ivey; however, the chain was long enough to allow the animal to reach the road, Village Avenue, McWilliams said.
DOVER, Ohio -- A 5-year-old New Philadelphia girl is recovering Sunday after she was mauled by a Rottweiler, NewChannel5's Angie Lau reported.
NORCO A Rottweiler mauled a 4-year-old girl playing with mermaid Barbie dolls in the back yard of a Norco home Wednesday, the bites serious enough for her to be taken to the hospital.
LORAIN -- A 9-year-old boy mauled by a pit bull Tuesday is in good spirits and should make a full recovery, the chief of pediatric orthopedics at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital said yesterday.
The owner of a large cross breed dog will be prosecuted after it attacked two young girls in western Sydney this morning, putting one in hospital, police say. The dog was described to police by witnesses as a pit bull cross, but council rangers later said it could not be associated with a particular breed.
MOUNTLAKE TERRACE - A Tacoma woman is in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center after being mauled by a pit bull Friday afternoon.
CUMBERLAND COUNTY) - A young Cumberland County boy is recovering from a vicious dog mauling. The 7-year-old is now dealing with painful rabies treatment after receiving 200 stitches in his face. Pickett says she believes the stray dog came onto her property after the wind blew down a section of her wooden fence. She said the dog looked like a mix of pit bull and boxer.
WAILUKU â?? A woman who was mauled by an 85-pound pit bull in the yard of a Pukalani residence on Nov. 16 filed a lawsuit Thursday in 2nd Circuit Court against the dogâ??s owner, saying he was â??negligentâ?? in allowing the attack to occur.
A nine-year-old boy was bitten on the head and had his arm broken in a dog attack in Melbourne's west.
The boy was taken to the Royal Children's Hospital in a stable condition after the attack by a pit-bull terrier-cross, a Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokesman said.
Police say the tragic attack happened at an apartment here in Santa Barbara. An 11 month old baby was badly injured after being mauled by the family's 55 pound dog.
The child's parents told authorities they placed the baby on the floor with the "Border Collie-Pit Bull" mix to introduce the child to the dog for the first time. Within minutes, the animal pounced on the child. The infant suffered severe bite-wound lacerations to her face. She will require special treatment by a surgeon who specializes in severe facial trauma
SAN DIEGO -- Glendale Police are investigating the death of a 16-month-old girl who was torn from her mother's arms and mauled by a rottweiler.
The 28-year-old mother suffered bites to her arms and upper body as she tried to hold onto her daughter.
The child was being held as her mother watered the lawn in the front yard of her parent's home.
Bartlesville - Six-year-old Noah Cross was being cared for by a friend of a cousin. He was in the back yard when the pit bull got out of a fenced area and viciously attacked him three different times.
A four-year-old Cleburne County boy was attacked by a chained pitt bull yesterday afternoon at a residence on County Road 662, located between Helfin and Ranburne. Sheriff Joe Jacks said the boy's grandmother struggled to separate the dog and child. He said a neighbor heard the woman's screams and was able to rescue the youngster. Relatives said Pharis Fish suffered injuries to his upper body and is listed in serious condition today at Children's Hospital in Birmingham.
This was actually a German Sheppard but look at the second sentence.
ODON â?? A 9-year-old Odon boy had the left side of his face destroyed in a dog attack Sunday night, according to family members.. It and two pit bull puppies belonging to the same person were taken to the animal shelter, said Dennis Boring, shelter director. If the owner signs a release, he added, the German shepherd will be put down in 10 days. The puppies may be released to the owner.
TAMPA - A bull mastiff mix weighing more than 100 pounds bit a 5-year-old Orient Park boy in the face Sunday afternoon.
A young boy was in a battle for his life late Wednesday after three pit bulls turned on him in his own backyard and mauled him before neighbors armed with tree limbs and a baseball bat raced to his rescue.