Boy, 5, Taken To Children's After
Dog Bite To Neck Coraopolis Police
Transport Boy To Hospital

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com
POSTED: 8:53 pm EDT May 13, 2009
UPDATED: 8:45 am EDT May 14, 2009

[Animal control officers quarantine a dog inCoraopolis that police say bit a 5-year-old boy,who suffered deep bites to his head, jaw, face and neck.]

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. -- A dog bit a 5-year-old boy's face and neck late Wednesday afternoon in Coraopolis, according to the police chief.

A mother ran outside the house, clinging to her 5-year-old son, who suffered deep bites to his head, jaw, face and neck, WTAE Channel 4's Shannon Perrine reported.

The boy was at his aunt's house at the time of the incident on Birch Way shortly before 5 p.m. when he went to feed the 10-year-old male pit bull.

Animal control officers quarantine a dog in Coraopolis that police say bit a 5-year-old boy, who suffered deep bites to his head, jaw, face and neck.

"It's certainly something that you don't want to hear; the screams that went on between that mother and that child," said Shelley Jones, of Coraopolis.

A police cruiser took the unidentified boy to Sewickley Valley Hospital because no ambulances were available nearby.

"The timeframe to wait was too long. So, they took it upon themselves to take the child to the hospital, which was probably the right move because it probably saved (his) life," Coraopolis Police Chief Alan DeRusso said.

The boy was since transported to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, where a hospital representative said the boy was in critical but stable condition.

A whole community -- including two police officers -- reserved their thoughts and prayers for the little boy.

"(The officers) both have over 10 years experience, and by the look on their face, I could tell it was a very gruesome sight," DeRusso said.

Police said the dog was properly chained up and that the boy's aunt supervises when the boy feeds the dog. Others who know the family expressed surprise.

"The dog has never in any way shape or form ever acted like this before," said Eric Young, a family friend.

Young said the dog does not have a history of attacking people, but the dog does have mange, a hereditary condition, that could have made the animal angry and unstable.

The family rents the house on Birch Way, and the landlord told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that he does not allow pets. He said he told the family to get rid of the dog last month. Animal control officers have since quarantined the dog.

Police continued to investigate Wednesday evening to determine whether anyone should be charged.

Early on, it did not appear that anyone will face charges, Perrine reported.

 

Pittsburgh-area boy, 5, mauled by pit bull

http://www.pittsburghlive.com
- The Associated Press

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. — Police say a 5-year-old Pittsburgh-area boy is in critical but stable condition after his face was mauled by a pit bull.

The dog has been quarantined by police in Corapolis (kor-ee-AH'-poh-lis) who are not identifying the boy or his aunt, who was watching him at the time. The family told KDKA-TV the boy's name is Tyler Williams and that he underwent facial surgery Wednesday night.

Police say the boy was attacked about 5 p.m.

Wednesday when he went into the back yard to feed the dog, which was tied up. Police don't know why the animal, which weighs about 70 pounds, attacked the boy.

The dog's owner wasn't home at the time and police are not releasing his name.

Police say the 10-year-old dog, named "Stiff," was docile when animal
control officers took him away.

 

Local Child Mauled By Pit Bull
In Stable Condition

http://kdka.com

May 14, 2009 8:12 pm US/Eastern
Reporting: Mary Robb Jackson


Tyler Williams was attacked by the dog when he and his aunt went to feed her boyfriend's pit bull in the backyard. KDKA

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A 5-year-old boy who was mauled by a pit bull in Coraopolis is in stable condition in the critical care unit of Children's Hospital after undergoing surgery.

Tyler Williams was attacked by the dog when he and his aunt went to feed her boyfriend's pit bull in the backyard.

Williams' face was horribly mauled. The male pit bull was kept chained in the fenced yard of the house on Birch Way.

No one is clear on what set the dog off. He had never attacked before.

"And I hear these stories and it just breaks my heart because it doesn't have to happen," says veteran dog trainer Barb Levenson.

Barb, who has been training dogs for nearly 30 years at her Oakmont Center, says all dogs bite if the right buttons are pushed.

She adds that some breeds, like pit bulls, have been genetically programmed for aggression.

"And unless you do something to counter that programming than that's what you end up with," Levenson said.

Another problem is keeping a dog chained up for long periods of time.

"Most of these dogs that are left on chains have virtually no socialization," she said.

Barb Levenson also believes that no dog attacks for no reason.
 
On a chart, Barb describes how dogs who are not desensitized by training can act out when confronted by too many stressors, like protecting their territory, nervous around children, someone reaching out or coming into the yard.

"When all those stressors are stacked you reach the 'Bite Threshold.'"

The layering of stressors become more than the dog can handle.

But since it's not always easy to know when any dog is having a bad day, what's the bottom line?

"The bottom line is the adult who doesn't say to a child, 'Do not approach that dog.'"

Tragic Mauling Puts Spotlight
on Proposed Anti-Chaining Law

Tipton, PA
Tuesday, May 19, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Link to press release

Contact: Tamira C. Thayne • founder, Dogs Deserve Better • www.dogsdeservebetter.org
P.O. Box 23, Tipton, PA 16684
Cell 814.207.4586
tddb@dogsdeservebetter.org
Or
Monica Schreiber, DDB Public Relations Representative
510) 418-5897 (cell); monica@dogsdeservebetter.org

Chained dog severely mauls Pennsylvania boy on eve of Dog Bite Prevention Week

May 19, 2009, Altoona, Penn. — The May 13 mauling of a Coraopolis boy by a dog kept chained in his family's yard has highlighted the public safety reasons behind an "anti-tethering" bill currently before the state judiciary committee. The serious attack comes just days before Dog Bite Prevention Week, May 19-25.

HR 1254, sponsored by Rep. Mario Scavello, would restrict the amount of time dogs can be chained in a caretaker's yard. If enacted, the law would follow the lead of states like California, Texas, and Connecticut, as well as hundreds of cities and counties nationwide. Anti-chaining laws not only protect dogs from a miserable life at the end of a chain, they also protect children from attack, as chained dogs – isolated, unsocialized, and often lacking even adequate food, water, and shelter – can easily become aggressive. Sometimes kept as "watchdogs," chained dogs are unable to distinguish between true intruders and innocent children who just want to pet the dog.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, a perpetually chained dogs is almost 3 times more likely to attack than a dog that is socialized and kept in humane conditions.

The recent mauling of the Coraopolis boy, who was hospitalized in critical condition, follows the January death of an 8-year-old girl in Hanover Township, who was killed by a dog kept chained to a camper shell.

Mothers Against Dog Chaining, an affiliate of nonprofit Dogs Deserve Better, has counted almost 260 children nationwide who have been killed or seriously injured since 2004 by chained dogs. The group estimates that the actual number is much higher, as only those attacks that happen to be reported in local newspapers, and eventually found by MADC, have been counted.

Anti-tethering laws have picked up steam nationwide in the last three years as lawmakers and voters seek to bring antiquated animal welfare laws in line with the now widely accepted belief that keeping a dog on a chain for years on end is not only cruel to the animal, but also poses a serious public safety issue.

"Allowing people to keep a perpetually chained dog in the yard is tantamount to letting them keep a loaded gun in plain view," says Tamira C. Thayne, founder and president of nonprofit Dogs Deserve Better and its affiliate Mothers Against Dog Chaining. "We would be hard-pressed to invent a more insidious form of torture for a highly social, intelligent pack animal like a dog. It is no surprise that the byproduct of a frustrated, lonely life on a chain is all too often an angry and aggressive animal, usually lacking the legally required vaccinations. Years ago, when dog chaining was more common, people did not necessarily see dogs as most people see them today, as intelligent companion animals. Today, the vast majority of people believe that perpetual chaining is abusive, depressing, and dangerous. And it is time that our laws caught up to what most reasonable people believe"

HR 1254 would make it an offense to tether or chain a dog outside unattended between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The bill also makes provisions for the type and length of any tether used and mandates some minimal standards of care, including access to shade. The law makes exceptions for certain working dogs, such as those used in agriculture.

About Dogs Deserve Better

Dogs Deserve Better, a 501C3 nonprofit, provides a variety of services to people who agree to take their dogs off their chains, including providing free assistance with socialization, housetraining, and fencing. The group rescues and rehabilitates chained dogs and advocates on numerous fronts to change minds and laws and end the antiquated practice of perpetual chaining.

About Mothers Against Dog Chaining

Mothers Against Dog Chaining is an initiative of Dogs Deserve Better and was co- founded in 2003 by a mother whose daughter was killed by a neighbor's chained dog.