KC DOG BLOG

Child dies in dog attack in Jacksonville, FL

They're almost always preventable -- but this one has just about every preventable warning sign in the book.

Over the weekend, 17 month old Dylan Andres wandered away from his home as his mother was unpacking groceries from the car.  Dylan apparently darted over to a neighbor's yard where a Rottweiler was chained up in the yard.  The owner of the dogs was not home.

There were no immediate witnesses to the attack, but the family heard the commotion from the attack and ran to find the dog attacking the young child. The child later succumbed to the injuries.

The zip code where this took place has a poverty rate of 28% -  double the national average.  According to the video report, the dog was bought by the owner to be a guard dog for the owner's lawn equipment and was always left chained outside.

The incident is a tragedy --and my heart goes out to the family.  While dogs do tend to be very safe animals and a major part of our lives, things can go awry when humans play a role in the attack. I've mentioned a lot in this blog over the past 6 years the impact tethering as a primary form of containment can have on dog behavior. It's also important to note the importance of a dog's function -- whether the dog is a well-socialized family pet, or an unsocialized yard dog, or a dog that is actually trained and encouraged to be aggressive toward strangers (which would appear to be the situation in this case as the dog was specifically bought for guarding purposes).   And then, there is the role of the unsupervised toddler wandering into the neighbor's yard and up to the chained dog.  There is no limit to the amount of dangers that exist for unsupervised wandering 17 month olds. 

It's a tragedy to be sure...but an avoidable one if people choose to focus on the circumstances surrounding the attack instead of the type of dog involved.

The story was picked up by 41 media outlets.

Hysteria vs Education

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.

Six year old Kentucky boy dies from dog attack

A six year old Oak Grove, Kentucky boy was tragically killed earlier this week by a dog. The boy and his family were in town visiting a soldier's home at Fort Campbell. The boy was in the yard with the dog, described as a German Shepherd, when he was attacked by the dog and died later from his injuries.

The dog was a trained service dog that's job was to help the soldier to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTDS is common among soldiers and dogs have proven to be VERY effective in helping them deal with the issues surrounding PTSD.

Unfortunately, in this case, the child was left alone with the dog...a dog that it sounds like was relatively unfamiliar with the child. At this point, because there were no witnesses to the attack, the circumstances that led up to it will likely never be fully known. The boy suffered injuries to his hand and to his face.

This event is a true tragedy and my thoughts and prayers go out to the family. It also continues to highlight the need for adults to monitor child/canine interactions. Even though most will be fine, it can help prevent the ones that end tragically.

This story was picked up by only 17 media sources...all local.

Two year old toddler dies from dog attack (2 weeks ago)

This story is a couple of weeks old, but I do want to get it recorded.

In the incident, 23 month old Jace Paul Valdez and his mother had recently moved into his mother's parent's home in rural Montgomery County, TX. While his parents were away, the boy was left alone with his grandmother and her dog. Apparently, the grandmother left the child alone to sleep and the dog, described as a 'pit bull',  entered the room where the toddler was and killed him. There were no witnesses to the attack so no circumstances behnd the attack (outside of the toddler and dog being left alone together without supervision - -especially when the child was relatively unfamiliar to the dog).

It is a tragic story that could have been avoided by being sure all interactions between the toddler and the dog were supervised.

While this story has been picked up by nearly 100 news outlets, some have been fairly educational about pointing to the responsibility of monitoring canine interactions and rightfully not turning this into a breed issue.

My heart goes out to the family in this incident.