Boy, 4, Is Mauled to Death by Dog in Brooklyn Home (dog was trained to attack)

[cali]

By AL BAKER and TIM STELLOH
Published: May 28, 2011

A 4-year-old boy was mauled to death by a family dog as he and his two brothers played in a bedroom of their apartment in Brooklyn, the authorities said on Saturday.



<snip>

“This was a tragedy waiting to happen,” said Mr. Risher, 50. He said the boy’s family had lived in the apartment for three years and had several other pets, including dogs, a parrot, turtles and fish.

<snip>


Mr. Risher said the boyfriend was often seen with a protective guard on his arm, training the dogs to bite in front of the building. “Everybody would run when he came out,” Mr. Risher said.

He said one of the dogs killed the family’s pet rabbit a few months ago. “He killed the rabbit and left everything on the floor,” he said. “It was like the Bronx Zoo in there.”

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/nyregion/boy-4-is-mauled-to-death-in-brooklyn.html

[mrs_p]

1. that poor, poor kid

just heartbreaking. and why i will never leave even my well-trained, child-friendly dog alone with my baby. you just never know - and, in this case, looks like they set the whole tragedy in motion,

:cry:

[dkf]

2. Omg how awful.

Poor little kiddie :(

[patrice]

3. Such a hard way to go for the little guy!!!

[saras]

4. Not a tragedy, a melodrama

The article is not enough to completely judge by, but it appears that there is a single party, human not canine, who should be held criminally responsible.

"Family dog" and "trained to attack" are mutually exclusive. That's just too much judgment to trust a dog with.

[valerief]

5. +1

[Raffi Ella]

6. agreed.

I think every adult in that house should be charged with negligence.

[baldguy]

8. A dog who is properly trained to attack is also, by definition, trained NOT to attack.

Such dogs are not and can never be "family pets".

[livvy]

7. The boyfriend is an idiot and is responsible for this tragedy.

The Cane Corso is a wonderful breed and known to be good, gentle and protective of/with children. For him, an untrained trainer to "train" this dog to attack makes me sick. They are not a breed for a first time owner, require proper socialization and positive obedience training, but so do many, many breeds of dogs. They are a large, very powerful animal, but with an owner who knows and understands the breed, they are gentle giants. One of my favorite breeds. What this guy did really ticks me off! The pic is one at the daycare facility where I work. He likes to lie on his side by me and get his belly rubbed.



What a horrible and completely avoidable tragedy for this family. So sad :cry:

[Anakin Skywalker]

9. Attack dogs are NOT "family dogs".