3 month old baby killed by dog

guy2231

guy2231 wrote: »

I don't know exactly people on here seem very overly protective, when I was growing up we all played with our dogs freely no one parents or children were worried about our dogs suddenly deciding to murder us.

So did I, but that doesn't mean the risk didn't exist. It didn't mean that dogs didn't kill children.

All I'm saying in this thread is for people to use common sense.

Antares35

guy2231 wrote: »

I don't know exactly people on here seem very overly protective, when I was growing up we all played with our dogs freely no one parents or children were worried about our dogs suddenly deciding to murder us.

Then again we also used to play outside freely which nowadays doesn't seem to be a thing.

Ah good old survivor bias argument. We did it and we are ok so everyone else must be over reacting.

walshb

guy2231 wrote: »

I don't know exactly people on here seem very overly protective, when I was growing up we all played with our dogs freely no one parents or children were worried about our dogs suddenly deciding to murder us.

Then again we also used to play outside freely which nowadays doesn't seem to be a thing.

So, your 7/8/9 year old alone with a large powerful dog like say a Rottweiler or Alsatian..

Would that not overly concern you?

I’m just looking for some context to your kind of general:vague point..

guy2231

walshb wrote: »

So, your 7/8/9 year old alone with a large powerful dog like say a Rottweiler or Alsatian..

Would that not overly concern you?

The rottweiler does yes, not the alsation.

Rottweilers are viscious animals.

walshb

guy2231 wrote: »

The rottweiler does yes, not the alsation.

Rottweilers are viscious animals.

Ok, thanks for reply.

Me: not a hope my young son (6) be left alone with any large dog, that if, turned rogue, could kill him..

Alsatians are powerful dogs...

guy2231

guy2231 wrote: »

The rottweiler does yes, not the alsation.

Rottweilers are viscious animals.

That is not always true,I had a Rottweiler who would run up to strangers,and yes it might look frightening to to them.But then she would roll over and piss herself in submission.

peasant

guy2231 wrote: »

The rottweiler does yes, not the alsation.

Rottweilers are viscious animals.

This is a very dangerous fallacy.
No dog knows its breed or label.
They have no set behaviour or traits.
All they know is instinct, training and socialisation.
Depending how much they got of the latter two, the instinct may be somewhat suppressed, but never gone.
All dogs are inherently dangerous, they are domesticated predators after all.

guy2231

walshb wrote: »

Ok, thanks for reply.

Me: not a hope my young son (6) be left alone with any large dog, that if, turned rogue, could kill him..

Alsatians are powerful dogs...

Alsatians bond quickly with the children in their home, often treating them with the same love and attention they would give their own puppies, I don't see any danger in having a german shepherd around a child at all.

walshb

TXinLK wrote: »

That is not always true,I had a Rottweiler who would run up to strangers,and yes it might look frightening to to them.But then she would roll over and piss herself in submission.

Kind of moot point anyway..

If they turn rogue, they are lethal..

That’s the point!

walshb

guy2231 wrote: »

Alsatians bond quickly with the children in their home, often treating them with the same love and attention they would give their own puppies, I don't see any danger in having a german shepherd around a child at all.

Unsupervised, you would have no issue with an Alsatian around a child?

irishgirl19

So tragic. My heart goes out to the parents, family and emergency services who arrived.
The parents are probably already blaming themselves and unfortunately nothing will ever bring their baby back.
Some of the comments online are horrible.
My nannys dog can open doors by jumping up and pulling down the handle. Maybe this dog could as well. Sounds like the dog was waiting for its opportunity.

Ave Sodalis

peasant wrote:

This is a very dangerous fallacy. No dog knows its breed or label. They have no set behaviour or traits.

Just to be a bit pedantic, and whilst singling out a rottie over a GS is ridiculously unfounded in this instance, it's not true that they have no set traits. Certain dog breeds do have breed related traits that can sometimes be managed and directed by the right person with the right understanding. It's entirely within the realms of normal for a pointer to point, a collie to nip at heels or stalk, a sighthound to chase, etc,. These are very important to understand when choosing a dog, and in raising a successful dog. I've often seen it claimed that breed related traits can be somehow loved out, or even trained out, by well meaning people but setting up unrealistic expectations of the dog is setting it up for failure. Obviously, individual dogs can and do differ, but rarely by much.

grassylawn

irishgirl19 wrote: »

So tragic. My heart goes out to the parents, family and emergency services who arrived.
The parents are probably already blaming themselves and unfortunately nothing will ever bring their baby back.
Some of the comments online are horrible.
My nannys dog can open doors by jumping up and pulling down the handle. Maybe this dog could as well. Sounds like the dog was waiting for its opportunity.

Yes. I was wondering if this was what happened myself. The dog was not left in the same room as the child. It was downstairs and went upstairs during the night to the child who was asleep in their room.

peasant

Ave Sodalis wrote: »

Certain dog breeds do have breed related traits that can sometimes be managed and directed by the right person with the right understanding.

...and we have all heard of examples of a breed that didn't do what it said on the tin.
The basic truth is that all dogs can be(come) dangerous. People who think that their dog or (worse) their breed isn't are deluding themselves.
You make a dog less dangerous by good socialisation, by good training and last but not least removing the opportunity for accidents.

Blind faith has no business in dog ownership and dog handling. (that's my point)

plodder

TXinLK wrote: »

Seems the parents over estimated the dog's assimilation into the family structure.In my experience a dog acknowledges an alpha and anyone after he will challenge to improve his rank.It is the same with horses,even cattle.I am sure the family are beating themselves up with hindsight.But I struggle understanding how the dog had full access to the child's room.I own 2 Labs and there is a saftely gate in every doorway.Over protective maybe but I also know it doesn't take much to set a dog off.And if it was a husky/akita breed they are very territorial so why allow access to a newborn?

As much as it might upset the general posters,the parents didn't really unjderstand the needs of the breed of dog they had.And you see that thay from certain groups walking huskies,akitas,rottweillers in their tracksuits or blaze pink outfits. IMO the parents failed in protecting that girl.Certain parts of this society are afraid to call it as it is.It is up to the parents to always think of scenarios to safeguard their kids.

Interesting the way people fill in the gaps in these stories to make their comments on certain types of other people.

I did the same myself, wondering if they were a young couple who got a dog before having a baby and didn't deal with the risk of jealousy from the dog.

But, both these theories are wrong it seems if it's true that the dog was a visitor to the house and it makes the tragedy so much worse I think.

Jequ0n

guy2231 wrote: »

The rottweiler does yes, not the alsation.

Rottweilers are viscious animals.

They really aren’t.
I am so tired of race calling

walshb

Jequ0n wrote: »

They really aren’t.
I am so tired of race calling

Folks are missing the point..

Simple: IF a Rottweiler turns, they can do serious damage to a person, never mind a child/baby..

Same for many other medium to large dogs..

And some quite small dogs can be dangerous to babies and small children..

Bobeagleburger

grassylawn wrote: »

Yes. I was wondering if this was what happened myself. The dog was not left in the same room as the child. It was downstairs and went upstairs during the night to the child who was asleep in their room.

Is there a link to that?

grassylawn

6 wrote: »

Is there a link to that?

The three-month-old was in a bed in the terraced house when the dog went upstairs at around 2am and attacked her.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-40307891.html

firefish

Some of the judgemental comments on this thread about grieving parents are terrible.
It would not be surprising if it was a small terrier, looking at the Wikipedia link from before almost all of the small baby deaths are caused by terriers, mostly jack russells. I remember reading before that newborn baby cries can be interpreted by some such dogs as distressed prey.

gormdubhgorm

Awful thing for the poor parents to live with now.

I suppose it depends on the dog as some are very docile in manner and in breed. But I would never be comfortable with a dog around a young child no matter what the dog's manner is. A toddler would not know how to pet a dog properly, and would not know the warning signs of when a dog is cross for example.

In this case of a 3 month old it is even more dangerous as the baby was helpless. The dog likely viewed the 3 month old as competition/a threat as the baby was getting constant attention.

People need to be aware that a dog is a dog, not a human. And keep an eye on the animal and make sure the dog is properly secured. Dogs descend from wolves there is always a certain wild element within a dog. Family pets attack sheep on farms etc.

I think the main problem is people tend to anthropomorphise their dog. In other words put human characteristics on them.
They are animals not humans! No matter how lovable they look.

https://psychcentral.com/news/2018/03/01/why-do-we-anthropomorphize#2

Jequ0n

walshb wrote: »

Folks are missing the point..

Simple: IF a Rottweiler turns, they can do serious damage to a person, never mind a child/baby..

Same for many other medium to large dogs..

And some quite small dogs can be dangerous to babies and small children..

Yes, I get that. But personally I’d go for general caution instead of any breed consideration. It’s short sighted

guy2231

All this rubbish about dogs being unsafe around kids, ask yourself this when was the last time a child was killed by a house dog in Ireland?

Possibly decades I couldn't find anything at all online about a child being killed by a dog in Ireland for a very long time apart from stray dogs who killed them on the street, this one case puts the s**** on everyone without good reason.

Ave Sodalis

peasant wrote:

Blind faith has no business in dog ownership and dog handling. (that's my point)

Completely agree. I just felt that part of your comment might be misconstrued by people trying to argue that if a dog does something wrong, it's because it wasn't loved on enough and their dog would never do that etc.

guy2231

guy2231 wrote: »

All this rubbish about dogs being unsafe around kids

You're right. The HSE put the effort into this page for nothing.

https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/child-health/pets-and-child-safety/dogs-risks-to-your-childs-health.html

:rolleyes:

guy2231

guy2231 wrote: »

All this rubbish about dogs being unsafe around kids, ask yourself this when was the last time a child was killed by a house dog in Ireland?

Possibly decades I couldn't find anything at all online about a child being killed by a dog in Ireland for a very long time apart from stray dogs who killed them on the street, this one case puts the s**** on everyone without good reason.

Cop yourself on, FFS

walshb

guy2231 wrote: »

All this rubbish about dogs being unsafe around kids, ask yourself this when was the last time a child was killed by a house dog in Ireland?

Possibly decades I couldn't find anything at all online about a child being killed by a dog in Ireland for a very long time apart from stray dogs who killed them on the street, this one case puts the s**** on everyone without good reason.

This is nonsense...

A 3 month old baby was mauled to death by a dog that got to her as she slept..

Can you not see reason? People are not saying every dog around every child will kill..

We are saying that real care and thought needs to be given, and much more so when very young children and dogs are together/linked.

Why are you spinning this very sage advice as it being rubbish and scaremongering?

Tazzimus

guy2231 wrote: »

The rottweiler does yes, not the alsation.

Rottweilers are viscious animals.

Absolute horse****.

Any dog can be vicious if it's mistreated, it's not exclusive to rottweilers or pitbulls.
Any rotties I've encountered have been absolute teddy bears that just want to be rubbed constantly. Same with pitbulls and most large dogs if the owners are actually competent and treat them well.

FutureGuy

TXinLK wrote: »

That is not always true,I had a Rottweiler who would run up to strangers,and yes it might look frightening to to them.But then she would roll over and piss herself in submission.

you let a rottweiler run up to strangers.

And you don't see an issue.

Splish Splash

The Mirror has named the family involved and say it was a terrier mix dog not owned by the family but staying at the house.