Doberman kills baby

[ThePresence]

What a horrible story.
What happens to make a friendly dog just suddenly lose it?

Text

January 3, 2008 -- A "protective" family dog today mauled an 8-month-old boy to death as his grandmother screamed in horror, unable to wrench the infant from the Doberman's jaws in the family's Brooklyn apartment.

Andrew Stein, the only child of Paula and Brian Stein, died at Kings County Hospital at 3:06 p.m., about an hour after the attack.

The baby was being watched by his grandmother, Ruth Stein, 62, who lives nearby, building super Leonardo Collado said.

"She told me she was screaming for help," Collado said. "The dog had the baby on the floor [and] she couldn't take the baby away from the dog.

"The dog had the baby on the floor, chewing on his head."

The attack was apparently triggered by the baby touching the dog's paw.

Neighbor Jesus Rivera, to whom Ruth Stein ran for help, bravely grabbed the bleeding infant from the dog's grip, the super said.

Rivera thentook the mortallywounded child tohis own apartment, while hiswife called 911.

When cops arrived, they tranquilized the6-year-old chocolate Doberman,named Maccabee. "I saw the blood on the floor," Collado said. "The baby was covered with a blanket.

"The dog was banging, scratching the door inside the apartment afterward."

The dog was carried from the building at 71 Ocean Parkway in Kensington in a cage, and handed over to Animal Care and Control.

By last night, authorities had not determined if he would be destroyed.

Maccabee was described as anything but vicious.

"To me, it was protective of the baby," said neighbor Francisco Soto, 24.

"When I see the husband and the baby, my dog and his got along. But when I saw the wife and the baby, [the dog] wouldn't let my dog near them."

The building has several dogs and small children, neighbors said.

One neighbor, Merrie Melman, said Paula Stein is a teacher at PS 230 and her husband, Brian, is an administrator at Staten Island University Hospital.

"He's a nice dog, the family dog," she said. "He wasn't aggressive. It's a terrible tragedy . . . You don't see this dog and say 'Oh, my God.' It wasn't aggressive. It was a gentle dog. I don't know what could have happened."

Neighborhood dog-walker Dahlia Ross called Maccabee "as friendly as can be."

 

[her209]

Terrible parenting.

 

[Farang]

That wasn't very nice of the Doberman.

 

[OdiN]

Rabid?

I dunno how quickly that happens though.

 

[SlitheryDee]

So they think the dog just didn't know what it was doing? Damn that's a screwed up situation.

 

[adairusmc]

These things happen

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: her209
Terrible parenting.

Yep. I don't care how docile you think any dog is, you NEVER, EVER let a baby play with it. Especially a big dog.
Babies piss dogs off for some reason, and the dogs aren't scared of the baby like they'd be scared of an adult.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Teh baby shouldn't have inserted it's head in the dogs mouth. Stupid baby.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Teh baby shouldn't have inserted it's head in the dogs mouth. Stupid baby.

Kids these days.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Perhaps the kid was the next Hitler or the anti-Christ, and the dog sensed it.


Or, just another random, sad event in the course of humanity.

 

[Judgement]

All dogs are sensitive when it comes to their paws... some more than others.

Aren't dobermans known for their insanity fits? I thought they were one of the breeds that had brains that swell causing them to have spouts of aggression even when they normally wouldn't.

 

[smopoim86]

Originally posted by: Judgement
All dogs are sensitive when it comes to their paws... some more than others.

Aren't dobermans known for their insanity fits? I thought they were one of the breeds that had brains that swell causing them to have spouts of aggression even when they normally wouldn't.

Bi-polar dog? even more of a reason to keep the kid away

 

[Descartes]

Completely the wrong animal to have around a child, imo. I'm sure there are plenty of people that will swear by Dobermans, Pit Bulls, etc. but I don't think it would be hard to argue that the chances of a Pomeranian mauling a helpless child is significantly less than that of a Doberman.

Small dogs (even that's no guarantee obviously) around a baby or simply no dogs at all ftw, imo.

 

[BlueWeasel]

As the father of an 8-month old, I would probably completely lose it if that was my son.

 

[Judgement]

Hydrocephalus occurs when there is a blockage of the normal flow of spinal fluid from the brain into the spinal canal. When there is a blockage (like a dam effect), the fluid builds up and causes swelling and pressure on the brain. The cerebellar crowding is causing his ungainly movements.

http://www.dobe.net/help_raj.htm

Not the best site to read up on but I didn't search very hard on the subject. I know my aunt had 2 dobermans 15+ years ago that she had to give away because they had spats where they would randomly bite as they got older. It had been explained to her that this is why they were extremely well trained dogs who would never disobey but randomly they could not control themselves.. like a reflex.

edit:

I just looked around a tad more and all the sites are poorly done and it is about 50/50 as far as some saying it is a myth and others saying this an actual problem that may occur with dobermans. Someone who knows more can help but at this point I wont back my first post.

second edit:

wiki doesn't mention a single word in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doberman - about brain swelling problems... not that wiki has ever been anywhere near 100% accurate,

I can say for sure though that my aunt had her dogs for several years (from puppies to mature) without any problems but at some point they flaked out and bit people randomly until she was forced to get rid of them. The people they bit were not new to them and as far as the story goes had not been in any way aggressive towards the dogs.

 

[winr]

A baby was killed by an animal...............the death was preventable.


I love animals myself....but......they are capable of attacking young and old... when and where, who knows.

All of the people who own or have observed animals attacking people and or animals seem to say the same thing.

"The animal was so friendly" or "I have no idea why they did that", etc, etc.


Some of the remarks are not funny at all, a child was mauled to death...imagine if it was yours.............

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: winr

Some of the remarks are not funny at all, a child was mauled to death...imagine if it was yours.............

You know why? This was an obvious troll type of thread to stir up an argument. We're simply not taking the bait.

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: winr

Some of the remarks are not funny at all, a child was mauled to death...imagine if it was yours.............

You know why? This was an obvious troll type of thread to stir up an argument. We're simply not taking the bait.

It certainly was not. What are you talking about? What kind of argument was I trying to stir up? :| Really, wtf are you talking about?

 

[Judgement]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: winr

Some of the remarks are not funny at all, a child was mauled to death...imagine if it was yours.............

You know why? This was an obvious troll type of thread to stir up an argument. We're simply not taking the bait.

It certainly was not. What are you talking about? What kind of argument was I trying to stir up? :| Really, wtf are you talking about?

seconded

 

[Auric]

It's just a hu-man babby. Thank god the dog's alright. Oh wait, they exectuted it.

 

[SampSon]

Put the dog down.

 

[Judgement]

Are you serious SampSon?

How can you honestly say it was the dog's fault?? who leaves a doberman in complete access of an infant, regardless how how it looks as if the dog will defend the baby.

This is a horrible act, but killing the dog wont change anything and it isn't the dog's fault. I've had dogs all my life and for 75% of them touching their paws is a no-go. A baby could never know that, but a parent/owner should know not to leave the baby in an area the dog can reach but is not being monitored... not to mention the dog shouldn't have access to the baby without a human around.

 

[SampSon]

Originally posted by: Judgement

Originally posted by: SampSon
Put the dog down.

I guess this is a push for a flame war? :

How can you honestly say it was the dog's fault?? who leaves an infant in complete access of doberman who is adjusting to a new baby and the dog is allowed free access to the area where the baby is???

This is a horrible act, but killing the dog wont change anything and it isn't the dog's fault. I've had dogs all my life and for 75% of them touching their paws is a no-go. A baby could never know that, but a parent/owner should... not to mention the dog shouldn't have access to the baby without a human around.

I think you're looking way too far into this. Don't make this out to be some retarded argument over semantics. There is no intention of a flame war on my part. I'm not the one taking a half-page story, extrapolating information and then pushing it out there in some adversarial manner.

The dog killed an 8 month old infant. The dog should be put down. The dog doesn't need to be psycho analyzed or studied nor does it need to be reintroduced into a family setting where touching its paw will set it into a fit of murderous rage. Who cares if it's the "dogs fault" or not. It's an animal, don't personify a dogs actions in an attempt to justify its attack.

If it was my dog and it did that, I would have killed it myself. If it was your dog and it did that, I would have killed it myself.

What do you expect? Take the dog back in, feed it a treat, pet it and just go on with life?

Edit: My opinion is to put the dog down. No doggie indictments or doggie court. End of story.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: SampSon

Originally posted by: Judgement

Originally posted by: SampSon
Put the dog down.

I guess this is a push for a flame war? :

How can you honestly say it was the dog's fault?? who leaves an infant in complete access of doberman who is adjusting to a new baby and the dog is allowed free access to the area where the baby is???

This is a horrible act, but killing the dog wont change anything and it isn't the dog's fault. I've had dogs all my life and for 75% of them touching their paws is a no-go. A baby could never know that, but a parent/owner should... not to mention the dog shouldn't have access to the baby without a human around.

The dog killed an 8 month old infant. The dog should be put down. The dog doesn't need to be psycho analyzed or studied nor does it need to be reintroduced into a family setting where touching its paw will set it into a fit of murderous rage. Who cares if it's the "dogs fault" or not. It's an animal, don't personify a dogs actions in an attempt to justify its attack.

If it was my dog and it did that, I would have killed it myself. If it was your dog and it did that, I would have killed it myself.

What do you expect? Take the dog back in, feed it a treat, pet it and just go on with life?

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[Nocturnal]

I always touch the paws of my two dogs. Never had them throw a fit.