Police seize dog after baby killed in Wales

[chlban]

I'm a Collie gal. Most intelligent dogs on the planet. And the most eccentric at times, in my opinion.

Adore Collies. Have had two, both males, both sweet and wonderful dogs. Perfect dogs for children too.
My last wonderful Collie, Blaze, a rescue, had seizures toward the end of his life and it became very difficult for me to handle him on my own. I had been married when I had our first Collie, Kelly, so hubby could lift him if need be.

However, it was so difficult to handle Blaze at the end, I decided would not get another large dog. Of course, that did not mean I did not do everything I could for Blaze and luckily my neighbor was a male nurse who was always wonderful about assisting me if I needed to get Blaze into the car.

However, since him, I have stuck with dogs I can pick up and carry, but I have been so tempted many times to have another Collie. Absolutely fantastic dogs.

 

[~n/t~]

I see nothing wrong with bringing home a stray. The problem was leaving a newborn unattended with a dog. Any dog. It's not the dogs fault, and people should not be discouraged from offering a home to a dog in need.

Just be a responsible parent.

I didn't say people shouldn't rescue strays but bringing home a dog that was perhaps never trained to be around children is more than irresponsible.

This was not their family dog.

 

[LadyL]

Malamuts are the most gentle breed I've ever come across.

These stories all have a common theme - humans who don't properly train and supervise.

 

[wallflower67]

I'm sure I've said this on other threads, but when my daughter was a baby, my ex and I had two one-year-old dogs that had grown up together as pups. One was a Sheltie (female) The other was a Doberman/German Shepard/Chow mix (male). We figured that out later. He was just a mixed breed when we brought him home. The smaller female ruled the larger male, but she knew the humans were alpha.

I NEVER left my baby alone with the dogs. Despite that they stood between me and all visitors. Despite that my female Sheltie insisted that I let my daughter cry FAR too long while warming a bottle or changing a diaper (she was a judgmental dog lol) Both dogs knew a milisecond before I did when my daughter was crawling somewhere she shouldn't. Or about to climb something.

When she was a toddler, we would take group naps. Me, my daughter and the dogs. My Sheltie prefered that my daughter not pet her until my daughter was seven. I think she was afraid of getting her hair pulled. So we just rolled that way.

I don't think my dogs would have intentionally hurt my child. But even a bolt to the back door (RABBIT!! SQIRRELL!!!) could have knocked my child over and injured her.

Those dogs are now long gone, and my children are grown. My brother-in-law insists on urging his kids to pet my over-exhuberant Border Collie who just wants to knock them down and lick them to death. <sigh> So all 3 dogs have to stay in a sit, then go outside while the kids stay inside, or I'd have a bunch of nieces and a nephew with head injuries.

Dogs and kis need to be supervised at all times. And I'm a huge animal lover. I didn't have cats when my daughter was an infant, but I can see mine would have slept on her <cringe>

 

[zwiebel]

Mother: "The baby's gone! He's blaming me for it. God knows what's happened in there."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/eliza-mae-mullane-pontyberem-death-mum-3160477

 

[TexasChica7]

It is covered in a lot of pre-natal books and classes that you should never leave babies/young children alone with pets (cats, dogs, etc.). I remember this being discussed in my sisters birth classes when I was her labor coach. The teacher said to treat pets like you would having a pool- you would never leave a baby or small child unsupervised around a pool whether indoors or out.
A 6 day old would not be mobile enough to physically agitate the animal- possibly could have been crying or the dog was just curious. I work in healthcare and have seen cases where a small child had to have eye surgery after being attacked by the family cat and another case where a Bichon bit a child on the cheek and required stitches. You just don't hear about attacks by smaller pets as much because the injuries are generally minor and the child or parent can more easily get a chihuahua off your child than a dog that weighs 75 lbs or more.
I feel so sad for the parents and hope that this case makes people realize that animals may respond differently to different people. I had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was fine around women and children but skiddish around men. The dog would freely play with children and snuggle any women who came over but was glued to my side when a man was near.

 

[zwiebel]

The Mirror has gone mad - they've dropped a pic of self-confessed 'serial killer' Miranda Barbour into the middle of the article about the baby now, where they had the pic of the parents before. WTH??!!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pictured-eliza-mae-mullane-newborn-babys-3161593

 

[zwiebel]

That's got to be an accident. Miranda Barbour is in jail in the US and has absolutely no connection to the case, I'm sure. The pic is still there though. It's just strange.

I tried to let them know but I can't make the email work and I'm not on FB to leave a comment about it. That's a horrible mistake. I hope no-one thinks that's baby's mom.

 

[Tawny]

Mother: "The baby's gone! He's blaming me for it. God knows what's happened in there."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/eliza-mae-mullane-pontyberem-death-mum-3160477

Who's blaming her for it? What a strange statement. Understandably though, I can't imagine what she must be feeling

 

[zwiebel]

Well, it doesn't say but I guess she must have meant her partner.

The one who brought a dog home from 'someone he met in a pub that wanted to get rid of it'.

I don't know, who 'gets rid' of a dog in a pub, and who adopts one they find there? These dogs are quite valuable too, if they are are pure breeds. I wonder where the person in the pub originally got it?

 

[popsicle]

I also thought it was strange that the neighbor made no mention about blood on the dog. Albeit, we don't yet know what killed her.

 

[zwiebel]

I'm thinking it's very unusual for authorities not to immediately kill a dog which has killed a child?

Mom said she was being 'blamed' by someone, but also said 'God knows what's happened in there', so I'm kind of wondering where everyone was and what they were doing when the baby died.

 

[zwiebel]

The Mirror has gone mad - they've dropped a pic of self-confessed 'serial killer' Miranda Barbour into the middle of the article about the baby now, where they had the pic of the parents before. WTH??!!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pictured-eliza-mae-mullane-newborn-babys-3161593

Quoting myself because The Mirror finally got rid of that odd photo now. I tried to let them know but they have some weird contact form there that I couldn't make work.

 

[gregjrichards]

It's terrible what happened to this little girl it has happened to several parents here in the last few months. Dogs should not be left with children unattended anytime and dangerous dogs should be rehomed before a new baby is born.

R.I.P Eliza-Mae.

 

[Sheromom]

This is a strange case and I hope more information becomes available. Obviously, keep an eye on your baby at all times but all the Malamutes I have ever met have been such loving animals. A woman walks her dogs (six Malamutes) where I walk my Papillon. My little animal will run up and growl at them.....arrrs....and they will just laugh at her, tails wagging. I would leave a Malamute with a baby long before I would my tiny Pap! Of course, if the dog had been abused, it was likely unstable to begin with. I just want to know a bit more information.

 

[kincaid]

Beyond being abused, dogs can't tell their owners if something is wrong. The first sign of epilepsy in my mixed breed dog was sudden aggressiveness. We spent a ton on dog trainers before his condition worsened and a vet finally diagnosed him. Any number of health problems can cause a dog who was perfectly fine to become aggressive, like lyme disease, hypothyroidism, to conditions affecting the brain like epilepsy, brain tumors, encephalitis, etc.

I always cringe at people posting pictures of babies and dogs together, especially dogs being given equal status with the baby (sleeping in the same bed, etc) because if God forbid, the dog did bite the child, the dog is doomed. Dog bites that require medical attention are reported to the authorities, and it's up to animal control to decide if the dog is vicious or not. Don't risk it. Dogs are pack animals. They need to know their place in the pack and owners have to be alpha. When dogs do display aggressive behavior- a trip to the vet for a full examination is in order, even a trip to a specialist for a neurological work up. It's expensive and most people don't have the 3K or more it can take for a spinal tap and MRI to see what's going on in a dog's brain if it's behavior has suddenly changed. No dog owner should tolerate an aggressive dog. If a dog is growling or dangerous around people, owners have to do something.

 

[zwiebel]

An inquest has concluded and returned a verdict of accidental death. The baby died through 'compression of the skull' caused by a dog bite.

The family actually had two dogs, a terrier and the Alaskan Malmut they'd recently taken in. The Malmut slept in the porch and the terrier inside the house, I think. Neither had shown any aggressiveness to the children before.

Mom put newborn Eliza-Mae in her pram in the nursery for a few moments while she opened the front door to see her five-year old into his school taxi. The Malmut walked past her into the house.

When Mom went back inside, baby was laying on the floor beside the pram dead. It isn't known which dog killed the baby. Both were seized by the police and later killed.

Very, very sad case. That tiny pink coffin at the funeral...

Rest in peace little one.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-pet-dog-died-accidentally-coroner-rules.html

 

[they'll get you]

An inquest has concluded and returned a verdict of accidental death. The baby died through 'compression of the skull' caused by a dog bite.

The family actually had two dogs, a terrier and the Alaskan Malmut they'd recently taken in. The Malmut slept in the porch and the terrier inside the house, I think. Neither had shown any aggressiveness to the children before.

Mom put newborn Eliza-Mael her pram in the nursery for a few moments while she opened the front door to see her five-year old into his school taxi. The Malmut walked past her into the house.

When Mom went back inside, baby was laying on the floor beside the pram dead. It isn't known which dog killed the baby. Both were seized by the police and later killed.

Very, very sad case. That tiny pink coffin at the funeral...

Rest in peace little one.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-pet-dog-died-accidentally-coroner-rules.html

This is a truly horrific nightmare.
'The dog slept on the porch'. That's a small front porch, cold with no shelter on the street with the other dog warm inside. Was the dog left hungry? Do dogs get jealous? It should have had a warm kennel out the back. It's sad this dog iwas outside to survive the elements.

A newly fed baby smells all milky and yummy. Did Eliza-Mae vomit a little and the dog start licking and got carried away?
Dogs also eat their young, could this be a similar phenomenon?

I raised two children with a beautiful family dog but when they were babies the dog was separated if the baby was on the floor etc....we know what dogs lick & sniff!
Then later I was aware how cruel toddlers can be to animals so that was supervised as well.

 

[Sonya610]

Why did the police have to seize the dog? If my dog killed my baby, I wouldn't be waiting for the police to deal with the dog. I would consider that my responsibility.

Well if you take care of your "responsiblities" then you would never allow the situation to occur to begin with. Killing an animal because YOU made a horrid mistake does not equate to being responsible.

 

[Sonya610]

and another case where a Bichon bit a child on the cheek and required stitches.

Kids very very often get bit in the face because they are the most likely to "stick their face" in a dog's face. That is a very very rude and dominant thing in the canine world yet people ignorantly let their kids do it all the time and then get "surprised" when the dog gives a minor nip that requires lots of stitches.

Absolutely NEVER allow your children to stick their face in a dog's face, if the dog wants to give kisses fine but teach your children NOT to initiate by crowding doggy's face. Allowing them to do it is and making the dog "tolerate it" it especially from children is courting disaster and when a bite happens you only have yourself to blame since you should now know better.

Reminds me this popular video showing a "Malamute and a baby singing together". Nothing happens in the video but it is OBVIOUS the dog does not like the baby (snorts when looking at the baby, doesn't want to be touched by baby, doesn't even want to look at the baby). The ignorant parents think it is CUTE yet this dog is simply trying hard to tolerate the situation. Watch for the signs of dislike and disgust starting at the 2 minute mark, they are subtle but also quite obvious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyk1HXvCNks