6-week old puppy kills baby

Well, yes, you have a point there, (I didn't watch the video), apparently the puppy has SOMETHING to do with it,and you're right...none of it adds up. How on Earth could a puppy maul a baby and no one hear anything from the next room? I'm surprised neighbors didn't hear it, if that's what really happened. I really want to see a follow up on this, and find out what the autopsy results are.

NOT true...

absolutely NOT true...

ANY dog has the capacity to kill.. ANY dog..

and Labs are not always nice.. Ive met more mean Labs than
I have mean bull-type breeds...

You all want to blaim the parents because the puppy is cute? Give me a break yeah the puppy is tiny and cute but the baby was only 8 weeks old. It's much smaller than that little pup, the pup could fit the baby's head in it's jaws and with one shake kill it no crying no struggle it was stuck in a swing. After that it could commence in it's playing with the corpse of the baby. Because that's what dogs and cats do, it's like their training.

Golden Retrievers are good. Usually smart but I know of one next door that's kinda dumb and silly. But she's still a good dog. My dogs are both very smart, loving and gentle. The older one will approach strangers when they come to visit us and offer a paw for shake and want to be petted.

I've had experience with German Shepherds. Used to walk a neighbor's when I was a kid. They are good dogs too. I also used to have a pure bred Collie, like Lassie. He was fun, but liked to "herd" me as I ran around in the yard with him and he would nip at my heels. lol But I was 13 at the time. Rottweilers and Pit Bulls get a bad rap, but it's all up to the humans who raise them ultimately, starting with the breeder present at birth, who should have daily interaction with puppies, before they ever open their eyes. Most of the bigger dogs are good. It's the little toy dogs that I find are a total pain. People think because a dog is small, that it's harmless and it's allowed to get away with murder. In the wrong environment they can be territorial, toy-aggressive, food-aggressive, and people aggressive. Plus they have a tendency to yap yap yap. But the owners usually say oh how cute and do nothing to stop the behavior.

I still think the Lab pup in this case was from a puppy mill. Normally in those cases, puppies are bred as quick as possible for money making and barely any care is put into the pups or the dams. So when it comes time for them to be adopted, they usually don't have any social skills with people, other animals or environments. If the pup came from a licensed breeder, I would be very surprised. That breeder wouldn't be breeding much longer. It could have come from a back-yard breeder also, from an "oops" litter.

If you want a dog, I highly recommend getting one from a shelter or rescue group that's already gone through the puppy stages, or has been living in foster homes with children and/or other pets. PetFinder is usually a good website for finding pets in foster care situations and usually come with a background story.
PetFinder

Then you know the animal has a good behavior record. Plus usually they are already house trained. Too many people get puppies, and the pups end up abandoned, re-homed or euthanized because some people just can't handle a puppy. I don't think anyone should get a young puppy unless they are home all the time, like a housewife. In some dog rescues, that's a requirement before they let the puppy be adopted, along with crating the puppy. A good pet adoption agency will question you and want to see the environment where the animal would be living.

The people in this case didn't seem to know much about dogs either and were negligent. I would never leave a tiny puppy alone, because without constant supervision, the pup can poop/pee everywhere and ruin floors (which makes house training very difficult when they are allowed to eliminate where they want), or chew stuff, which can lead to intestinal blockage, or worse, get into chemicals. Shouldn't leave infants alone either. Even though they may look comfy in their sleep, anything could happen, like Sudden Infant Death.

Those people should never have children or pets again. Clearly, they cannot handle either.

This better not have the same effect to the masses like all the other dog maulings out there. Next we'll have Labs put on restriction lists, like Pit Bulls are in Ontario, Canada. Every decade there's usually a dog breed that's put on the "no-no" list of do not adopt because they attack. That's so ignorant. That's like cornering a lion in a cage, taunting it, then getting mad because it bit your hand. Do you blame the animal, or the humans responsible for the animal?

Labs and Retrievers and other similar dogs were bred through many generations to have a desire to be with humans and help them, not harm. They are meant to find and carry prey, be it a toy or a downed bird.

One member thinks this kind of posting is bringing down ATS. I disagree.

This story just goes to show that the police aren't using their heads. They euthanized one dog but not the other. What made them choose the Lab over the Pug, I don't understand. But perhaps more information will be released later.

Once again an animal pays the ultimate price for their owners negligence!! Babies and pets don't mix anyway. Children are often mean to animals and have to be taught to be gentle. Any pet can bite at anytime!! I feel that babies are especially vulnerable because they seem weak to animals. In a pack, dogs take out the weak ones. However, this 6 wk old puppy would have had to have a lot of time to do that much damage. Babies are never to be left unattended and that goes double for being in a swing, and triple for being alone with dogs. Why didn't they suspect the other dog?
17 yr old dumb A_ _!!!!!!! I feel no remorse for the parents, only the puppy and the child. God has them now, and they can suffer no more under the hands of humans.

RIP

Very interested in the autopsy report, that's for sure!!!!

reply to post by Ceara

---

I totally agree about getting a dog from Shelters, I have had two shelter dogs and they just seem to know they've been rescued and spend their lives thanking you.

I hear they have confiscated all the animals including cats now. Someone suggested the parents asked the puppy to be put down. Lots of missing info here. I'll post what I hear, I live in Tulsa.

Alot of things about this story dont add up. Firstly a 6 week old pup would take a long time to maul a baby to death it could be done as we all know how fragile new born babies are but if the child was in a swing it would mean that it was elevated off the floor by maybe 2 foot or more.

So either the swing chair was beside something like an armchair and the pup playfully jumped onto the chair maybe knocking it over and the resulting fall causing the babies death then proceeding to chew on the baby in a playful manner.

I'm kind of leaning towards Grandma telling the two young parents "you cant run to the baby everytime he/she cries, let him cry awhile" Sure the two young parents who are more or less kids themselves would take this advice as Grandma is an old hand at raising kids. If there was a Pug in the house as well as the pup I reckon the Pug got jealous of the baby seeing it get all the attention either pulled the swing over bit the baby and violenty shook it causing death (shaken baby syndrome) When the parents reenter the room they see the little pup nibbling the baby and assume its mauled their child to death.

It's a really sad event and my heart goes out to them all. I hope the authorities find out what really happend and take the proper action if there is negligence involved.

Hobo

Have you ever held a 2 month old child?

Have you ever raised a Retriever puppy from 6 weeks?

A Lab puppy can barely put its mouth around an adult fist, let alone a baby's head. Ask any mother who's given birth vaginally just how big a baby's head is.

Hey OP we're neighbors! (waves madly). I live in Terlton (north of Mannford) and work in Sand Springs. I, too, have been following this story closely.

As callous and unfeeling as it sounds, my first response was "at least it wasn't a pit bull." I am so tired of pit bashing, and this case at least proves that dogs not normally considered 'aggressive' will attack.

The most recent news byte I found on this story seems to indicate that they now think it may have been the pug that killed the baby. Too bad for the lab pup, huh?

I can see both sides of this so far and I'm waiting for autopsy results and more information. If you have a kid, don't tell me you never left it alone in its room to sleep. As some have said, leaving a kid alone to nap in a swing is not unusual. What puzzles me is, how close was the swing to the ground for the pup or pug to be able to reach it? And why did no one hear the baby crying or screaming and run to the rescue? Even sleeping parents usually wake up FAST when their baby cries or screams. On the surface it does seem that something doesn't add up, but I'll wait for more information before deciding anything other than this is very tragic and sad for all concerned.

Why would the puppy need a long time to bite down on a soft soft skull. An 8 week year old prematurely born baby's head is smaller than a fist.
Don't dogs age 7 times faster than humans?

Never, I repeat, never, leave a baby alone with any animal. No matter how cute , cuddly, passive or innocent. Babies are killed more than you want to believe by pets or other animals.

There was a case here where I live where a pet dog chewed the head of of a baby while the parents were in another room. The kid was killed by this loving pet because it had access to the baby and the parents never thought such a thing would happen.

Dogs, cats, ferrets, mice, rats, squirrels as pets will lunch on a happless kid. The childs screams does something to the internal instinct of animals and that unleashes a rage within to kill.

reply to post by Ceara

---

I've been around quite a few children and raised 2 labs. The nicest most gentle one bit me on the face when it was a pup.

I have two labs, one is around 11 and the other is around 8. The oldest we got when he was a puppy, I can't remember how many weeks, probably around 8. The day we picked him up, the daughter of the man selling us the lab picked him up to say goodbye. The dog bit her ear in return and caused it to bleed quite heavily. We named him Tyson

As a puppy that dog was anything but an angel. He chewed/ingested half of our hottub cover, chewed/ingested most of the deck covering, slaughtered several stuffed animals, shoes, cushions and anything else he could find. This was in the first couple weeks. So, like the other lab owners have posted, labs are gentle and loving yes, but as puppies they are Satans spawn.

Today my dogs are probably the most fun loving dogs you could find. Only one of my dogs has bitten someone, and that was someone prowling in our backyard at 2 AM and he only did so when we ordered so.

So, while this is unbelievably tragic, I don't think it's impossible for it to happen. I'm also open to the idea that the parents are responsible via negligence.

God this story has me depressed, I need to go play with my dogs now.

[edit on 29-7-2008 by ben420]

reply to post by Zealott

---

And what occurred to allow that to happen? You got in it's face? You allowed yourself to be in the position were it could happen? The dog got a little wild while playing and wasn't stopped, made to lay down or otherwise distracted? Or did the dog lunge from whatever position it was in and aimed directly at your face out of pure spite?

There's a funny house-training thing I read once, but feel it applies to all these situations where the dog is blamed for something.

This isn't verbatim, but you will get the general idea.



I grew up with all sorts of animals, and was NEVER seriously hurt by any of them. Not once did I ever have to go to the emergency room because of an animal. I had hamsters, multiple cats, parakeets, fish and dogs. Our house was like a zoo. lol We also kept around 6 egg laying chickens in the backyard, and one rooster. That rooster didn't like many people, but he liked me, and enjoyed being cuddled and pet and would "coo" while in my lap. I was around 6 at the time. But I always had at least one parent around to watch me while I was with any animal, without exception. I learned from a very early age how to handle animals. I even kept a Bull snake at one point.

1.) the parents are at fault period. they should be in jail period.
2.) if you have ever rough-housed (played hard with - hickville usa term) with a puppy and not been cut by their sharp little teeth, I don't believe you. baby's are fragile to blood loss, cutting off their oxygen in anyway, standing or laying on top would suffocate them.
3.) there is never a time appropriate to leave a newborn, infant, toddler, with a dog or cat, even a puppy. At the puppy stage there is no way to know the temperment of the animal, and you know what lets go back to #1. I guess life is just not precious to some people. crazyness.

it is Neglect, plan and simple.

CW1

[edit on 29-7-2008 by Caliwowly1]

reply to post by ben420

---

Ben, well thanks for the warning! If I ever get a lab will look for one already grown. Seriously, I am still in shock over this but I have to say that this same scenario is being played out all over the world this very minute: that is, a very small child yes babies too are alone in a room with household pets. That part I can't hide my head in the sand about and say I would never leave a room with baby in a swing and a seemingly harmless animal, at least momentarily. The part I don't get is how the dog whichever one it was killed the baby without alerting the people in the house. Babies scream bloody murder when they get immunization shots, so how much worse would repeated puppy teeth bites be?

Well hi neighbor. I lived in SS until I was 4. Isn't it odd that they would put that puppy down so quickly? You'd think they would kennel it a few days or something until this story started panning out.

Here's the latest update. They've released the child's name but not much else seems to be new information:

Update


It does seem odd that they euthanized the puppy immediately. At first I thought, rabies test perhaps? But what would be the point since the baby is dead and no one else was bitten?

The problem here lies with the parental units.

Why were they not checking on their newborn every few minutes?
Why would they leave the newborn in the swing unattended? (pretty sure the warning label says NOT to do that).
Why would they leave the newborn in the swing unattended, with two dogs in the room?
Even if the dogs 'mauled' the child, I still think that this is the parents' faults because they were NEGLECTING thier INFANT.

reply to post by Blueracer

---

It's a six week old dog, it wasn't attacking the baby it was playing, the fact that these "parents" leave their child unattended is disgusting.