Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Pitbull Bite in PA: The Wrong Debate

In Pennsylvania, a Pitbull dam who had just whelped a litter bit a 7 year old neighbor girl in the face:
Princess had recently delivered a litter of puppies when Dunn came over to visit Gasch's Homestead duplex Thursday morning.
Gasch told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that while she was stuffing school supplies in her son's backpack, Jenna -- who has played with Princess often -- went into the bedroom with Gasch's son. According to her son, Jenna knelt down to play with one of the puppies, at which Princess became protective."
Jenna asked me to see the puppies multiple times. I told her, no, she cannot see the puppies she cannot go in my room don't go upstairs do not even play on my steps," said Gasch.
But Dunn said Gasch's son invited her upstairs to see Princess while his mother was sleeping.
Dunn's family said the attack is enough to warrant the dog being put down.

The article discusses the debate over whether the dog deserves to be killed. To me, a more appropriate debate might include any of the following:

  • Is the dog's owner well suited to have a dog? She has multiple violations for letting previous dogs roam loose, including one incident where her dog was shot by a neighbor.
  • Was the dog's owner asleep or getting her son's backpack ready for school when the incident occurred? How did the kids get into the room in either circumstance?
  • Were the 7 year old girl's parents aware that "Princess" had just whelped a litter? If so, why did they allow her to visit the house unattended?

Kid left unsupervised with dogs=bad idea.
Kid left unsupervised with a neighbor's dog=worse idea.
Kid left unsupervised with a neighbor's dog who had just whelped a litter=*sounds buzzer* Sorry, thanks for playing.

2 comments:

Jan said...

Good questions, but as always the dogs pay the price.

Unknown said...

I don't know how sound that dog is, to be honest. Seeing how idiotic the dog's owner is, I would be unsurprised if her dog was temperamentally a little wonky.

Not that that means anything. We expect way too much of dogs and even more so of mama dogs, who are expected to just be 150% fine and dandy with anyone handling their puppies. And they should feel comfortable, but only because humans have taught them that kid/human + touching puppy = BEST THING EVER instead of just expecting the dam to be so compliant.

Sucky situation and both a kid and dog suffer the consequences of an adult's stupidity.