TX: Large Mixed Breed family dog fatally kills 4 year old

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philip964
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TX: Large Mixed Breed family dog fatally kills 4 year old

#1

Post by philip964 »

https://www.click2houston.com/news/4-ye ... family-dog

Family dog was tied up in the back yard. Unsupervised owner's child apparently got too close.

RIP

I was looking to see how many dog bite deaths occurred in the US each year. Last year it was 39. So the rifle kills more people each year than dogs.

Sad on so many levels.

Interblog
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Re: TX: Large Mixed Breed family dog fatally kills 4 year old

#2

Post by Interblog »

Quote from that coverage:

"Even if the dog doesn't show any outward signs of aggression, sometimes they can be unpredictable. So, it's best to always be vigilant when you're dealing with a small child and a dog like that."

They'd be doing the public a favor if they offered the following PSA for balance:

Sometimes young children do not know how to interact with a dog, and they bring the dog's reaction upon themselves. This is not to excuse the situation because the owners are 100% responsible either way. But it's a factor that is never reported in the news.

My own situation is a case in point. We have at least a dozen children who play outdoors on our cul-de-sac. Our dog is known to every one of them because she is almost always by my side when I'm doing yard work, automotive work, etc. in my front yard and driveway. The kids all come over to pet her, toss a ball for her, etc.

But one of those dozen children has a known developmental delay, and is not able to comprehend that our dog is a living creature. The child has repeatedly entered our property (even coming into our garage multiple times when the door is standing open and my back is turned) and literally tries to gouge out my dog's eyes, rip her ears off her head, etc.

Our dog is severely primed by this time to expect life-threatening danger from this child, and she will defend herself. The other eleven children could feign a stomping on my sleeping dog's head, and my dog would lay there in a state of bliss, not reacting in the slightest because she knows there's no danger from those other kids. But I have to worry about this other child sneaking into my garage, attacking my dog first, and then my dog defending herself. It's still 100% my responsibility to manage the situation. But it sure is a pain, and there's not much I can do, other than inform the parents that their kid is sneaking onto my property and into my house like this.

Moral of that story: The frequent news media line "my dog has never attacked anyone before" is oversimplified. Virtually all dogs will retaliate when their own physical safety is at stake.

striker55
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Re: TX: Large Mixed Breed family dog fatally kills 4 year old

#3

Post by striker55 »

What a terrible tragedy, sorry for all involved.
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JustSomeOldGuy
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Re: TX: Large Mixed Breed family dog fatally kills 4 year old

#4

Post by JustSomeOldGuy »

Interblog wrote: But one of those dozen children has a known developmental delay, and is not able to comprehend that our dog is a living creature. The child has repeatedly entered our property (even coming into our garage multiple times when the door is standing open and my back is turned) and literally tries to gouge out my dog's eyes, rip her ears off her head, etc.
Interblog wrote:It's still 100% my responsibility to manage the situation. But it sure is a pain, and there's not much I can do, other than inform the parents that their kid is sneaking onto my property and into my house like this.
When people allow their dogs to roam free, particularly dogs with socialization issues, the owner is responsible. If they do not take that responsibility seriously, it becomes a job for animal control, law enforcement, and lawsuit attorneys.

The same applies to kids. If the kid's mental wiring is that dysfunctional, why are the parents allowing him to run loose unsupervised? Allowing the kid to endanger himself and others qualifies as 'neglect', which is a job for your local Child Protective Services office. Sounds like it's time to 'drop a dime' on your neighbors.
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Abraham
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Re: TX: Large Mixed Breed family dog fatally kills 4 year old

#5

Post by Abraham »

JustSomeOldGuy,

Let's gently agree to disagree.

A mentally challenged child has more rights than a lethal dog.

So, if my 'retarded' (yep, no longer pc, but that's what it often means) child can't be free from lethal dogs, let's my all means blame the parents...

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Re: TX: Large Mixed Breed family dog fatally kills 4 year old

#6

Post by Interblog »

These kinds of issues degenerate quickly when subjected to oversimplification.

Yes, it is the parents' responsibility to keep control of their child. In the first realm, that task is 100% on them.

But we don't live in a perfect world. Anyone with a disordered child knows that some of them can become very talented escape artists. In the second realm, at the point where anyone's disordered child sneaks into my garage and begins trying to gouge out my dog's eyes because (s)he thinks that they are pretty marbles that (s)he would like to roll across the concrete floor (or whatever equivalent thought process may be present), at that point, the situation becomes 100% my responsibility to manage appropriately.

As for dropping a dime, that has to be done incrementally. The first step is one-on-one communication. And then depending on the results of that, it proceeds from there.
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RPBrown
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Re: TX: Large Mixed Breed family dog fatally kills 4 year old

#7

Post by RPBrown »

My prayers go out for the family of the child. However, almost as sad is that the dog is going to be euthanized even though he was in his own yard AND tied up. It was his yard and he was protecting it as well as possibly himself. Now had the dog even been loose in his own yard, I may not have as big of an issue with it. I would still say he was protecting his own yard but not as big of an issue. But in this case, the owner appears to have gone above what was required but still, the dog will be put down.
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