Another pit bull attack on toddler

Sigh, this is very sad, because it’s predictable based on dog psychology.

Evidently, the dog and the girl shared a backyard. The dog (not surprisingly) felt the yard was its territory, and the girl was new. Put the dog and girl together in the back yard without supervision from the dog’s owner, and this was the predictable result. The dog was never taught that this new person was “OK” in the yard. Some dogs will bark when confronted with a threat to their territory; others will attack, especially if the threat looks small and easily taken on (i.e. a 4-year-old child).

Of course the dog seemed nice when with its owner. In that situation, the dog does not need to defend territory, since the owner is the dominant “dog” in the family.

People have a misconception that dogs come in “nice” and “mean” varieties. That is not so. All dogs are territorial, and all dogs are potentially dangerous to a 4-year-old. When and if they decide the 4-year-old needs to be attacked, some dogs will be more willing and able to carry out the “job” than others. Pit bulls are very determined animals, and also very capable.

A dog should never be left unsupervised near a non-family 4-year-old child. Not a pit bull, not a poodle, not any dog, even if everyone thinks it’s a “nice” dog. Any dog could bite a 4-year-old child. And grandma did not count as supervision for the dog, she was not its owner and had no way to control it.

i agree with tamandra. it’s the owner, not the dog.