Baby's first birthday party turns to tragedy when he is killed by family's mastiff dog

Daily Mail ^ | 4-29-2012 | Laura Pullman

[Colonel Kangaroo]

A baby boy has died after he was attacked by his family’s mastiff dog during his first birthday party.

A day after turning one, Jeremiah Eshew-Shahan was at his grandmother’s house in Las Vegas when he crawled over to the dog – a mastiff-rhodesian mix weighing about 120 pounds – and started to pet him. The dog then attacked the baby, sinking his teeth into Jeremiah’s head and shaking him...

[who knows what evil?]

Excellent link, and some damn good suggestions...

Dogs need to be licensed, microchipped and insured. The insurance industry can help dog owners avoid financial ruin, dog bite victims pay medical bills and recover other losses, and communities weed out dangerous dogs. To accomplish this, all dogs (or at least the ones over 30 pounds) should be insured. Laws must be passed requiring that some or all dogs be licensed, microchipped and insured.

Bookmarking this for future reference...

[netmilsmom]

>>This one sure listened, loved and protected the child didn’t it?<<

It wasn’t the parent’s dog.
AND the child was a baby who should have NEVER let him near a dog unsupervised, period.

I get it, you don’t like dogs.
I like dogs, my daughters love theirs. However, she is small and easily controlled. Yes, I am saying that dogs fill an emotional want rather than rational justification, because children’s emotions can be irrational. Mom tells them to clean their rooms or no ice cream and in her mind the world is coming to an end. They cry and are sent to their rooms, the dog will listen and kiss away their tears.

Also, I’d rather my 14-year-old satisfy her “motherly instinct” with a puppy than to think she needs a baby sooner. She needs to go to college, get married THEN have a baby. Right now, her cat (she is a cat person, the other is the dog person) fills that need. He is her baby. She is learning responsibility. It’s an important lesson.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***I don’t trust pit bulls as far as I could throw one.***

My daughter has a Boxer/pit bull cross. He is sweet as can be and often grabs me by the hand but never bites. A wonderful pet!

Yet, I would NEVER trust him around small children. She has a tall chain link fence and I have put up an electric fence around her back yard, just in case.

[netmilsmom]

You are VERY wise.

I have a friend with a boarder collie that does the same thing. He is put into a room with lots of toys and treats when people come over.

[from occupied ga]

Thanx.

[from occupied ga]

I get it, you don’t like dogs.

I neither like nor dislike dogs. I had one as a pet for years and I've had thit cho. It's the wacky owners that act as though their dogs were people that I dislike.

I’d rather my 14-year-old satisfy her “motherly instinct” with a puppy than to think she needs a baby sooner.

I will charitably not pick this up and run with it other than to say my daughter passed the teen years without either a dog or the need for a baby and somehow learned responsibility without having a pet unless you count raising zebra fish to sell to pet stores when she was 7.

[Mr Rogers]

I'm not ignorant. YOU are paranoid.

Lots of idiots own dogs who are expected to be viscous to everyone - so that means I'm not supposed to have dogs?

I have never met anyone who has had a child significantly hurt by a dog. And over the last 54 years, I've known LOTS of folks with homes full of dogs and kids.

I've known of dogs that protected their kids, and known of dogs that wouldn't let a kid get in the street. I had a Border Collie who would sit on our one year old if she thought the baby was crawling too far.

Get over your anti-dog paranoia...

[who knows what evil?]

Yet, I would NEVER trust him around small children. She has a tall chain link fence and I have put up an electric fence around her back yard, just in case.

Your neighbors thank you for being a RESPONSIBLE dog owner...is the dog covered by liability insurance; just in case? (Not an insurance salesman, but I think this is a wonderful idea...too many people are left holding the bag after a dog attack...)

[who knows what evil?]

Zebra fish rock...

[Salamander]

It’s the way dogs think, not humans.

And that is the simple key to successful dog ownership.

Being the supposed "higher beings" it falls upon us to learn their language and ways since they are not completely capable of learning ours, no matter how well they may mimic them or how smart the dog may seem.

All good dogs owners must understand fully the ways of dogs.

Anything less may result in disaster.

I grieve for all involved but understanding the ways of dogs, I would have *never* allowed my dogs to be part of a noisy celebration filled with 'strangers' and squealing children.

My dogs adore children [especially the Dobermann] *but* everything that children do, by nature; their squeals, fast movements, seemingly erratic play behavior excites dogs...sometimes in an a very negative, horribly tragic way.

This was avoidable.

The owners should have known better.

[Salamander]

That makes no sense either.

If they’re going to kill him anyway, they can test his brain much quicker and more accurately.

[netmilsmom]

>>I will charitably not pick this up and run with it other than to say my daughter <<

And that is YOUR daughter.
Mine is different. They are all different. I feel no need to deny her a pet and use that pet to teach responsibility.

It’s why you raise your kids the way you want, and I raise mine the way I want. Both should turn out fine because we are both doing things right for our own children.

[trailhkr1]

[netmilsmom]

Amen.

[Salamander]

Greyhounds, as one example, have a high prey drive and will often chase and sometimes kill other pets yet have no record of human aggression.

A lot of the hound breeds fall under that generalization, as well.

[Roses0508]

frankly speaking, I find this sort of thought pattern in a human a bit bizarre. None of the people I know refer to their pack.

Dogs are pack animals. If you wish to integrate them into your home successfully then you must recognize that fact. I am the alpha dog in the house. My husband is the dog's best friend. If the dog is not behaving correctly, I snarl at him and he drops his head and slinks into his crate. In fact, you can say "YOU ARE A VERY BAD DOG" and he will drop his head and slink off to his crate. He is absolutely sure of his place in the pack and absolutely sure that he will be punished if he violates that place in the pack.

I still wouldn't leave him out with a baby on the floor. Babies smell different, a dog may not identify them as human.

The large hunting and defense breeds are not a good choice, in my opinion, for a family with small children.

[Salamander]

The most common “issue” that Dobermann owners have, when a new baby arrives in the family is that the formerly loyal-to-the-parents dog will abandon them and station itself in the nursery to ‘guard’ the new baby.

If I’d been able to have kids, they would have grown up with Dobermanns.

[Salamander]

“Scolding the dog & locking him outside just made the dog more unhappy.”

Wow.

I just can’t imagine a “wronger” way to have handled that.

[Salamander]

The Pug probably needed a stroller lest it drop dead from overheating/exercise induced asphyxiation due its freakishly shortened muzzle.

As for the Golden, I have to assume it was paralyzed or otherwise disabled because I can’t imagine insulting my dog’s dignity by pushing his big ass around in a baby stroller.

[I have, however, considered hooking a cart to his harness and having him pull *me* around]

:)

[Salamander]

dogbitelaw.com is run by liberal animal activists.

I trust it about as much as I do Snopes.