Baby Killed By Rottweiler

[Jacobean]

I don't believe what I'm reading here. Everyone is deeply sorry for the child and all members of the family concerned. Most have said so. This was one incident. One dog. One child entering a yard with another when they shouldn't have. Complete circumstances unknown. Those children will grow up remembering the horror of what happened and probably blaming themselves. The parents also. It's very tragic and no-one is saying it isn't.

 

Rotties are a fantastic breed.

 

Why tarnish a whole breed because one has attacked a child resulting in his death. This particular dog didn't set out to kill a child pre-meditatively. Not all dogs register that babies are actually little people. I had a JRT that was convinced a small baby was a toy once. He was a softy thankfully. Babies make squeaky noises. Who is to say the dog didn't think the child was a toy. As has been said we have no idea what happened, we have no idea what went through the dogs head leading up to this. The children could have gone out squealing and alarmed the dog. There are so many things that could have happened. They could have woken the dog up and he thought they were intruders. We don't know.

 

It's very easy to say a breed should be condemned because you don't happen to have one or don't understand them. I've never had a Rottie but I've now met several. I don't know them or understand them well enough to have one myself.

 

What concerns me quite often is people's ignorance in general. When I am out walking with my Hungarian Vizslak people don't tend to know what they are. They're big dogs. Quite often people are scared of them and that's when they're onlead. It would be so easy for a misunderstanding to occur over my dogs and for them to end up in trouble through no fault of their own. That's a breed that aren't considered dangerous look.

Edited December 30, 2007 by Jacobean

[Rykat]

We are not all experts. I will always see it as a childs death 1st and foremost I cant help that its the way I am and to me that is the most important isuue a child lost its life. I never once said I was popping out to buy a rottie out of freeads I simply said "maybe one day would have one" which is very different.

I find it very offensive the personal attacks coming my way as I have a different opinion, must I think the same as the majority to post. I havent personally attacked anyone just asked questions to further knowledge and understand and build up an all round picture.

 

If you feel that you have received "personal attacks" then you need to do 2 things:

 

1) you need to alert one of the moderating team about the individual(s) concerned and they will then investigate it

2) you need to think your replies through fully before you post and realise that alot of what you say comes across that you are trying to evoke a reaction to an already "delicate" subject.

 

I have 5 rottweilers and admit that I can be very defensive of the breed but ONLY when it is the actions of a human being that has caused the loss of another human beings life and that of the dog through no fault of it's own.

 

My advice to anyone considering a rottweiler (or any breed that has been shown by the press in a negative light) is contact people of forums/breed/training clubs and spend some time with that particular breed. Every one of our rotties in an individual with their own "issues" and their own characters and I would have no problem inviting someone to come a spend some time with them to help them reach a decision. No matter what the breed, every dog has the ability to inflict harm to another living being, some are more powerful and can therefor inflict more damage, but nontheless, they can all act in a "dangerous" and "aggressive" manner.

 

Having a discussion about something as sensitive as this is one thing, using the word "murder" when referring to a dog attack is not having a discussion, it is trying to evoke a reaction and a turn it into a debate over whether rotties are dangerous or not.

 

Every responsible dog owner will know their own dog(s) better than say a friend/family member who visits or someone who meets them in the park/vets/training class, therefore I don't think it's necessary to start doubting their own dogs temprement. If their own dog has shown aggression then more care should be taken, but it should also be taken with a dog that hasn't. As dog owners we should all supervise what the dog is doing and what a child is doing and never leave them unsupervised with a dog

 

We will NEVER hear the full truth of any of the dog attacks, maybe this dog was kept as a guard dog, denied human company/interaction/training and wasn't socialised with children to know what is/isn't permitted behaviour, but I have been at the vets with my dog sitting quietly by the side of me and a child has come in and screamed at the top of it's voice because there was a dog present. After 10 minutes of this the mother asked me if I would mind taking the dog outside as her child was frightened of dogs, I replied "actually yes, I would mind. It's a vets surgery, there will be dogs present and if your child is frightened of dogs then perhaps you should not birng them next time". She wasn't happy but in that instance I stood my ground, if a friend/family member came to my house and didn't like dogs I would not lock them away, they know we have dogs, simple as that, however if it were a workman/delivery person etc then I would move the dogs to another room and secure them there.

 

One of our dogs came with aggression problems, the way we dealt with that was to isolate him and slowly introduce him to people but in a controlled manner not open the door and hope for the best. If the dog was kept as a guard dog then the adults should have taken precautions to prevent the children coming into contact with it, it's called a lock. If the child was likely to unlock it then take out the key. If this is the case then the fault lies with the adults who owned the dog, but we don't and won't know the full story, it will all fade away until the next interesting snippet of news.

[meandmy4?]

I can see that using murder was a bad choice but to me I thought murder was taking anothers life without conscent I should of looked up definition first. But must add I would of used that word wether it had been a lab , rotties, pitbull or spaniel. Sometimes I dont think before I speak but when people start with personal attacks it makes you less kean to admit a bad choice of words.

I can cope with personal attacks Rykat when you put name calling in perpective to what goes on in the this world its quite insignificant.

Good post Rykat

 

I can see that using murder was a bad choice but to me I thought murder was taking anothers life without conscent I should of looked up definition first. But must add I would of used that word wether it had been a lab , rotties, pitbull or spaniel. Sometimes I dont think before I speak but when people start with personal attacks it makes you less kean to admit a bad choice of words.

I can cope with personal attacks Rykat when you put name calling in perpective to what goes on in the this world its quite insignificant.

Good post Rykat

 

I can see that using murder was a bad choice but to me I thought murder was taking anothers life without conscent I should of looked up definition first. But must add I would of used that word wether it had been a lab , rotties, pitbull or spaniel. Sometimes I dont think before I speak but when people start with personal attacks it makes you less kean to admit a bad choice of words.

I can cope with personal attacks Rykat when you put name calling in perpective to what goes on in the this world its quite insignificant.

Good post Rykat

[Pingu]

i am going to lock this for a while so as to allow things to chill out a bit