Yesterday, tragedy struck twice in similar fashion in North America.
In McKeesport, PA, a two day old baby, Howard Nicholson, was tragically killed by the family dog. the infant was apparently left in a baby carrier on the floor. The dog, described as a Husky,had only been with the family for about a month and was left alone with the infant while the mother went to use the bathroom. The mother heard the baby cry and came in to find the child tragically bitten by the dog. The child later died at the hospital.
27% of the population of Mckeesport lives below the poverty line -- which is more than double the national average. The story was picked up by about 30 media outlets.
Meanwhile, in Airdrie, AB, another newborn infant was bitten by the family dog. The dog in this situation was also labeled as a "Husky". Few other details are noted.
Both incidents are tragic, and my heart goes out to the families in both cases and in neither case was any type of "attack", but merely bites to very tiny, and fragile, victims.
I think it's interesting to read about these two incidents and the media portrayal of them.
There has been no hysteria about Huskies being dangerous dogs (they're not) and there has been no talk, or media polls, or any of that nonsense calling for bans on them. For the most part, the media has rationally played these out at tragic, rare, accidents. Which they are.
For the most part, the news articles are (accurately) labeling the dogs as "family dogs" and most media outlets have been talking about the dangers of leaving newborn children alone with dogs and the importance of long, slow socialization between babies and dogs.
These are good things. And while I'm excited to see the emphasis on this type of education, why is it that the media, and some hate groups, lose their freaking mind when other types of dogs are involved?
There are a lot of great eduational resources out there in helping new parents introduce babies into a household with dogs. One of my favorites is Dogs and Storks (which is going through a rebranding to Family Paws Parent Education). They have a fantastic, 20 minute free, online webinar about introducing babies and dogs. I highly encourage this type of program for any new parent - with a focus on fact-based education and handling dogs and children and focusing on proper supervision and separation when that isn't possible.
Education beats hysterics every time. And hopefully we can move closer to education in all incidents, regardless of the type of dog involved in the bites.
McKeesport is the deepest form of rust-belt/Appalachian entrenched poverty. It is a sad, sad place in so many ways.
I will give the local Pittsburgh media credit -- it is rare that it jumps on pit bull hysteria, or any kind of breed hysteria. There was a pit bull in the home where the husky killed the baby, but that fact is well-buried in the article, as it should be.
Posted by: H. Houlahan | February 17, 2012 at 01:21 PM
Great article and I share your exasperation over how much the tone of the media coverage changes depending on the breed of dog (real or alleged).
Posted by: John Richardson | February 17, 2012 at 02:58 PM
More info came out about the Alberta case. There were four dogs, purebred Siberian Huskies, that were used for urban sledding of some sort. Very well cared-for if the pix are anything to go on, seemed to live in the house but not many more details are available about what happened.
'Husky' types are the number one killer overall in Canada and the number one killer of children. We have had one fatality in Canada, ever, attributed to a 'pit bull' type and in that very sordid case, the victim was an adult. We average zero to two DBRFs annually, nationwide.
Here's the report from the Globe, there are over 100 stories on this in Canadian media (go figure).
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/family-dog-kills-newborn-boy-in-home-near-calgary/article2340730/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2340730
Posted by: Caveat | February 18, 2012 at 02:09 PM