(another 4 yr old pays the price) Why are parents so clueless about pit puppy danger ? ? ? ?

Question

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- The mother of a 4-year-old boy whose foot was mauled by the family's pit bull puppy was charged with child endangering, authorities said Saturday.

Martina Jennings, 23, took her son to a hospital Friday because his foot was bleeding and told authorities she saw blood on the dog's face and chest, Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon said. The foot was amputated.

Answer 1

Proper decorum prevents me from answering your question the way I really want to. It is the parents fault for bringing a dog home that they obviously had no control over and leaving the child alone with him. They should both be charged and do time for their behavior. And please, do not tell me that they were not at fault. Also, I have heard enough of the "they are such nice dogs" argument and how they are mistreated and how it's this or that person's fault or the media. They are not the type of dogs that belong in a family situation. They are unpredictable and most of them have crap genetics. It is time that something is done about this situation. No child should ever have to suffer because of a dog. Now we have a 4 year old that will grow up without a foot because of a pitt. And please don't tell me that it could have been another dog and we just don't hear about it. We do not hear about it because pitts do it a lot. Enough is enough. And just so there is no misunderstandings, I used to have one and I generaly have nothing against a specific breed, but, like I said, enough is enough.

Answer 2

Not all Pit Bulls are bad, ours loves children more than anything as well as five of our friends dogs. No parent should leave any child unsupervised with any dog of any breed. CDC (center for disease control) states that humans irresponsiblity is the number one cause of ALL dogs attacks. There is NO WAY that a 4 year old should be left alone with any breed and most all experienced dog trainers, handlers and breeder will tell you that. I know several cases of children who have been mauled by dogs that were not PIt Bulls. I have Labs and a Pit Bull and all of them are great dogs. Labs are some of the friendliest dogs but my friends daughter was mauled by one at a public park when she approached the dog unsupervised. The parents are to blame for negleacting the child and leaving it unsupervised.

Answer 3

I knew something about this story stunk like dead fish in the sun.I decided to check it out. Here is the rest of the story that wasn't in Kate's article:
Dog warden wonders if pup chewed off foot
'It would have taken ... a long time'
By JANE SCHMUCKER
BLADE STAFF WRITER

A pit bull puppy accused of chewing off a disabled boy's foot didn't seem big enough to quickly cause such damage, according to Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon.
"If this dog did this, it would have taken him a long time to do it," Mr. Skeldon said yesterday of the incident in North Toledo that cost 4-year-old Jameille Walker one of his feet on Friday.
The puppy, which was less than 4 months old, weighed just under 20 pounds and had small teeth. It would have needed hours to chew off Jameille's foot, Mr. Skeldon said.
Jameille has spina bifida and cannot feel pain in his lower extremities.
"It's questionable," Mr. Skeldon said. "If this dog did this all by his lonesome, it would have taken him awhile. And where was the parent?"
Tomorrow, Jameille's mother, Martina Jennings, 23, of 1209 St. John Ave., is to be arraigned on felony child endangering in Toledo Municipal Court. She remained in Lucas County jail last night. Calls to the home were not answered. The Blade was unable to reach other family members.
Although Mr. Skeldon said he has many questions about the case that merit investigation, Toledo Police Sgt. Tim Noble said authorities are done.
"We're not doing any follow-up on it," he said, adding that it appeared clear from the dog's bloody lips that it chewed off the boy's foot. "We're done with it. It's a simple investigation."
He said he did not expect further charges.
Dean Sparks, Lucas County Children Services executive director, said through a spokesman that he was waiting for police to finish their investigation.
No information was available from Toledo Hospital on Jameille's condition.
The puppy was euthanized Friday afternoon. Its body is to be examined for rabies by health officials this week. Rabies doesn't appear to be a big threat; Lucas County has not had a recorded case of a dog with rabies in more than 50 years, Mr. Skeldon said.
The dog warden had originally said he would keep the puppy for 10 days before euthanizing it. But he and other officials later decided, because of the severity of the case, to euthanize it immediately, he said.
On Friday, Ms. Jennings had told a deputy warden that she awoke and was alerted by another child that her son's foot was red, Mr. Skeldon said.
She said she saw the injury and blood on the dog's face and chest, Mr. Skeldon said.
She apparently took the boy to the hospital and later surrendered the puppy to authorities. Mr. Skeldon's office received a call from Toledo police about 11:45 a.m. and later seized the dog at the family's home.
It was unclear how long the family owned the puppy. Ms. Jennings said the puppy was 2 months old, according to the dog warden, who said he thought it was 3 or 4 months old.
The property manager of the home Ms. Jennings rents said that she had lived there for only a few months and he did not know she had a dog.
"Neither myself nor the guy who heads up our repair ever recalled seeing a dog," said Craig Gordy, property manager for his father, Chris Gordy.
The dog warden said he does not have record of any dogs belonging to Ms. Jennings. However a dog license isn't required until a puppy is 3 months old.
The other two children in the home, who are ages 2 and 8, were placed with relatives, Mr. Sparks has said. The agency's first contact with the family came within the last two weeks when it made a home visit after someone expressed a concern about possible child abuse or neglect, Mr. Sparks has said.
The agency was in the process of doing an assessment when the dog bite occurred. There were no concerns about the puppy after the recent visit, Mr. Sparks has said.

Still think it's the puppy's fault? This could have happened with any breed of puppy who hadn't learned what was appropriate to chew yet. This person was already being investigated by childrens services, and I'm guessing it wasn't for a mother of the year award.

Answer 4

Sounds to me like the parent wasn't monitoring her dog and child together. This is often a mistake MANY parents make when it comes to their pets. When will people learn that dogs and children don't mix and should never be left together unattended? I would not be surprised if this was the case too. Had the parent actually been keeping an eye on their interaction, this likely would not have happened.

Answer 5

People are just stupid. Obviously these people have just either neglected the dog attention-wise and didn't give them enough toys to chew on (instead of baby feet) or the dogs have never been around babies before at all. Same thing with German Shepherds. When we brought my little brother home, he started barking at the baby but once we let them lay down and play together SUPERVISED, they became best of friends and we haven't had any problems.

Answer 6

Well, not taking any sides, but stating facts.
I beleive it is a law that you can not have a pitbull with a young child in the house.
I believe a pitbull can be as nice as you train it to be.
I think what happened is wrong and should SO never happen.
These people need to be up to code with there dog!

Answer 7

4 year old children just don't know how to act with dogs, they provoke them, torture them untill the dog fights back. Childen under 8 shouldn't have dogs, especially noty pitbulls which are in general violenet animals. That mother is retarded.

Answer 8

I like you can't figure out why anyone would have such a dangerous dog. That's a sad story. I would never let one of those things around my grand daughter and I love animals!!

Answer 9

Another clueless owner with another ruined Pittie . . .

The danger they were clueless about was their own. Good training, supervision, socialization, and breeding could have prevented this. They proably didn't even research the breed thouroughly before purchasing.

Answer 10

dont know but pits are as bad as people make them out to be