“We hope for the best – but he will never be the same again” – family of young boy (9) mauled by pit bull left ‘traumatised’

31 comments

  2. Unfortunately I was sent a picture of the aftermath.

    Anyone defending those type of dogs, should be ashamed of themselves.

    That poor child.

    That dog had attacked another child a few days before hand.

    The owner should face jail time.

    Edit: the paper decided against posting pictures of the child, maybe they should and the people who defend these type of dogs might actually stop breeding and owning them.

  3. Heard Raul being interviewed on NewsTalk this morning.

    As covered in the article, he was saying how a man with a baseball bat had to beat the dog off Aljehandro.

    High time ownership of these dogs was banned outright.

  4. There needs to be accountability – another child was attacked and underwent treatment days before by the same dog. The Gardai knew about this incident, yet both the dog and the owner were still free.

  6. If you’re defending restricted breeds, you’re a fucking scumbag. I don’t care about your feelings. That poor lad.

    Restricted breeds need to become banned breeds.

  7. I’m always torn by dog attacks because I instinctively want to defend the animal and put blame on the owners. But recently someone compared owning a pitbull/one of the other restricted dog breeds to gun ownership in the US. We can’t keep defending the ownership of dangerous weapons by saying it’s just the owner’s fault.

    All dogs can be violent, just like all guns can kill. So lets try and get ahead of the worst of it by banning the most dangerous ones, and throw the book at anyone who owns a dog that doesn’t train/muzzle it if it’s liable to attack someone.

    Poor child shouldn’t have to suffer cause someone “knows their dog and it wouldn’t harm a fly”

  8. I’ve seen the ‘after’ pictures and they are horrific and the attack will leave lifelong scars. The owner of the dog should definitely be prosecuted for allowing their pit bull in an open area, where children were playing, without a muzzle or proper control.

  9. There needs to be more regulation around these kinds of dogs. Not everyone should just be able to own one.

    If I’m not mistaken, at the very least they’re supposed to be muzzled? Has any punishment ever been handed down to anyone for this infringement even?

    I’m a dog lover, and anyone that loves dogs as much as me soon realises that people are the issue. Too many lads going around with pitbulls as an accessory compensating for their tiny flutes.

    I’ve seen comments yesterday saying “shocking on the owners part – dog should have been on a lead!”… I can tell you now, no man in the country would hold back one of those dogs if they decided they were going for the kill.

  10. Ban Pitbulls (and any bull breed)

    They account for over 60% of fatal dog attacks worldwide. In the UK alone since 2020 there have been 15 fatal dog attacks *so far*, of those 15 events *11* involved bull dogs.

    Pitbulls were not nanny dogs before any one tries to spin that shit, they were dogs *specifically* bred to kill and maim their target at all costs.

    Also before anyone says “actually labradors bite the most”, that *might* be true but when a Labrador bites someone they rarely fucking die.

    Pitbulls have the mindset of a terrier and the bodies of muscular murder machines, people always say “well sure jack russels are the most aggressive dogs”. That might be true but only because they’re terriers (like Pitbulls), difference being if a jack Russel bites someone a light punt will send them flying. When a pitbull latches on to someone the only way to get it off is to kill it or knock it out, which is *a lot* easier said than done considering they can have necks like fucking tree trunks.

    I’m not saying we round up and kill all of the Pitbulls, but we should ban the breeding and importing so that they die out humanely over a couple generations.

  12. These dogs need to be banned. It’s always #notallpitbulls bullshit, my dog would never hurt anyone until they do. These dogs are unpredictable and dangerous and there’s no valid reason for having them when there’s hundreds of other breeds to choose from other than trying to look hard.

    Ban them an save other people from going through such a traumatic experience totally unnecessarily

  13. Time to ban all bully breeds and make breathing them illegal. Grand father in existing dogs and hold owners personally responsible for any attacks.

  14. I love dogs and have always had dogs, big and small but there has to be some accountability here. Certain breeds of dog have to be leashed and muzzled when in public or the owners should face serious legal action…

    Ffs I got a €50 on the spot fine for not having my 6mth Westie pup (who was tiny) not muzzled on the metro in Barcelona. There has to be stricter action at home, I see too many dogs let loose in parks and public places, I’ve seen several attacks too…

  15. Poor lad, I hope he pulls through OK.

    I was only a week or two ago attacked by a large dog while I was out running lucky i wasnt hurt because the owner was able to recall the dog at the last secound, the owner had the dog off the lesh on a narrow path, I slowed down and gave them space so the dog wouldn’t feel threatened but he made a beeline for me, after the incident the owner ignored me just kept talking on his phone, I shouted at him to not fucking ignore me and to keep his fucking dog on a leash, he just shrugged his shoulders and said OK, like fuck he put him on a leash. There’s so many kids and other dog walkers down that path and I wanted to ring the guards about it but i never did. It still pisses me off even now though.

  16. A friend of mine witnessed an attack by two pitbulls in Athlone a few weeks ago. They were off their leads and on a mission to kill whatever they could see. They killed one person’s dog and once it was dead just went straight for another lab, knocking down its owner in the process. He called the gardaí and said to them that someone needs to get down there with a gun. It was the only way to stop these things – clearly trained to just kill, unlike animals who hunt to eat. They were like, “sorry we don’t deal with that kind of thing have you tried the dog warden? Oh actually he doesn’t work on the weekends, sorry, nothing we can do”.

  17. I have dogs growing up for over 20 years and il tell you this you can’t trust them that they will never turn.

    Get yourself minature chihuahua, Yorkshire and so on. Very easy to run when they start to give lip.

  19. This is truly horrible. The poor boy and family. I live beside a popular park and the amount of dogs I see off the lead is terrifying. I have a fear of dogs that I don’t know and I’ve often been out for a run or walk and a dog has come charging towards me with the owner having absolutely no control of them. Even that is scary, I can’t imagine how this poor boy felt when that happened and when he was attacked. I have tears in my eyes reading the article and after seeing the aftermath.

    The laws surrounding these dogs need to be much more strict. The “oh my Milo wouldn’t hurt a fly, he’s just friendly” excuse is fucking not okay.

  21. Father is a dog warden. He’s absolutely fucking fuming that the Gardai and local warden didn’t seize the dog after the first attack. They share some of the blame for this horrific shit

  22. I’d like to see a proper national animal control department set up. It’s long past required and the current process of dealing with it by council area is just outdated. Stray and abused horses, sulky racing, dangerous dogs, illegal hunting. All of it should come under the remit of a single department. There are plenty of Gardaí out there with an interest in this area but without training or resource to pursue it on anything but an ad hoc basis. There are plenty of volunteers with organisations out there who would assist with this kind of stuff too.

  23. 2 giant labs surrounded me and my lurcher, snarling, heads down, hair on back of neck up, literally it looked like something from a film!! My dog on lead, those two off lead. Never saw my dog so scary looking either in defense. I was also obviously pregnant at the time, about 8 months. Out on a short walk. I was terrified didn’t know what to do except to just stand there. The owner (just a little middle aged lady) shouted “stop that now” to her dogs and proceeded to hit one of them with the rope from the lead. Said nothing to me, we edged away and the other dogs wandered off.

  24. This is infuriating to read. How in hell did the owner of this dog allow a second incident to happen so soon after the first! Owner should get punished and should be helping for all medical costs. Poor young fella! Hope he recovers

  25. I had a psycho family member who suffers from mental illness threaten burn my belongings that were temperorarily in their home. The previous day the guards had been called to their house by another family member (drama I know – I don’t talk them anymore).

    I spoke to one of the guards who attended the previous day and was told:

    “we’re not going to that property, as there was a dog barking at us there yesterday”.

    Absolute feckless morons, any kind of discomfort and they do’t show up.

  27. Just in case this happens to you, your child or your dog, I learned from a dog trainer, if a pitbull latches on to your dog or child or whatever, grab their collar from behind and pull it. They will start to lose their breath and pass out/let go. It’s not the quickest way but the safest way to get them to release anything in their jaws. If they don’t have a collar wrap your own dog lead or anything similar around their neck and do the same. Basically choke hold it til they pass out. Then run like fuck and call animal control.

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