A 3 week old baby mauled to death ..............................

[dark_castle1]

in Sunderland by a terrier type dog. A 30 year old man has been arrested. The mother was attending a family event following a bereavement and came home to the horrific scene.

What a devastating scenario to come home to.

R.I.P. little one.

[soppysofty]

Children under 5 should NEVER be left alone with ANY dog!

How did the dog get to the baby?

We will never know.

That is the problem with the press - we only get about 1% of the truth and 0.5% of the facts!

[cee-dee]

Very true, they only tell half a story but in this case the rest of the story (the details) have not come out yet.

Some reports say the dog was kept in an outhouse?? How did it get in to the house at four in the morning?

One scenario could be that previously, the dog was kept in the house and when the baby arrived, it was "shoved outside". With the mother away (?????) the bloke let the dog in and it being "jealous" of it's "replacement", saw it's chance and attacked it?

[millielilac]

Absolutely tragic ....just cannot comprehend the agonies that those parents are going through .....

[captainbovine]

maybe it's the noise a baby makes, little squeaks etc sometimes could set off a dogs instincts. Whatever it was the poor dog will get the blame, and it's the humans who are at fault....you should never leave a dog alone with a child, especially a little baby like that.

such a tragedy.....

[myraandjim]

think you are right Captain, no dog is ever 100% reliable with young children and parents need to realise this. My dogs as daft as they come, and the breed is known for being good with children in fact they were used as "nannies" in victorian times (they are Newfoundlands) but I still never leave them in a room alone with my grandchildren. The dog will of course get the blame and lose it's life, but we never can tell the dogs mood or if it's in pain, and a terrier probably thought the baby noises were coming from prey and was doing what it is bred for. Also, a dog kept in an out house is probably not socialised, trained etc. Horrible thing to happen for the parents, but poor dog as well.