dogs and young kids

List,



I have consistently advised people against having dogs and small
children at the same time. Of course, I get many replies that "we have
never had a problem" , "our dogs are sweet" "the kids know to leave the dog
alone" and all kinds of other lame rationalizations.



The following is from the Omaha World Herald.

Two rules: spay/neuter your pets. NEVER place a rescue dog in a home
with infants/toddlers



chuck petterson

rescue bus driver





Published Tuesday
August 12, 2003

3-year-old dies after mauling by dog

BY DAVID HENDEE



WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Hours after one of their dogs killed their 3-year-old niece, Marc and Monica
Russell packed a few bags and left their old south-central Nebraska
farmhouse.

"They don't want to go back," Marc's father, Don Russell, said Monday.

Samantha Grace Bauld of Seward, Neb., was mauled Saturday by one of the
Russells' two Rottweilers at the Russell house a few miles northwest of
Saronville, a village 25 miles east of Hastings. She died Sunday at Mary
Lanning Memorial Hospital in Hastings.

Don Russell said the attack was out of character for his son's dogs.

"No one witnessed what happened," he said. "It's like it's not possible, but
it had to be them."

An average Rottweiler male weighs 95 to 135 pounds, and the breed of black,
powerful dog is known for aggressive and protective instincts. The American
Rottweiler Club warns that owning the breed carries much greater than
average legal and moral responsibilities and warns that the dogs should
never be left alone with children.

Russell and others said the incident occurred during a five- to eight-minute
period when Samantha was alone outside with the two Rottweilers.

"They played with all the kids all the time," Russell said.

Family members said this is what apparently happened:

The Russells, Jason Bauld and Chara Mohr, Samantha's mother and Bauld's
fiancée, were in the house playing cards. Jason Bauld, who is Samantha's
father, is Monica Russell's brother.

Between 7 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., the Russells' two boys, about 8 and 10 years
old, came in from playing outside. The adults were not immediately aware
that Samantha had not returned with her cousins.

When it became clear that Samantha was not in the house, the adults looked
for her, Mohr said, and the girl was found bleeding on the ground beside the
1-year-old male Rottweiler, which is believed to have attacked her, and a
3-year-old female Rottweiler.

Mohr told the Hastings Tribune that Samantha had cuts "pretty much from head
to toe."

Mohr said Samantha had such a good relationship with the dogs that she often
would "ride around on them like a horse." The dogs never showed any signs of
aggression and never knocked Samantha down when playing with her, she said.

"She loved the dog that did it to her," Mohr said.

Results of an autopsy are pending, according to the Clay County Sheriff's
Office.

Don Russell, who is publisher of the Clay County News in Sutton, said his
son took the dogs Saturday night to the Barbee Veterinary Clinic in Sutton
to be euthanized. The dogs were impounded, however, and tested for rabies.

Marc Russell is a pressman at the Aurora News-Register. Monica Russell is
the former manager of the Skyline Restaurant in Sutton. The Russells did not
return a telephone message left on their home answering machine Monday.

"They're not taking it too well," Don Russell said.

The incident remains under investigation by the Sheriff's Office.

Samantha's funeral is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Brand-Wilson
Funeral Home in Hastings.

In addition to her parents, survivors include a brother, Gregory,
grandparents Richard Bauld and Lois McClure of Hastings and Floyd and
Jeannie Mohr of Lincoln, and great-grandmother Marie Hayes of Hastings.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.








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