James McNeelis, 7-years old, was fatally bitten by a dog in Creek County, Oklahoma.
Mixed-Breed Dog
UPDATE 11/06/21: Michael and Hannah McNeelis spoke to Fox 23 News and clarified some information about the dog that killed their son. The male dog, named Max, was picked up by the boy's grandmother, along with several other stray dogs about three weeks earlier. James and his parents lived with his grandmother. Presumably, it was the grandmother who initially described the dog as a "sheltie-corgi" mix to media outlets, causing a stir among dog trainers and dog owners.
Michael admitted he didn't know what type of dog Max was. He said it was "about knee height, white, long hair, fluffy. It’s face looked kind of like a collie, a sheep dog type breed." Max had never shown signs of aggression, the parents said. Since the attack, the dog has been held at an animal control facility. The status of Max is unknown, along with the status of the other dogs that resided in the grandmother's home. The memorial fund for James has so far raised close to $15,000.
10/21/21: Boy Killed by Dog
Creek County, OK - A 7-year old boy was discovered dead Wednesday night after a dog attack, according to the Creek County Sheriff's Office. The parents of the child called deputies just after 7:00 pm to report that he was missing from a home in the 5000 block of West 171st Street. The boy had been outside playing and wandered off. Deputies put together a search team and found the boy dead near West 171st Street South and Highway 75-A in Creek County, near Kiefer.
"The child was pronounced deceased at approximately 7:35 pm. Our preliminary investigation indicate the child was attacked by a family pet (dog). The dog is being held at an animal control facility. We are currently working with the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office on this investigation," the Creek County Sheriff's Office said. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife was also involved, who made the determination the child was attacked by a dog, not a wild animal.
The child's family described the dog as a sheltie-corgi mixed breed. They had taken the dog in as a stray three weeks earlier, according to family members. The dog had not shown aggression before the attack, family members said. No photos of the dog were released. The dog is currently being held at an unnamed animal control facility. We have no records of shelties or corgis being the primary attacker in a fatal dog attack, not even of infants, much less a 7-year old male child.
No information was provided about the boy's injuries either. Certainly, a well-placed bite by the majority of dog breeds could kill a child, such as when a family Weimaraner fatally bit 2-year old Liam Peck in the neck in 2009. A Welsh corgi could not be excluded from a fatal attack after two pit bull-mixes mutilated and killed 71-year old Carshena Benjamin in 2007. That corgi was also found at the scene. These are the dog breeds most commonly involved in fatal human attacks.
The home on West 171st Street where a 7-year old boy was fatally bitten by a family dog.
Related articles:
06/26/21: 2021 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman Dog Sitting Pit Bulls Found Dead in Osage County
12/03/20: 2020 Dog Bite Fatality: 26-Year Old Man Dies After Pit Bull Mauling in West Tulsa
09/15/20: 2020 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman Killed by Family Pit Bulls in McCurtain County
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
Dogs sometimes unpredictably bite. Some dogs unpredictably bite to death.
What types of dogs am I wary of? Only the types that are larger and swifter than my ankles.
Instead of hauling a Trojan Horse into their presence, the responsible persons hauled an unpredictably dangerous animal into their presence.
Which safety rules were ignored?
Never assume that any dog will not bite. Never assume that any dog bite will be located in a non-vital part of the body. Never assume that the total bite count per attack will be only one. Or only two. Or only three. These are life and limb rules. Ignoring them can be expected to result in life and limb consequences.
A “sheltie-corgi mix”? I’m having a tough time believing that. I pray for this boy’s family.
I agree. Not possible. If it was on the neighbors property perhaps it was another dog. There was no eyewitnesses. If that dog mauled that 7 year old boy then it wasn’t a sheltie corgi mix. Would have to be much larger. I owned 4 shelties and they are a loyal and non violent breed. corgis are herding dogs also so that mix is not going to maul a 7 year old. There’s more to this story.
I don’t have an issue with a Pembroke Welsh Corgi being involved here. Pembroke Corgis can be nasty. Cardigan Corgi tend to have better temperaments, and they are rarely seen. I doubt if any Sheltie was involved. Very sad. When does it stop?
I’d have to see a photo of this dog before I believed this one. Particularly since it was a stray and they have no real way of knowing what kind of dog it is.
Either way, a child should not have been left alone with a NEW dog so soon. This is one of the major indicators of attack- newness.
Agree. Notice there are no pictures of this killer dog. Prayers to the family. It’s tragic.
Like others I’m a bit puzzled to think that a shelti-corgi mix would kill a 7 year old boy much less an infant.
And I too would like to see a picture of this dog. And I ALSO would like to ask for definitive clarification from the authorities that this was in fact the dog that cause the fatal injury.
With all of this “doggie disorder” madness that is daily gripping this country with ever more incredible levels of lunacy, it would not surprise me in the least if there is an agency that would keep a kind of clandestine killer to hide the real culprit.
“Nope.Not this time. It wasn’t our pit bull. It was our beagle/corgi/shelti/chihuahua mix that we took in just yesterday from ‘Darth Vader’s Death Dogs’ rescue shelter. So don’t go to blaming the pibble this time.”
Probably has already happened somewhere. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
There have been instances of people being mauled by their own pit bull, and blaming it on either a mountain lion or another dog. Pitbull owners have been known to throw their non-pit dog under the bus, rather than admit it was their precious people that attacked their child or themselves.
Out of curiosity, I just took a look on Google maps of the location. There’s about a half dozen houses on the 5000 block of 171st in Kiefer.
One particular has a fenced in yard with a “Beware of the Dog” sign. And the capture image is from January 2014.
I wonder if this is the home and if there were more dogs present?
I
The house I was looking at is the house next door.
One of the news clips shows a GSD looking dog roaming a property.
I expect that they’re positive that they have the right dog that inflicted the fatal injury? I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but I would think it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to suspect that the newest addition to the doggie family would be the first one to be sacrificial “whipping boy” to turn over to the authorities.
There was one case several years ago where the owners of a biting pit bull was ordered to surrender it for euthanization. She instead surrendered a ‘ringer’ she had adopted from a local shelter for the purpose. The shelter found out and was furious.
I find it hard to take sides with this story. I have owned 4 shelties and they are loving family oriented dogs. Corgis I am not familiar with. Now do we know this stray was a sheltie corgi mix because I’m finding it odd he would attack and kill a 7 year old. Mauled him. Maybe a 2 year old, not a 7 year old. Prayers to the family. It’s a real heartbreak. Perhaps a much larger dog was involved or their dog was much bigger than a sheltie corgi mix. It could have been bigger.
I’m not usually one to say this, but I have a very hard time believing a shetland sheepdog/corgi mix killed a 7 year old boy. A rot, gsd, boxer, great dane, or a much younger victim, sure. But a mix of two rather small dogs on a seven year old seems…odd. That said, this is still a horrific story. Why do people continue to allow stray dogs of any breed around their children? And why do they leave the dogs alone with their children? This poor boy deserved better.
I’d be surprised if another
It wouldn’t surprise me if another free roaming dog had killed the boy.
This one is a little confusing and unusual, what little has been shared so far. My understanding is that the kid and the dog lived together, the kid and the dog went onto a neighbor’s property and the dog killed him there. Weird. Hoping to see a picture of this dog.
I agree. I hope law enforcement officials pursue this further and that there is a full evaluation of the cause of death.
Something sure does sound quite fishy. I cannot imagine a corgi or a sheltie finishing off a victim and delivering the “coup de gras” death bite to a seven year old child.
Another factor might be looking at this from the perspective of the law enforcement officer. If I were the person who found the child and then had to deliver the tragic news to the parents, I would most certainly want to put this event behind me and carry on with the rest of my life. It would be a difficult task to revisit this case and ask the mother questions such as ‘Do you own any other dogs? Are you sure it wasn’t one of them? Do you mind if we inspect their teeth and bite pattern?”
He wandered off and THEN was killed by his own dog? A sheltie-corgi mix?
There are all kinds of things wrong with this story.
I have to wonder if he might have tried to protect his dog from a larger free roaming dog.
I have zero confidence in the ability of the average person to correctly identify a mixed breed dog. I’ve seen far, far too many times in which dogs are wildly and blatantly mislabeled. Waiting anxiously to see this “sheltie/corgi.” Since it is being held at a shelter, there should be no reason a photo isn’t made available. If this child had died playing on a riding toy that malfunctioned, the make of the toy would be revealed along with a photo.
It can be difficult or impossible to look at mixed breed dogs and properly identify the mixes. A client had a purebred Alaskan Malamute that was mismated and delivered a litter of very short coated puppies with long hanging ears in chocolate/white and black/white spotted colors. The only evidence of being half Malamute was that they carried their tails curled over their backs. Their mom was very clearly purebred.
Researchers bred two different purebred dogs together. It was obvious the breeds in those puppies. Then they made a full brother x full sister breeding on two offspring from that litter. One couldn’t tell the breeds in that litter although they technically were still half each breed. One could not predict the appearance of those puppies.
Corgi-Sheltie? While not impossible, I will wait for pics to believe this one. My guess would be some kind of cattle dog, if truly a herding breed. My question is who decided Corgi, and why? Short legged? Like the “dachshund” dogs that killed the woman a few years ago? The shorty pit types that were called ‘wiennie’ dogs? Will be following this one. No matter what breed, my heart still goes out to the family.
Sheltie+corgi? That would be at tops a 20lb dog.
How can they prove that since it just strayed in, a few weeks before?
Could be anything. Not saying a dog with a brain injury or having suffered heat stroke or mental illness cannot be dangerous regardless of breed but if it just wandered in a few weeks ago there’s not telling what *actual* breeds were mixed in it because there’s no record of the parents.
And again, new people leaving an unknown dog alone with a kid.
It could legitimately be a sheltie/corgi mix. But I am doubtful too. Shelters today typically use 3 factors to ID breed:
1) Denial. If it can be called something other than pit bull, it is.
2) Legs. If the legs are shorter than the body is long, the dog is called a dachshund mix (if flat-coated) or a corgi mix (if rougher coat.)
3) Coat length. If flat, it’s a Lab mix. If longer than flat, it’s a collie mix.
Seeing the ridiculous breed IDs on Petfinder, I could legit imagine a bat-eared pit being called a “corgi mix,” especially if it was a squatty “shorty bull.”
Once the currently trendy merle pit bulls start flooding shelters, I’m waiting for them to become “Aussie shepherd mixes.” You know they will.
“merle pit bulls”…Great googly moogly, those are some hideous looking dogs.
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrJ6ysPOYtheVEApA9XNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZANCQVNFTElORVRfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=images+merle+pit+bulls&fr=crmas
I find merle anything so unattractive. It’s hit Frenchies now, too, and it’s just gross.
Seems awfully strange to me in the news video I see a very guilty looking German Shepherd ears back slinking back home unless it’s just a fearful unstable dog you think they’d be capturing capturing all free-roaming dogs that they see in the area while they’re doing their investigation to get dental comparison just because he went to go play with his dog doesn’t mean that another dog didn’t come in and attack him and if anything I bet it’s a pitbull long haired mutt mix it just seems strange to me that they wouldn’t be scouring the area capturing all dogs that they see running loose.
German shepherd dogs, if raised with children, generally.love children in their family. They are herders and protect the children in their herd. They may not let the parents discipline the herd.
Dogs mostly slink because they think someone is mad at them. They don’t feel guilty like people do.
My suspicion is that pit bull mixes were involved here, but I don’t know.
What I meant was I had Shepherds back in the day and when they did something wrong or feel guilty or ashamed of themselves whatever they feel they would still come to me when I came in my house but that dog was acting very strange not even curious about the commotion going on around him ears back back like it did something wrong it was behaving oddly if that dog ran up to the little boys dog and the little boy went to pet it looks like it would be a fear biter
Not sure if anyone else has noticed, but there is a pet boarding service {Noah’s Bed and Boarding} virtually right next door to the location of this latest mauling.
And if this recently brought in corgi/shelti mix is any indication, then one can easily deduce that roaming strays are common in this location. Probably either broken loose from the kennel, or dropped off nearby by owners who figure that the dog which they no longer wish to own will be taken in by the kennel.
There are MANY possibilities. And apart from that we have yet another tragic death of a young child resultant from a bite inflicted by a canine, I doubt we will ever know the full truth of what exactly happened.
I certainly would not be the one to want to go there and investigate. Looks too much like “Race With The Devil” country to me.
Correction- Noah’s Bed and Biscuit is the boarding service nearby. Virtually right next door when you see the size of each property lot.
Either way, whatever the dog was, while taking in a stray is a risk, leaving it with a child before you’ve known it at least six months to a year is another risk factor.
None of that changes the fact that *not* being a pitbull/rottweiler/mastiff/molasser mix makes this event a rarity, comparatively speaking.
The frustrating part is, it gives fuel to the pitbull cultists who will use this as their excuse of “all dogs bite/kill” rather than this specific dog is unusual while pitbull maulings are common.
I live next door to an Australian cattle dog. A nastier, more aggressive dog would be hard to find.
I pepper sprayed an Australian cattle dog that was always so very nice to its owners. The owner forgot to shut the gate. It ambush charge attacked me, across the street and halfway down the block from its residence, combination bark-growling, causing me to have adrenaline charged coronary angina. It took an entire standard size 51 gram can of Sabre/Ruger pepper gel stream directly on its face for the last 15 feet/one-half of a second. It broke its charge one-tenth of a second away from me, copious quantities of pepper gel dripping off its face. The owner posted on nextdoor.com “I know my dog, it would shy away from unknown pedestrians”. I recorded its attack on me on iPhone audio/video that proved he was wrong, but he had to post his collection of the usual, various lies anyway. I showed the video to the police sergeant, and he launched into fabricating any way that I could have been not been afraid of immediate harm. I called him out on his flagrant anti-pedestrian/pro at large dog bias. The whole entire dangerous loose canine owner/legal community made it clear to me that I should just take the mauling injury, instead of lifting a finger to defend myself. I told them all that the only way I will not defend myself against dog attack is when it gives me a heart attack.
Cattle dogs are tough. They don’t care if they get kicked by cattle. People breed cattle dogs to pit bulls. I saw today that an individual bred a malinois to a pit bull.and cropped its ears. I wonder if Dexter is a cattle dog x pit bull. Dexter will.outlive me. His owner had him only a few months and has boarded him for nearly two years.
There was one in an obedience class with me and my Great Dane MANY years ago. The owner was an elderly man, and that dog was CONSTANTLY trying to bite him, any time he tried to get it to follow any of his commands.
You know, I realize that every dog can bite…. I just cannot wrap my head around this. Cardigan Corgis are more familliar to me and I am not aware of any dog in my breed killing a person. Now, I do know of aggressive dogs that had to be put down due to a faulty temperament but I’ve never ever heard of one killing a child. Ever. Even an infant. I just don’t think it’s ever happened. Shelties I’m less aware of but I’ve never heard of a sheltie killing a person. The only smaller dogs I know of that have killed a person are those pocket bullies which are mixed with other types of dogs. I’m not saying this can’t happen but I would really love to see pictures of that dog.
sorry to ramble but most corgis are around 20 lbs. cardigans are heavier. shelties are usually around twenty something pounds I think. How is a 20 lb dog going to kill a seven year old child? Again…just mind blowing.
I agree. The corgi’s I’ve known would have needed their victim to be the size of an infant or handicapped child to be able to inflict a fatal injury. And I don’t believe for one second that their temperament would allow them to be able to finish off a victim, unlike a pit bull which will sink its teeth into its victims neck while happily wagging its tail.
I’ve already stated that there is a boarding kennel well within a PAR 4 distance of where this mauling allegedly took place. A corgi-shelti was agreed upon to be the killer among many, many suspects.
Something is rotten in the state of Oklahoma.
Shelties can be lungy, possessive, snarly, snappy, little shites and a number of the poorly bred/raised ones do bite–although requiring even a few stitches would be rare. They’re also fast enough to get in a quick munch or two in before darting away.
Biggest problem with them is stupid owners that let them get away with nasty behaviour because, “Oh that’s just our Fluffykins. She doesn’t really mean it.”
Certainly never heard of one with the will or ability to kill a 7-year-old
https://www.reddit.com/r/venting/comments/qcjym3/comment/hhhro9m/
The mother says here that the dog was white. I’m not sure whether that helps with breed identification.
In a sane world all killer dogs would have their photos and DNA test results shared.
The official story is the kid and the dog wandered on to a neighbor’s property and then the dog killed the boy. Does the property owner have a dog? Was it checked for blood, bits of clothing and or kid in it’s belly? Sadly these sort of cases provide cover for pit attacks. “Remember that case in OK that didn’t seem right? I bet the same thing happened here. There is no way that my nanny dog Beelzebubba killed that boy, some other dog did it!”
Photos and DNA aren’t that hard to get any more and would help end the speculation. If the Sheltie / Corgi is covered in blood and has a mouth full of the dead boy’s DNA, he probably did it. I hope more information comes out but I doubt that it will.
Something I read the mother said white dog corgis and shelties are not white. white with other colors markings yes like Merle or the brown and tan or black. maybe there’s albino ones running around that would be extremely rare
Most people could not identify a dog and its breed. I personally can ID dogs fairly easily bit not people. That is due to my training..
I was walking a very dark GSD years ago. While passing a couple of women on the sidewalk, I heard one say to the other, “That’s the prettiest Doberman I’ve ever seen.
Nevermind her ears stood without cropping and her tail was not docked. She was out of coat.
My mother owned a sheltie for about 10ish years before the pup passed away. She was the most gentle dog I had ever seen.. so I can say with confidence.. if this is actually the dog that killed this little boy, it wasn’t the sheltie part of the dog.
I know nothing about Corgi’s so I cant speak for that dog breed. But what I do know is it is impossible for animal shelters to know the actual breeds of the dogs they adopt out.. so there has to be more to this story.
I got a rescue once, did a Embark DNA test and the results came back as Husky/ German Shepherd mix. We had her for 5 months until she unexpectedly bit my daughter.
THANK GOD I was right beside her and I grabbed the dog immediately before any serious damage was done. And my daughter was okay- checked out by the doctor and no scarring. (Because I grabbed the dog so quickly.)
Anyway, the rescue was gone the very next morning.
You just never know with these rescues. Its very sad. I thank God every day that I was in the room right beside my daughter and that no serious damage was done to my girl.
My prayers are with this family.. so tragic. But again, I don’t buy that this dog was only Corgi and Sheltie. It needs a DNA test.
A neighbor has a small, longish haired white terrier mix. It looks like a Westie but bigger. She had the DNA done and it was 25% pitbull. I was shocked when she told me this until the dog fixated on our cat and it’s facial expression and posture totally changed. The face transformed and the pit in it was visible. Because she had the DNA done, she keeps the dog away from all other living things because she doesn’t trust it.
Perhaps I should just wash my hands of this mauling, but in my opinion the latest update only reinforces suspicions.
I’ll suggest that perhaps there is a way that a few questions can be settled by the use of DNA technology. Might be able to find out the breed mix of the dog as well as if this IS the dog.
But..Why disturb the settled Earth?
At the gofund me page, an update states the parents viewed the body for the first time on Nov 2nd since now “the postmortem facial reconstruction is complete”
It had to have been a strong-jawed canine to destroy this child face to the extent that it took over 10 days to reconstruct it, i.e. crushed bones, not just soft tissue damage
Corgis and shelties are valuable dogs that would be sold/rehomed and not roaming as strays. So many shelter dogs with long bodies and short legs in the style of gnarly exotic pit bulls are listed as “corgi mix” that a pit bull mix is the most likely dog in this death. Such a terrible end for this little boy.