It's time for the pit bull people to start their usual howl: "it's not the dog's fault it's the owner's".

A chocolate lab just bit a little kid up the street from my house. All dogs bite people why is the Pitt the only one to get press? That's all I have to say about that!

I don't leave children unattended around my CAT for goodness sakes...Animals and kids don't always mix, parents have a responsibility to ensure safety. Hopefully this little girl is ok.

Read The Lost Dogs - get educated !
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Dogs-Michael-Redemption/dp/1592405509

I ran a 32-pen boarding kennel 60 hours a week for 6 years. I now work as a Veterinary Technician. I have two dogs and have fostered for the last 2.5 years. I currently have my 13th dog with a bully specific rescue. Barada, whats your experience with canines? I'm going out on a limb guessing mine outweighs yours. Would you like to know what breeds of dogs bite? ALL BREEDS! Anxious dogs, fearful dogs, under-socialized dogs, cornered dogs. They are animals. I am not interested in snotty back and forth conversation; I don't need to change your mind Barada, its clearly already made up! I'm just speaking TRUTH.

I've had plenty of experience with dogs. I favor working dogs, but the best dog I ever had was a German Shepard-Coyote mix. You obviously are part of the "pit bull community". Your ilk gets people killed. It is true that all dogs bite. Pit bulls clamp and crush and shake. You should know that since you are such an expert. Obviously, you don't know squat about genetics or animal husbandry.

*Yawn*

Sometimes you can't use logic to change people's minds and you can't fix stupid. Barada is gettng his/her info from dogsbite.org which is NOT where one finds credible statistics. That site is actually done by a woman who has a vendetta against pitbull type dogs and pulls her numbers together to best suit her needs. As those of us who have had dogs for a very long time (I am a trainer as well), we know that ANY dog can and will bite if they feel the situation warrants. Most humans don't speak "canine" however and because we either misread or miss a cue altogther, that can lead to disaster. Dogs don't just "snap". There is ALWAYS a sign, we may not see it or understand it, but it's always there. We don't know the particulars of this dog/child interaction and what triggered the incident but something did. The signs were there and nobody was there to read them. First and foremost, you don't leave a child unattended with a dog. All three of my dogs are CGC certified, one is a very large pitbull type, one is a GSD/Rott mix, and one is a pug. I would NEVER think of leaving my dogs alone with small kids or ANYBODY who can't "speak" dog. That's something that comes with training and experience and it's still not an exact science.

You can write all you want about "speaking dog" but it does not change the facts. You can't refute the information on dogbite.org, can you? There are plenty of other sources that confirm my position.

@All - To your disagreement about dog bite stats, we'll have an article up in the next few days about dog bites and "dangerous dogs" in Minneapolis.

Ok, I can't believe you pitbull activists are blaming this on the parents. So sad. Most 11 year olds should be able to play in their front yard with their family dog. What happened here is a matter of breeding. The same way I don't have to teach my border collie to herd, you don't have to teach a pitbull to attack. It's what they are bred for. No matter how loving a home and how well treated the dog is, there is always the risk for a pitbull's breeding purpose to rear its ugly head. This is such a sad, sad story. As far as I'm concerned, the blood is on the hands of the pitbull activists like you all who spread the lies that these pitbulls can be nice family pets with good owners. That is just not true, as this unfortunate case shows. Leave this poor family alone and stop blaming the parents. Blame the original breeders who purposely created killing machines. It's not the pitbulls fault they were created for this purpose. But, we should NOT be telling families that these animals are safe for their children to play with.

Meridith, I'm sorry this happened to your family. The pitt bull community always wants to blame the owners of the dog and not the real culprit. This forum is a good example of the "howl" I was referring to in my original post.

@Zelda. Your comment was removed for violating Patch's Terms of Use (http://southwestminneapolis.patch.com/terms), which explicitly ban profanity. If you'd like to repost a clean version of your comment, you're more than welcome to do so.

It's been a few months ago that this conversation was in full swing but I stumbled upon it just today while searching for some info on other issues. I had to post up and say I hope the Pit Bull hater out there has found some time to get the facts on dog bites!!!!!!