‘Playing’ with dog leads to 39 stitches; girl’s great-aunt says mastiff/pit bull didn’t realize he did wrong

Here I go repeating myself, but while all this was going on, where was the adult supervision? I would think, playing or not, there would be tremendously loud screaming coming from the two girls as Caitlyn was being bitten.

It doesn't say the age of the dog to know whether the dog was still young, but the important thing here is if you have children...no, I retract that and say, that all dogs should be taught 'gentle' and children should be taught not to excite a dog regardless of breed. Weight factor alone shows that a playful dog and a seven year old is going to end up hurt, even if it's from a bump.

I'm not convinced of the 'rag doll' theory and it sounds to me like this biting of hair is a game that was played more often than this once. Why would anybody allow a dog to bite hair as a game? Basically, it seems this dog was set up to fail by not teaching it properly, as were the girls for not being taught dog bite prevention.

I'm not saying accidents will never happen, but in cases like this it was avoidable if only an adult had been there and corrected both the girls and the dog before harm was done.

This article is in the Palatka Daily News.

‘Playing’ with dog leads to 39 stitches; girl’s great-aunt says mastiff/pit bull didn’t realize he did wrong

By Ron Bartlett

A Bostwick girl was rushed to the hospital after being mauled by a neighbor’s dog on Monday afternoon, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.

Caitlyn Gill, 7, was playing with another girl and the girl’s dog, reported to be a 90-pound bull mastiff/pit bull mix, when, in what was perceived to be a playful act, the animal began biting at her hair. The snapping continued to her face, opening up her nose and right cheek, one eyelid, puncturing a hole in the back of her head and eventually requiring 39 stitches.

“I don’t really actually think that this was a vicious attack,” said Kathleen Sanders, Caitlyn’s great-aunt. “Afterward (the dog) was just wagging his tail. He didn’t have a clue that he did anything wrong.”

Caitlyn was sedated and taken to Shands at UF, where a plastic surgeon performed over two hours of surgery to repair the damage. Sanders said that Doctors expect she will have to make several return visits.

Sanders said the owners of the dog were going to kill it right there, but the sheriff’s office intervened and called Animal Control, which took possession of the dog for a mandated 10-day quarantine. After that, the animal will be released to the owners, to do with it as they will.

“The story isn’t about a vicious dog attack,” Sanders said. “Playful can cause this also. They’ve got that personality and mentality and they take a little girl’s hair and think of it as a rag doll. It happened so quickly.”

Sanders added that the dog’s owners are devastated, and did not leave the emergency room while Caitlyn was in surgery. She said that Caitlyn was not mad at the dog at all.

Sanders said that she has raised Labrador retrievers for years and can’t comprehend owners who choose dogs with a reputation for aggression.

“They say, ‘aww, they wouldn’t hurt a thing.’ Really — I don’t believe it.”

PCSO Capt. Phil Altice, assistant chief of special services, which oversees Animal Control, said that he doesn’t think that it’s fair to single out any particular breed of dog as being more vicious.

“Any dog is liable to bite, whether it be a Chihuahua or a pit bull,” he said.

“Of course, a pit bull — when it bites someone, people go bananas.”

In a research study by the CDC on dog bite-related fatalities between 1979 and 1996, pits and pit mixes accounted for 70 of the 199 total deaths recorded, equating to a ratio of more than one in three. German shepherds were listed second, responsible for 30 deaths during the same period. Since 1993, rottweilers have been involved in more fatalities than any other breed.

In that same study, Florida was listed fourth among all states in dog-related fatalities with 14, trailing only Alaska (18), Texas (26) and California (30).

There are currently restrictions on the ownership of American Pit Bulls in several places in the U.S. and abroad.

They are banned in the United Kingdom under the 1991 Dangerous Dog Act and will be destroyed and their owner prosecuted if discovered there. In 2005, Ontario banned their sale, import or breeding. That same year in the U.S., Denver reinstated a ban prohibiting “pit bull” type dogs and has subsequently euthanized over 1,000 animals — despite the protests of animal right activists, who point to the fact there has been no decrease in the overall number of dog bites. Miami and Cincinnati have also enacted bans.

In 2001, an estimated 368,245 persons were treated in U.S. hospitals for non-fatal dog bite-related injuries, with rates highest among children aged 5-9.

According to the sheriff’s office, law enforcement in the county responds to 300-400 animal bites annually.