GRAND Magazine - January 2009 - (Page 32)

leader pack of the By CaRol Wall Respect a dog’s skepticism about a child’s status and don’t expect him to tolerate domination. W The majority of incidents were prompted not by food but rather by the child’s attempts to hug or pet the dog. e CheeRed as ouR 10-month-old granddaughter, Madeline, took her first steps across the family room. Rhudy, the silly beagle we had brought into the fold a dozen years before, was there to offer his congratulations, too. I briefly entertained an image of a little girl and her puppy frolicking across the flower-dotted meadows of our family’s future—that is, until I saw Rhudy’s nose aligned with Madeline’s sweet face. Our beagle was a gentle soul, I told myself—his breed notoriously gentle, people friendly. He was not a German shepherd, a Doberman or a pit bull. He was well socialized, well groomed—routinely checked and vaccinated—healthy! But could we stake our granddaughter’s safety on these reassurances? Erin and Sean McMurry were stunned when their 3-year-old daughter, Grace, was attacked by the docile 85-pound Weimaraner they’d raised from a puppy. A trusted member of the household, Trooper had excelled in obedience training and was serving as a Red Cross dog at two hospitals at the time of the incident—which happened just out of sight and only a few steps away from where Erin sat feeding her younger child at the kitchen table. “Suddenly, I heard a growl and a snapping sound, followed by screams,” Erin says. “My adrenaline went into overdrive.” The McMurrys speculate that Grace may have leaned across the sleeping dog or touched his toenails. Whatever the prompt, in an instant Trooper had delivered two bites along the child’s neck and jaw. Seven stitches would be required to close the wounds. “He missed her jugular vein by a hair,” Erin recalls. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the McMurrys’ daughter is one of 4.7 million Americans—half of them children—who suffer dog bites each year. Dr. Joseph Napoli sees some of the more serious of such injuries in the course of his work as a pediatric plastic surgeon at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. A review of his most recent 25 cases reveals that the most common injury was to the face; the most common age of the child was 2 or 3; no particular breeds were overrepresented (one was even a beagle mix!); and the majority of incidents were prompted not by food but rather by the child’s attempts to hug or pet the dog. Only one case involved mauling by a strange dog. The rest were a result of what Dr. Napoli calls “close encounters”—dogs owned by the child’s family or relatives. There was no correlation between the size of the dog and the degree of injury; most often, an adult was nearby or even witnessed the attack. “With few exceptions, the child’s parents report that the dog had not bitten anyone before 32 GRAND JANUARY 2009

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - January 2009

GRAND�Magazine - January 2009 Grand View Contents Isn't it Grand? Grand Central Tips on Teens Grand Gestures Toddler Town Help! My Grandson's Being Raised Vegan! Cover Story: Casualties Leader of the Pack Reunions Together Time Resources Grand Finale

GRAND Magazine - January 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.