2-year-old mauled to death by family dog(Shepherd Mix)

[RamboLiberal]

SAN DIEGO — A 2-year-old boy was mauled to death by his family's dog late Saturday morning inside a Tierrasanta home, police said.

The incident happened at 11:33 a.m. at a house on Lofberg Street in a military housing area just east of Interstate 15, said San Diego Police Department Sgt. Ray Battrick.

The boy was attacked in an upstairs bedroom in front of some or all of his three siblings: a 3-year-old brother and 5- and 7-year-old sisters, said police Lt. Rick O’Hanlon.

Their mother was laying on the downstairs couch of the two-story duplex when the oldest child alerted her to what happened, the ---lieutenant added. The father is a serviceman deployed overseas.

-----

He said it was his understanding that there was no previous problem with the dog, a 1.5-year-old shepherd mix that the family has owned for about six months.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/31/dog-mauls-toddler-death-tierrasanta/

[flvegan]

1. That poor family.

My heart goes out to them. In front of the sibs no less. That's going to be hard on them.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Oh god! That poor boy and his family!!

:cry:

[carlyhippy]

3. What a horrible tragedy

Prayers are with this baby's parents.

[Liberty Belle]

4. Horrible case. Child abuse officers are investigating,

though I suspect the Mom was just exhausted, with 4 kids ages 2-7 and Dad off overseas.

[Bobbieo]

5. How horrible!!! I had a shephard/ collie mix who was the most wonderful dog in the world.

and again had a full-grown, adorable-looking cocker spaniel, given to me, that had to be euthanized because he would suddenly turn on a person for no apparent reason. He may have been abused as a pup but the vet referred to him as a psycho.

[TorchTheWitch]

11. How did she not hear the attack?

It's a small house. There's no way she couldn't have heard what was going on and had to be told about it afterward. Something is really odd about that.

It's horrible tragedies like this that is why you NEVER leave young kids unsupervised with ANY dog. I get it that she's an exhausted busy mom with four young kids to deal with, but there's no excuse for leaving young kids unsupervised with a dog - yes, even the family dog. Busy and exhausted or not, as a parent she's responsible for the safety and wellfare of her kids and dropped the ball.

I swear it should be a law that before owning a dog a person has to go through extensive responsibility training so completely avoidable tragedies like this won't happen.

[smalll]

6. AHA! For once, a human being was torn to shreds by a dog that WASN'T a pitbull!

No bad dogs, just bad owners! :eyes:

[flvegan]

8. What an intriguing post.

[smalll]

9. Are you one of those misanthropic pit-lovers? Surely you must welcome this news?

See! See? It's not just pitbulls that can horrifically, violently rob you of your life in an excruiatingly long-lasting orgy of flesh-tearing!

Go out and "rescue" some more, why don't you? :eyes:

[flvegan]

10. Projection. An intriguing way to make a point.

Did you see my post (that, btw, happened before yours?). I'll rescue all I can, thanks. "Sit there and do nothing poster" aside.

If you want to call me out...come correct. I'd love to eviscerate you. Have at it.

[ET Awful]

13. Interesting how he doesn't offer condolences to the family, show any sympathy, or even

any compassion.

Instead, he uses it to pound his BS gavel.

Sadly typical.

I should add: I DO send out my condolences the family, it's a horrible tragedy, and I've seen it nearly happen to a child myself . . . by a weimeriner.

[Meldread]

12. Yes, bad owners.

I've had nearly 15 dogs over the course of my life - from childhood to adulthood. Not a single one displayed a sign of violence toward humans.

While it's true that dogs can become mentally unbalanced (just like humans), in every single dog I've encountered in my life that was aggressive it was because of the owners. People try and treat dogs as if they were humans. That's almost always the problem. Dogs shouldn't be treated like humans, they don't understand or feel the same way humans do - their brains work differently. Dogs should be treated like dogs, and if an owner treats a dog properly there will never be a problem.

I agree with another poster that said people shouldn't be allowed to own a dog (but I would extend that to ---ANY--- pet) until they know how to properly handle, treat, and care for the animal. Otherwise, stuff like this happens.

[upi402]

7. Unimaginable horror

sympathies to ALL of the family.