Updated Wednesday, May 8, 2013
ST. GEORGE – A young boy sustained significant injuries and required surgery after being attacked by two dogs Monday.
St. George Police Sgt. Sam Despain said the St. George Communications Center received a call concerning a dog attack around 5:30 p.m. in the area of 1300 West and 360 North. Police and medical units responded and found a 10-year-old boy had been bitten and attacked by two Rottweilers. Two women, the owner of the dogs and her 10-year-old daughter, had also been bitten.
Despain said the dogs attacked the boy after he went into the backyard where they were kept. The yard was gated and fenced and contained three Rottweilers. (It was later confirmed that the boy fell into the yard while playing on top of a block wall with friends.)
“We don’t believe the boy taunted the dogs,” Despain said, but for whatever reason, two of the dogs started attacking the boy, leaving him with “significant injuries” that required surgery later that evening.
The owner of the two dogs noticed the commotion in the backyard and went outside to try and separate the boy from the dogs. At this point the dogs began to bite her arms. The dog owner’s 10-year-old daughter also became involved when saw her mother dealing with the dogs outside.
The girl took a kitchen knife outside with her and ended up cutting one of the dogs during the ordeal, though Despain said the cut to the dog was relatively minor. During the exchange the girl received bites to her hands.
“The owner is pretty distraught over the whole thing,” Despain said. “It’s a pretty scary deal.”
The dog owner and the two children were eventually able to get away from the dogs and waited for the police to arrive. The 1o-year-old boy sustained the most significant injuries.
Despain said the boy is expected to recover from his injuries and may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As for the dog’s owner, Despain said she “didn’t necessarily do anything wrong” and that the attack may simply be an unfortunate event, given what is currently known about the incident. However, an active investigation is underway to determine the cause.
St. George Animal Control has taken possession of the two dogs involved in the incident.
Update: St. George News contacted the St. George Police Department for confirmation concerning how the 10-year-old ended up in backyard with the dogs. Sgt. Despain was unable to verify the details as the investigations reamins active. As for the dogs, they remain in the custody of animal control.
Despain also said St. George city code only allows for two dogs per household. Anymore than that requires a kennel license.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2013, all rights reserved.
Dog packs are a real problem in this county. When more than two dogs are together, the pack mentality is multiplied greatly. The Washington County Zoning law says you must have a kennel license for three or more dogs and that a kennel license requires the owners of the dogs to live on at least 10 acres of land. What this means is that the woman who kept three dogs was over the limit by one since she surely doesn’t posses a kennel license. I don’t know the reason why she had three dogs, however, unless one dog is a puppy of one of the other two and is still nursing, the limit is exceeded. Citizens need to be educated on the laws so that there is less of a chance for this type of tragedy to occur. That’s why the law exists. The Washington County Sheriff’s office needs to enforce these laws, which they don’t.
Washington County ordinances DO NOT affect and/or apply to City of St. George residents. I currently do no know of a single family dwelling on 10 acres or more in the city limits of St. George.
An accident waiting to happen is a dog who doesn’t respect the pack leader (owner).. Most dogs will bark and alert to a situation without attacking. If they do theyare out of control. You have to socalize your dog, and have control of the dog. If you just stick it in the backyard and can’t control it (even incessent barking, or to the point where you can’ control it) you should not have a dog. Also, it is my eperience that Rotts although they can be good pets do better with a strong guy they mind better. I have a large dog that is protective but not aggressive through work and socalization and he is a great dog.
This comes down to poor training and poor parenting. I was raised around Rotts my whole life who were trained guard dogs. Saved a mail man from one of my dad’s dogs when I was in preschool. My dog stopped attacking as soon as I came on to the screened in porch. Where was this kids parents while he is sneaking into someone else’s back yard?
Sad that the boy got attacked, but he deserves it if he just thinks he can enter someone fenced in yard without permission.
@ Keep Our Freedom, my word, the boy was only 10 years old. We have no idea why he entered the yard. Maybe he thought he knew where he was going and entered the wrong yard? I don’t think he deserved to be attacked by dogs. I love dogs, but I love children also!!
Sorry but its TRESSPASSING it is the boys fault and the boys parents fault for NEGLECT! SORRRY WHEN YOU ARE 10 YEARS OLD YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO TRESSPASS IN ANYONES BACKYARD WITHOUT PERMISSION…if not dont leave your children play outside alone!!! This is strictly bad parenting.
What would you think if the owner went out and attacked/beat the kid to near death for falling into their yard? That doesn’t make any sense and would be very illegal, so why is dogs attacking and almost killing him justified?
Clearly if this was your child you’d be telling him “tough, it’s your own fault”. THAT’S poor parenting in itself. Even if there are very good parents that will never mean their child will be the perfect child all the time. That boy deserved none of that, trespass or not. It doesn’t say the boy even trespassed. He could have been inside the house playing with the other girl and then walked outside to play with them. No need to make assumptions of stories we haven’t heard fully.
Sorry to hear the boy got hurt,but glad to hear it wasn’t (PIT).
If it a was a pit the poor kid would have been licked to death..ignorant much ?
The dogs need more training but at the same time they are territorial so it makes sense that they’d be upset that he came into the yard but what the heck was the kid doing in someone elses yard? 10 years old is old enough to know not to be an idiot and wander into someone elses yard with strange dogs.
This happened two streets down and my son watched while cops and ambulances did what was needed. Three children being the owners children and the neighbor were all playing on the fence when the boy fell into the yard which flung the dogs into a fierce frenzy.. very unfortunate.. which will affect the boy for life with a fear of dogs.
the fence
At Keep Our Freedom…. To say he deserved it is chicken chit! NO ONE deserves its. When you raise this sort of breed, you’d better be prepared for the consequences of owning the breed…. such as LOCKED fences. No, he shouldn’t have gone into someones back yard, but he’s a kid for Pete’s sake. Kids will be Kids and Kids are curious, maybe a ball bounced over the fence and he went to retrieve it…who knows, but he didn’t DESERVE this to happen. You never went onto someones yard or property unannounced as a child?
My son just a year and a half ago was attacked by 3 rotts and nearly died… thank god the 4th dog, a pit mix happened to be chained that day because it bit my son just a couple days earlier in our own yard. There is no question he wouldn’t have survived the forth dog.
But your probably think he deserved it too because he stepped onto the driveway where the dogs where being kept.
I hope this boy makes a full recovery and that the physical scars are minimal and he can overcome the mental scars. My heart goes out to the parents of this boy as well.
May sorry that happened to your son and glad to hear he is okay. But there us huge difference between your story and this one. Your son was on a driveway where all those animals should have been chained up. In this story all these animals were fenced in. Huge difference!
Breed? it’s not the breed that makes the dog dangerous, its the training or lack there of. or even abuse. Even Chows or German Sheperds can be dangerous. I’ve had more poodles try to attack me than Pit Bulls or Rotweilers.
Yes kids are curious, even mine, but teaching kids respect of property is important too. A 10 year old should generally know about boundaries and what to do if they need to go in someones yard.
Yes I went unannounced into my neighbors yard once, and guess what, there was a huge pit bull growling at me. I immediately jumped back over to my yard. Then I went to the front door and asked if I could have my ball back. That was the last time I ever did that too. Lucky for me, his dog was trained to warn and not attack until it was absolutely necessary.
I also hope the boy makes a full recovery and is not scarred in any way over this. I hope the parents are ok too. However the homeowner has full rights protect their yard/house. The homeowner also needs to take responsibility and train their dogs correctly.
I agree with Kelsey, your story and this one are like comparing apples to oranges.
So moral of the story… two people were in the wrong. The boy for not respecting boundaries and the dog owners for not properly training the dogs.
You are also ignorant “that breed” lol that breed has nothing to do with it same thing could have happend if they were labs or retrievers !!!
Shame on you Mori Kessler for using that picture! Maybe a picture of a child trespassing would have been more appropriate- with that said I hope this boy has a fast recovery, and parents start teaching their children to knock on the door before going into a fenced yard.
Nothing wrong with that picture. That’s the last thing they saw just before being attacked.
I agree. That image makes people think the dog is to blame. Unless you want to outlaw dogs along side guns, then you are doing a good job.
I absolutely agree! That picture is obnoxious.
The boy went into someone else’s yard. It’s sad, yes, but dogs guard their property and he trespassed. If he had been a rapist hopping the fence at night or a robber trying to break into the house, would anyone be as upset about this as they are now? With that being said, it is very sad that boy was harmed. But it’s also sad that his parents didn’t educate him enouh about dogs or hopping fences into unknown territory.
Also, what ever happened to private property. IF the boy had not gone into the yard where he wasn’t supposed to be this would not have happened. Dogs will protect their homes. The boy didn’t “deserve it” but I don’t believe the dogs need to be put down because of this either. If I have a fence around my yard because i have a pool and the fence is meant to keep children out then I would hope that their parents also would not just let them wander around the neighborhood getting in to MY private yard. And I don’t believe it is the “breed” – I have a niece who has had Rottweilers for years and they are sweet and gentle dogs.
I reiterate what I said above…….What would you think if the owner went out and attacked/beat the kid to near death for falling into their yard? That doesn’t make any sense and would be very illegal, so why is dogs attacking and almost killing him justified?
Walls are meant for privacy and protection… Had this kid been respecting the neighbors privacy and not walking ontop of the wall, he wouldn’t have fallen or jumped in someone’s backyard. It’s very unfortunate but kids need to be trained to respect people’s privacy these days.. Maybe the dogs were trained to attack intruders.
I also hate that the Spectrum picked the most vicious picture they could find for sensationalism. It’s hard to judge this incident without having all the facts but it seems like the dogs get condemned no matter what. We need to change our attitudes about dogs and start putting the blame where it belongs. Usually if there is a vicious dog it is because of the people that are around it and the way it’s been treated.
You do realize you have your news sources confused, right?
Thank you Jeckyll! It is very unusual when the account in the Spectrum is move informative than the account on SG News. But in this case, that is the way it is.
I’m more of the opinion of this being an “unfortunate situation,” than anything else. Stuff happens. Live with it.
He didnt tresspass!! He was playing with owners children!!!! He fell off the fence.. enough with the tresspassing comments.
Just because he was playing with the owner’s children doesn’t mean he wasn’t trespassing. If the homeowners didn’t allow the child or children over to play, and the kids did anyway, that is trespassing.
If they were told not to be in the backyard and they went in the backyard that is trespassing.
I’m his aunt and I know how the neighborhoods in St George are closenit and family oriented. The owners know every kid on the street and the kids know them. Anyone who has kids knows when they play together they stay together they don’t need permission to play on your property or enter your house they just do and it’s not ever thought of as trespassing. Keep our Freedom is just an ignorant hot head. I live in Texas and would have just shot those dogs no questions.
No not ignorant. 🙂 I’m not attacking anyone, just stating the facts. I guess I’m not privileged enough to live in nice neighborhoods where everyone is ok with letting the kids go wherever they want. Since you are an expert on St. George neighborhoods, tell my why the people who live 4 doors down from me get mad when ever kids come into their front yard and yell at them to go away. Or tell me how it’s ok for kids to wander neighborhoods when a sex offender lives in the next neighborhood over.
If the dogs had been outside their yard, I would have shot them too, no questions asked. However the dogs were in their yard and protecting their owners.
I feel horrible for the boy but as you say ” The owners know every kid on the street and the kids know them” then the boy KNEW there were dogs in the private walled in backyard. I know he fell off the wall but he should not have been up on the wall in the first place more less doing something where he could possibly fall off.
I am not saying he deserves to be attacked because he does not at all. I have dogs in a fenced in backyard myself and there is not a kid in my neighborhood who would even dare to go near my backyard because they know that my dogs are very protective of our space. That is exactly how I want my dogs to be, protective. A dog does not know the difference between a man, woman or child so they were protecting their space.
This was a horrible accident but the dogs do not deserve to be killed because they were in their walled yard and so the boy had zero business being on the wall. No one is at fault as it was an accident but why kill the dogs because the boy was where he should not have been?
Isnt that wa big reason why we have dogs to protect are house know going to make big deal caouse its a rott ive owned them my hole life have one sleeping with me as I type this this is the kids fault should of not been in some one elses yard but people will point fingers and say it the breed of rotts to mean well thats just like cars drive drunk penciels spell words wrong and guns kill its apl bull … you could beat my rott yell taunt it wont even bark or growell he is pere bread to. This just all retarded. Keep track of you kids parents.
Ed. ellipsis
Not only do pencils spell words wrong…
Why were the dogs taken they did there job maybe child servises should comr and take the kid away from the iresposiabll parents dogs are hear to protect us well somr of them mine is a little pussyn
Protecting the owners by chewing on them along with the kid playing with their own kids? Yep they did a great job of protecting the owners. They probably deserve a medal.
Protecting their home? From what exactly…children? Protecting is alerting, barking, even growling. This was deadly sustained aggression. As far as the stock photo being sensationalism, I’d imagine this is exactly how these dogs would have looked to the victims during the attack.
I am just sick to my stomach reading this article. I’ve been the owner of four rotties (I currently have two pups) and have known lots of other rotts. Between reading the articles and comments posted on the Internet, I think I’m going to have to say the most disturbing part to me was that a 10 year old girl resorted to the use of a dangerous weapon. Hear me out: it sounds as if the boy was not trespassing but had accidentally fallen into the yard. If he had been trespassing…well, that’s why people get dogs, to scare off trespassers, burglars, and other unsavory characters. The dogs are not at fault, animals can not think critically. So that leaves me with the owner to blame. But I have lots of questions that haven’t been addressed. I’m wondering “Who was the dogs’ breeder?” “How old were the dogs?” “Why did only two dogs attack?” “Were the attacking dogs protecting the third dog in some fashion?” “Did the owner invest time in training?” “If the dogs bit the owner, and her child felt the need to use a dangerous weapon against the dogs, what the heck is going on in that household?” I would love to hear the owner comment on the incident. One of the first commands my dogs learned was “leave it” and “drop it.” I can’t fathom the idea of one of my dogs attacking me if I was using the appropriate commands. I feel sad that an incident like this will cause people to fear my dogs. I mostly feel sad for everyone involved, the two dogs who acted as they did for reasons unknown and the three people that got hurt. I hope everyone heals quickly, physically and emotionally.
If I had a dog who’d bit any of the family- it would be gone. Sad but true. You really need to know about the breed and get proper training etc. So scary for the boy and the owners. I am glad he will recover.
Hey, the owner and her daughter bitten & unable to control the animals! Sounds more like this was more than just a young boy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Too many dogs for one household and way too vicious.
Obviously you are a good owner. I don’t believe in bad dogs, I believe in bad owners. Some people should never have dogs they are a responsibility not a toy no matter what breed.
Unbelievable. 3 people were injured by these dogs and you are blaming the child! I am shocked. I am an absolute dog lover and come in contact with different dogs everyday and love them however I have also been viciously attacked by a dog and it always boils down to the owners.
Doesn’t city code in SG limit you to two dogs per household? And they had three? Hmmmmmm
The latest reports from other media say the boy was actually playing on the wall between his yard and the neighbor’s yard and fell into the yard with the dogs. May have spooked the dogs and they attacked. Either that info wasn’t known the news author at the time, or this article just hasn’t been updated yet.
It sounds like it was a freak accident. Nevertheless, some of us still need to find someone to blame.
Well, maybe they didn’t have three. Thought so at first.
But to answer Colton, the dogs were taken because they had bitten someone. They will have to be quarantined and evaluated for rabies and other diseases. And of course they will be evaluated for behavioral issues as well. This is absolutely routine anywhere.
KTW is the only person so far who has made any logical comment. Thank you. I pray for all involved (Dogs and Humans alike).
I just read another report and saw photos of what happened. By the boy’s own statement, he lives next door and was not playing with the owner’s kids. He was playing with other boys. He lost his balance, on that wall, and fell into the dog’s yard. The owners of the dog happened to be home. When he fell into the yard, the owner’s (wife) heard a commotion and ran outside. He credits her with saving him from worse injury. She covered the boy with her own body. He sustained injuries to his back, mostly, but also had a gash on his face. His skull was not ‘ripped off’ as another person posted but he was taken into surgery. He also has a neck brace on in the photos. He was playing ‘on the wall’…doing what?!? He lives next door…and he knows the power of these dogs. If he were my son I’d be angry but once the other boys involved are interviewed, I bet we hear a different account of what they were doing. Those dogs were activated by something, and he was leaning over in that direction for a reason. ..and you will never convince me that those kids weren’t antagonizing the dogs. So now, one of the 3 dogs will have to go, per local ordinance, and it sounds like the owner sustained some significant injuries, as did her 10 year old daughter. Good luck finding a rescue to take the dogs. The perfect storm… What a freakin mess…
This story makes me sad for all the parties involved. It seems that there were a lot of circumstances leading up to the incident. First of all, seems to me the owners had not socialized/trained these dogs well enough. I have 3 pitbulls and if my neighbor children fell into my yard, I’m confident that my dogs would not attack them. Of course, I don’t have my dogs to guard or protect, they are my pets and treated like family members. All of my gates are locked with pad locks and I have signs warning everyone that there are dog on the premise; however, a dog that would attack me or anyone on my property would have to be put down. I do believe that the kids walking on the wall between the yard was stirring the dogs up and the owners should have heard the dogs barking and growling at the child. At that point, the owners should have interviened and stopped the behavior of the dogs and kids. My neighborhood kids have also walked on the wall between our yards and I became aware of it because my dogs were barking at them. I’ve taken the time to explain to the kids the potiental consequences of falling off the wall, i.e. severe head trauma leading to permanent brain injury. I’ve asked not to walk on the wall, but again, kids will be kids; therefore, I have to be confident my dogs would not attack them.
Also, my dogs are taught the “leave it” command and I know I can take anything out of their mouths without fear of being bitten. When you have dominate breed dogs you need to on top of their training consantly and consistently, taking every opportunity to be a teachable moment for both the dogs and any children in the house.
Unbelievable! Three people injured, two of them being the dogs’ owners and it is still all the kid’s fault? Breed has nothing to do with it? Really? Nothing? So the only purpose of breeding is for looks, not for emotional characteristics at all? Sheep dogs aren’t bred to be gentle and trainable? Dobermans are bred to be loyal and territorial to protect their masters? What characteristics were pit bulls and rottweilers bred for? They were bred to be strong and vicious and to fight. Not for loyalty. Of course the owners have a lot to do with it, but no other breeds attack their own families nearly as often. Not even close. If you think it is all training, then you are denying that they have instinct. 68% of dog bite fatalities in 2012 were rottweilers or pit bulls. Of those fatalities, 58% were the dogs’ owners.
Um pit-bulls were Originally bred to be the “nanny” dog so dont talk before you actually know what your talking about
Oh, Karl, you’re so wrong. Rottweilers were not bred to fight. They were originally bred to herd cattle and pull carts. They are part of the working class of dogs. The story (legend?) about rotties is that the herders would tie their money bags around the rotties neck. A rottie looks like they are always on guard due to the brown spots over their eyes so potential thieves would stay away. Using rotts for fighting is a much more modern concept and is not the original intended use of the breed. The reason why I am curious who the breeder is: were these dogs bred to be aggressive? I does happen. Most Rottweiler breeders are responsible people who breed not only for looks but for good disposition. If a Rottweiler who is vicious comes from a good breeder, there must be something wrong with the owner or training it has received.
This story is more about the parental skills (or lack of) by the parents of the children. In my neighborhood during the spring and summer months, the neighborhood kids all come out in the early evening and play hide-n-seek till9-10m pm at night….nightly. Now I don’t have a problem with the kids playing whatever they want. The problem I have is the way these kids take the liberty to flagrantly trespass onto private property to play. They stomp on landscaping, spread landscaping gravel all over the yards, and most of all, aggravate the household pets that are on/in their own fenced in yards.
And it does not matter if you ask these kids if they wouldn’t mind staying off your property….they merely ignore the property owners and continue to trespass. This is just an reflection on their parents who neglected to educate and control their children on the matter of respecting other people’s property. I have had kids on my concrete driveway fall and seriously hurt themselves. I cringe and await the parents visit to request homeowner insurance information to file a claim with my insurer. Again, most of these tragedies such as this one would NOT occur if the parents properly educated and “trained” their children to respect others property and above all respect the individual owners who have contact with these kids instead of being told “you don’t own the driveway”….as I have been told. Parents…teach and educate your children. IT IS a negative reflection on YOU after all.
Should the kids have been playing on the wall? – NO
So it can be said that the the parent and the child are responsible.
Should the dogs have been trained well enough to respond to the owner’s commands without physical intervention. – YES
So it can also be said the owner is responsible.
But at the end of the day the overriding factor in my opinion, dogs that attack their owner and the child of it’s owner when they want them to stop what they are doing, should be quarantined and evaluated because there is something majorly wrong. Even with a dog trained to guard and protect it should only take one word for the owner to stop an attack.
SO SAD!!!
Well said Two Cents.
My husband had an encounter with one of these dogs a few months back. We walk in the neighborhood most every morning and were on Valley View sidewalk crossing 360 N. 3 dogs were in the middle of the street about where this house is, and they seemed to be fighting. As we crossed 360 N., one of them ran up the street toward us looking much like this picture. We stopped and stood still and he didn’t want to leave us, so we decided to cautiously walk away quickly. He finally left us along and went back to the other dogs, but it was frightening. I know the kids on that street. They all run around together playing hide and seek and tag, just normal kids stuff and they don’t bother anyone. K J and his brother are very friendly toward dogs and people.
Those who believe every dog can be trained to act against it’s instincts know very little about training dogs, especially purebreds, if these were. At best only 5-7% of dogs can be trained to overcome their instincts…even with their “owner”. For any dog to act contrary to survival instinct the handler must spend in excess of 30% of their time weekly in training and re-enforcing that training. All animals, “domestic” or not, maintain a primitive nature. Just remember Siegfried and Roy, tow of the greatest animal handlers of all time lost control of the cats, and it nearly cost them their lives. Anyone criticizing the owner lacks sufficient information about animals to make a reliable judgement, unless it is KNOWN that the owners encouraged indiscriminate reliance on instinct by these animals, which does not appear to be the case.
Very well put
Adults kill more children then dogs do.
For that matter, people kill more people than dogs do.
What does that say about “nature” or training?