Very bad news for Staff owners (dog attack on child)

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005280710,00.html

Look at the Pic of the staff even!

Typical sensational reporting! Don't blame the owners indeed! My guess is the dog was stressed because of the inevitably noisy children's party going on, or is that a bit too obvious?

Why couldn't they have reported the little girl's plight, instead of the profit making 'savage, rabid dog' cliches?

I BLAME THE OWNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I can't remember when I last saw such sensationalistic, cliche ridden, hyperbolic, writing.

Scarred for life ... sank its fangs ... screaming ... prise her from its jaws ... gruesome .... shattered mum ... horrendous ... savaged .... berserk animal... clamped its jaws ... investigating the horror. And the photograph "like the one that savaged the girl" . They have a photo of the child, why not one of the actual dog in question - probably it doesn't look quite savage enough.

Of course the mother & people present would have been shocked, and I am not trying to make light of the seriousness of the incident, and the fact that the child may well bear physical & psychological scars for life, but this sort of scaremongering and breed-bashing does not deserve the term 'journalism'.

I wonder how it came to attack the child "despite being tied up"

ETA: Is the dog in the photo actually an SBT?

I don't want to see a "Staffordshire bull terrier like one that savaged girl" I want to see it... Or isn't is 'fierce' enough? But then again it must be because it was an unprovoked attack... Oh it doesn't say that it was unprovoked... Of course the dog was tied up in the garden which is a well known technique for controlling these devil dogs...

Oh well, it'll encourage a few Sun readers to buy one if nothing else...

Graeme

I agree with SB............

Really the papers must need some headline at the moment........

And whilst I have every sympathy for the little gril involved.......her face is not as marked as the headlines would have you believe.....

Yet again bully bashing at its best

I am very sorry for the little girl but it would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. The newspaper picks the worst possible picture of a Staff to illustrate the poor reporting, where is a mention of what the father was doing while the little girl approached the tied up dog? What happened immediately before the incident. This could have been an opportunity to remind people that children and dogs should always be supervised and that children should not approach a confined dog who may be very scared and has no means of escape A how about a mention for irresponsible parents and owners in general

From the photograph, at least, the little girl seems no worse off than if she'd fallen off her bike. If the dog in question had seriously meant to attack her, she'd be far, far worse off. And while she may have psychological damage, and no child should endure this kind of trauma, isn't it nice to see a three year old being 'brave' enough to pose for the cameras? I wonder how much grooming the mother has put into this (and I wouldn't suggest for a moment the mother has £ signs in her eyes).

It'd be interesting to know the real facts behind this story, but in the meantime, I've been inspired by the ad conveniently placed at the bottom of the 'report'....



I'm off to encourage Satch into an unprovoked and frenzied attack on an innocent geranium.

Becs

I agree Mini, where was the supervision which is required when children are around dogs? I doubt the other side of the story will ever come to light, but it is my guess that the dog was scared/startled or provoked beyond endurance, or maybe perhaps it was a very, very, poorly socialized or very ill-bred dog. It is most definitely not the nature of a SBT to attack a person without the most severe provocation.

Whether true or not that is no excuse.

The owners must take responsibilty for this...with the current hot weather leaving a dog tethered where it can be approached by children is a definate no no(tethering at all is a no no for me but I understand many people do)

Staffys do not deserve this type of press but the papers just love it...they will get the breed banned in the end with the help of stupid irresponsible breeders and owners ...makes things so hard for geniune staff owners and breeders