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Dog Drags Newborn From Family Home

By JEFFREY McMURRAY
,
AP
posted: 6 HOURS 20 MINUTES AGO
comments: 2073
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21) - A father was frantically calling 911 to report his newborn missing when he spotted the baby, bleeding from the mouth and clutched in the mouth of a family dog who had carried him from his crib to the heavily wooded backyard.
Four-day-old Alexander James Smith was rushed to the emergency room at University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington, where he was listed in critical condition Tuesday with two collapsed lungs, a skull fracture, broken ribs and various cuts and bruises.
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His father, Michael Smith, said doctors were optimistic the boy would survive, but a day earlier they braced the family for the worst and had to use resuscitation paddles to get a heartbeat.
"They took us straight to a consulting room with a pastor and gave us pretty much what was the last visitation," Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press from a hospital waiting room.
Smith said he and his wife, Chrissie, had just put Alexander James (or A.J.) in his crib Monday afternoon in their Nicholasville, Ky., home and were preparing for a baby shower. When Chrissie returned to the bedroom minutes later, one of the doors was ajar and both the baby and their Native American Indian dog — a breed that looks similar to a husky — were gone.
Michael Smith initially headed to the backyard, knowing that Dakota, a mixed breed with wolves in its ancestry, had a reputation for stealing household items like cups and wallets and depositing them there. He spent 10 minutes looking among the trees and bushes in the two-acre fenced backyard before finding the dog and child about 200 yards behind the house.
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"When you're running through the backyard and you can't find him, every worst fear comes through your head," Smith said. "We had to try to stay positive, try and find him. My guess is five more minutes and he wouldn't be here."
Jessamine County chief deputy sheriff Allen Peel said no charges had been filed, but the case remains under investigation.
"It's unreal," Peel said.
Smith, who is the owner of a security company where his wife also works, said the dog was treating the baby as a puppy and wasn't being vicious.
But he expects that Dakota, who was taken into custody by animal control, will be destroyed. The 4-year-old was one of three dogs the family had owned since they were puppies and had no history of aggression, even when playing with Smith's two other children from a previous marriage, he said.
"It wasn't a vicious dog attack," Smith said. "She had A.J. for 10 minutes on her own, and if you look at A.J.'s belly, there's about 100 little marks. All the dog had to do was one bite and A.J. wouldn't be here."
Associated Press writer Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.
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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2009-07-21 14:02:45
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BlueBichion2014

12:01 AMJul 22 2009

im sorry everyone for the language i am about to use but if they put that ******* pore dog down they should kill those ******* humans that left it with the baby in the first place!!! All dogs have motherly instincts just like people so if the baby is making noises that sounds like a puppy (like my baby likes to imitate things she hears at 1 month old) the dogs instincts are going to kick in and she is going to think it is her job to take care of "it".

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Donburnet

12:01 AMJul 22 2009

The parents should really have been more attentive and expecting such behavior from their dog. Some people shouldn't breed.

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Nancyiam4

12:00 AMJul 22 2009

can they not get this dog another home where there arent small children i dont understand it is so upsetting when animals are destroyed for what is natural to them

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Shotgunshooter5

12:00 AMJul 22 2009

That is NOT a wolf. It IS a breed of dog MC10 SMOKIN. That is a female dog also and she's probably not spayed so the maternal instenct is still there. The dog was looking out for the baby. It says in the article that the parents weren't with the baby. Worried about a dog that size.. I grew up (from birth until the dog passed) with a shepard/rottie mix. IT IS THE DOG OWNER'S FAULT ONLY!!!!!!!!! They didn't take time to introduce the smell of the baby so the dog would know its nothing for her (the dog) to protect.

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xx PINK xx 3800

12:00 AMJul 22 2009

i have a neighbor with a newborn baby, and she wakes me up at 3 o'clock in the morning. for the father not to hear him, or even see the dog dragging a baby is ridiculous. i along with many others believe that the parents had something to do with the situation. also, why on earth would a parent of 4 days leave their newborn and a husky hybrid alone, upstairs? one more thing the dog could've also believed that the baby was it's own and wanted to bring it into a different habitat. that is just another scenerio, but i definantly believe the parents of AJ had a big part in this. God bless little AJ<3

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BURBANKMOORE

12:00 AMJul 22 2009

First off, this "dog" is more wolf than dog. Second off, the pet may have been doing something benign, like when Roy's tiger tried to help him off stage after Roy had a stroke at the Mirage. OR the pet was jealous, in which case, it's guilty of not knowing right from wrong. Either way, you don't leave a new baby alone with a big dog, or snake, etc. Duh! Poor baby! That hurt!

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Jflour

12:00 AMJul 22 2009

Why should the dog be put to sleep when all he was doing was what comes natural. I feel someone there needs to step up and find this dog a new home. One that doesn't have children or at least no babies.

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Titan007347

12:00 AMJul 22 2009

HONESTLY PPL....WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE DOG IS THINKING WETHER IT TREATED THE BABY AS ITS OWN OR NOT....THING IS THAT THE FAMILY SHOULD HAVE TRAINED THE DOG BEFORE AND AFTER THE BABY WAS BORN SO THAT WAY THE DOG WONT GO EVEN IN THE BABYS ROOM.......AND REMEMBER THAT DOG COMES FROM A FAMILY OF WOLVES...AND HAS TASTED HUMAN BLOOD....DO YOU REALLY WANT A DOG THAT DID THAT TO YOUR CHILD BACK INTO YOUR HOME? ITS A BIT LATE.......DOGS GO A BIT JEALOUS AND DOES NOT REALISE OF WHAT A HUMAN NEWBORN BABY IS OR HOW FRAGILE IT IS................SURLEY THIS FAMILY DIDNT HAVE THE DOG TRAINED.... AND HONESTLY THE DOG KNOWS......THAT THE BABY IS A LIVE CREATURE...............BOTH ARE AT FAULT

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PrNcSs3423

12:00 AMJul 22 2009

This is a 3 day old baby, but it sounds to me like the dog was either jealous, or acting on instinct. If this dog had the baby for 10 minutes, and had intentions of killing the baby, I think he would have done so in the ten min he had. This dog does not deserve to be destroyed, but maybe placed in a home without children. As for the parents, why are they morans? For putting the baby in his crib where he belongs to sleep? I have children, and a dog. I would never imagine that my dog would get into the babys crib to take my daughter out. The parents aren't wrong. People need to stop being so harsh. A 3 day old baby is fragile, and that is probably why so much damage was done. I dont think the dogs intentions were to hurt the baby. We can't read a dogs mind, so no one will ever know, but I do not think this dog should be destroyed. If he took the baby and tore him to pieces with the intent to kill him then yes. But that doesn't sound like the case here. Why dont we stop being so negative ...

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RUBDGR8

12:00 AMJul 22 2009

DESTROY THE PARENTS! IDIOTS THAT THEY ARE. WHO LEAVES A NEW BORN CHILD ALONE W/ A WOLF? PEOPLE, ITS A WOLF AND WOLVES DO WHAT WOLVES DO.

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A father was frantically calling 911 to report his missing newborn when he spotted the baby, bleeding from the mouth and clutched in the mouth of a family dog who had carried him from his crib to the heavily wooded backyard.