From the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch:
A baby girl was killed by the family dogs yesterday morning while her father slept on the couch in their West Side condo, Columbus police said.
Mia Gibson, who would have turned 3 months old this week, was pronounced dead at Nationwide Children’s Hospital at 7:45 a.m., after she was taken there from her home at 1467 Lake Shore Dr. Apt. C, police records show.
Mia was on the couch with her father, who was asleep, when she apparently fell from the couch and the dogs caused injuries that led to her death, said Sgt. Steven Little, of the first-shift homicide squad.
Little said the dogs — both Shiba Inus — didn’t attack the baby, but rather appeared to be playing roughly with her.
Little said it appears as if the death was caused by the dogs, although the baby had no major trauma visible. She did have several small puncture wounds on her body, he said. The Franklin County coroner will conduct an autopsy to determine what caused Mia’s death.
“It looks like the dogs were probably playing with the baby, thinking she was a toy,” Little said.
The dogs have been taken by animal control, Little said. Shiba Inus are a Japanese hunting dog and range in size from 17 to 23 pounds.
Mia’s mother, Sabrena L. Gibson, 34, was in her bedroom when one of the dogs at the bedroom door woke her, Little said. She went into the living room and found her daughter injured. Mia’s father, Chris Kusumi, 33, told detectives he had slept through it all.
Little said detectives spoke to both parents and will not charge them. The case will be forwarded to the Franklin County prosecutor’s office to further decide whether there should be charges.
“It’s just an unfortunate situation, and it’s a sad situation for the family,” Little said.
I hate to burst anyone’s bubble here, but “playing roughly” sounds to me more like the shibas were engaged in predatory behavior toward the baby.
When dogs are hunting, they enjoy it so much that they do look like they are playing, but they are not.
Miley always looks like she is playing with the ducks, and then a duck winds up with a gash in it!
Shiba inus are primitive, dingo-like dogs from Japan– and there are maybe a half-dozen or more breeds that are very similar to them (which I cannot keep straight). Throughout Japan’s history, there have been times when the ancestors of these dogs lived a sort of feral existence.
They are sort of Japanese dingoes.
And we all know what dingoes do to babies!
It’s not that all shiba inus would do such a thing. Indeed, dogs often don’t recognize babies as people, which leads to predation.
The last time this blog discussed this issue didn’t involve a primitive dog at all. It was a golden retriever cross in South Carolina.
Now, I had a dog babysitter when I was small*. It was a hunting dog– a beagle to be more specific– so I’m cautious about saying what a dog can’t or won’t do to a baby.
But it would be better to err or the side of caution.
You just don’t know.
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*Now you know what is wrong with me!
So sad. Back in the nineties Mary and I had the first polish lowland sheepdog bitch born in the UK. We showed her in the “import register” class. Japanese shiba inus were also being imported at that time so we line up for judging alongside them. They seemed to me to be enigmatic dogs which we found hard to read, strange sounding, strangely beautiful but, as you say, a bit dingo-like. Not for us!
This seems fishy. If the child did not cry out (and wake a parent) perhaps she was unconscious or dead before the dogs got to her. SIDS? Smothered? Drugged? If she did cry out, why didn’t it wake a parent? If the wounds were only “small puncture wounds” and there was “no major trauma”, one wonders what the true cause of death was. It will be interesting to see what the autopsy shows. If the newspaper even publishes a follow-up.
There was a somewhat similar story a few years ago, where two Rottweilers were blamed for the death of their owner. Autopsy showed cause of death was natural, wounds made by dogs were post-mortem. But the “big news” was those nasty Rottweilers mauling the owner.
Could be something weird. Could also be simply: father fell asleep accidentally because he was so tired, baby fell on head, rendered unconscious and unable to cry out, dogs interested in a thing that is normal for dogs to be interested in, shook baby a little, gently by dog standards, no viciousness involved, the end. Sad, but no one’s really to blame. Not every tragedy has a villain.
A friend of mine once had one of my wolf-dogs. She lived in an isolated area up on the side of Snake Mountain, so felt it was safe to let her pet roam at will. The wolf-dog was a very loving and usually gentle pet, but one day she wandered far enough to discover the nearest neighbors flock of chickens. No one was around until near the end when the neighbors returned home to discover the wolf-dog standing amongst the remains of the slaughtered flock, so no one can really say what state of mind the wolf-dog was in when she killed the chickens. When the question arose as to what should be done with the wolf-dog (was she a dangerous livestock killer, or just a playful pup that went too far) my friend protested to me that her dog was “just playing with the chickens”. I pointed out that it really didn’t matter, because whether the dog was just playing with the chickens, or was actually trying to kill them, the results were the same… dead chickens. Being a hunter for most of my younger life, I’ve seen my dogs kill a number of things, and have seen more than my share of vicious dog fights amongst my wolf-dogs (one Christmas morning I broke up a terrible dog fight between a big wolf-dog and the Great Dane that was basically my watchdog by repeatedly throwing myself into and between the two as they stood on their hind legs, front legs wrapped around each others shoulders and tore at each others neck and head… Not the recommended way to break up a dog fight, but necessary in this case), so I’ve had a bit of experience in this area (not to mention the hundreds of my own chickens my wolf-dogs have killed over the decades. I’ve often said the true example of insanity is trying to raise wolf-dogs and chickens on the same piece of property).
One dog playing with a small animal or even a baby may inadvertently kill it in a way that might be mistaken for an attack, though the kill shake so often used by dogs when actually killing prey usually results in very sever trauma far different than that left by just an overly-hard play bite. Two dogs playing with the same small animal will leave basically the same damage, but two or more dogs killing a prey animal have a far different way of attacking. Each dog will grasp onto a portion of the animal (or child) and pull in different directions, much like two dogs playing tug-of-war with a towel. This results in sever tearing and ripping of the flesh, and even dismemberment in something with fragile skin like a chicken or child (it takes very powerful dogs to pull a tough-skinned animal like a raccoon or woodchuck apart).
I was once called the scene of a tragedy that resulted in the death of three dogs. A friends wolf-dog and pit bull had been shot by a neighbor who claimed they were killing his dachshund when he shot them. My friend wanted my opinion of what actually happened. When I got to the scene both of my friends dogs lay dead with shots to the back of the head at the point where the neck joined the cranium, consistent with them being shot as they held onto something, and were probably not just running loose or running away when shot. The dachshund was also dead, and besides having long rips along its torso resulting in it being almost disemboweled, one of its hind legs had practically been torn off. All this damage was consistent with two powerful dogs grabbing the smaller animal and pulling violently in opposite directions. One dog would have simply dragged the smaller dog around, two literally pulled it apart.
Not having seen the baby killed by the Shibas, I can only speculate as to what they were actually doing, but you can see how the two different types of killing would leave evidence that would give you some indication of what the dogs were actually trying to do.
In essence, Miley might kill a duck while playing with it, or she might actually have been trying to kill it, but either way she’d leave a dead duck, but a duck relatively in one piece. Two Miley’s killing a duck would leave a shredded and scattered carcass.
As a side note I’d like to say I, too, had a dog “baby sitter” when I was a small child, and I have three (now grown) children, and have had some wonderful dogs over the years; dogs that while they’d quickly kill any raccoon snooping around my bird pens, I wouldn’t be afraid to leave in a room with a bunch of day old chicks over night. But I would not trust the best dog I’ve ever had alone with my children when they were babies or toddlers. While I was “sure” the dog would never harm them, the price I’d pay if I were wrong would just be too great.
My 3 dogs are great with kids but I would NEVER leave a small child alone with them. The dad made a grave error and he will suffer for it the rest of his life.
Exactly what I do with my Great White Kuvasz.
The parents are probably never going to totally get over the emotional trauma, but the police must look into it. 99.99% of the time, such tragedies might be accidents, but foul play needs to be ruled out.
Having kids and having pet dogs should add joy to ones life, but sometimes it does not.
My opinion on the breed of the dogs? With a baby that young, no breed is safe. Fawns and baby bunnies are legit prey items for carnivors. Dogs can have both the urge to love family and the urge to kill prey. While one urge is turned on, the other urge might be forgotten.
But some breeds do have a better track record than others. It might not be that they love people less (though that is possible too), but that they have stronger predatory drives. Once a dog sees something as prey or foe, then the dog is using instinct, not love or reason.
People, especially dog breeders, like visually attractive or interesting dogs, but what families need is dogs which have had all of the hunting, killing, fighting, and status urges bred out of them, while strengthening bonding, parenting, and peaceful urges.
Too often dogs are not being bred for useful function, nor their level of domestication. They are being bred for having pretty coats, or their side show appeal.
May, your statement that “what families need is dogs which have had all of the hunting, killing, fighting, and status urges bred out of them” backs up what I’ve often stated. Most people really don’t need (or want) a dog, they need (and actually want) a lamb. The fact that anyone would want an animal such as you describe shows the distance that divides “dog” people. I’ve spent my life with big, powerful dogs that carried the potential for explosive violence just below the surface, and have loved those dogs and controlled that potential all my life. The fact that some people want an animal that started out as a top of the food chain predator, but that became our hunting companion and made us the top predator in the world, shows just how badly we humans have destroyed a unique creature, and now want and expect it to be little more than a couch potato lawn grazer. If people want a soft and harmless herbivore, they should get a soft and harmless herbivore. They shouldn’t get a domesticated wolf and expect it to be a lamb, and most of all, they shouldn’t bet their child’s life that it will.
It makes for some very boring pets I think. My childhood dog had a very high prey drive and the rest of those urges to a degree. She was fine with children just not other animals and iffy with dogs.
I desire some prey drive in a dog,if they don’t have any their unlikely to chase a frisbee or ball for more then a second. I love Rottweilers,but it does annoy me how they turned them into that lamb,taking away even a smear of prey drive or guardian instinct in most of them. These kind of people always seem so proud their dog is afraid of cats,wont even bark at a intruder,wont jump or run and sleeps on the couch all day. It makes a easy pet I guess,and supposedly counters negative stereotypes in some breeds.
Not a lamb. What some people want is a robot.
Worst dog bite I’ve ever had was given to me by a Shiba.
Hi DAC,
Some people are sure that dogs, and their cousins the wolves, were once savage predators that would tackle a mammoth. Other people are just as sure that dogs always followed bear, big cats, or people around and scrounged leftovers. Who knows? Maybe dogs radiated out into different niches?
A poodle is as much a dog as a husky. A skittery greyhound is an old type and just as much a dog as a terrier.
But most families need and want a dog which is good with children and is easy to manage.
A dog without killer urges isn’t boring. Many such dogs are “people oriented” and their life’s wish is please their people. They are a joy to own.
And no dog is without some hunting urges, except for the most disabled breeds, dogs will usually try to help people hunt – even if you are just walking the dog on a leash through the park.
What reason is there to breed for strong hunting urges if your puppies are sold to people who live in New York City in apartments in high-rises?
Puppies should be bred to fit into the type of home and family who they will live with.
May,
Hi, I agree with you, and probably the most important “job” of the domestic dog today is to be just that, a safe companion for the family. And i see nothing wrong with people breeding dogs for that purpose, as long as they don’t get carried away and let “cute’ traits hurt a dogs health (and don’t produce 500 pups a year to peddle in pet shops like puppy mills do). But no matter what breed or type of dog people get, they must remember they are not lambs, they are modified wolves, and even small dogs like those Shiba Inu that killed that baby are still predators. Most of the dogs I’ve owned in my life have been more wolf-like than the average dog, and I’ve always favored the larger ones, so I’m biased towards that type of dog, but have always educated anyone who got a puppy from me that their pup was going to grow into a big, powerful animal that could potentially do damage if not properly trained and controlled. I would never sell a puppy to anyone who thought they were getting a lamb. I had one couple come to my kennel and look at a litter of wolf-dog pups. The husband asked me if they would chase deer. I said they would, that I would not breed a dog that didn’t have the initiative to chase a deer unless it was trained not to. But I knew right then these people weren’t right for a wolf-dog, and they didn’t get one from me. And whenever anyone asked me how my dogs were around children I just said not to trust any dog around a small child. Simple as that, even a toy poodle can tear up a child’s face if the right set of circumstances fell into place.
I no longer breed wolf-dogs, not wanting to sell a puppy to someone I haven’t gotten to know, or ship one if I did, and there just aren’t enough people in my immediate area who are willing to devote as much of their life to one of those unique animals as they must. So I concentrate on breeding a cross of Irish wolfhound and Alaskan malamute that I hope will be healthier and longer lived than pure Irish wolfhounds. I raise one litter a year, and have a waiting list for these excellent crossbred pups that will grow into beautiful and intelligent dogs. But I give all new owners the same warning about dogs and kids. Dogs are predators; do not leave them alone with your child, especially because I have not bred out all the hunting, fighting and dominance urges from my animals.
I now also own a Patterdale terrier that besides being a great house pet, hunts rats around my pigeon lofts, chicken coops and barns. She only weighs 17 lbs., but is quite long-legged, so to get pups that were even smaller and shorter-legged than her, ones that could get into tighter places and under low things, I bred her to an 8 lb. Chihuahua, and now have a litter of three month old pups that are just a blast to have around the house. I am keeping one (a beautiful brindle that will be a house dog when not out hunting rats as I do chores, and will sleep on our bed with its mother at night), and am slowly finding excellent homes for the rest of the litter. But if I had a baby I wouldn’t even leave one of these little tykes alone with it.
Rachel,
There are still some people who like dogs as dogs were originally meant to be, but I guess we’re getting fewer and fewer, and placid, none-active dogs with no prey drive fit in better in today’s more “modern” society. Growing up, all my dogs were hunters, whether they were a hunting breed or not. i used them to hunt coon and squirrels, and to keep vermin away from our farm. I never had a dog that if in the middle of the night we heard the hens squawking in the barn we couldn’t just open the door and say, “get im”, and know it would probably have a dead coon waiting for us by the time we got out there.
But as I mentioned in response to May above, even people who actually want their dog to act like a lamb must realize they’re not lambs, they’re domesticated wolves, and occasionally that predator may rise to the surface. I applaud that in my dogs, others may not be so thrilled when it happens.