8 Yrs Old Boy - Nose Bitten Off By Dog

[nawnim]

Lot of 'blame game' happening here on the forum, when not even the parties involved, from reports, seem to be doing that.

T

I said in my post that a view on the situation can be made that has nothing to do with blame. But everything to do with awareness of how this case ticks every box for the statistical profile on who is most vulnerable to dog bites and how. Explanation of the dynamics in a situation is not blame.

Amazing that this information has been available for some time, but it doesn't seem to have filtered into the public discourse. Yet it's the key to prevention, as far as humanly possible, via education and management. In reporting cases like this one, reference should be made to key criteria about children and dogs....not from a viewpoint of blaming, but of informing about vulnerabilities and management of them.

I am also wondering if anyone has followed up on my link about education, and if so did they find it interesting and possibly useful?

[mita]

I am also wondering if anyone has followed up on my link about education, and if so did they find it interesting and possibly useful?

Padraic, I agree with you about the importance of education on the matter and would like to see a short set of guidelines always included in any report about children being bitten by dogs. Not as a blame game, or commentary on the particular case, but as awareness of how to try to prevent.

[LizT]

So the dog was on it's own property and now it has to die. What a sh*t situation.

I'd like to know how high the fence was. If your dog is going to bite off a part of someone's face if they look over the fence into your yard then you need to have a very high fence with no gaps.

True. It makes you wonder. I also wonder if he was with his parents or a supervising adult at the time.

An eight year old generally doesn't need constant supervision.

An Australian Bulldog is not a large breed that I can envisage jumping very high at a fence either.

Poor curious child.

[BlackJaq]

How is it there are never any details on incidents like this to be found? Is anybody even investigating what causes dogs to bite in these cases or does the government simply go "Yep, dogs bite for no reason at all. Was probably one of them thar Pitbulls you always hear about"

You'd think a lot of incidences could be prevented if one actually investigated the circumstances of previous incidents? Surely reducing the number of incidents would be better publicity than constantly having to fight dog owners whose dogs are about to be destroyed for no reason other than looks?

[mita]

How is it there are never any details on incidents like this to be found? Is anybody even investigating what causes dogs to bite in these cases or does the government simply go "Yep, dogs bite for no reason at all. Was probably one of them thar Pitbulls you always hear about"

I've already posted how the features in this incident fit the profile that research has uncovered about what's involved with dog bites....from the victim angle. This one is straight out of the textbook.

And, yes, there's a gap between that knowledge and steps to prevention (not blame). My earlier (one) suggestion was that simple guidelines on what's involved in dog bites/attacks and simple rules to inculcate in (specially )children, their carers and owners of dogs, should be published and broadcast as part of the response to incidents.

Your good point is asking if there's some government authority which would oversee things like that happening. I honestly don't know if there is. Should be, if not.

Edited August 3, 2012 by mita

[Decadence]

We don't know why the dog bit the boy and whether he was teasing it or not. We don't know why the parents do not wish to pursue the matter. Perhaps they just want privacy both for themselves and the child. It's hard to imagine how anyone could cope with the horror of their child losing his nose, let alone how the child will cope without a nose. We also don't know why the owners of the dog chose to have it pts. Maybe the dog had attacked before. We just don't know. It's a terrible situation. That poor kid.

It is a terrible situation, however, in regards to nose replacement, it is actually quite promising. Nose replacements have been happening for well over a century. Plastic surgeons use a flap of skin, usually taken from the forehead and reconstruct the nose on a prosthetic base. Adelaide has a fantastic cranio-facial surgical unit, so hopefully the boy will be able to have a new nose reconstructed (although of course he will lose his sense of smell) and if all goes well he should be able to live a relatively normal life.

[BlackJaq]

Yes but unless you have detailed knowledge of the actual incident, your post was based on speculation.

The exact circumstances should be investigated and acted upon. So if, for example, the boy really was stirring up the dog, a school based education programme might be in order. If the boy was simply curious and looked over the fence to see what kind of dog it was, a school based education programme is probably still in order, but the dog's history and siblings' temperaments should maybe be investigated as well. If the dog had a previous history then there also needs to be some investigation to determine how the child was able to reach over the fence at all since the dog obviously needed to be confined extra securely due to previous incidences.

I hope you see what I mean, just because this case fits the statisctics does not mean we know the exact circumstances and they are what should determine a useful course to help avoid this kind of thing int he future.

Edited August 3, 2012 by BlackJaq

[sandgrubber]

Ditto all those who say, poor kid, it's not the time to blame, we don't know the facts, and if the neighbours have settled it among themselves, good on them. Much better if such matters don't have to be handled by governments, cause governments generally do a bad job. It would be interesting to know the details, but the people involved might not find it interesting to have the general public discussing their personal stuff.

I am disturbed by those people saying guard dog aggression should be tolerated in these circumstances. A guard dog that cannot be taught to know the neighbours and to recognize that kids are not to be attacked is a dangerous dog and should not be in suburban or urban neighbourhoods . . . at least not with extreme controls. I'm not sure it's a typical 'kid gets bitten' case. In the classic case, the kid and dog are on the same side of a fence, they aren't adequately supervised, and neither has adequate training/experience/maturity to respond appropriately to the other. Full time supervision of and eight year old in the back yard is an unrealistic expectation, as is full-time supervision of a dog in the back yard.

Edited August 4, 2012 by sandgrubber

[Guest donatella]

We don't know why the dog bit the boy and whether he was teasing it or not. We don't know why the parents do not wish to pursue the matter. Perhaps they just want privacy both for themselves and the child. It's hard to imagine how anyone could cope with the horror of their child losing his nose, let alone how the child will cope without a nose. We also don't know why the owners of the dog chose to have it pts. Maybe the dog had attacked before. We just don't know. It's a terrible situation. That poor kid.

It is a terrible situation, however, in regards to nose replacement, it is actually quite promising. Nose replacements have been happening for well over a century. Plastic surgeons use a flap of skin, usually taken from the forehead and reconstruct the nose on a prosthetic base. Adelaide has a fantastic cranio-facial surgical unit, so hopefully the boy will be able to have a new nose reconstructed (although of course he will lose his sense of smell) and if all goes well he should be able to live a relatively normal life.

Ya joking right? The nose is probably one of the hardest things to get right cosmetically, especially if the whole thing was removed. Yes it can be repaired with a flap, but it won't be a 'new nose', he will most likely have severe psychological scarring from this not to mention body image issues. It's not like having a mole removed and skin to cover the divet, its your nose and no amount of expertise is going to give you a new nose, its still going to be obvious.

[Decadence]

We don't know why the dog bit the boy and whether he was teasing it or not. We don't know why the parents do not wish to pursue the matter. Perhaps they just want privacy both for themselves and the child. It's hard to imagine how anyone could cope with the horror of their child losing his nose, let alone how the child will cope without a nose. We also don't know why the owners of the dog chose to have it pts. Maybe the dog had attacked before. We just don't know. It's a terrible situation. That poor kid.

It is a terrible situation, however, in regards to nose replacement, it is actually quite promising. Nose replacements have been happening for well over a century. Plastic surgeons use a flap of skin, usually taken from the forehead and reconstruct the nose on a prosthetic base. Adelaide has a fantastic cranio-facial surgical unit, so hopefully the boy will be able to have a new nose reconstructed (although of course he will lose his sense of smell) and if all goes well he should be able to live a relatively normal life.

Ya joking right? The nose is probably one of the hardest things to get right cosmetically, especially if the whole thing was removed. Yes it can be repaired with a flap, but it won't be a 'new nose', he will most likely have severe psychological scarring from this not to mention body image issues. It's not like having a mole removed and skin to cover the divet, its your nose and no amount of expertise is going to give you a new nose, its still going to be obvious.

Actually I am serious and know exactly what I am talking about. It would be far more scarring for the boy to have no nose than have a prosthetic one. Look at these images and tell me they aren't convincing: http://www.medicalar...s&gallery=nasal

[Guest donatella]

The procedure you're talking about (the flap) and the prosthetic nose as above are 2 different things. The flap is not a replacement nose and will never look like one, do you have links to show they do prosthetic noses in Australia, the above link is American. Don't be too convinced by photos, I know artificial eyes look about as real as putting a plum next to an orange albeit better then having no eye at all.

Eta I don't think the dog would have bit it clean off anyway

Edited August 4, 2012 by donatella

[ilovemyambulldog]

It was a aussie bulldog and he was old so they decided to get him put down im pretty sure they had a choice but going

on what ive found out if my dog did that i wouldn't get him put down only if it happen outside my property and even than thats why they invented muzzles. im from where this happen and there wasn't a whole lot about it in our local newspaper.