American Staffordshire Terrier Involved in Incident With Child at AKC Event

AP NEWS: BERRYVILLE , VA APRIL 5 2007

Police were called today to the Clarke County Fairgrounds to investigate an incident involving an American Staffordshire Terrier dog and a 9 year old child. The American Kennel Club sanctions the event, held by the Clarke County Kennel Club annually. Thousands of exhibitors and spectators attend yearly.

According to witnesses, the child was walking near the show rings unsupervised when she suddenly came face to face with the 70 lb American Staffordshire Terrier dog. The child threw her arms around the dog's neck, reports say, when the unthinkable happened. The dog began enthusiastically licking the girl's face as his tail wagged briskly.

"It was awful", said one bystander, "there was nothing we could do. That dog was just giving that child every ounce of love he had and no one did a thing to stop it".

Another witness, who took video of the event, said "This happens all the time, I don't know how it hasn't made the news before now". One spectator, who declined to be named in this interview, told reporters, "The sounds were just heart wrenching, all that laughing and giggling. It made me smile so hard my face hurts. I plan to sue for pain and suffering".
The handler of the dog admits this is not the first time such an incident has occurred, and that the owners were "well aware of the stable, loving and patient temperament of this dog". The owners were unavailable for comment.

Police state that the handler, who was noticeably unrepentant, was cited for Reckless Entertainment. The dog was given roasted chicken treats and was not taken into custody.

Is this taken from the Onion?

Chalk one up for the Staffies!!!! (if it is true)
Now there is some news I would LOVE to hear and see on the news......GOOD DOG!!!!

Oh my God, that's TERRIBLE....
I've been licked in the face before, too. Can't imagine the joy that child went through. =)

i wonder what everyone was thinking when they began reading...my first thoughs were that the kid was bitten and the dog would be banned from competing....even while reading...lol...

I know! I was expecting the same thing, thinking "not again", looking for something to which say the dog was provoked or to blame it on the owner haha. I'm glad this was totally different than we all were expecting. I love Am Staffs.

Hehehehe. Glad you guys enjoyed this. I also thought it was about time we read a nice pitbull story. I'm starting to get sick of the "pitbull mauls child" and "pitbull starves to death while chained in yard" stories.

I don't know where this was originally published, Amber. It was posted a couple of days ago on one of the raw feeding Yahoo lists I belong to.

Maybe if these types of stories are told more often we wouldn't automatically assume "horrible mauling incident and terrible owners" as soon as we see "pitbull" and "child" in the same sentence