Tragic - Dogs MUST be monitored around babies and small children

The reality is that dogs and children CAN and DO get along very well - given that proper introductions and proper precautions are taken.  It is an unfortunate fact of life these days, that more and more people in "humanizing" their dogs, put these animals in situations where simply by "being dogs" they are doomed - and the tragic consequences are innocent victims.

For small children, this is compounded by parents who neglect teaching their children how to approach, interact with and deal with dogs appropriately.

A 3 week old newborn was mauled to death by one, perhaps two visting huskey mixes in Ste-Barnabe, Quebec.

There are just so many things wrong with how this tragedy occurred.

Babies can be disconcerting to any dog - the crying, flailing limbs and smells do not necessarily translate into "person" for the dog, but can trigger prey instincts. 

"They are not aggressive dogs," said Claude Dionne of the St-Hyacinthe SPCA. "They are just territorial dogs."

Then again, who in the WORLD leaves a small infant ALONE, unsupervised, in a position where the baby is put in danger?  Leaving a baby vulnerable to dogs who are themselves left to roam unsupervised is at best, careless, at worst, criminal. Certainly, the police feel there is reason to charge the two women involved (the 17 year old mother and 37 year old grandmother).

I would be very interested to know as well if either or both of the dogs are neutered or spayed.  A common factor in dog bites are unneutered males - and the story notes that the husky mixes were a male and female.  While the comments on the story range from informed to demented (indicative of almost any comments on any story respecting dogs and dogs that bite or maim), the reality is that ANY dog can be a potential threat to infants and small children and should be treated as such.  Not because they are 'aggressive', 'mean' or 'by nature viscious" - that is just crap - but becuase they are DOGS and have certain genetic predispositions which make it imperative that the dogs are supervised, introduced and acclimitized to children.

Even so, based on the unpredicability of toddlers - it should be a rule that until they children are old enough and responsible enough to follow through with proper etiquette vis-a-vis how to treat dogs - they should NEVER be left alone.

This of course is compounded a hundred times over when the dogs are visitors!!

I feel desperately sorry for both the mother and grandmother while at the same time feeling frustrated and angry that their carelessness lead to the death of a small child - and most likely to the death of two dogs. All because no one (mother, grandmother and visitors (owners of dogs)) used common sense.