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by Uglydog on 16 July 2010 - 23:07
Dog attack victim, 9, faces long recovery
By Cindy Kranz • • July 16, 2010
Nine-year-old Mason McNary knew his two attackers.
They had played together many times. They had slept with him the night before the attack. One even went to Mason's baseball practices.
But on May 8, like friends sometimes do, they turned on him. Only this turnabout had near-fatal consequences.
Mason was housesitting with his father for family friends in Miami Township, Clermont County. The Blue Ash boy let the family's two American Bulldogs out about 8:30 a.m. in the fenced back yard of the Deblin Drive home and was using a tennis ball to play fetch.
Suddenly the dogs lunged at Mason, ripping off his left ear and shredding his left leg. He had bites on his head, face, shoulder, arms, back, stomach and both legs.
Mason was air-cared in critical condition to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Doctors used more than 650 staples to put the blond-haired little boy back together.
He was hospitalized for three weeks and has had five surgeries - one to reattach his ear - skin grafts and other procedures. Another surgery is scheduled in December.
The dogs - 1-year-old Niko and 5-year-old Izzy - were quarantined at the Clermont County Animal Shelter and put down the following week.
Today, more than two months later, the family has no more insight into what caused the dogs to attack Mason. The dogs had great personalities and had seen Mason and his parents often.
"The younger one was around my son all of the time," said his father, Kyle McNary. "He'd lay in bed with him at night."
Niko was the mascot for the Sycamore league's Hawks baseball team, for which Mason was a starting pitcher.
"He's been around that puppy since he was born," said Mason's mother, Amie Burgess.
For all parties involved, it's a painful reminder that you can never be too careful - even around man's best friend.
In 2009, 538 children visited Children's emergency department due to dog bites.
"Dog bites are provoked by something," said Harold Dates, president and CEO of SPCA of Cincinnati. "Dogs don't bite unless they perceive a reason that they should do that. It could be anything from a squeal, a cry, a movement, something that startles a dog or that he perceives as unusual," Dates said.
He described the American Bulldog as docile dog, but sometimes, dog to dog, they're aggressive.
What happened to Mason is speculation, Dates said, but perhaps he took the ball away from one of the dogs. He might have squealed in fun, but the dogs perceived it as a threat.
If the dogs were competing for attention, competing for one ball, they may have been arguing over the toy. In the dogs' system of play, jumping on each other and wrestling each other, they might have included the child, but in an overly aggressive manner, Dates said.
Routine start to day
The morning of May 8 started out as routine. While his dad laid on the couch, Mason woke up and took the dogs out to play.
Minutes later, the scene was chaotic.
According to a Miami Township Police report, a neighbor, Jessica Duncan, noticed from her kitchen window that Mason was playing with the dogs. Minutes later, Duncan's sister, Kristi, saw that Mason was on the ground and the dogs were on top of him. They both ran outside. Mason was yelling for help.
Kristi ran inside to ask her parents to call 9-1-1. The girls tried to distract the dogs away from Mason. Jessica yelled at the dogs and began screaming to get someone's attention.
Another neighbor, Dennis Lewis, grabbed the dogs and alerted Mason's dad. More neighbors came to the rescue.
Burgess met Mason and Mc
By Cindy Kranz • • July 16, 2010
Nine-year-old Mason McNary knew his two attackers.
They had played together many times. They had slept with him the night before the attack. One even went to Mason's baseball practices.
But on May 8, like friends sometimes do, they turned on him. Only this turnabout had near-fatal consequences.
Mason was housesitting with his father for family friends in Miami Township, Clermont County. The Blue Ash boy let the family's two American Bulldogs out about 8:30 a.m. in the fenced back yard of the Deblin Drive home and was using a tennis ball to play fetch.
Suddenly the dogs lunged at Mason, ripping off his left ear and shredding his left leg. He had bites on his head, face, shoulder, arms, back, stomach and both legs.
Mason was air-cared in critical condition to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Doctors used more than 650 staples to put the blond-haired little boy back together.
He was hospitalized for three weeks and has had five surgeries - one to reattach his ear - skin grafts and other procedures. Another surgery is scheduled in December.
The dogs - 1-year-old Niko and 5-year-old Izzy - were quarantined at the Clermont County Animal Shelter and put down the following week.
Today, more than two months later, the family has no more insight into what caused the dogs to attack Mason. The dogs had great personalities and had seen Mason and his parents often.
"The younger one was around my son all of the time," said his father, Kyle McNary. "He'd lay in bed with him at night."
Niko was the mascot for the Sycamore league's Hawks baseball team, for which Mason was a starting pitcher.
"He's been around that puppy since he was born," said Mason's mother, Amie Burgess.
For all parties involved, it's a painful reminder that you can never be too careful - even around man's best friend.
In 2009, 538 children visited Children's emergency department due to dog bites.
"Dog bites are provoked by something," said Harold Dates, president and CEO of SPCA of Cincinnati. "Dogs don't bite unless they perceive a reason that they should do that. It could be anything from a squeal, a cry, a movement, something that startles a dog or that he perceives as unusual," Dates said.
He described the American Bulldog as docile dog, but sometimes, dog to dog, they're aggressive.
What happened to Mason is speculation, Dates said, but perhaps he took the ball away from one of the dogs. He might have squealed in fun, but the dogs perceived it as a threat.
If the dogs were competing for attention, competing for one ball, they may have been arguing over the toy. In the dogs' system of play, jumping on each other and wrestling each other, they might have included the child, but in an overly aggressive manner, Dates said.
Routine start to day
The morning of May 8 started out as routine. While his dad laid on the couch, Mason woke up and took the dogs out to play.
Minutes later, the scene was chaotic.
According to a Miami Township Police report, a neighbor, Jessica Duncan, noticed from her kitchen window that Mason was playing with the dogs. Minutes later, Duncan's sister, Kristi, saw that Mason was on the ground and the dogs were on top of him. They both ran outside. Mason was yelling for help.
Kristi ran inside to ask her parents to call 9-1-1. The girls tried to distract the dogs away from Mason. Jessica yelled at the dogs and began screaming to get someone's attention.
Another neighbor, Dennis Lewis, grabbed the dogs and alerted Mason's dad. More neighbors came to the rescue.
Burgess met Mason and Mc
by VonIsengard on 16 July 2010 - 23:07
Not surprised. I know I'm take a ton of heat for this, but I don't trust an AmBull as far as I can throw one, and if you've ever met one, you'll know that isn't very far at all. And yes, I've trained a few. I'd take a nice pit bull over one any day of the week.
The SPCA guy is an idiot. A normal, stable dog does not do that to a child they know because they took a ball, and a squeal is not a freakin' threat.
Anyone remember the little girl who was killed by the family's AmBull in AZ last year or so?
The SPCA guy is an idiot. A normal, stable dog does not do that to a child they know because they took a ball, and a squeal is not a freakin' threat.
Anyone remember the little girl who was killed by the family's AmBull in AZ last year or so?
by MaggieMae on 17 July 2010 - 01:07
That poor little boy. This just made me sick.
by Sam Spade on 17 July 2010 - 01:07
KCzaja,
Agree with you somewhat. I'd put them in the same catagory as the Akita.
Not saying that the dogs aren't responsible, but it is a reminder to not let our kids go unsupervised with an animal, especially if it is not our own.
This is a shame.
by tuffscuffleK9 on 17 July 2010 - 02:07
I was raised in the Southern US in a rural area where many families had "Bulldogs". I don't think any of them could have been considered Purebred due to the fact they all ran loose and few if any had been spayed or neutered.
These "Bulldogs" resembled the American Bulldog as most were predominately white with faces resembling a Boxers. They were affectionate family pets, protectors, catch-dogs for cattle or hogs, hunting dogs, etc.
We never had any maulings except and occasional dog fight (natural, not pitted) when one might cross another's territory. The one I had as a kid followed mile after mile of bike or horseback riding. He would fight anything that tried to threaten me but only until I was safely down the road, then here he would come running to protect me again.
All we knew was that these were "Bulldogs" or "Dawgs". They were not the high prey-drive muscle-jawed beast we see today, not Pits, AmStaf, or AmBulldogs of today. Wow! I miss the "Dawg" of those days.
Sure hope this kid mends well and most of all the emotional scaring will heal, it would be a shame for him to fear dogs for the rest of his life.
TUFF
These "Bulldogs" resembled the American Bulldog as most were predominately white with faces resembling a Boxers. They were affectionate family pets, protectors, catch-dogs for cattle or hogs, hunting dogs, etc.
We never had any maulings except and occasional dog fight (natural, not pitted) when one might cross another's territory. The one I had as a kid followed mile after mile of bike or horseback riding. He would fight anything that tried to threaten me but only until I was safely down the road, then here he would come running to protect me again.
All we knew was that these were "Bulldogs" or "Dawgs". They were not the high prey-drive muscle-jawed beast we see today, not Pits, AmStaf, or AmBulldogs of today. Wow! I miss the "Dawg" of those days.
Sure hope this kid mends well and most of all the emotional scaring will heal, it would be a shame for him to fear dogs for the rest of his life.
TUFF
by GSDSRULE on 17 July 2010 - 04:07
Poor boy. 
by Myracle on 17 July 2010 - 05:07
Sad. Just sad.
A lot of mistakes were made managing these dogs, and a kid will have the scars and trauma to show for it, for the remainder of his life.
A lot of mistakes were made managing these dogs, and a kid will have the scars and trauma to show for it, for the remainder of his life.
by Doberdoodle on 17 July 2010 - 05:07
The ASPCA guy described Am Bulldogs as "docile." What?? If I described a breed as "docile", it would probably be a Greyhound or Cavalier King Charles... not an AB.
I don't think a shreik of a child is a "threat" either. Maybe it can be a stimulus for dog to attack... sort of like if a dog in the yard gets it paw stuck in a fence and starts panicking, making high-pitched screaming noises, sometimes the Pits or Bulldogs in the group will turn on the dog and attack it. It's almost like they can't help themselves it's a prey-driven reaction to attack. When there is "action", even a fight having nothing to do with them, some Bully Breeds will just jump right in, especially if a dog is making yelping noise. I have seen this many times at the dog park and when I was working at doggie daycares and it can be very scary to turn them "off' when they are "on". When people say "some switch in a dogs head just clicks" maybe thats what they mean.
Of course a pack of 2 dogs is going to be worse than one. Last year a little boy was mauled and killed by 2 Rotts in a backyard in Chicago. I was at Animal Control the night it happened (for an unrelated reason) and they had some horrible photos and told me what the newspaper didn't, that the dogs actually consumed parts of the boy. That was interesting to me because dogs like terriers that kill small animals just kill them and walk away, they don't rip them apart and eat them. I have heard how ABs and APBTs are used for boar hunting, I was told they only grip them they don't tear them apart. Those Rotts appeared normal when they were at AC, too, they didn't look vicious, not surprising. Why do some dogs not stop at one bite, but go all the way? Does it have to do with how the person being attacked starts screaming?
KC, why do you prefer a Pit to an AB? How do you think the genetics and temperaments differ? That's interesting. There are so many different bloodlines in both breeds, and some that seem to blur, it's confusing to me.
I don't think a shreik of a child is a "threat" either. Maybe it can be a stimulus for dog to attack... sort of like if a dog in the yard gets it paw stuck in a fence and starts panicking, making high-pitched screaming noises, sometimes the Pits or Bulldogs in the group will turn on the dog and attack it. It's almost like they can't help themselves it's a prey-driven reaction to attack. When there is "action", even a fight having nothing to do with them, some Bully Breeds will just jump right in, especially if a dog is making yelping noise. I have seen this many times at the dog park and when I was working at doggie daycares and it can be very scary to turn them "off' when they are "on". When people say "some switch in a dogs head just clicks" maybe thats what they mean.
Of course a pack of 2 dogs is going to be worse than one. Last year a little boy was mauled and killed by 2 Rotts in a backyard in Chicago. I was at Animal Control the night it happened (for an unrelated reason) and they had some horrible photos and told me what the newspaper didn't, that the dogs actually consumed parts of the boy. That was interesting to me because dogs like terriers that kill small animals just kill them and walk away, they don't rip them apart and eat them. I have heard how ABs and APBTs are used for boar hunting, I was told they only grip them they don't tear them apart. Those Rotts appeared normal when they were at AC, too, they didn't look vicious, not surprising. Why do some dogs not stop at one bite, but go all the way? Does it have to do with how the person being attacked starts screaming?
KC, why do you prefer a Pit to an AB? How do you think the genetics and temperaments differ? That's interesting. There are so many different bloodlines in both breeds, and some that seem to blur, it's confusing to me.
by Jenni78 on 17 July 2010 - 13:07
Kelly, agree about ABs to a certain extent, but I think it's due to "watering down" causing instability; when you don't select for the traits the breed is supposed to possess, you end up w/what I'll call "wildcards" for lack of a better term. Just as I'd trust a well-bred (gamebred) APBT waaaaay before I'd trust your average AKC reg. AST or AB...........or average GSD. The dogs that appear "docile" tend to usually be watered down, low drive, poor representatives of the breed, that everyone is shocked when they prove unstable. Everyone is shocked, because they had no idea their dog's true temperament was so weak. Why? Because they don't do anything with the dog to expose these flaws beneath the surface and because they couldn't read a dog if it had a teleprompter (thanks, Sam Spade- I LOVE that line!!!)
What does it take before people realize that nothing good comes of allowing children to play with 2 LARGE DOGS???? Good God. This is not rocket science. Simple animal behavior/psychology.
What does it take before people realize that nothing good comes of allowing children to play with 2 LARGE DOGS???? Good God. This is not rocket science. Simple animal behavior/psychology.
by VonIsengard on 17 July 2010 - 14:07
Jenni78, I'm sure you're right, bad breeding has been the ruination of many breeds. Dober, I saw that story on the news and was not surprised either. About 90% of rotts bred in the US fall into two categories these days: wimpy pussycats or maneaters. Very hard to find a nice, balanced rot any more. My very good friend is lucky enough to have one, and even he is a LOT of dog.
Dober, I've just seen a lot more trustworthy pits than I have ABs. Mind you, doing what I do, these are people's pets, not seriously bred, gamey dogs. But comparing them to an AB of equally indiscriminate breeding, I'll take the pit, any day, based off what I have worked with.
Dober, I've just seen a lot more trustworthy pits than I have ABs. Mind you, doing what I do, these are people's pets, not seriously bred, gamey dogs. But comparing them to an AB of equally indiscriminate breeding, I'll take the pit, any day, based off what I have worked with.
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