Child's head crushed in dog attack

[Australis]

A FIVE-year-old boy suffered critical head injuries after he was attacked by the family dog in his own backyard north of Melbourne.

Police say the boy was in the backyard of his home in Gavin Street, Broadford, with his father, who was mowing the lawn, when the Rottweiler grabbed him by the head about 2.30pm (AEDT).

The dog then released the boy, who was taken by car to the Kilmore Hospital, about 15km away.

Ambulance Victoria paramedics transferred him to the Royal Children's Hospital after he was found to be suffering from a crushed head.

He is in a critical but stable condition.

Kidsafe Victoria president Mark Stokes said the attack, which followed two other dog attacks on Victorian children in August, showed training must go hand in hand with dog licensing.

"Dogs and young children, especially babies and toddlers, do not mix and dog attacks can leave children disfigured for life as well as being fatal,'' he said.

Kidsafe proposes certified training for all dogs as a part of the licensing system.

"No training, no licence, no dog,'' Dr Stokes said.

Children under five should not be left unattended with a dog, Dr Stokes warned.

*grabs shovel*

 

[fishunter]

Its the fathers fault for not
A: Chaining up a potentially dangerous dog whens a childs outside
B: Not supervising his kid in the presence of a potentially dangerous dog

 

[cris]

My bet is the kid attacked the dog, dogs never attack people they are like brown snakes and completely passive and harmless.

The redneck shouldnt be mowing protected garden skinks and their habitat to start with, hope he mows himself one day (can i join the snake hugger club?) Perhaps the rotti was trying to stop the spread of redneck genes that promote lawn mowing that kills protected fauna.

 

[fishunter]

Australis is it safe to say you dont like dogs?

 

[Jacobxvx]

******, I live around the corner from where this happened and I havnt even heard about it...

 

[Australis]

Australis is it safe to say you dont like dogs?

No, i like dogs.
But i know they attack children sometimes, so its best to go at them with a shovel (or even a spade) before the things get a chance.. don't even get me started on catholic teachers!

 

[euphorion]

Agreed, no training, no dog! I wish there were more regulations in place to stop idiots from owning such potentially dangerous animals.

 

[scottyo998]

No, i like dogs.
But i know they attack children sometimes, so its best to go at them with a shovel (or even a spade) before the things get a chance.. don't even get me started on catholic teachers!

so under your logic, anything that could potentially cause harm to a child should be killed or incapacitated so to it doesnt get the chance. How naive and small minded is that! Basically anything in has the potential to be hazardous or dangerous to a child, be it animal or object. To remove anything that could harm them would leave them with nothing what so ever. I find it ridiculous how people can jump to extremes when you hear about this sort of thing, but then just never take into account the millions of time when this sort of incident doesnt occur. Its the very small minority that turn out like this, so treat it as such, a very unlikely event that -even though sad-should not be responsible for drastic measures being taken, hows they are always just knee jerk reactions.

 

[souldoubt]

No, i like dogs.
But i know they attack children sometimes, so its best to go at them with a shovel (or even a spade) before the things get a chance.. don't even get me started on catholic teachers!

The shoot first ask questions later thing is a pretty primitive view....that's like saying it was ok for the Chinese to poach the South China Tiger to extinction because they blamed it for killing some of their livestock.

More to the point it's pretty difficult to justify a statement like that when you don't know much at all about the circumstances

 

[o0odjo0o]

i agree with scotty and soul on that. Especially when it comes to dogs. 99% of dogs are beautiful and wouldnt hurt a fly it is intirely there up bringing I grew up with a rottweiler and she was the most beautiful dog and so friendly and never attacked anyone. The people that train these dogs need to take into account do they wont a killer or a family pet and most idiotic males will take killer cause they think its cool, these same people are the ones that buy snakes for the same reason. I own two labrador and they are as dumb as but wouldnt hurt a fly maybe another dog lol. They occassionally nip cause they are young and stupid but they never bite and never would. My brother on the other hand has a blue heeler who he cant even let his kids near cause it is mentally challenged because of the way he trained it but on the other hand he had it 8 years before he had kids and it was a dog for mustering cattle out on big stations but if that was me love or no love for a pet my kids would come first. I feel sorry for this little five year old that got bitten because he has to put up with his idiot parents for the rest of his life. Hope he gets better.

 

[Flaviruthless]

How many children have been killed or injured in car accidents this week? People need to step up and take responsibility for their actions, the fault lies with the parents. I love my dog, but I would never leave her alone with a child. You need a license to drive a car, boat, keep reptiles - why can you have children without one? Just my two cents.

 

[Laghairt]

LOL, don't worry Australis, the irony was not lost on me.

 

[Australis]

LOL, don't worry Australis, the irony was not lost on me.

Excellent. Ive got a spare shovel for you here..first stop RSPCA shelter for some shovel-adoptions.

 

[souldoubt]

OH! you were being typical! sorry Australis I didn't even pick up on that in my sleep deprived state haha

 

[cris]

Excellent. Ive got a spare shovel for you here..first stop RSPCA shelter for some shovel-adoptions.

Probably best going to bunnings if you want to adopt a shovel.

 

[Dmool3]

This situation sucks, My daughter had her head crushed by a dog when she was 2yrs old under her mothers care. The dog was shot and 5yrs later i found out my daughter tried to ride the dog like a horse which the dog obviously didnt like.
The dog that attacked her was a border collie farm dog. I dont think licensing will fix the situation completely as there is still a parent/supervision problem in most of these incidents. We all know no one wants to be told how to be a parent no matter how bad they are.

 

[da_donkey]

I really think im gonna shovel myself if people around here dont start understanding a little bit of sarcasm and irony.

"excuse me, im going to shovel my car before i get in it and potentialy crash and kill myself".

donks

 

[Scleropages]

How many "sets" of shovels do you have???

 

[D3pro]

How many "sets" of shovels do you have???

Bahahaha... all the exotic sets

 

[snakehandler]

As an owner of both rotties and snakes I cop it from all angles, obtaining animals in general is far to easy......people can purchase almost anything over the net and very little proof of experience is required. This goes for the reptile scene as well, especially in Victoria where an 18 year old with no experience can get their advanced permit and purchase coastal taipans. Animal ownership is not a right, it is a privilege.......correct training of the owner and animal is required.......when things go wrong, people always blame the animal!