Cat saves boy video sweeping through?

[Stormness_1]

Sprinkles, its funny you say that. One of my first thoughts was, if not rabies, are neighborhood children poking at the dog with sticks through the fence or otherwise harassing it.

Kid-annoyed or harassed dogs do not go after children.  They may snap or bite a child who comes up to them, but they don't go after a nuisance.  They get away.  They leave the area.  The dog's body language in the video is far more akin to a hunting dingo than an actual normal dog.  Honestly, I would say the dog has been trained to fight with that level of aggression.  If the kids were harassing the dog, I would imagine the owner of the dog would be reporting the family of child instead of vice versa.  :/

One of our dogs was being kicked through the fence by one of our neighbors grandkids, I had no idea until I caught him doing it one day and prior to that couldn't figure out why she hated kids so much. She would only bite if they got too clingy though,  or if they cornered her. Otherwise she would run away.  She wouldn't have gone looking for trouble like that dog was, I'm going to agree with MiRaja here, having been surrounded by a dingo pack one day on my horse, that is in fact what they behaved like.

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[Ringlets]

*nods in agreement*  this is not normal dog behaviour, and we've had guard dogs in the past and even a rescue dog that had been hurt by kids in his previous family..... he hated kids forever after but he never acted like this dog, even if he got loose 
 Unfortunately we'll probably never know the truth of why that dog seemed to stalk and then attack the little boy, but YAY for the brave Kitty!  
  I havent been in this partcular situation but if my mom (or anyone else ) even raises their voice to me, my  two youngest cats will come running to "protect" me from the person they think is intending me harm/upsetting me.  I hadnt seen it before although I have had many cats all my life. These two were rescued by me as tiny abandoned kittens though and they view me as their mom - they are very loyal. This brave cat was protecting a member of the family too

[True]

I hate watching this >.< its worse because i frequent tumblr so its been turned into a gif and been posted a million times. I just hate seeing the kid dragged off his bike like that, but yes thank goodness for that cat!!

The thing that gets me, is this could easily happen SOOO MUCH! I mean I know the kid didnt reach out for the dog (didnt even see it coming from the looks of it) but I do see a lot of kids doing that automatically, when they see a "cute dog." I always tell my son "DONT just go up an pet any animal, even if its on a leash, ask first!" I used to have to watch out with a dog I had in the past, because everyone thought he was so cute and wanted to pet him. He really was a great dog at home and around people he knew, but around lots of strange kids, he was a grump. And my last dog, he loved everyone, but he had a jumping problem so id have to watch out for kids running up to him, hed get so excited for the attention he would start going crazy and I didnt want him accidentally scratching some kid.
When we went to big group things like festivals he would have a sign on his harness that would say "HI! I LOVE being pet! but I get so excited and jump! Please ask my mom first!" xD

Long story short, I wish people would keep an eye on their pets, and teach their kids to be safe around them.

[Radiance]

Brave kitty! I'm glad she was there to save the day for that kid! But I'm sorry about the dog. It wasn't acting normally and I wonder if something was wrong with it or if its owners encouraged aggressive behavior. While I agree that the realistic course of action is to put the dog to sleep, I have to wonder if all this could have been easily avoided with proper training, socialization, and care from the dog's owner. It's a real shame.

ETA: What True said is so right! I took my dog Zeus (a huge American Bulldog) to the vet when he had a skin infection. He was scared and hurting and I had him sitting on the floor between my knees as I sat in a chair (he was shaking and I was trying to comfort him). Another client came in with a small child, maybe 4 or 5, and the little girl immediately shot straight towards Zeus and tried to grab on to him. He yelped and tried to climb up on my lap to get away, but he could have easily reacted with a bite and I don't think I could blame him if he did. Even a quick bite from Zeus could have broken that kid's arm. Fortunately the girl was just scared by his yelping but the girl's mom went off about dangerous dogs needing to be put down, blah blah blah. Zeus is a big lovable goofball, not some killer. People need to teach their kids to ask before approaching an animal! Especially at the vet, when they are all hurt and/ or scared! OK, rant over. 

[True]

Radiance, that makes me so mad! Id probably had gotten into trouble and said something right back to that woman. Like my son knows not to run up to animals he doesn't know! I was chased down by a stray dog when I was a kid, much like this video I was in my own yard minding my own business. But its still in the back of my mind, that even though someone keeps an animal as a pet, doesn't mean that animal is safe around other people. They have no idea how to communicate to you what past habits they might be struggling with or what things make them nervous etc.

I love how she started ranting about dangerous dogs, when it was her child that ran up to the animal, of all places in a vet, where they're bound to be on edge even if they're the best behaved animals normally...
Every dog Iv ever owned has been adopted and come with its own list of things that makes it a "difficult" animal, however each and every one of them were truely amazing dogs, but they all had their own personality, things that would make them nervous or like my latest, was just so friendly he didnt realize how jumping could possibly hurt someone xD. I'm far from an expert, im not a vet, or someone who even knows a ton about dogs/animals in general. But the way I see it if you have a child, you want to protect it, then teach them these things, and if you have a dog and you love it, then keep it close, and train it as best you can. :/ I hate when I hear people say "i love my dog like a child" and then those same people just let their dogs run loose around the neighborhood.

[Whippycorn]

I think often the same people who don't know how to properly socialise a puppy also don't know how to teach kids how to behave safely around dogs, which is clearly a dangerous combination that has probably resulted in the majority of fatal attacks.

I'm always really pleasantly surprised when I come across a child who actually asks if it's OK to approach and pet my dogs. Most either squeal as they run past us or come running over all hands, both behaviours which can scare a nervous dog enough to nip or bite.

We tend to give loose children a wide berth, my big girl is a nervous thing (I can only imagine she didn't have the best first few months in life before we got her).

[LadyMoondancer]

I think this dog just lost the genetic lottery.  Most dogs don't stalk humans.  They might bite a human when they're scared or feeling threatened or hurt, but everything about this dog's behavior said, "Awesome!  I'm going to have a lot of fun taking down this prey!"   Really frightening.  Thank goodness for the cat.

I love dogs, but I think putting this one to sleep is the right thing to do.

[ponybabe]

Wow what a great cat It's great to finally see one of these stories on video and not just read about it. I love reading stories about cats that do extraordinary Things, nice to see one of them

Yeah I kinda do feel sorry for the dog, it looks like it attacked the boy with no provocation from him I blame the owners. I believe they say in the video it's a Lab/Chow mix and Chows aren't the best breed of dog to have unless you're going to train them:

The Chow Chow is an imposing character thanks to his bellowing bark and scowling expression. They originated in China and were used to hunt everything from pheasant to wolves, were commissioned to guard boats and pull carts of cargo. Today the Chow still makes an excellent guard dog, and when treated with love and respect, is himself a loving and respectful companion who tends to attach deeply to one or two members of his family. Chows are an aggressive breed, fiercely protective of their people and property and should only be adopted by experienced dog owners who have the time and energy to devote to proper training and socialization.

So yeah this dog probably had his hunting instincts intact and aggressive behaviour. The owners clearly didn't realize what they had and didn't socialize or train him properly A pity the dog had to suffer because he lost the lottery in which owners he got

[True]

I think this dog just lost the genetic lottery.  Most dogs don't stalk humans.  They might bite a human when they're scared or feeling threatened or hurt, but everything about this dog's behavior said, "Awesome!  I'm going to have a lot of fun taking down this prey!"   Really frightening.  Thank goodness for the cat.

I love dogs, but I think putting this one to sleep is the right thing to do.

I felt the same way, Like the dog actually kinda seemed happy that it was doing this? usually an animal will adopt a "hunters position" this dog seemed sort of chill and light on his feet. If I had not been warned what was going to happen, I honestly wouldnt have expected him to suddenly go for the kid. I think thats part of what makes it so hard for me to watch. o_o

[Tilas]

The cat was awesome, but I'm tired of seeing it on my dash on tumblr and imgur every day LOL.  Oh, the internet and their cats...