Would you trust your pet dog alone with your baby?
A newborn baby is in hospital in Sydney after it was mauled by the family’s pet dog in the early hours of this morning.
The parents of the seven-day-old baby woke to screams at 3.30am and found their baby being attacked by their pet alaskan malamute.
According to ABC News, the baby was asleep in a bassinet at the end of their bed.
The little girl was rushed to Campbelltown hospital in Sydney’s west before being transferred to Sydney Children’s hospital in Randwick. She remains in a serious condition.
Meanwhile, there are reports out of the United Kingdom that a three-week-old baby died after being attacked by the family terrier.
A man was arrested on charges relating to neglect of the child following the attack, but was released on bail.
The parents reportedly owned the Patterdale Terrier for about a year prior to the attack.
Would you leave your pet dog around your baby?
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“Six ways our dog has become just like our children.”
Top Comments
Common Sense 101 - don't leave children unattended around dogs, even family dogs that you trust.
No dog is 100% trustworthy and a dog that has just had it's "pack" altered, even less so.
This case is sad because this dog was probably doing what comes naturally to it, reacting to it's pack being altered and probably asserting a sign of dominance (even though the baby is hardly a threat, in the dogs eyes, it's new to the pack and all of a sudden taking up a lot of it's owners time, therefore a possibly threat) and now it may be put down because it's owners didn't take the proper precautions.
Hope the baby makes a full recovery.
I was bitten on the face by our dog (a docile beagle) when I was about 5 years old. I was in the lounge room, with BOTH parents supervising. I was playing with the dog, and a second later, bam. I'm fine, not in the least traumatized or scared of dogs (and I remember the incident with perfect clarity); I have a little scar near my eye from where they stitched me up. Dog was fine and continued to live with us as a beloved family pet; never bit anyone ever again. My point is, when you have humans and animals in the family home, sometimes stuff just happens. Parents not negligent; dogs not inherently terrible. A sad story (and the second one about the terrier an absolute tragedy) but a private matter for the families involved. Absolutely no need to put on our judgey-pants and call the parents 'fools' or 'foolhardy' and the like.