Exercise caution with dogs, kids together, vets say

When veterinarian Dr. David Henderson learned Friday that a baby had been killed by two pit bulls, he couldn't help but wonder whether the dogs mistook the infant for another canine.

"It wouldn't have been unusual for them to think that here's another dog, and let's put him in his place," said Henderson, owner of Sunrise Veterinary Clinic. "That's normal pack behavior."

There are many theories as to why dogs can sometimes act so viciously, including a possible predisposition to aggressiveness, jealousy over a child invading what had been their turf, and deliberate aggressiveness training.

Veterinarians and pediatricians, however, both say one thing is clear: Parents should not leave a small child in the company of a pit bull or any other dog.

"People are absolutely clueless about what their dogs can or will do," Henderson said. "Every time I've been bitten at a clinic, it's been after people tell me their dogs don't bite. ... We simply don't know what's going on in their heads.

"It's OK for people to have a big dog, but they have to be there with their children at all times. People have to understand that dogs play by different rules. They're not people."

Dr. Jim McGhee, a pediatrician at Siena Pediatrics in Henderson, said he repeatedly counsels parents on getting obedience training for their dogs.

And he tells them that babies shouldn't be left in the company of a dog, whether it's a pit bull or a cocker spaniel.

"Certainly there are a lot of dogs that are very loving to children and very protective," he said. "But a child can pull on the pet's hair or tail, and it will snap.

"If it's a dog that's used for protection, the dog can mistake the child for an intruder."

Over time, McGhee said, parents will get a better sense of how the pet and child will get along. Still, he says, "a baby should not be left alone with a dog."

Henderson believes "certain lines of pit bulls have a predisposition to aggressiveness," but his colleague at his clinic, Dr. Clarissa Engstrom, disagrees.

"It has 110 percent to do with the way owners treat them," she said. "Remember Petey on the 'Little Rascals' was a pit bull. There is nothing innate about this breed that makes them worse."

Lisa Kirk, founder and president of Bullie Buddies of Las Vegas, a pit bull rescue agency, says pit bulls can sometimes act out of jealousy.

That can happen, Kirk said, when a newborn comes along and a dog that previously was an indoor dog is then banished to the back yard.

"I've seen that cause violence," Kirk said.

Members of the family, animals and humans, have to be introduced to one another, Kirk said, so they can get along.

Like Engstrom, Kirk does not believe pit bulls are more inherently aggressive toward humans than any other breed.

"They're great with kids," she said. "They'll kiss you to death."

Tests conducted by the American Temperament Test Society show that American Pit Bull Terriers have a passing rate of 84 percent, the same as Golden Retrievers and better than a lot of breeds that were rated.

In the tests, dogs go through a series of unexpected situations, some involving strangers. Kirk said she and other lovers of the breed believe the tests disprove that pit bulls are inherently aggressive toward strangers.

Kirk said many gang members acquire the dogs to be macho.

The dogs are trained to be mean, often starved and fed gunpowder, she said.

Kirk is aware of steroids being given to some pit bulls while others are given injections with chemicals that cause them pain and make them vicious.

She said it is not uncommon for her rescue agency to come across pit bulls used in dog fights. Ears will be ripped off and they suffer from gaping wounds.

"I don't know where the dog fights are happening, but they're happening," she said.

Henderson said if pit bulls have been trained to be aggressive they are extremely dangerous.

"They are relentless," he said. "Katy bar the door when they're in the fight mode. But would I outlaw the breed? No. Because then you'd have to outlaw many other breeds as well."

The time has come, Engstrom said, for people to be criminally prosecuted if they train dogs to behave violently.

"Find them guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and have them go to jail for two years," she said. "When that happens, we won't see so many mean dogs on the streets."

Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2908.