Skye

I am a pitbull lover. I have 2 and I also have 3 kids (ages 1, 2 and 10). I am always arguing with people defending the breed. When I am told about a pitbull attack on kids or people my response is always, the dog was mis treated, mis trained, sick, etc. They dont just snap especially on people and more especially they dont with kids. I have NEVER had a bad experience with a pit. I have a friend who had a pit. The dog was 9 months, unaltered and had never shown any signs of aggression with people or animals. He let kids ride him, play with him all the time. My firned had him since he left his mommy. He was an indoor dog. My friend left to go to the store and tied the dog up outside. Another friend was there with her 6 year old daughter. The girl wandered outside alone. The girl was found mauled almost to death by the pit. Why could this have happened???

BullyGal

What happened was the owner of the dog left the dog tied up outside, then the parent was irresponsible and let their child wander outside alone. The dog probably didn't know what to do without its owner there, maybe the kid started harassing the dog. the truth is both parties were at fault here. Had the dog been kenneled and the child actually been watched, it wouldn't have happened. If I were a cop I'd arrest the parent for Neglect and Endangering.

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ames

Agree with the above. It happens like every other incident. Irresponsibility on someone part. Here taking a house dog and tying it up alone, probably not used to the and being still young 9 months you said? The owner didn't have time to see how his dog was with storage situation as he matured. But more so was the parents of the child. No excuse for any child to think its ok to approach a strange dog and for the parents not to know where their child is when there is a dog ties up outside. Any breed. Doesn't matter the breed. Irresponsibility for sure. It's a shame and I hope the little girl is ok. And the dog will be killed because the owner put him into a situation he shouldn't have.


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kg420

Yup. Owner and parent neglect. I make it very very clear that my kid or friends kids who come to visit are not allowed to play with my dog unsupervised. Little kids can be very rough and not mean to be and depending on the dog it can have a bad reaction to that. Now my dog has never ever once shown any signs of aggression but IMO it is foolish to take chances, especially with children. My dog is such a goof I worry about him knocking over a little one if he's too excited. And I'm not sure why he'd leave and leave the friends there but they should have had a better eye on their kid.

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Skye

Totally right, neglect on both parts. I am just trying to understand why the dog would attack the girl this way? Even tied up, even if the girl was messing with him. Kids have played/ messed with him in the past...never any sign of aggression. The dog has been tied up before, although he was never made to live outside. My dogs are great with my kids and their friends. I never leave them unsupervised but now I wonder if they could do the same one day (or try to) although they have never shown any signs of aggression (neither did this dog). I guess my concern is that my own dogs have never been aggressive (at least not towards people). They are great with kids, have a high level of patience and tolerance and could they one day do the same thing? Even left unattended, even with the kid poking at it, why attack?

SaliiiShark

25 percent of fatal attacks are caused by chained dogs, especially since their ancestors (wolves) were roaming animals who only stayed in their territory (hence peeing on new toys) they should have just left him at home in a crate.

What that Pit bull was doing was basically doing what his ancestors would have done, Protect their territory, and was in clear sign of stress because he was not with his owner, if the owner was their it would have been a different story, I'm guessing he attacked because he saw your friend, your friend's friend, and the 6 year old as a pack and when his Leader left he saw your friends as an invasion?

BullyGal

The dog was left alone, he was scared and probably acted out of fear.

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ames

the dog was put into a situation where he wasn't comfortable. he is young and maybe doesn't have the best confidence and reacted out of fear. NONE of us can ever really know WHY it happened, we were not there. We can only tell you how to make sure it never happens again. Don't leave any kids unattended with any dog, not worth the risk. Cold it happened again? Of course! its a dog who knows what was going through its head. Could it happen when the dog is inside and a kid tries to steal their bone or toy from them? WHO KNOWS. You need to supervise and make sure it never happens bottom line.

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redog

Easily could have been play that escalated...no telling though. The owner is still responsible for the dogs actions. The chaining of the dog is irrelevant. It's more about bad parenting

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Dave

kg420

the first APBT I was ever around was my grandfathers dog and she was always on a chain set up. He had multiple dogs and she was a troublemaker. Her being on a chain spot didn't make her aggressive in any way. She didn't just sit there she went hunting with my grandfather and stuff so she was exercised and socialized well but IMO that once again boils down to human neglect. If you put a dog on a chain and never pay attention to it or let if off you can't expect it to act perfect.

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Odin`s_BlueDragon

Its a very sad situation that could have easily been avoided. Either by the dog being crated instead of chained, or by the parent keeping a better eye on their child. If ur friend woulda had a pool instead of a pit bull and the child was found drowned instead it woulda been clearly the parents fault.

Regardless small kids and dogs do NOT need to be left alone unsupervised. My boy is a wondeful dog and has never shown any kind of aggression towards people and yet when my friend brought his son over the other day, first thing Odin did was jump up and try to hump his son. So ur friends dog might be great with people when his owner was there and as soon as a new element was introduced (small child alone) then his behavior could change.

Simple answer for you, don't leave ur dogs and kids out at the same time.

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ames

agree, but I was thinking if you take a dog that has never been on a chain, and tie it to a stairwell while you go up the street its a new situation and they maybe fearful and react aggressively from being in a new situation (or could have been overzealous play escalated, no one knows.) I was more commenting on the owner doesn't usually tie their dog outside it could have reacted from being on a chain, not just because the dog is on a chain it will react that way. The same could happen in reverse, taking a dog that has only lived outside on a chain and brought them in the house, they might get scared and have a bad reaction to something inside. Just being out of their element would could cause a reaction. of course every dog is different and I am sure there are as many that could easily switch between the 2 lifestyles just as much as a outside dog could HATE being inside.

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redog

That's exactly right too! Ames, there is a million Reasons for the dogs behavior. But the real reason was the parents mistake of not supervising the child. It could have been a kitchen knife or a kid just falling down the stairs. This just so happened to be a a dog, and it could have been any dog but was a pit bull type dog. My hope is that the child mends well

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Dave

Wallies_momma

We really can only speculate as to why the dog did this. Since we weren't there to witness it all we can do is guess as to why this happened. Like everyone else is saying we can only give you advice as to how to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
The real blame here needs to be placed on the parents of this child. It's a terrible thing that's happened but no parent should leave their child unsurpervised or let their child go up to any dog they do not know.
I would personally never leave my dog chained up in the yard for reasons like this. You need to be the one to take extra precautions with your dog because you know no one else is going to be smart about it.
And that's another thing, this isn't about this dog being a pit bull. This attack did not happen because it was a pit bull, it happened because of neglectful parents letting their child go up to a DOG they did not know. This kind of thing could have happened with any dog chained up in the yard, it just HAPPENED to be a pit bull.
Who know's the reason why this attack happened, but it wasn't because it was a pit bull.

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Bull Pitbulls

It is not a good idea to chain up a pitbull especially. To give you some perspective, dog fighters chain their dog up for hours and even days to piss them off. Dogs hate to be tethered. Its like they are free and confined at the same time. Very frustrating. Often times a dog will attack a child because its frustrated and bored, and a child is the size and has the mannerisms of a small prey animal. It is always best to put the dog in an appropriate sized crate. Maybe even leave a durable chew toy in it before you leave. Yes, it was very neglectful for the parent to leave the child alone with a tethered dog, but as the owner, you must do everything in your power to prevent any possible accidents. Do not trust other people to make the right decisions. This applies to many situations as well. Common sense.