it IS sad...that both the dogs and the kids <often targets due to size/behaviors> suffer.
often in these cases the attacking dog <not 'pit bull"> is a dog who is NOT part of the family, living on a chain or un-supervised in a yard, or otherwise allowed to do whatever, but the basis is the dog has no<healthy> relationship with people.
dogs who are chained develop a set of behaviors born out of frustration, boredom and possibly fear, if they're the victims of teasing by household or neighborhood kids <since the dog can't get away>
many times the dog was showing signs of "I've had enough/I'm worried/frustrated" for weeks or months, which were either ignored or punished <dog attempts to move away, dog is forced to stay there because to move away would be considered "dominant">; dog lifts a lip, dog is "corrected" - when it shouldn't have been allowed to go that far in the first place, where the dog felt she had no choice to lip-curl <pre-cursor warning to escalation>
and sometimes there's more than one dog in the attack. dogs by nature do often behave differently when there's more than one, especially if none of the dogs have people-appropriate behaviors
often in these cases the attacking dog <not 'pit bull"> is a dog who is NOT part of the family, living on a chain or un-supervised in a yard, or otherwise allowed to do whatever, but the basis is the dog has no<healthy> relationship with people.
dogs who are chained develop a set of behaviors born out of frustration, boredom and possibly fear, if they're the victims of teasing by household or neighborhood kids <since the dog can't get away>
many times the dog was showing signs of "I've had enough/I'm worried/frustrated" for weeks or months, which were either ignored or punished <dog attempts to move away, dog is forced to stay there because to move away would be considered "dominant">; dog lifts a lip, dog is "corrected" - when it shouldn't have been allowed to go that far in the first place, where the dog felt she had no choice to lip-curl <pre-cursor warning to escalation>
and sometimes there's more than one dog in the attack. dogs by nature do often behave differently when there's more than one, especially if none of the dogs have people-appropriate behaviors