Pit bull put down after killing baby in Woodbridge, NJ

[LarzlovesJahi]

The baby’s mother tried to stop the family dog from mauling her little one, only to be injured herself. The dog has now been euthanized.



Read the tragic story here.

 

[Satanica]

I can’t imagine. None of the many dogs of various breeds I’ve had in my home ever became aggressive with humans, and my grands both lived in my house from birth. Only one of my dogs was actually born at my house.

Unless the aggression just came without warning signs, obviously they should have gotten rid of it.

 

[Blunderbuss Firozabad]

I can’t imagine. None of the many dogs of various breeds I’ve had in my home ever became aggressive with humans, and my grands both lived in my house from birth. Only one of my dogs was actually born at my house.

Unless the aggression just came without warning signs, obviously they should have gotten rid of it.

The other night I was doing some idle reading about dog attacks around the world, and outside the usual, a couple of patterns popped out.
Small data set, not any conclusions here, far from scientific, could be nothing...


1. A number of attacks happened when people had seizures:

Australia, New South Wales, Nowra — Victim was found dead in his unit. After investigating the death, investigators came to the conclusion he was attacked by his own dog after having an epileptic seizure. There were extensive injuries to the body. The dog was euthanized

Andrew Kochut died after having a seizure in his girlfriend's apartment. Andrew Kochut's girlfriend stated the dog had attacked him, but the cause of death was not ruled as a result of the dog bite. The cause of death was not determined as at the date of the article.

A man was visiting the residence of a male friend when he allegedly suffered a seizure and was killed by the friend's pitbull. Three other adults were inside the residence in the 900 block on Singh Street (Australia)

I wonder if an infants uncoordinated movements seem "off" to a dog, how a seizure would appear, and makes them look like injured prey?


2. A number of cases involving toddlers mentioned they were foster children.
Irresponsible neighbors seem to be the thread with these.


3. Most dogs involved, almost all, are Dogue-type Molossians, the group considered to have the function of prey dogs.
Here are those (Pit Bulls are considered Molossous dogs, but another frequently seen culprit, the Husky, is not)

Boerboel
Boxer
Broholmer
Bulldog
Bullmastiff
American bulldog
Cane corso
São Miguel Fila Dog
Mallorcan prey dog
Uruguayan Cimarron
great Dane
Argentine Dogo
Brazilian Dane (non-FCI)
Canary Dane
Dogue de Bordeaux
Guatemalan Dogo (non-FCI)
Brazilian Fila
English Mastiff
Neapolitan Mastiff
Rottweiler


4. Sometimes things work out just right...

2011 "RetrieverThailand, Sattahip district — A 51 year old Thai man is mauled to death by a 3 year old Golden Retriever. The man's wife suggested that the dog may have killed the man because he had long abused the dog, such as by kicking it. Several bystanders witnessed the attack."

I don't believe the dog was euthanized. The dog's name was Peter.


Nice seeing one of your threads @LarzlovesJahi !

List of fatal dog attacks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Molosso (cão) – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre

pt.wikipedia.org

Abused dog kills owner | News24

A golden retriever has mauled its Thai master to death after allegedly enduring years of abuse.

www.news24.com

 

[Crazy Cat Lady]

Interesting about the seizures, because every now and then I see a story about dogs that alert their epileptic owners to oncoming seizures.

 

[Blunderbuss Firozabad]

Interesting about the seizures, because every now and then I see a story about dogs that alert their epileptic owners to oncoming seizures.

Yes, I've seen several stories like that also. Perhaps the "alert" part is key. The dog knows they are coming and are familiar with them?
So I looked at what the Epilepsy Foundation had to say about seizure alerting dogs:

"While it makes for a great headline, it also makes for a grave misrepresentation of the truth.The truth is: seizure dogs can not be trained to “alert” a person of an oncoming seizure. Therefore, a seizure dog may be useful in assisting a person during or after a seizure, but is not guaranteed to be able to “alert” a person of an oncoming seizure.

Seizure-alert dogs, as implied by their name, are dogs that can sense and notify their human companions of an oncoming seizure. This alerting behavior has been reported to occur several seconds to 45 minutes or more before the onset of the seizure. The dog does this by exhibiting marked changes in behavior, including close eye contact, circling, pawing, barking etc."

"When it comes to service dogs for epilepsy, large, strong breeds are ideal so they can perform tasks such as pulling a wheelchair or breaking a fall."

"Whereas seizure-alert dogs assist their human companions before a seizure occurs, seizure-response or seizure–assist dogs help during and after a seizure. This behavior, as Dalziel points out, can be innate or trained. Seizure-assist dogs can be trained to stay close to their companions for the duration of the seizure, as well as fetch medications, a telephone or caretaker."

Depends if there's migraines in advance, certain auras. It seems to be complicated.


From an unrelated site:
Dog breeds most frequently used as service dogs include:

Retrievers, including Labrador and golden retrievers
German shepherds
Poodles (all sizes)
Bernese mountain dogs
Collies
American Staffordshire terriers
Pomeranians

But people use all sorts I suppose, as long as they pass training?


2 of the 3 cases were around other people's dogs, and the third man who was killed by his own dog had a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

I know nothing about dogs. Not one thing. Except their paw pads smell nice.





ETA: This has been noticed before but it's such a small sampling of incidents that it's really kind of anecdotal at this stage


This one may seem like its unrelated but there are some insights there.

Behavioral Changes in Dogs With Idiopathic Epilepsy Compared to Other Medical Populations - PMC

Anxiety related behaviors have been reported in humans diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy (IE) and such traits may be altered depending on seizure phase. The purpose of this study was to determine the presence and severity of anxiety related ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Should people with epilepsy have untrained dogs as pets? - PubMed

We report 36 cases of pet dogs, who suffered significant adverse health effects as a result of spontaneously reacting to, or anticipating, epileptic seizures in their human owners. These included three cases in which the dog died, and 12 cases in which the dog exhibited aggressive behaviour...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Preston dog attack victim 'was having seizure'

A man who died after being attacked by his own dog was having an epileptic seizure when he was hurt by the animal, police say.

www.bbc.com