4-year-old boy dies after being bitten by 2 dogs

Monday 12th October, 01:44 AM JST

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WilliB at 02:16 AM JST - 12th October

truthliberates:

" I do not believe in owning such breeds as Akitas and Rotties as they are potential danger to both children and adults. "

Not as family pets, but how about guard dogs, which seems to be the situation in this story? I don´t think you´d want a chihuhahua for that job.
GW at 02:27 AM JST - 12th October

well kyodo yr original 3-4line blurb about some institute for lawyers has morphed into about 8lines of more nonsense.

Unfortunately because of some stupid humans a young child is dead, soon two dogs will likely die as well, the people responsible, perhaps lawyers or lawyers in training..............will probably just carry on being stupid
Monoflow at 02:39 AM JST - 12th October

Some dogs can be weapons, as we all know... I really like dogs, but as long as we probably are afraid passsing a dog or dog-owners are too stupid, to act responsible with dogs, only a rigorous law will help (f.ex. muzzles for dangerous dogs anytime). In the case, grandma was obviously to sure about the dogs. One innocent child died in an awful way, so the dogs must put down, doesn't matter what the reason of the attack was. A well trained and harmless one, would never attack the child...
KobeKid at 05:04 AM JST - 12th October

The woman told the police that the dogs bit her grandson before she had time to chain them.

and anyone who has lived in Japan for a while can guess that these dogs probably spent the majority of their time on chains...

Dogs tethered for long periods can become highly aggressive. Dogs feel naturally protective of their territory; when confronted with a perceived threat, they respond according to their fight-or-flight instinct. A chained dog, unable to take flight, often feels forced to fight, attacking any unfamiliar animal or person who unwittingly wanders into his or her territory.

as long as this society accepts the idea that chaining a dog for long periods of time is the norm, incidents like this will continue.
KobeKid at 05:12 AM JST - 12th October

Do chained dogs make good guard dogs? No. Chaining creates aggression, not protectiveness. A protective dog is used to being around people and can sense when his family is being threatened. A dog learns to be protective by spending lots of time with people and by learning to know and love his human family.

Leaving a dog on a chain and ignoring him is how to raise an aggressive dog. Aggressive dogs can't distinguish between a threat and a family friend, because they are not used to people. Aggressive dogs will attack anyone: children who wander into the yard, the meter reader, the mailman.

http://www.unchainyourdog.org/Facts.htm

The dogs didn't kill this child, ignorant owners did.
wanderlust at 12:13 PM JST - 12th October

Can't people read here?

The Institute was owned by a lawyer, not for lawyers....
GW at 12:21 PM JST - 12th October

wanderlust you obviously didnt see the original 3line blurb, JT can & does amend their kyodo blurbs after the fact making early posts look out of place or just bizarre
martyman at 12:25 PM JST - 12th October

RIP little Takaki-san! The grand mother should lose her job as a live-in manager. She was very aware of the dogs behavior and even passively admitted it by saying she did not have time to chain them. Also, it is a bit strange how the story posted the childs name. Other stories would not release the information unles it was an adult involved.
cow76 at 09:29 PM JST - 12th October

'Bit' is a really poor word choice, totally inappropriate. The kid was 'bitten' to death ffs! How about 'savaged', 'mangled' or 'mauled'. 'Bit' sounds like he got a playful nip from a puppy.
Mexicanish at 10:23 PM JST - 12th October

Irresponsible owners deserve to be punished... and although I think it's sad the dogs should be put down in a humane way.

I hate people who own dogs and don't know what they're doing. If you don't know how to train a dog properly (and still feel the need to have one) then get a tiny one that can't maul someone to death.

But I guess tiny dogs don't make good guard dogs? What the h*** do you even need a guard dog for in Japan???? One of the safest countries ever.

Ridiculous.
mnemosyne23 at 10:38 PM JST - 12th October

The poor little boy! My heart absolutely breaks for him and his family.

I'm sure the grandmother is already suffering enough from watching her grandson being mauled to death, but I simply cannot understand why she would let a small boy anywhere NEAR these dogs. I'm assuming they WERE guard dogs, and in that case they were not trained to be family pets. I've never known a small child who, when confronted with a furry animal of any sort, won't go pattering forward with a hand extended to pet it. I can understand how a dog might find that threatening, even from a small child.

I can't fault the dogs for acting like dogs; Akitas and Rottweilers are powerful breeds that were BRED to be aggressive. It's a d@mn shame that they'll be put down, but now that they've shown themselves to be fatally aggressive the authorities have to think about the risk to public safety.

If properly trained and housed with responsible owners, large dogs like this can actually be wonderful pets as well as guard dogs. But the owner must ALWAYS respect that these animals can be dangerous if not handled properly. The grandmother and the rest of this little boy's family have found that out in the worst way possible.

RIP, little one.
tokyokawasaki at 05:37 PM JST - 13th October

The grandmother reported the attack to a local fire department around 10:35 a.m.

Was someone or something on fire? Would it have been better to call an ambulance maybe?
Poruchan at 10:17 AM JST - 16th October

If anyone has any statistics and/or details of Japanese law concerning dog attacks (numbers/cases) I would appreciate the info, or links.
inakaRob at 10:32 AM JST - 16th October

sorry maybe I dumb, or it could be the writing.... what is an institute. That could be about 90% of the companies in japan. Did they train dogs, people, people to walk in the road instead of sidewalks, firemen. Probably not firemen since they had to be called to the scene.

I worked at a vet clinic for nearly 5 years. 99% of the time Rotts where the nicest dogs in the world. Chows are the dogs that come out of the womb wanting to kill you. You have to either train a Rott to that vicious or the kid was messing with them and set them off.
dracpoo2 at 01:15 PM JST - 16th October

Why is the Ambulance seemingly the last resort in the event of an accident here? I have often wondered. I have seen many cases where the police or the fire dept was the place of first choice. I am going out on a limb here to say that, I think that many lives could have been saved if the ambulance was called first when an accident happened. Someone please enlighten me, I am always open to learning.