tfromtulsa, Tulsa (10/16/2009 4:10:03 PM)

"According to a Grove police report, Helms fell down while trying to catch his own dog..."

Sounds pretty unprovoked to me.

wotko, Sapulpa (10/16/2009 4:57:50 PM)

If I was the owner of that dog I would voluntarily put it down.

Ayo, T-Town (10/16/2009 5:15:30 PM)

I own a Great Dane. Yes, they are very big. Big lap dogs, most of them. Typically, their temperment is friendly and docile.

However, when my Dane was younger she wouldn't allow anyone other than my dad near me or my daughter when we were asleep.

Any dog can and will bite or attack given the right circumstances. They are dogs, they aren't people. Too many people act like their dogs are human beings.

As I said the other night, I hope the poor boy recovers without too many physical or psychological scars.

My daughter was bitten by a dog when she was only 7, and it took a lot of work for me to help her overcome her fear of dogs afterwards.

AllSmiles, Sperry (10/16/2009 4:51:09 PM)

OMG! How sad! Freaking giant dog trying to kill that kid! hum...not good.

yep, Tulsa County (10/16/2009 6:15:25 PM)

Dogs are animals, they don't have reasoning capability like humans do. Well OK many humans don't have reasoning either, such as some of those posting here who don't understand that animals are incapable of reasoning. A viscious animal doesn't act tame and then suddenly out of the blue attack once...they exhibit a tendency to do this, and it often starts as small signs that get ignored, and grow over time. A tame and docile dog can, if scared/provoked or in fear, may bite. Certainly. We do not know. This dog may have been extremely startled by a small child running and falling and simply reacted. It may be a very good dog. Why does everyone always want to just kill the dog? Reminds me of the lab puppy that was being starved, and killed the baby...the cops were so quick to kill the dog, and later found out the dog wasn't a bad animail, it had just been starving by stupid owners (probably would have been better to put that dumb owner to death than the dog).

Ryanoceros, Tulsa (10/16/2009 4:20:08 PM)

I've never seen a Great Dane that didn't act like a puppy...playful and happy. It's hard to imagine one attacking a boy. My neighbors have one, other than being a bit oafish, completely harmless aside from drowning you in slobber. My kids enjoy playing with him, as do I. Picturing one attack, wow...they are big dogs. I hope the boy fully recovers.

M_Sizzle, Tulsa (10/16/2009 4:45:17 PM)

I was around a Great Dane once who was a viscious dog. I don't trust those things, some of them are as big as a horse.

Four Sixteen Rigby, Tulsa (10/16/2009 5:37:30 PM)

Sounds like this Dane is owned by a hooked up member of the local Grove socio-economic elite.

noise, (10/16/2009 7:40:55 PM)

Wrong move. Put the dog down.

WreckmTech, Broken Arrow (10/16/2009 11:47:54 PM)

Without question dog down. If it was a pit bull attack there would be no question right? Animals have consequences to.

Lass, (10/19/2009 10:49:15 AM)

According to people at the event the boy came barreling through the crowd very quickly after his dog and fell bumping into the great dane. Who can blame the dog for getting scared and distressed? The owner of the great dane is not part of the local Grove socio-economic elite. She is a person who loves animals and gives a lot of her time to help stray animals.

Jolie2, (10/17/2009 2:56:22 PM)

to yep

I think they put the baby-eating puppy down because they needed forensic information about what he actually ate. At the time, the investigators needed to be absolutely sure of the cause of death of the baby (not homicide by persons) and why the puppy attacked the baby. By finding no dog food within the puppy's system, they were able to determine it was starving, which caused it to eat something because it was hungry, not vicious.

The importance of determining events leading up to the baby's death outweighed the life of the puppy in that circumstance.

As much as I love my dogs, I would be hard pressed to justify keeping one that attacked and harmed a child so grievously. If in the future, the Great Dane hurts another person because of some 'freak' response, how will the owner feel, knowing she could have prevented it. How will she ensure that this doesn't happen again?

Why wasn't the Great Dane on a leash and under control of the owner during this walk event, btw?

scooter2, (10/16/2009 8:39:12 PM)

Thank God he's going to live. Hopefully he will get over the tramua as well. Best Wishes for a speedy recovery