German Shepherd bites 6 yr old in the Face-50 stitches - Page 1

6-year-old recovering after dog-bite incident
www.enidnews.com/archivesearch/local_story_263003624.html
By Cass Rains Staff Writer

— A 6-year-old Enid boy is recovering after suffering multiple wounds to his face Saturday after being bitten by a neighbor’s German shepherd.
The boy, Nathan Edwards, spent several hours in the emergency room of St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center Saturday, receiving more than 50 stitches to his face, his father said Wednesday.
“He’s got lacerations all over his face,” Eric Edwards said of his son’s injuries. “It’s the worst thing I can imagine as a parent.”
Edwards said his son received so many stitches he “quit counting after 50.”
“He’s been through a tremendous trauma,” Edwards said. “The scars and injuries were just horrific.
“He’s probably going to have to have reconstructive surgery at some point.”
According to an Enid Police Depart-ment report, Nathan and the dog owner’s son were playing fetch Saturday with the 2-year-old dog, which bit the boy when he reached down to pick up a stick in front of the dog.

Gary Keeling, the dog’s owner, said the dog has been quarantined since Sunday and been seen by, and remains under the care of, a veterinarian.
“I have an order from the health department, and the health department has signed off where it’s at,” Keeling said.
Keeling said the dog was not going to return to Enid and would not again be his family’s pet.
Instead, Keeling said he has been in contact with an organization that could take the dog and train it for police or military purposes. He said he would donate the dog for that purpose.
If that does not work out, Keeling said he would have the dog put down.
“Everyone was so upset; we were upset,” Keeling said. “The dog is never coming back to Enid. We’d never value the dog over a child.”  Edwards said he wants to see the dog put down.
“I contacted (Keeling) and asked him to put the dog down and he refused to do it,” Edwards said. “I can’t believe a responsible parent would not voluntarily have the animal put down.
“Until that dog is put down, I won’t rest easy.”

This was Not the first time the dog bit a child.
On Dec. 1, 2006, the dog bit another boy, age 9, in the neighborhood of Woodlands Drive, according to another EPD report.
That time, a boy was playing with the dog and tried to take away a food bowl when the dog bit the right side of his face.
The 9-year-old’s father, Don Jacks, said he didn’t perceive it as a vicious attack.
“The Keelings were very straight up with us and did everything they said they would do,” Jacks said. “I have confidence in them as people. They followed through with their word.”
Jacks said his son received two or three stitches following the bites.
“They did everything they could to make it right,” Jacks said of the Keelings. “It’s a shame it happened again.”
Keeling said, “I don’t really recall that incident.”
Edwards said the first incident should have served as a warning the dog was too dangerous to be around children.
“These people knew this dog was prone to biting kids on the face,” he said. “It’s just totally reckless and irresponsible.”
Edwards wants people to be aware how dangerous large dogs can be and the damage they can do, especially to children.
“I don’t think people need to have dangerous animals around children,&

Oh boy! More bright sunny stories from Uglydog. I have a question. Do you look for the negative in everything? Try posting sometihing constructive or positive for once! Discussing this will only cause negative feelings on the board and wont help this little boy or the owner of the dog.

This dog, no matter what the breed, should be took out the field and a bullet put in his skull.  Not palmed of to any armed force.

Had he been mine, he would be dead by now.  What is the owner thinking allowing him to live. He has done it before and WILL do it again.

4 Pack..Im not trying to be negative at all, Im trying to highlight the importance of training necessity, responsible breeding & solidarity of all pet owners-

Pitbulls seem to get knocked quite a bit here, yet the GSDs arent far behind in human & child bites.  I agree this dog is probably unstable and deserves to be euthanized, if not castrated & left in isolation.  Many want breed bans, that is a very slippery slope far as Im concerned.

well just train the dang dog,  sounds like to me it just needs another handler with a little sence about him. 

TRAIN THE DOG       KENNEL THE DOG        EUTH THE OWNER FOR LETTING THE DOG AND KID TOGETHER KNOWING HIS DOG   DA

I'm sorry--the child's parents were "irresponsible" in supervising the activities of their son. Why was the boy's father allowing his child to play with the dog?

I would never permit my own GSD's (kept in a secure, fenced yard) to play with young children. Dogs (especially, those without young children in their own households) often do not perceive children as little human beings--but rather as little "animals".

Children surely do not have the same sex homones that a dog is able to detect in an alpha, adult human. Even worse, children tend to be at the same eye level as a mature GSD. IMO, any GSD has the potential to be "dangerous" with children.

If I am wrestling with one of my GSD's (at the dog's level) on the floor or on the bed, the dog may use its teeth on me just as if he/she were playing rough and tumble with a canine companion. Think what might happen if I were a panicked child and started screaming and struggling!

A dog may perceive the little, human "animal" the same as it would another dog trying to take its toy or food bowl.

This post is intended to be positive and constructive in the hope that it will discourage opportunities which may generate bad PR for the breed.

Yes, I'm angry at both adults for being irresponsible. The dog deserves tha chance to live a useful life with someone able to appreciate him and his instincts.

Thanks Louise, great Post.  

I agree 100% and that was in fact the purpose of the post. I love GSDs. I also stree responsible ownership which is an Oxymoron these days with Americans...almost all of them anyway.

I agree with most of the above but the ones reading this forum, researching and taking time out of their day for strictly dog related things aren't the problem children/owners either.

My cousin was bit in the face by a GSD as a child by her fathers partners K-9. My uncle shot the dog right there and my cousin had plastic surgery. Placing the dog in a police job might not be the best solution. I teach my kid to run to the police for help in an emergency. A job away from the public and especially children would be the best course. Maybe a prison dog, no children or innocents there. If not he must be put down. I can't believe they let him live after the first bite. Must be much stricter here in California.

Some dogs are just hardwired or made this way by incidents with bad children. Face to face, especially eye contact isn't OK with some dominant dogs. The owner, this time seems like a real idiot, since it happened before and he still let the dogs run with kids. How much more solid can the evidence be? You can't write that off as a hearding nip. Where do two fighting dogs usually engage on eachother? The face/neck area. This was a clear I own you attack. The dog saw the child as a rival not a human or person to take orders from. I wonder what this dogs body language was like around kids???

Definitely agree that the owner should have known better.  The previous bite to a child should have shown him his dog is not child-sociable.  The dog should never have been allowed one on one contact with a child after that...especially where the child is in the position to "take" something from him.

Secondly, the child's father may not have known the "issues" this dog had but, nevertheless, should not have allowed interaction between the two until knowing the dog's character with children.

I agree with 4pack.  Would have been interesting to see the dog's body language while being around children.  Some people don't understand body language.  This dog could possibly have been giving off all sorts of warnings/clues.

I do agree at this point though that this particular dog should be put down.  Who is going to be at fault the next time?  Human errors in judgement are responsible for many of these incidents.

I agree with 4pack and others.  I just can't believe people.  If you have a gun, you keep it out of harms way.  If you own a horse, you don't let the neighbor kids in the stall to climb all over it.  If you have an alligator, you make sure it is secure.

The biggest problem is that people aren't responsible with what they have.  OR they are very ignorant, which may be the case.

I get people that call ocasionally for a German Shepherd.  Usually the first question they ask is "How Much?"  Then it is "What Color?".  They don't care about much else.  I ask most of the questions.  After I play 20 questions, they say "I have to talk to my spouse"  and I never hear from them again.