I mentioned this story this morning in my weekly roundup. The five day old infant, Alexis Hennessy, in Hopatcong, NJ that was bitten by the family's Husky died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
My heart goes out to this family. What should be one of the most joyous times of this family's life has become a time of horror.
I repeat, dogs, and children, even young children can live happily in homes together. However, it is very important to properly introduce your dog to the new child, and you should never leave the dog alone with such a young child.
I firmly believe that dogs are not becoming more dangerous. Parents are becoming too negligent. It is a horrible tragedy that no one should have to suffer. But a 5 day old infant NEVER belongs alone w/ a dog. And as we all already know, not even a Pomeranian or a Dashound. This is a very tragic story that should never have occurred.
Posted by: Becky | September 07, 2008 at 09:34 PM
Becky, statistcially, you're correct. They are not becoming more dangerous. In fact, just the exact opposite. People are now LESS likely to be bitten or attacked by dogs than they were previously. The difference is our access to information. 10 years ago, I may never have even heard about this attack...now I can find out about it virtually instantly through things like Google alerts. The access to information (regardless of how horrible most of the reporting is) leads us to believe that it is a bigger and growing problem because we hear about this stuff so much more now than would have been possible 10-15 years ago.
Posted by: Brent | September 07, 2008 at 10:14 PM
Yes, the information highway is definitely a double-edged sword.
In Canada, the husky/sled dog type is responsible for the vast majority of DBRFs (and no, it isn't all ice and snow up here and they aren't overly popular). This doesn't mean that the type is 'dangerous', it speaks to how they were maintained in isolated cases - as always.
I feel for those parents and I wish the mass media would focus more on telling people how to prevent bites and attacks than on merrily reporting them as if they are the dog's fault. It's not as if the info isn't out there and easy for them to find.
Posted by: Caveat | September 08, 2008 at 07:30 AM
“I feel for those parents and I wish the mass media would focus more on telling people how to prevent bites and attacks than on merrily reporting them as if they are the dog's fault.”
To take Caveat’s statement a step further. I wish we could get the legislators on board with educating ‘prevention.’ IMO it’s such an easier to implement and would have a WAY more effective end result than simply passing superfluous legislation based on how animals ‘look.’ Why isn’t bite prevention something kids learn in elementary school?
Posted by: Adam | September 08, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Wouldn't it be great if some of the media used this as an opportunity to talk to dog trainers in their communities that could provide some tips and information on integrating newborn infants and dogs into the households? Think of the potential long-term benefits to this approach vs focusing on the dog. Sigh...
Posted by: Brent | September 08, 2008 at 09:57 AM
Yes, sigh...
However, putting things into perspective, there are about 70 million dogs in the US and most of them never bite anybody, let alone maul or kill them.
I doubt you can do much about fatalities.
You can, however, do a lot to prevent garden-variety bites and the more serious bites suffered by little kids and the elderly.
If media would stop consulting charlatans and start asking knowledgeable people about how to prevent bites and attacks, it would be wonderful. Until they educate themselves about who is the real deal and who has a hidden agenda, that won't happen. They're still giving space to Peta, for dog's sake!
Dog bites really aren't a huge deal overall but people think they are because of the campaign.
Posted by: Caveat | September 08, 2008 at 06:54 PM
[quote]Experts say a dog unfamiliar with an infant may mistake it for prey or a wounded animal, or even a squeaky toy, and an attack is not necessarily aggression.[/quote]
Good comment but...
Can you just imagine this comment in a story about an alleged pit bull attack resulting in a fatality?
And there`s more..
And there`s no bias???
[quote]http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/dogs_fate_in_hands_of_parents.html[/quote]
Posted by: Would contribute to this Lawsuit | September 17, 2008 at 08:41 PM