6/06/2005 03:29:00 PM|||Jason Mann|||

"A 12-year-old boy left alone with his family's two pit bulls was mauled to death by the dogs Friday inside a Sunset District apartment in San Francisco, authorities said."

For the rest of the story visit SFgate.com

What I want to address here is the above quote.

A 12 year old boy, left alone with two Pit Bulls. Now what I'm about to say may come off as odd, bare with me if you would.

One one hand Pit Bulls, specifically, American Pit Bull Terriers with proper temperments should be trustworthy around anyone. Even a 12 year old boy unsupervised.

On the other hand it's something that should not be done. If you have to ask why, read the story above.

Like I said, it's odd that I honestly believe a Pit Bull with a solid temperment can be trustworthy enough to be left alone with a 12 year old but then turn around and say don't do it.

Am I scared they will "turn" on their owners and kill them?

No.

I believe the popularity of the breed has made it hard to find a dog with a proper temperment which leads me to make a blanket statement about not leaving them alone with kids or anyone that can not control them.

This applies to Pit Bulls and all dogs.

My point here is this, had the owner of these dogs not left their child alone with them, this would have never happened.

Without knowing exactly what happened (we will never know this because the only ones who know are the dogs and the boy) we can not say it was the dogs fault.

The situation resulted from a 12 year old boy being left alone with his families Pit Bulls. All of this could have been prevented by following the rule:

"never leave Pit Bulls or any dog alone with a person who is not physically or mentally able to control them."

My heart goes out to Nicholas Faibish and his family. I can not imagine how they must feel about losing their child to family pets they apparently took care of.

Our prayers are with you and may Nicholas rest in peace.

May the dogs Rex and Ella (who was shot to death by Police) find peace too.

This tragedy will spark breed specific legislation in California and polls show people's fear and outrage already.

Remember to make your voice heard and focus your efforts on the real problem.

Overpopulation, horrible breeding practices, irresponsible owners, and breed ignorance.

All of these contribute to attacks by Pit Bulls yet they are never addressed or spoken about often enough. Breed Specific Legislation is not the answer.

Owner education and educating the public is, in my opinion, a giant step forward in the right direction.

One ounce of prevention could have saved this boys life and the lives of their dogs.

Please take a moment of silence for Nicholas Faibish and his family. Help them come to terms with this tragedy and may God grant them strength, and peace of mind knowing their child is in his company.

PitBullLovers.com is dedicated to helping educate people about Pit Bulls and increasing breed awareness through positive efforts and information.

Best Regards,
Jason, Angel and Honey
The Most Complete Pit Bull Information Web Site On The Web

|||111809821538510374|||Pit Bull Attacks 12 Year Old Boy in San Francisco6/07/2005 08:30:21 AM|||Nalina|||I was so sad to see this on the news. As if our babies didn't already have enough problems! My husband, 3-year-old daughter and I took our Pit, Girlie, for a walk around the lake yesterday in Mpls, MN. I was very happy that, despite the story, no one shied away from her. Well, one parent saw us and made her daughter walk on the grass on the other side of her.... But I said "Hello", and we kept going. We even came across 2 other rescue-pit parents, and we exchanged adoption stories and tips. I think some people are surprised to see me with one hand holding Girlie, and the other hand holding my daughter's. But I must also add that, as much as I trust Girlie with my daughter, I would never leave her in the house alone with her, or any other dog. Small children will sometimes do something unintentionally (or sometimes intentionally) that might anger/annoy a dog. The only 100% way to keep this from happening is to never take the chance. Unfortunately, these parents fell into that comfort zone. They had probably done it many times before. But you know, it only takes 1 time....6/08/2005 07:14:34 PM|||Anonymous|||My dog Capone is one of the most docile, loving dogs I have ever seen. I am told all the time by family, friends, and anyone who has ever met him that he has completely changed all of thier negative thoughts about pit bulls. Having this said, I would never leave a child alone with my dogs. This has always been a strong feeling of mine. I just recently dicoovered this website, and while it has some excellent information, I was a little dissappointed. Every article on this particular site comes immediately to the defense of the pit bull. All I saw were articles contributing to the fact that pit bulls are great family dogs, and that they are great with children. Also, a child of 12 is pretty close to being full grown. While I agree that the breed needs some good press, I disagree with making pit bulls seem harmless. If someone does not have the time or money, to properly raise and confine one of these animals, then they have no business owning one. An apartment building is no place to house such an active and powerful animal. Peopleneed to respect the breed and realize that these dogs are always capable of causing enormous amounts of damage, even if they have never done so in the past.6/12/2005 07:51:59 AM|||Anonymous|||I have four pit bulls in my home, a couple of whom are rescue animals. They require a TON of time and attention, but they are worth it. They are wonderful with children, but they are never left alone with them. It seems that the majority of the time, when a child is bit by a pit bull, it's because the dog is suddenly startled, and reacts. Because of this, when I play with my dogs, I do things that a child would do to annoy them. I tug on their ears and tails, poke them (gently) , come up behind them, even pull their food away from them while they are eating. I never, ever hurt them, but I have been doing this since they were pups and/or when they came to live with us, and they think I'm only playing them. They are constantly socialized with children, as well. My husband and I have established ourselves as clearly dominant, and it serves to make the dogs feel safe and secure, and therefore less skittish. They never fight, because at the first sign of aggression, we scold them. Now they rarely even snarl at each other. They trust us implicitly , and are extremely well-behaved and happy dogs. We may handle them differently than some other pit bull owners, but our approach seems to have worked for us, we have never had to physically discipline our dogs, and people are amazed to come to our house and see how well our dogs get along. We've broken more than one person of their fear of pit bulls over the years.7/01/2005 08:05:05 AM|||Anonymous|||listen i heard the story and origannaly i was angry but then i realized that u should never leave someone (i think) under the age of at least 15 or over alone in the house with 2 good sized dogs! i don't think that pitbulls are mean horrible animals because my bro has one here right now i don't even know the dog and it warmed up to me right away! he is probobaly one of the sweetest dogs i have ever met! people take pitbulls all wrong. with any dog u have to do something to provoke it in order for it to attack you. i'm not convicting the little boy of provoking the dogs but he might of without realizing it and in defense attacked him. the police should have investigated it more for the dogs sake. i feel bad for all pitbulls because in my area they are thought of as horrible mean killer dogs. we have a boxer and we took her somewhere and people were screaming thinking she was a pitbull. some people were nice but others ran away and pointed fingers. how unfortounate that these dogs are convicted and hated because of other PEOPLES mistakes. sometimes when people use them for fighting they acquire an angry temperment and those dogs can be trained and if not i feel very bad for those dogs that must be put down. my point is any dog can be provoked by a child and attack the child not realizing what he/she did. so no child should be left alone with any dog no matter how big/small or how sweet the dog is.8/13/2005 10:32:18 AM|||Anonymous|||This ? is for
I have four pit bulls in my home, a couple of whom are rescue animals. They require a TON of time and attention, but they are worth it. They are wonderful with children, but they are never left alone with them. It seems that the majority of the time, when a child is bit by a pit bull, it's because the dog is suddenly startled, and reacts. Because of this, when I play with my dogs, I do things that a child would do to annoy them. I tug on their ears and tails, poke them (gently) , come up behind them, even pull their food away from them while they are eating. I never, ever hurt them, but I have been doing this since they were pups and/or when they came to live with us, and they think I'm only playing them. They are constantly socialized with children, as well. My husband and I have established ourselves as clearly dominant, and it serves to make the dogs feel safe and secure, and therefore less skittish. They never fight, because at the first sign of aggression, we scold them. Now they rarely even snarl at each other. They trust us implicitly , and are extremely well-behaved and happy dogs. We may handle them differently than some other pit bull owners, but our approach seems to have worked for us, we have never had to physically discipline our dogs, and people are amazed to come to our house and see how well our dogs get along. We've broken more than one person of their fear of pit bulls over the years.

In your comment you don't mention if you would leave your pit bulls alone with children or anyone at all. You comment about how there so well beahaved and what not but the ? is would you leave them alone with a child?