4 Day Old Infant Survives, Barely.

"A father was frantically calling 911 to report his missing newborn when he spotted the baby, bleeding from the mouth and clutched in the mouth of a family dog who had carried him from his crib to the heavily wooded backyard."

Another baby, another family dog. This infant, luckily, has survived (so far).

"Smith said he and his wife, Chrissie, had just put Alexander James (or A.J.) in his crib Monday afternoon in their Nicholasville, Ky., home and were preparing for a baby shower. When Chrissie returned to the bedroom minutes later, one of the doors was ajar and both the baby and their Native American Indian dog — a breed that looks similar to a husky — were gone."

Apparently the Native American Indian dog is a mixed breed of sorts, with some wolf in the lineages.

According to this video, the baby was born 3 weeks early. But the video also says that "according to experts" the main reason dogs turn on babies is out of fear.

Yeah right. That old fear excuse. It's way overused, in my opinion. One of Ms. X's furry companions is afraid of balloons. Well, that's anthropomorphic. Let me put it this way. One of Ms. X's furry companions refuses to be in visual range of a ballon. When she (the furry companion, not Ms. X) sees a balloon, drifting gently overhead, she arises and exits the room and or the house, as needed. Even if dinner is on the floor.

That's what I call fear. If she grabbed the balloon and dragged it into the woods for an afternoon nibble, I would not call that fear. But what do I know? I'm just a dog owner.

Ray Coppinger, noted biologist and author, is quoted in the Seattle article -

The Smiths made a "classic mistake, out of ignorance, and now they're suffering badly for it," he said. Dogs like Dakota don't recognize infants as people, Coppinger said. "It's no more of an act of violence on the dog's part," he said, "than you eating a steak."

Ms. X sides with him.

In the end it doesn't matter what the dogs motivation is. In true behaviorism perspective, all that matters is what the behaviors actually are. And that is what only parents can prevent.

Here's some more idle conversation about the Native American Indian dogs, including discussion of the Michigan breeder that bred this one.

1 year old killed by family dog

Not very many details about this case, police say it will take "days" to piece all the details together.

Police probe death of child by family's pit bull

The boy was attacked by the dog shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday. The father, whose name was being withheld, shot the dog to death with a handgun.

7 month old killed in dog attack

In this tragic story from San Antonio, it seems the grandmother left the child alone with the two dogs while she went to warm up his bottle. The article does not say where the child was when left alone with the dogs, whether in a crib, or on the floor.

The dogs are described as 'large breed', one report calling them 'pit bulls'.

The grandmother stabbed the dogs with a kitchen knife in an attempt to get the baby away from them, and in doing so was injured severely enough to require hospitalization.

Family Dog Kills Infant

It is a morbid headline, but these stories crop up all to often. It's funny in a way, I have never heard anyone call for a ban on families owning dogs if they have children under one year of age.

That's not as outlandish a suggestion as you might think, if you stop to consider that the very young babes are the ones most likely to die as the result of a dog attack, and they are attacked pretty regularly. Calls for breed bans have been based on much less compelling evidence.

I AM NOT STARTING A CAMPAIGN.

Of course not. No reasonable person could support an arbitrary tyrannical proposition.

I want to post these stories, to raise awareness among the general viewers. Don't leave the dog alone with the babies.

Family dog kills 2-week-old Mesa infant

Detective Steve Berry, Mesa police spokesman, said the girl was lying in a bassinet that was elevated and attached to a portable crib when the dog, a chow, began biting her about 7 p.m.

The mother had stepped away from the child to use the restroom and when she returned the dog was still biting, Berry said.

She frantically called 911 and the first police officers on scene saw "obvious bite wounds to the head."

The baby was unresponsive when paramedics arrived, Berry said.