Girl Strangled By Family Dog

[summerrluvv]

This is so sad

(Yaphank, Long Island -WABC, January 25, 2006) - It was a tragic accident on Long Island: a six-year-old girl playing with her dog in Manorville was strangled when the 70 pound golden retriever playfully grabbed her scarf and dragged the girl around the yard.

Eyewitness News reporter Sandra Bookman live at the police department in Yaphank with more.
An entire community is in mourning here tonight, trying to come to grips with the heart breaking loss of this young girl. A family spokesman talked with reporters earlier.

James Palamini, Family Spokesperson: "Kaitlyn Dorothy Hassard was an energetic, beautiful young girl who always had a smile on her face, a skip in her step and a heart full of love. All who knew will never forget her, she will be sorely missed by her entire family and circle of friends."

Police say six-year-old Kaitlyn Hassard was playing in the backyard of her Manorville home yesterday afternoon when the family pet, a golden retriever named Jessie, strangled her with her own scarf.

Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, Suffolk County Police: "The dog apparently grabbed the scarf that was around the child's neck and dragged her around the backyard for a period of time and asphyxiated her in the process."

The young girl's 11-year-old brother discovered her limp body just minutes later. She could not be revived. Investigators theorize that the knotted scarf around the girl's neck simply tightened as the 70 pound dog playfully pulled on the dangling edge.

Tonight the one-and-a-half year-old pet is being boarded at the Brookhaven animal shelter as the family grieves. Police stress that this was simply a tragic accident.

Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, Suffolk County Police: "I don't believe that the dog's actions were intentionally malicious, it was probably playing with the scarf as it had previously and trying to grab it and playing tug or war basically."

Kaitlyn was in kindergarten at Manorville's South Street Elementary School. Today grief councilors were on hand and classmates remembered their young friend.

B. Allen Mannella, Schools Superintendent: "One of them said she was a great artist, that she was very meticulous in her drawings, that she would compliment the other students when they were doing their work and that she was a very good friend."

Kaitlyn Hassard's mother is a nurse at another school in the same district. There are also grief counselors there for staff and students.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=3845903

 

[The Mystery Machine]

So sad....

 

[lulugirl]

How tragic.
This story caught my eye because Manorville is where I grew up.

 

[smilie]

I can't even begin to imagine how horrible this is for the family.

 

[luvwinnie]

One of the saddest things I have ever heard.

 

[kilee]

That is awful.

 

[Blondie]

How sad.

 

[keishashadow]

I think the use of the word "playfully" is a misnomer here.

No flames - please, I've bred dogs & have had a few as pets all my life. I consider them part of the family. However, this is one of them most horiffic events I've ever heard of involving a child & an animal.

Don't think the dog meant to kill the child, but I'd argue intent when a large animal drags a child to the ground (by whatever means) & won't let go.

My heart goes out to the family, can't imagine the devastation they must feel.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

I read about this this morning while riding the train, I just feel feel for the family.

 

[jbdreamer]

How horrible for the family. I wonder if they will keep the dog? You think it would be a constant reminder of what happened.

 

[disneynutt1225]

Don't think the dog meant to kill the child, but I'd argue intent when a large animal drags a child to the ground (by whatever means) & won't let go.

My heart goes out to the family, can't imagine the devastation they must feel.

Since there wasn't anyone else around, who is supposed to tell the dog to let go? The "toy" it's playing with?

Not to downplay what happened, I truly feel sorry for the family and the brother who found the child to begin with. But, I do believe the dog was playing - ever play "tug" with your pets?

Maybe this child's scarf shouldn't have been knotted around her neck - this is one of the reasons when I worked in daycare children were not allowed to wear scarves or coats that had the pull ties.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

How horrible for the family. I wonder if they will keep the dog? You think it would be a constant reminder of what happened.

I couldn't keep the dog, as horrible as that sounds. I just could not.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I think the use of the word "playfully" is a misnomer here.

No flames - please, I've bred dogs & have had a few as pets all my life. I consider them part of the family. However, this is one of them most horiffic events I've ever heard of involving a child & an animal.

Don't think the dog meant to kill the child, but I'd argue intent when a large animal drags a child to the ground (by whatever means) & won't let go.

My heart goes out to the family, can't imagine the devastation they must feel.

This is truly sad, but you have to understand, it's in the dog's breed to retrieve and they love to be chased. While this is so tragic, it sounds like the dog was playing with his owner. They are one of the best breeds around children and I can't imagine one being malicious like that.

I have a Golden Retriever and this breaks my heart on so many levels. The dog did let go, as stated in the story. The brother found her body on the ground; it never mentions that the dog was still holding the scarf.

 

[poohandwendy]

Wow, that is so horribly sad. I cannot imagine the grief the family is experiencing. Prayers out to them.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I couldn't keep the dog, as horrible as that sounds. I just could not.

I could. No flames, please, but I love my dog and I know her nature. If she ever accidentally killed one of my children, I wouldn't get rid of her for it.

We're the ones with the higher level of thinking, not the dog. It would be something that I would have to work through.

This is just my opinion.

 

[catherine]

That is so sad, I can't imagine what the family is going through!

 

[Chicago526]

I think this is one of the sadest things I've ever heard of!

I don't think I could keep the dog under the circumstance, but I would find it a good home and not have it put down.

 

[puffkin]

This story is so sad. I think it will be even worse if they decide to put the dog down. I hope that if they decide not to keep the dog (which I would completely understand in these circumstances) that it can find a good home. This doesn't sound like a malicious attack at all, it just sounds like a dog doing what dogs do. I also agree, the girls scarf shouldn't have been knotted either. Just an awful story.

 

[keishashadow]

Yep, we play tug of war all the time. When we say it's done & to heel; it's time to stop.

Both my current breeds were originally bred for guarding sheep & hunting and do have those instincts.

However, if you have dogs you have a family pack. I'm sure you're familiar with the term Top Dog/Alpha Male or Female. The top dog is the leader of the pack. In a family situation it need to be the human and the dogs are subservient to their masters (it's called domestication).

One of the means that animals determine who the secondary Alpha is amongst themselves is submission wherein, the dominant animal stands over the weaker (whether they drug the animal down or it was voluntary), the status quo is determined and all is well.

My concern is about the amount of agression needed for a dog to pull a human down to the ground. Even if done by mistake the animal should have let the family member go @ that point.

Just illustrates that animals do have instincts that aren't always apparent. A true tragedy on so many levels.

Since there wasn't anyone else around, who is supposed to tell the dog to let go? The "toy" it's playing with?

Not to downplay what happened, I truly feel sorry for the family and the brother who found the child to begin with. But, I do believe the dog was playing - ever play "tug" with your pets?

Maybe this child's scarf shouldn't have been knotted around her neck - this is one of the reasons when I worked in daycare children were not allowed to wear scarves or coats that had the pull ties.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

My concern is about the amount of agression needed for a dog to pull a human down to the ground. Even if done by mistake the animal should have let the family member go @ that point.

Just illustrates that animals do have instincts that aren't always apparent. A true tragedy on so many levels.

My Golden weighs 112lbs and she can pull my 16 year old across our hardwood floors by holding on to the opposite end of a towel.

They've always goofed around like that. This could have been my child. My daughter could have been wearing a scarf and Chloe could have dragged her to her death with it. It still wouldn't have been my dog's fault.

(I'm not implying that the parents had anything to do with this - this is just my experience)

To me, it doesn't sound like the dog was being agressive; knuckleheaded maybe. Goldens are goofballs and love to play. I don't recall the article saying for how long the dog had a hold of her scarf.