Rough Weekend so far for 3-year-olds in KC Area

Two three year olds have been attacked by dogs in two separate incidences in the KC Area -- and the media is having a field day with it, making those of us in KC have flashbacks to last summer when the KC Star ran 250 articles about pit bulls in a 6 month time period. Yeah, I didn't make that number up, I counted.

I briefly mentioned the first attack in the Weekly roundup, but want to come back to it now that more information is available.  This three year old in Independence went outside (unattended) to play with the family's new German Shepherd (they'd had the dog less than 2 months).  The mom told police "she did not trust the dog to be inside with her minor children," which is why the dog was on a "restraining device" (chain?) in the back yard.

No one really knows why the dog snapped at the child, because no one was present.  Nice.  Turns out the dog tried to bite animal control as they hauled it into the shelter for observation.  The kicker is the last line of the article that after observation, if the dog doesn't have rabies "At that time, the family can decide to take the dog home or it will be destroyed."

So a dog, that is known to be aggressive, and has attacked a 3 year old, can go home if the family wants it, but I can't move to Independence wiht my pit bulls that have never shown any signs of aggression?  Folks, any attempt by the Independence city council that makes you think they passed a pit bull ban for your public safety and not for political reasons should be thrown out the window -- as this is certainly a case where public safety is probably in jeopardy.  Let's deal with aggressive animals and irresponsible owners...and not pretend we are passing pit bull bans for "public safety". 

The second attack was of a 3-year old in Kansas City, MO. Turns out that this "mixed breed pit bull" (which turns out to be a chow/pit bull mix --- which what does that mean?  Does it have short hair? Long hair?  Straight tail?  Curley tail?  Pink tongue?  Blue tongue? Means this dog could be anything).  If you watch the KSHB Video (thanks Tony for pointnig me to this), you'll see that the dog was kept on a rusty chain, that had worn quite a chunk of concrete away from the pillar on the man's front porch.  You'll also note that the man knew his dog was aggressive toward children, and still let his 3-year old granddaughter go out to try to feed a biscuit to the dog unattended (right next to the dog's food bowl).  And based on the address, my guess is that the guy WANTED the dog to be aggressive as it was likely used as a guard dog in that neighborhood.

Of course, KSHB did nothing but hype up the story with phrases like "he was covered in his granddaughter's blood" when he had a few blood stains on him.  Fox did a much better job of covering the story with quotes from dog trainer Robin Lilly that actually recommends (rightfully so) that 3 year olds never give treats to a dog and explains why.  Fox 4 continues to be the only newscast in this city worth watching -- and this is an example of why.

Meanwhile, everyone is focusing on the breeds of dogs involved when none of that actually matters...because both attacks fit the profile of an attack perfectly -- both dogs had been aggressive before, both were tethered, and both attacked unsupervised 3-year-olds.  Does anyone think that the breed of dog mattered?  I don't.

Comments

[Caveat]

Excellent piece. It's really getting ridiculous the way the supposed 'breed' of dog matters.

Seriously, does it seem reasonable that the grandfather actually knew the makeup of his mongrel dog? 'Pit Bull' and Chow? I note you have trouble picturing that dog, as do I.

[Becky]

I believe that it was mentioned in both stories that the dogs were not current on their vaccinations. (well, it could not be proved in the case of the GS) Nice owners. No vaccs and tied up.

[Stefanie]

Thanks for telling the true story. It's amazing how the News will exasperate a story that involes pit bulls. What always gets me is when they never tell biting stories about any other breed, or no matter how far from a pit bull the dog that attacked was, the news deems it a "pit bull". Sad.