James Harrison's Pitbull Puts His 2 Year Old Son In The ER

[Jistic]

This misinformation in this thread is laughable.

Some dogs...of any breed are not good with kids. I had to put one of mine down when my son was crawling because she snapped at it.

That's it. You don't take chances with your kids. If a dog snaps at your kid, you put it down. I loved that dog too, it was not easy to do. But that's what being a parent is about.

What I'm wondering is:

1. Why was the dog in a pen? Was it ever introduced to the baby?
That's a real problem. Babies need to be introduced to a dog immediately. If they were worried about the dog doing something bad, then it should have been removed from the house, period.

2. This quote from the agent is bothers me, ""There's no reason to believe that this is anything other than something that sometimes happens to children," Parise said. "The child should be fine."

Something that happens to children? No. If the dog bit the child it needs to go. If not to a new home, then it has to be put down. You NEVER endanger your kids that way. The owner is most likely at fault for not introducing the child to the dog but now it's too late. It's not even the dogs fault at this point, but you can not take chances.

Dogs are like people. Some bite, some don't. A pitbull is no more likely to attack anyone than a lab. The difference is that pitbulls can do some damage if they do attack. My son when he was 1 used to SLEEP on a pitbull. She was the sweetest dog I even knew. Yet his own dog, a shepard mix mutt attacked him twice. The first we thought was minor so we really tried to socialize her with him. Then one day he crawled right up to her and she went NUTS. I mean out of nowhere.

My wife JUMPED on the dog and literally beat the crap out of it. The next day we knew what we had to do. How could I explain to my son some day why his face is permanently scarred because we were too selfish to make the right decision? And that sucked because besides that, she was a great dog.

[shnuskis]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jistic

This misinformation in this thread is laughable. Some dogs...of any breed are not good with kids. I had to put one of mine down when my son was crawling because she snapped at it. That's it. You don't take chances with your kids. If a dog snaps at your kid, you put it down. I loved that dog too, it was not easy to do. But that's what being a parent is about. What I'm wondering is: 1. Why was the dog in a pen? Was it ever introduced to the baby? That's a real problem. Babies need to be introduced to a dog immediately. If they were worried about the dog doing something bad, then it should have been removed from the house, period. 2. This quote from the agent is bothers me, ""There's no reason to believe that this is anything other than something that sometimes happens to children," Parise said. "The child should be fine." Something that happens to children? No. If the dog bit the child it needs to go. If not to a new home, then it has to be put down. You NEVER endanger your kids that way. The owner is most likely at fault for not introducing the child to the dog but now it's too late. It's not even the dogs fault at this point, but you can not take chances. Dogs are like people. Some bite, some don't. A pitbull is no more likely to attack anyone than a lab. The difference is that pitbulls can do some damage if they do attack. My son when he was 1 used to SLEEP on a pitbull. She was the sweetest dog I even knew. Yet his own dog, a shepard mix mutt attacked him twice. The first we thought was minor so we really tried to socialize her with him. Then one day he crawled right up to her and she went NUTS. I mean out of nowhere. My wife JUMPED on the dog and literally beat the crap out of it. The next day we knew what we had to do. How could I explain to my son some day why his face is permanently scarred because we were too selfish to make the right decision? And that sucked because besides that, she was a great dog.

Is there something wrong with keeping a dog in a pen?

[Jistic]

Quote: Originally Posted by shnuskis

Is there something wrong with keeping a dog in a pen?

All the time? Yes. Especially with kids. Dogs are social, pack animals. They need to be around the kids as mush as possible. Granted there are times when crating a dog are needed, and that's fine.

Was this one of those times? Nobody's saying, but my gut tells me that the dog "got out" of it's pen means that it was kept away from the family, especially the children. Yes, that's very bad.

[shnuskis]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jistic

All the time? Yes. Especially with kids. Dogs are social, pack animals. They need to be around the kids as mush as possible. Granted there are times when crating a dog are needed, and that's fine. Was this one of those times? Nobody's saying, but my gut tells me that the dog "got out" of it's pen means that it was kept away from the family, especially the children. Yes, that's very bad.

We don't have enough information to determine that this dog was always caged and "got out." The reports said the girlfriend let it out. To me that implies intent to let it out. Without more information we are jumping to conclusions about this particular case.

[JBH3]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jistic

This misinformation in this thread is laughable. Some dogs...of any breed are not good with kids. I had to put one of mine down when my son was crawling because she snapped at it. Dogs are like people. Some bite, some don't. A pitbull is no more likely to attack anyone than a lab. The difference is that pitbulls can do some damage if they do attack. My son when he was 1 used to SLEEP on a pitbull. She was the sweetest dog I even knew. Yet his own dog, a shepard mix mutt attacked him twice. The first we thought was minor so we really tried to socialize her with him. Then one day he crawled right up to her and she went NUTS. I mean out of nowhere.

IMO it's not about misinformation .

Yes any dog is CAPABLE of biting...However, most do not have the same fierce ability of a pitbull. With that knowledge why own one, especially w/ kids?

From birth to about 6 (couple yrs after me brother was born) we owned a Weimaraner. It never once attacked me, and I loved that dog...but my mother was afraid of it's capabilities - being that she grew up w/ all those pitbulls - and I found out many years laters that CJ was put down and didn't die of natural causes.

So yes...any dog can be a threat. However, if pitbulls are not any more a threat than a lab to bite the weighing difference is that one will lock it's jaws and inflict much more damage than the other. With kids, and ANY dog as you so put it, being able to bite at anytime. What's then the purpose of owning the most fierce biter of them all?

I've got my own reservations about pits, and much of what I've seen in news reports, friends, family, shoot Judge Joe Brown...leads me to believe that they are much more prone to attacking than other dogs. It's like a shark smelling blood, there's something about pits.

On a Judge Joe Brown episode a week or two ago a man and his wife, w/ their dalmation, were attacked at the Niagara Falls by a pitbull who's pitt saw this Dalmation and just got lose from the owner, running w/ a full head of steam, and just was straight up eating the damn dog. The husband was biten quite a few times trying to save his dog. I've honestly never seen any other dog do that before. Owners of pits don't exactly make anything any better either, as this chick was saying that this couple on a hike should've seen this pit and avoided it because she was there first.

[shnuskis]

I found some more interesting stuff regarding pit bulls. A lot of pro pit bull web sites state the claim that the pit bull bite is third among a test that measured bite pressure for a rotweiler, german sheppard, and a pit bull. This is the video.



I also found statistics for dog attacks doing bodily harm instead of deaths for 1982-2006. I found this to be a bit more disturbing. http://www.dogbitelaw.com/Dog%20Atta...%20Clifton.pdf


breed dog attack resulting in bodily injury- deaths - maiming


pit bull 1,110- 104 - 608
rotwieler 409- 58- 223
german sheppard 63- 7 - 38
golden retriever 6- 1* -4

*Death was accidental due to pulling on a scarf strangling a child.

Dog registration by top 50 cities according to AKC for 2008(Note:there is no way to measure total dogs as not all dogs are registered.)German sheppard 3rd, Golden Retiever 4th, rotwieler 15th, staffordshire bull terrier(pit bull not listed)76th.

I have found also that the pit bull accounts for 1% of dog pop. while the german sheppard accounts for 16%.

Now if I combine all that I have found, the pit bull doesn't show aggression any more frequently than any other breed. The pit bull doesn't bite any harder than any other breed, actually less than rotwieler and german sheppard. But when it does attack there is no question the results are much different.

For those of you that think any breed is just as likely to do the things a pit bull does, I would say you are mistaken. I would say the above statistics show that a pit bull is MUCH MORE likely to injure, main and kill.

I have come to the conclusion that the huge difference in what happens WHEN a pit bull attacks. because as I have found it isn't any more likely to attack, must be due to the intent of the dog when it does attack. I don't see anything else that it can be. This follows with the intent of breeding the dog compared to a german sheppard that has been bred for herding and protecting, and a lab or golden that has been bred for retrieving(requiring a soft mouth.)

There is a very interesting piece at the bottom of the link to the statistics that discribe the german sheppard's three different kinds of bites that is very interesting. Two of which are not intended for harm, including pulling out of harms way.(very interesting and I encourage you to read it. It wouldn't cut and paste.)

[shnuskis]

Quote: Originally Posted by JBH3

However, if pitbulls are not any more a threat than a lab to bite the weighing difference is that one will lock it's jaws and inflict much more damage than the other.

Just to clear up some misinformation, I have found that the pit bull actually does not have the ability to lock jaw. Their jaw works the same as any other breed.

They also can feel pain, but have been bred and trained to ignore it.

[marktg30]

Quote: Originally Posted by shnuskis

Just to clear up some misinformation, I have found that the pit bull actually does not have the ability to lock jaw. Their jaw works the same as any other breed. They also can feel pain, but have been bred and trained to ignore it.

Just like Rambo.