Newborn Hospitalized After Family Dog Drags Him From Crib

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White Rain

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Another horrible story.


LEXINGTON, Ky. — A newborn baby was hospitalized in critical condition after being taken from his crib and carried outside his central Kentucky home by a family dog, authorities said Tuesday.
The infant, Alexander James Smith, is just a few days old and had been put in his crib for a nap Monday afternoon. When his parents looked outside later, they saw their pet, a 4-year-old mixed breed called a Native American Indian dog, holding the baby in his mouth, said Jessamine County chief deputy sheriff Allen Peel.
more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534230,00.html?test=latestnews
 
Omg how horrible!!! Didn't the baby cry when the dog got ahold of them? I just can't imagine having something like this happen. My prayers to this poor baby, a tender newborn would have received so much damage, I think about how fragile they are, so very sad :(

VB
 
Please dont tell me American Indian dog is the PC way of saying part dog part wolf??
Looks like a wolf to me.
That poor baby.
 
People have got to stop thinking that pets are like their kids, even if they love them as much. No matter how much you love your animal, they are still animals and can be unpredictable.
 
http://news.aol.com/article/dog-drags-newborn-from-home/580819

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21) - A father was frantically calling 911 to report his newborn missing when he spotted the baby, bleeding from the mouth and clutched in the mouth of a family dog who had carried him from his crib to the heavily wooded backyard.
Four-day-old Alexander James Smith was rushed to the emergency room at University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington, where he was listed in critical condition Tuesday with two collapsed lungs, a skull fracture, broken ribs and various cuts and bruises
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I see there is already a thread, Mods, please delete.
 
Vegas Bride said:
Omg how horrible!!! Didn't the baby cry when the dog got ahold of them? I just can't imagine having something like this happen. My prayers to this poor baby, a tender newborn would have received so much damage, I think about how fragile they are, so very sad :(

VB
Click to expand...

Don't most parents of newborns have a baby moniter in the room? My friend has a video one where she can see everything going on in his bedroom. If the baby's room door was closed tight, that dog might not have gone in there. It's tragic, but could have been prevented those first days by locking up the dog!
 
I have never heard of this breed of dog, and I am about as paranoid of a mother as they come, but I will have to say in defense of these parents that it would never have occurred to me that my dog (and our largest was a very big lab when my boys were infants) could have gotten the baby out of the crib. I am having a hard time imagining how this even happened unless:

a) it's not a crib like the one I had and am picturing, but possibly a lower cradle or Pack 'n' Play type playpen OR

b) the dog physically knocked over the crib (in which case someone should have heard a lot of noise!)

Not everyone uses a monitor if they are in a small house or apartment, but it does make you wonder how this happened without anyone hearing the baby cry or any scuffle. Still, I always thought of my kids as "safe" in their crib and didn't think I needed to shut the door to keep the dog out except for the sake of quiet.

Poor baby. I pray he recovers.
 
This is a horrible story. I can't imagine either how this dog was able to get the baby out of the crib.

We have a Maltese and he was our baby before the birth of our daughter almost two years ago. We were VERY careful about first of all making sure that he was slowly introduced to the baby. My DH brought home one of the blankets she was wrapped in to let him smell it and acclimate himself before we even left the hospital. Then, when she and I were released I made sure to come into the house BY MYSELF first and greet him and give him my attention. THEN, after he was calm and collected DH brought our daughter in. Our dog sniffed her and got comfortable. After that we made sure we NEVER left them alone together and always used a monitor. We STILL use our monitor and although I can trust them together I still know he is an animal first and foremost and use that as my guide.

I pray this baby heals and grows up to be just fine.
 
SleuthyMama said:
This is a horrible story. I can't imagine either how this dog was able to get the baby out of the crib.

We have a Maltese and he was our baby before the birth of our daughter almost two years ago. We were VERY careful about first of all making sure that he was slowly introduced to the baby. My DH brought home one of the blankets she was wrapped in to let him smell it and acclimate himself before we even left the hospital. Then, when she and I were released I made sure to come into the house BY MYSELF first and greet him and give him my attention. THEN, after he was calm and collected DH brought our daughter in. Our dog sniffed her and got comfortable. After that we made sure we NEVER left them alone together and always used a monitor. We STILL use our monitor and although I can trust them together I still know he is an animal first and foremost and use that as my guide.

I pray this baby heals and grows up to be just fine.
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You handled the situation perfectly!!!

A lot of ppl don't seem to realize how a dog perceives a new member of the household. Some may feel competitive; others may regard the baby as prey; still others may see the little one as a play toy.

We always have at least two dogs living in our midst. Whenever babies or children come to visit, they are supervised constantly. We would never allow a dog unattended in the room where a defenseless baby slept. It's just instinctive more than anything else.
 
If one compares this story to the one I've linked below, it kind of doesn't add up that the dog inflicted so much injury "unintentionally." it seems the dog would have either killed the baby-which it certainly could have done quickly and easily, or that it would have cause only superficial injuries.

Wondering if there is more here than meets the eye. What do you'all think?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/08/22/argentina.dog.tale/index.html


:waitasec::waitasec::waitasec:
 
drew said:
Please dont tell me American Indian dog is the PC way of saying part dog part wolf??
Looks like a wolf to me.
That poor baby.
Click to expand...

Native American Indian dog = wolf (?)

Native Australian dog = dingo (?)
 
That article isnt exactly accurate...The father was on Tv doing an interview a day or so after this happened and he said they put the baby down IN the crib for a nap and when the mom went back to check on him he was gone...they started searching for him and after about a half hour the mom found the dog with the baby in his mouth, she then called for her husband and they had to coax the dog into letting the baby go....because the dog had the baby so long they did not feel as if it was an attack ( i agree if it was the baby would have been eaten or torn appart)...they said they thought the dog was either being protective of the baby as if it was a pup or it thought it was a toy...
they have had this dog since it was a pup and they showed the dog with the other children as it grew.
They did not blame the dog and i believe he said it would be put down. they do have other dogs.
If the baby had been laying on the floor or sofa and the dog took it then id say the parents were careless however the dog took the baby from the crib no parent could have predicted that.
 
My late husband was Native American and he warned me numerous times about watching dogs around children -- especially dogs that are part wolf. He said that the wolf part made the dog very unpredictible and that you could not trust the dog because you never know when the "wolf" will come out. A friend of ours had a dog that was almost half wolf and my husband did not allow him to bring it around the house during cermonies because of all the people who would be around.

My husband and I also had to teach our stepdaughter not to lay on the floor in a "submissive" position around our male dog (a Karelian Bear Dog). Not that our dog would hurt her, but we needed to teach her how to interact in a way to let the dog know that he was not dominant over her.
 
After reading the linked article, I just feel so bad for this family. I hope the baby is okay and able to come home soon.

I would never once have thought that a dog could get a baby out of a crib and, like this family, by our third child was very comfortable with our dog being around her.

It doesn't sound like the dog thought he was doing anything wrong, and wasn't actually violent with the baby, just playing a game. It's so sad that he has to be put down, although there's really no other good option. It sounds like he was a good family dog to their other kids and thought he was playing a game they had played before.

And then to have your parenting questioned by the world when it hits the media - what a nightmare. Like having a new baby isn't enough to keep you busy!
 
I'm probably going to get bashed, but I hate to see the dog put down because the parents didn't take the necessary precautions. A baby monitor and a closed door would have kept the dog out of the baby's room.
 
lizzybeth said:
I'm probably going to get bashed, but I hate to see the dog put down because the parents didn't take the necessary precautions. A baby monitor and a closed door would have kept the dog out of the baby's room.
Click to expand...

If you read the article posted in the link above, it says the baby was 3 weeks early and they hadn't finished buying everything, including a baby monitor. It also says that they went out to the deck, came in and shut the door but forgot to lock it and the dog opened the door. I hate to see parents judged because conclusions were jumped to.

"A.J. was born three weeks early, and Michael said the couple had not finished baby-prepping the house". A quote from:
http://www.jessaminejournal.com/stories/2009/07/22/thw.9770.sto
 
brighidin said:
If you read the article posted in the link above, it says the baby was 3 weeks early and they hadn't finished buying everything, including a baby monitor. It also says that they went out to the deck, came in and shut the door but forgot to lock it and the dog opened the door. I hate to see parents judged because conclusions were jumped to.

"A.J. was born three weeks early, and Michael said the couple had not finished baby-prepping the house". A quote from:
http://www.jessaminejournal.com/stories/2009/07/22/thw.9770.sto
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but if your child is born three weeks early, then he's not going home from the hospital right away. That gives Dad time to go buy a baby monitor. I'm not jumping to conclusions, I'm going by what I've read. It also said in the article that they knew one of their dogs was physically able to open doors. No one knows if they could have done more except the parents. I'm sure they have tremendous guilt for what happened. Who knows? Maybe they could have done everything right and it still happened.
 
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