4-Year-Old In Critically Injured In Attack By Family's Dog

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A 4-year-old girl is in critical condition after she was attacked by her family's pit bull Wednesday.

Katlyn Kaylin Flowers' grandmother said she was playing with the dog in their yard when the the dog snapped, biting the girl on the head, neck and hand.

"She so small. The dog just grabbed her and bit her," Karen Flowers said Thursday. "He slung her and ... dragged her on the ground."

According to the police report, the attack lasted several minutes, the pit bull throwing Kaylin's tiny body around the back yard.

Kaylin was rushed to Shands-Jacksonville, where she had emergency surgery.

"There are no skull fractures at all, but there are teeth marks in the skull," Flowers' said. "She's doing better. She's a fighter."

Pit bull The family said they don't know why the dog attacked as he had never showed signs of aggression before.

The dog was confiscated by Jacksonville Animal Care and Control, where he will remain for 10 days.

"They are brought here and held in a quarantine area to check temperament and health issues," Animal Control's David DeWitt told Channel 4's Jennifer Bauer.

While all dog breeds have the potential to attack, experts say rottweilers, pit bulls and German shepherds are the most common breeds for deadly attacks.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while almost half of all children are bitten by a dog at some point, kids aged 5 to 9 are most at risk for dog attacks. Statistics show that half those attacks occur at home or with a familiar dog.

Never heard of slinging before.....

I am so tired of debating this topic with you. It doesn't matter how many stories you post about a "pitbull type" attacking. I could name you millions of people who have owned them & never had a problem. But, those stories don't make the paper.

If your agenda is to ban the breed....I know you will fail. If your agenda is increased owner responsibility....then stop pinging me to these threads...I am a responsible dog owner.

I could name you millions of people who have owned them & never had a problem. But, those stories don't make the paper.

Until one of them "that was never a problem before" tears a kid's face off.

If your agenda is increased owner responsibility....then stop pinging me to these threads...I am a responsible dog owner.

My agenda is to let those who think they are responsible dog owners know that, no matter how responsible they are, they are living with a ticking time bomb.

It's not the owner. It really is the dog.

You are wrong....as proven already by millions of people who have owned them their entire lives with no problems. This breed has been around for decades...funny how it is only in recent years that they have been deemed "killers" and "ticking time bombs".

I have an enormous headache today...so I cannot deal with your simplistic views of the dog world anymore today. We will never convince each other...but I usually respond your threads to educate others who are not so closed minded & fanatic.

We will never convince each other...but I usually respond your threads to educate others who are not so closed minded & fanatic.

That's precisely why I come on these threads: to educate those who may be looking for a dog to know that, with hundreds of breeds and countless mutts available, the absolute last dog that one should consider is the American Staffordshire Terrier.

I understand that as far as insurance is concerned. Big dogs tend to leave big dents - hence they are also reported more, much less paid out by insurance.

But I AM trying to make people understand what is logical math and what isn't, to determine generally what breeds/types are really "dangerous". Being at the top of the CDC list in pure #s is meaningless.

If only 2% of known German Shepherds ever bit any1, and 5% of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons bit some1, and 14% of "pit bull terriers" bit some1, the most dangerous - the most likely to bite - of this group is the PBT type, and the least likely is the GS.

As opposed to stats based on "GS bit so many out of all the bites reported, and WPGs only bit once". Well, duh, there are MANY more GS than there are WPGs, so "BIG SHOCK" that there are more absolute #s of GS bites. Why would that be a surprise? % is always more important than #, but even the % has to be logical.

Undoubtedly so, they're so popular. So any idiot could see Labs on such a list and think "my, I have a kid so esp. better not even consider Labs!" Duuhhhh....

BTW, does any1 know a site that chronicles this kind of thing? I recall a site which showed a huge listing of bites or some such; I don't think it was CDC. That site was brown background w/large lettering and not much other info.

> I was bitten several times, in the face, by a psychotic > Yorkshire terrier when I was a baby. Do we need breed > bans on Yorkies? Oh wait... they're little harmless toy > breeds...

laugh

Far and away the most protective / aggressive dogs in my neighborbood are a pair of Yorkies that live up the street. They make the Doberman who used to live out the back seem like a patsy.

They make the Doberman who used to live out the back seem like a patsy.

At puppy training, there was a Cairn terrier who was maybe two lbs soaking wet. She was convinced that she was the biggest and toughest dog in class. And, the funny thing was -- she had my rott, three great danes, two German shepherd pups, and a mastiff convinced of it too.

Terriers are tough little critters -- I mean, they have to be -- weren't they bred to go into rabbit, ferret and other rodent warrens? They're intense, nutty little things.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

News4Jax.com

4-Year-Old In Critically Injured In Attack By Family's Dog