Dog bites part of child's ear off

Incident Occured: 03/31/10

Location: Poquoson, VA

Breed Alleged: Golden Retriever

Sources:
http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-dog-ear-bite,0,4558504.story

http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Police-Dog-bites-off-part-of-3-year-olds-ear-89719387.html

http://www.newyorkinjurynews.com/2010/04/07/Virginia-dog-bite-injury-Child-lost-ear-in-Poquoson-dog-attack_201004073133.html

http://www.topix.com/city/poquoson-va/2010/04/dog-bites-part-of-childs-ear-off-in-poquoson

This is a story where none of those involved (except the child) know what actually happened. There is no strong evidence that the injury was even caused by the dog.

The 3 year old was apparently with his father visiting another family's back yard across the street from the grandmother's home. One report states that the child was playing with other children and that they were "under the supervision of a few adults". Two other stories make no mention of other children.

Two of the reports state that the child wandered behind a shed, where the attack allegedly occurred with no witnesses. The shed backs up to a fence that separates the two yards, and he was between the fence and the shed.The other report does not mention the shed at all.

According to the grandmother, “All of a sudden my grandson started screaming and yelling and my son looked up and the dog had come over the thing and attacked him and took his ear, bit him on his arm, his shoulder, and bit his ear off. I mean, all this, all this is gone… He wasn't even outside 10 minutes and my son came across the street screaming and crying and yelling mama, mama help me, a dog had bitten my grandson’s ear off.”

She describes the scene as if she had witnessed it, but she was inside her house across the street when the incident occurred. Neither she, nor anyone else present knows whether or not the dog actually bit the child at all, let alone the details of how the alleged attack took place, as no one was in a position to actually witness the "attack."

A family member of the dog's owner who was near the scene when it occurred (and who was going to school for nursing) went to see if she could assist the toddler. She posted on the Internet explaining her family's side of the story.

She states that the child had no cuts, punctures or scratches on his arms or shoulders...refuting the claim of the grandmother that the dog also bit him in these places. The only way for any of us to know for sure, is to see medical records.

She claims that there were no adults supervising the child at the time of the alleged attack. Since both parties (family of the victim and family of the accused dog) have stakes in this fight, there is really no way for an outsider to know for sure who is telling the whole truth, and who is not. It behooves the family of the child to claim that their was supervision, just as it behooves the family of the dog to claim that there was not.

She also claims that the dog has never before attempted to jump the fence. This can indicate that the dog did not jump over the fence to bite the child, but then again...there's always a first time for everything. Secondarily, the fence was reported to be only three feet high. The dog would not have to jump over the fence to reach the child, he would only have to jump up on the fence, which at three feet, is just about the right level to reach a three year old's head.

One news report states that "witnesses heard a dog bark and the child cry out just before the child emerged from behind the shed bleeding from the left side of his head." The nurse in training claims that the dog could not have barked, as it was wearing a shock collar, and would have been shocked if it did.

Assuming the correct training was used with the shock collar, it is quite possible the dog would have developed an aversion to barking, but this does not mean that in a state of high arousal or fear, that it definitely did not bark.

She says that her aunt (the dog's owner) and her aunt's landlord, were outside on the porch at the time of the incident and were "fully aware of where her dog was." This statement seems airtight...except being aware of where the dog is, and actually supervising the dog at all times are two different things. Since she did not say, we cannot assume she meant that the dog was right there next to them in plain view the entire time.

She states: "My aunt has babysat a lot of the neighborhood kids. The golden retriever apparently responsible for the attack is a seeing eye dog for my half blind cousin. Babies have been around this dog and this dog is more scared of the babies than the babies being scared of the dog." If this dog is truly a trained and certified seeing eye dog, then it had to go through rigorous training and socialization prior to living with the family. It is unlikely that a dog suited for this job would be moved to attack a child unless under the most heinous of provocation.

As for the dog having lots of experience around babies and children...that only proves that the dog hasn't attacked anyone up till this point. It is likely that the dog's socialization with children have made it trustworthy around them. However, without meeting the dog, and seeing exactly how it behaves in the presence of children, and fully understanding minute nuances in canine behaviour and body language...there is no way to know for sure how comfortable the dog is around kids.

In fact, in part of her statement she says "...this dog is more scared of babies than the babies being scared of the dog." Again, we don't know exactly what she means by this. She may be inferring that the dog is extremely tolerant of the children, and allows them to do what they want to him with good humour and patience. But, if she means that the dog displays fearful behaviour around children, such as trying to get away from them and avoid them, it's a whole different ball game.

If a dog behaves like this around children, and the owners do not allow the dog to get away and be left in peace, the dog may eventually lose his patience and bite.

Assuming the dog did, in fact, bite the child (which may or may not have occurred, we will never know...) let's examine what may have triggered it.

Even the most temperamentally sound dog has a limit to what he can withstand before he reacts. We do not know what signs this dog may or may not have displayed in the days/weeks/months leading up to this attack. According to one witness's statement, the dog might be somewhat fearful of children. If this were the case though, the dog would have most likely avoided the child all together.

No one witnessed the events that immediately preceded the alleged bite, nor the bite itself. There is every possibility that the child may have been behaving in some way that was frightening, or threatening to the dog. The child may have reached through the fence, and grabbed the dog, possibly painfully, which could have resulted in a startle reflex in the dog, causing the bite.

It's also possible that the dog could have been frequently teased by the local children through the fence. This is a common occurrence in dog attack cases. An otherwise all around balanced dog may be constantly teased and tormented by people on the other side of a fence, causing him to associate those people with fear, pain, and anger...which is likely to lead to a bite when one of those tormentors comes within reach.

Barrier aggression is also a posible explanation. An otherwise well behaved and social dog may develop this issue. Barrier agression is caused by the constant frustration a dog feels when there is something on the other side of a barrier that it cannot interact with. If confronted with this object away from barriers, the dog will bahave in his normally friendly manner. However, if the barrier is a fence, the object of excitement a child, and the child puts a hand through at the height of this dog's excitement, a bite may occur.

The dog's defender makes a point to mention that the yard in which the incident occurred is littered by metal, suggesting that it is a possibility that the child was injured by yard trash as opposed to a dog bite.

She says that when the dog was examined by the police and Animal Control that "There was no blood found inside his mouth, on his fur or on the fence where the attack supposedly happened." If this is true, then this is pretty telling. Injuries to the face and head tend to bleed a lot. While it is possible that the dog could have bitten without being bled on, due to the propable circumstances, it is unlikely that the fence would be unmarked.

There is also apparently bad blood between the owners of the dog and the family of the child. The dog's family believes that the child's family are "picking on" them, possibly because of the father and child being evicted from the trailer park. The dog defender claims that the child's grandmother has been spreading rumors that the dog has attacked four other people.

Neighbor disputes over pets are also very common. Frequently, the dispute has nothing at all to do with pets, but petty and immature people (of which the world is full) will use any excuse to cause problems. Pets are a favored target. Rumors are spread, sometimes false police reports and Animal Control calls are made, targeted pets are blamed for nearly anything that goes wrong in the area. Some people go so far as to let dogs out of their yards so that they can call the cops about a "dangerous dog at large". There have even been cases where someone has let a dog out of a yard, coaxed it into their own yard, and then shot it dead. They later report that the dog was "running loose" and that it "charged me" and that they "feared for my life".

In this particular case, it is entirely possible that the family of the child simply blamed the dog because they don't like the owners.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that people lie. They don't always lie, but when hearing about any event that one did not personally witness, one has to take everything they hear with a grain of salt. One must consider what might motivate a person to make the claims that they do, and look at every topic from as many different viewpoints as possible.

In conclusion, due to the circumstances in this particular case, I feel it is unlikely that the child's injury was caused by this dog. I think it more likely that the injury was a simple accident involving something in the yard or behind the shed. However, that doesn't mean that it couldn't have been caused by the dog, and I can see what could have triggered a possible bite.

If the dog did bite, I beleive that this (or something similar) is the most likely scenario:

Dog sees child on other side of fence, and approaches to say "hello". Child, not knowing any better, grabs a fistful of dog's skin through the fence and pulls. This startles and hurts the dog, who, without thinking, reacts immediately with a yelp and a bite. He is not intending to harm the child, all he knows is that he hurts, and he is frightened, and he wants it to stop. Sort of like if you stopped in the street to say 'hi" to a stranger, and that stranger suddenly grabs your ear and twists it painfully. Your first reaction would be reflexive, and would probably be a kick, or a punch, or a push...whatever could get him off of you as quickly as possible. You probably wouldn't stand their passively, in pain and shock, and say "Excuse me, sir...would you mind terribly letting go of my ear? I would really appreciate it." We can't expect an animal to react any differently than we ourselves would.

In this case, there are two separate issues to be avoided in the future:

1) Having your dog falsely accused of doggy crimes:

Keep your head down. Don't get involved with neighborhood gossip or drama. Mind your own business and don't complain about or to your neighbors. Be nice. If your neighbors like you, they are very unlikely to start problems about your pets.

2) A child possibly being bitten by a dog:

Dog Owners: Make sure your fenced in yard is secure, and that the fence is tall enough not only to keep your dog in, but to keep outsiders out. Wood fencing is best, as kids can't see in to harass a dog, and dogs can't see out; which goes a long way in preventing barrier aggression. It also prevents parts of people or things from being bitten through a fence.

Do not leave your dogs in your yard without supervision. Your dog could become the target for teasing and abuse by passersby and neighbors if you are not there to put a stop to it. Someone may enter your yard without your knowledge or permission, resulting in a possible bite. The dog could escape (or be released) and get into trouble.

Parents: Supervise your young children AT ALL TIMES like you should be doing. Don't let them wander off and out of your sight. So many tragedies could easily be avoided if parents would just watch their toddlers. Whether this particular child was bitten by a dog, or injured by yard trash...either could have been avoided with proper supervision.