Dogs and Tots: A Bad Mix
Tragedy and terrible wounds often result when infants and toddlers live with even the most placid dogs. Experts say it’s because canines are programmed by nature to attack certain sounds, movements and situations into which many tots fall. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and other concerned groups have created National Dog Bite Prevention Week, observed from May 15th to the 21st.
(PRWEB) May 19, 2005 -- The situation was tragic enough to make strong men
cry.
A normally placid German shepherd, a beloved family pet for seven
years, lived with a couple who bore their first child.
But one day,
while the new mom was out shopping and dad was in the shower, the tragedy took
place. The family pet -- who had never bitten anybody -- attacked and killed the
newborn. Local newspapers were filled with indignation that a drooling, savage
beast had just been biding his time for an opportune moment to wreak revenge and
then struck when left alone with the infant. The media called for putting the
dog down and the dad in jail.
“But that’s probably not what happened,”
says Cheryl Carlson, a Michigan dog trainer and expert witness in dog attack
cases. “What usually happens in such cases is the baby makes its usual cries and
coos which, in a dog’s ears, sounds like a small wounded animal.”
Carlson, owner of Cher Car Kennels in Ontario, Canada, knows what makes
dogs bite because she also works as a Campagne Decoy in a full body suit and
allows herself to be bitten while training attack dogs.
“Any dog is hard-wired by nature to investigate wounded animals which
may become a source of food, so the German shepherd probably jumped onto the
basinet, tipped it over and knocked the infant to the floor,” Carlson told
CosmeticSurgery.com.
“The newborn then howled even louder and that
triggers aggression in even the sweetest dog,” she says. “In the mind of a dog,
the bawling infant had become prey and the pet obeyed its most basic instincts.
Judging by the baby’s fatal wounds, the dog grabbed the infant by the face and
shook him violently.”
The German shepherd was later euthanized but the
grief stricken dad did not go to jail.
To help prevent such tragedies,
the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and several other concerned
groups have created National Dog Bite Prevention Week, observed in 2005 from May
15th through the 21st to help remind parents, dog owners and others of ways to
prevent dog bites which are too often suffered by children.
Another
troublesome household scenario takes place when well meaning parents try to warn
toddlers away from Fido’s food bowl, toys or sleeping place. But the dog sees
the upbraiding and then places the little shaver at a rank one notch below
himself. Because dogs live in packs, they rank everybody in the family either
above or below themselves. Outside, running, playing, screaming kids can also
trigger an instinctive predator-prey reaction in some dogs. And, when children
roughhouse with the family pet, dogs equate that type of play with their litter
mates and other canines in which using teeth is normal.
Were it not for
the careful – and repeated -- attention of a plastic surgeon over many years,
terrible scars would also result. How obvious that mark remains can be changed
with proper wound care. Any time a parent sees a dog causing deep penetrating
wound on a child or a loss of flesh, a plastic surgeon should be consulted,
experts say.
Yearly, there are about 4.7 million people bitten by dogs,
according to the (ASPS,) with 800,000 – half of whom are children – requiring
medical attention.
“Dog bites are extremely dangerous because the rate
of infection is fifteen times greater than a routine cut, says Ben Lee, M.D., a
plastic surgeon in Denver, Colorado. “Moreover, 40 percent of dog bites on a
child involve tearing away of skin, muscle and other tissues.”
One of Dr.
Lee’s patients, two-year-old Brooke was bitten so badly, the internal structures
of her face were ripped opened, with crushed nerves and torn blood vessels
exposed to anybody who had the stomach to look
“Of all dog bites each
year, 60 percent are on children under 12,” says Dr. Lee. “The family pet, or a
neighbor’s dog, is usually the biting animal. The wounds are so terrible because
a dog bites and then shakes its head until flesh comes off.”
Then, a
surgeon’s job is formidable – the wound must be cleaned while flesh is
repositioned or replaced with tissue taken from other parts of the child’s body.
Because of the high infection rate, the surgeon usually puts the victim on the
strongest antibiotics. Moreover, the wound must be inspected to check for
crushed or severed nerves and torn facial muscles. With a large gash on the
child’s face, the surgeon must carefully and precisely trim the edges of the
wound which is carefully sewn back with the help of a microscope. Moreover,
there are products that treat scars.
“Sutures used on the face of a child
dog bite victim are about as thin as a human hair,” says Babak Azzizzadeh, M.D.,
an assistant clinical professor of surgery at the University of California, Los
Angeles. “If the wound heals with a noticeable scar, it can be treated some
weeks or months later by laser to reduce the thickness of the scar.”
Sam
Speron, M.D., a Chicago area plastic surgeon, has seen and treated child dog
bite cases so severe the tyke’s brain was exposed and a young nose was almost
completely torn off.
“In almost every case, the attacking dog was the
family pet, grandma’s pooch or some other dog that never had a history of
hurting anybody,” Dr. Speron says. “In the end, the child’s physical injuries
are not nearly as bad as the psychological scars that can turn an active,
outgoing child into a withdrawn youngster.”
According to the American
Society of Plastic Surgeons, dogs are more likely to bite children when
startled, when chained or when playing aggressive games. A sick or injured dog
is also more likely to bite.
Dr. Azizzadeh has seen enough tykes with
severe dog bites, he knows he can no longer keep a dog at home.
Because
he has a two-year-old crawling on the same carpet where the child would be
eye-to-eye with the family pet.
For more information about all types of
plastic and cosmetic surgery, go to: http://www.cosmeticsurgery.com
This article was
medically reviewed by Nayiri Doudikian-Scaff, M.D.
Dr. Scaff’s website:
http://www.ienhance.com/physician/training.asp?docid=56872&display=1
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb241721.htm