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By Paul Takahashi (contact) 
Saturday, April 28, 2012 | 3:54 p.m.
Dog attacks, kills infant
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KSNV coverage of fatal dog attack and interview with grief-stricken father, April 28, 2012.
A 1-year-old boy died early Saturday after being attacked by his family's dog while celebrating his birthday Friday, Henderson Police said.
The boy was at his grandmother's house on the 1600 block of Navarre Lane near Arroyo Grande Boulevard on Friday, police said. It was shortly before 10 p.m. when he crawled over to the family's dog and started to pet him, police said.
The dog -- a 6-year-old Mastiff/Rhodesian mix weighing about 120 pounds –- latched his jaws around the boy's head and began shaking him, police said. The grandmother attempted to pull the boy from the dog while other family members rushed to help, police said.
Henderson rescue workers took the boy to St. Rose Dominican Hospital-Siena Campus, police said. He was then flown by helicopter to UMC's Trauma Unit.
The boy died from his injuries at about 1:45 a.m. Saturday, police said. The boy had turned 1 on Thursday.
Henderson Animal Control officers took the dog to the Henderson animal shelter, where he will be quarantined and observed for signs of rabies over the next 10 days, police said. The dog is up to date on his rabies vaccination but is being declared vicious and will be euthanized after the observation period, police said.
The family, which has owned the dog since he was a puppy, voluntarily relinquished ownership to animal control, police said.
The boy had been around the dog since he was born, police said. The family said the dog has never been aggressive toward people. There were no signs of neglect and no previous calls reported about the dog in the past. Officers are still investigating why the dog attacked the boy, police said.
The Clark County Coroner's Office will release the name of the boy later.
Very sad story.
Infants and dogs. Not good. I don't care how long you've had your dog. A baby will not interpret the signs from a dog to back off. I've seen it before. Babies and small kids don't know the signs that the dog has had enough of having his nose patted, his ears pulled or whatever.
This is an interesting insight into the personality of this dog.
As so many people say, their pets are their children.
Correspondingly, many pets behave like children.
Even more so, is that like kids, they can become jealous of the attention parent pay to new children, when the Pet used to be the center of attention.
Similar to sibling rivalry, this pet responded in the way they would to other 'litter' rivals and engaged in fighting.
Unfortunately, a 1 year, does not fight like a dog.
And tragedy resulted.
People need to think about their pets and not just discard them, when a new toy kid comes along.
Allowing small kids around large dogs big enough to kill them if they go crazy (like humans, animals sometimes do crazy things against their nature) is not worth the risk. The wise will take heed from this story, regardless of how nice their large dog is. You have to ask yourself, would this outcome be something you want to worry about, knowing it's happened 100's of times in the past? Sure, the risk is small (maybe only happens to 1 in 100,000 dogs) but is your kids life worth playing Russian Roulette?
like @Tom said, Kids and Dogs don't go well together. I've seen it a million times... Where the kid "pets" the dog, which usually means pulling the dog's ear, punching it in the face, poking his eyes or doing something other than petting him. Dogs have a breaking point too. It's unfortunate that this had to happen. R.I.P kid.
Comment removed by moderator. Inappropriate
That's a very sad story. My condolances to the family..
Certain breeds should be exterminated. Why people own them is incomprehensible.
Man I hate stories like this.. Such a cute little boy. My condolances to the family.
:-(
Dogs are jealous when they are use to receiving allot of attention. Now that attention is directed at the child.
What a sad and tragic event.
Mastiffs are gentle giants, providing proper training is done.
We have 7 year old mixed breed (Mostly chihuahua) that is a very attention starved puppy since our 2 year old baby was born.
The dog has become a puppy again since our baby was born and it has required gating the house off and kennelling the the dog at times.
There is a definite sibling rivalry, especially when it come to the real estate known as "Daddy's lap". I am not sure gating or kenneling could work with a 100 pound dog, but in extreme cases we still employ the gates. When my daughter gets too rough with the dog, we have to break it up, and the dog growls according to the amount of pain she is in.
We realize it is a risk, but our 9 pound dog seems like a better fit for families with small kids.
In either event, my heart is broken for this family losing their child and their pet, both dying in ways their dreams never could have allowed. May God fill the parents with knowledge of their sons heavenly activities and bring them peace for the rest of their days. Lord Bless them.
Again, you cannot have a one year old playing with a dog like this or really any dog..alone. You've got to use your damn head and think. Babies don't have the mindset to know how far they can go until a dog has had enough of fur pulling, ear pulling, etc. The baby thinks its play time like the dog is a giant stuffed animal. I hate to say stupid people but at best mentally challenged to think this was OK....regardless if the dog ever lashed out before. It's nice to have a family pet but I would wait until the kids are old enough to know that dogs have limits and can strike out.
@Jeff
"When my daughter gets too rough with the dog, we have to break it up, and the dog growls according to the amount of pain she is in."
You're asking for a tragedy.
Very sad. My condolences to the family. They just lost a child for God's sake. Can we please reserve judgement? They have been punished more than enough for a mistake.
It's too bad the KSNV journalist resorted to interviewing the grieving father as part of his coverage. Allow the family some privacy and remember they're people, not ratings boosters. It'd be different if we were talking about a kidnapping, where the parents ask for help -- it might move a community to action, and might result in finding the missing child. All this story did was plaster raw emotion across the screen. We get the point: be careful with your pets, because they are animals and could hurt children. We don't need a grieving father to reinforce it.
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To all of you who say the family has been "punished enough," they brought this on themselves by allowing a dog in the house where there was an infant. Any parent who has an infant or toddlers and allows a dog inside the house is asking for trouble and it's a shame the parents cannot be prosecuted for placing their child in unreasonable danger. Furthermore, not only did they allow the dog to live indoors, they allowed it to sleep on the bed with the child and wallow all over the couch and everything else. This dog did not know its place and probably considered the child an equal, or even an inferior. People need to stop listening to the dog freaks who tell them dogs should live indoors, should be "part of the family" and all that other garbage. Dogs are animals, trying to "humanize" them is asking for trouble and unless a person has four legs and a tail, no dog will ever be "part of their family"!
TomD Said, and in partial response to Carlisle:
@Jeff
"When my daughter gets too rough with the dog, we have to break it up, and the dog growls according to the amount of pain she is in."
You're asking for a tragedy.
I say:
I really appreciate your concern. The dog is a sissy, I should have said whimpers and whines. We got rid of the lizards (too many crickets and the time needed rather than safety) and the Bird, who was much more dangerous in the mix. That bird was mean and attacked anyone who did not respect her.
Any dog is a risk, but this little critter is worth it, as can be said for millions of American households. The benefits of pet ownership are invaluable in raising a well adjusted child.
For all we know the dog may have THOUGHT it was 'playing'... my dog loves to get stuffed animals in his head and then he whips his back to/fro, back/forth because that's how he 'plays'. The sad part is the dog has no way of knowing, when doing this to a baby/child, that it could/probably WILL, kill the child.... to the dog it's just playing. I feel bad for the child AND the dog but parents should have definitely been WAY more watchful to prevent just such a thing from happening.
It truly breaks my heart to hear of this very tragic situation: a loss of a precious child and the loss of a valued family pet. The grief must insurmountable for this family.
My heartfelt thoughts, prayers, and condolences.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
This is very sad, and so preventable. When children start to crawl and walk, they tend, as this poor father suggested, to pull themselves up by pulling on chairs, tables, cribs, and dogs. Sadly, many dogs do not take kindly to this (it hurts sometimes when those little fingers dig in). They defend themselves with the only weapons they have. Another problem we trainers often see is that the parents don't know as much as they might about dog body language, and they may ignore a dog's pleas to get a little distance from baby. I would advise parents, no matter how friendly you think your dog is, to view the Doggone Safe website, and to get a copy of Coleen Pelar's book, Living with Kids and Dogs Without Losing Your Mind. There are some great hints on how to avoid tragedies such as this. The way you protect your children is often by protecting your dog.