I had an 85-pound shepard mix years ago that allowed the children in the neighborhood do anything and everything to him. He would draw blood on me - rough-housing.

We did have one funny incident with him and the kids across the street once. The brothers were all picking on their little sister. Mom had tried to stop them but as soon as she went in they resumed. My dog ran across the street and knocked each of the boys down and then proceeded to sit down by the girl. Her version of ‘petting’ him was to bonk him on the nose. It was hilarious - the boys definitely quit bothering her!

Mom asked if she could borrow my dog in the future!

:)

My previous and current Goldens allow my grandkids to run all over them. My grandson sticks his hands in my dog’s mouth - I never worry about it - but I do watch them - BOTH of them

A good parent or grandparent realizes that a dog, no matter how wonderful, is still an animal with animal instincts. A child is still a child without the realization of danger or bounds of behavior.

Now, if we could just teach adults the bounds of behavior.

“If the child was always picking on the dog knowing full well what kind of harm that dog could cause, the OWNER should have put the dog in a different room.”

The dog was put into “his” area of the home when the OWNER left the night before. The OWNER WAS NOT PRESENT AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT! His mother was responsible for letting Mr. Bonz out and feeding him while the OWNER was gone for the night. She was also the one responsible for the child when the incident occured.

“I cannot for the life of me figure out how anyone knowing the damage a pit bull can do would allow a child to torment the dog that way. Sounds like there was plenty of irresponsible behavior going on here.”

The mother of the child is not a responsible parent and thus the child is not learning anything. The child is allowed to pick on any animal because it is just an animal. The OWNERS tried to be responsible by having his mother care for the dog while they were not present. I want people to understand that this dog was not aggressive towards anyone whatsoever. Why the grandmother left her in the room with the dog has still been unanswered.

“Why would anyone know that a dog bit the owner unless he had to seek medical care?”

He had to seek medical care because his finger swelled because the stick they were playing with broke. When the stick broke it hit his hand. The dog’s tooth although left a small puncture. Because of the small puncture, they considered and reported it as a bite. Although the medical care was sought because he thought he broke his finger.

“Why would an owner be playing so ROUGH with a dog like that in the first place to cause such an ‘accident’.”

The owner would frequently go outside and play with the dog with a stick. The dog would chase the stick normally. When the incident occured, the owner didn’t let go of the stick so the dog went to grab ahold of it.

“You don’t play fight with dogs like that.”

He was not play fighting with the dog. He would throw the stick and the dog would “fetch” it. That particular time he didn’t throw the stick and the dog was going to take it away to give it back. This is something that they did all the time….it was just a game to both of them.

“Bottom line, nobody should have even had to ask this guy to put his dog down.”

He would not put the dog down because the dog was not totally at fault. The dog clearly yelped before the bite……the dog would not have yelped if he was not hurt. I am not saying that he should or shouldn’t have put the dog down but just that he felt it wasn’t only the dog at fault.

“It’s the dog owners fault all the way on this one. A properly trained dog, of which all dogs should be subject to, will not bite a child, or an adult, for that matter, except under extraordinary circumstances.”

You say that it is their fault because the dog was not trained. My daughter was bit by a trained dog although it was a german shepperd and not a pit. Training is not the issue here at all. Even a trained dog will bite and it doesn’t have to be extraordinary circumstances. Not once was that german shepperd subjected to euthanization although it was his 5th bite.

I do believe that this wouldn’t have been an issue as far as Animal Control if Mr. Bonz wasn’t a pit. I was at the “pound” when they were releasing a dog to its owner after a 10 day quarantine after a biting incident. Only difference is that dog was a “mutt” and not one of their “vicious” dogs.

Mr. Bonz was a dog that was loved by his family. I am only glad that this is over for him because of the torment that he was suffering at the Animal Shelter. I would also like to say that up until the 10th day, the people at the Animal Shelter were handling the dog, taking him out, feeding, and watering him. On the 10th day, is when they deemed him “vicious”. At that point, Mr. Bonz was no longer handled by anyone and was left to sit in a cage with no human contact. Why did it take till the day that they were told that they could pick him up for this 1 person to deem him vicious? I don’t understand it but for Mr. Bonz’s sake I am glad that it is over.

With all respect to your friends, I don’t think they merit much respect.

Having a small child who obviously does not know how to behave properly with animals in close proximity with a pit bull is moronic bordering on criminal on all the adults involved.

It is never a happy thing when a dog has to be euthanized. I am sorry the boys lose their pet. Unfortumately, pets and children often pay the price for the stupid adults around them.

If the child was always picking on the dog knowing full well what kind of harm that dog could cause, the OWNER should have put the dog in a different room. I cannot for the life of me figure out how anyone knowing the damage a pit bull can do would allow a child to torment the dog that way. Sounds like there was plenty of irresponsible behavior going on here. Why would anyone know that a dog bit the owner unless he had to seek medical care? Why would an owner be playing so ROUGH with a dog like that in the first place to cause such an ‘accident’. BIG no no. You don’t play fight with dogs like that.

Bottom line, nobody should have even had to ask this guy to put his dog down.

I know the family personally and know the situation from not only their side but the side of the mother of the child who was bitten. The mother lied throughout her letter to Animal Control.

Because I was at their home several times, I knew Mr. Bonz, the owners, their sons, the owner’s mother (who was watching the child at the time of the incident), the mother of the child, the child, and her 2 sisters. The child who was bitten had been warned several times in my presence about being mean to the dog. Unfortunately, the mother nor the grandmother ever disciplined her for being mean to any of the animals. And if the owners would yell at her for being mean to the dog, either her mother or grandmother would have something to say to owners about being nice to the child.

M~ the dog DID NOT BITE his owner, they were playing. They classified it as a bite because the owner had a tooth mark on his hand where the dog unintentionally clipped his hand with his tooth.

JR~ the child had been warned repeatedly by not only the owner but other adults in the household. She was repeatedly “mean” to the dog. The dog “yelped” prior to the bite…..do you think that he may have been reacting to the pain that was just inflicted on him?

Littlejohn~ 2 things that I would like to say. First, the seriousness of the bite was blown way out of proportion. It was reported that the child had plastic surgery which is untrue. The mother of the child said that the child was seen by the plastic surgeon but that it was said that she did not need plastic surgery. Secondly, the owners of Mr. Bonz were not home at the time of the bite, the child was left in the care of her grandmother. So just to say, let’s not blame the owners for something they could not control, let’s blame the adult in charge of the child at the time of the incident. Or maybe the mother whos children are always with the grandmother so that she doesn’t have to be responsible for them.

Gary~ the owners would never do anything that would/could harm their family. As far as your comment about them being euthanized, it is just ignorance on your part to judge someone that you do not know on a situation that you do not have the whole story. And because of people such as yourself they dropped the appeal and decided to not talk to the media to save their children the suffering and intolerance of others.

Ghotiphaze~ it may be good for you to know, too bad that these owners have 3 sons that loved that dog. But because of their cousin’s stupidity and animal torment, they had to lose a pet that they loved and who loved them.

They also have 2 cats that live in the house, what should happen to them when she hurts one of them and they bite or badly claw her. I am sure most will think nothing because they are not Pitbulls.

One more thing, I personally saw the child 6 days after the incident. She was a flowergirl in Mr. Bonz owners wedding. I can say that her face wasn’t healed but by no means was it as bad as I had expected.

Just wanted to give you all another side of the story from a first hand person and not the media.

That’s really all we need to know.

That breed belongs on farms or in junkyards, away from any people not directly responsible for it.

If the child did nothing to provoke the attack, the dog should die.

I was wrong.

His saying something reasonable threw me off . . .

I’ve had big dogs all my life. Some of them even nipped people from time to time.

But any dog that rips into a child’s face should be immediately exterminated.

What’s wrong with you people that would defend an animal like that?