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55 thoughts on “2024 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Guardian Breed Dogs Kill 9-Year Old Girl in Overgaard, Arizona, Mother Says

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    • I misspoke – the fund request is fine. It’s the mother’s announcement on Facebook that is fantasy and denial.

      Laws should exist to protect children and the rest of the community from the poor judgement of people who would own deadly dogs. And whoever sold them these dogs was a weapons dealer.

    • I miss the olden times when begging was shameful.
      Now every time someone dies a Go Fund Me is made.

      I suspect it wont be long until “Yo, hit me up on my Venmo and CashApp! Make it rain all up in here!” will be considered a tasteful way to announce a death.

      • Dr. Duke, I 100% agree. There’s something creepy about all these Go Fund Me sites, especially since the parents, put their precious child in harm’s way. First off, in “the ask” they don’t disclose how their little girl died. Then, on FB write that she felt no pain. Really? I realize the parents are grieving and in shock, but when it comes to death by dog, something strange happens. Someone on FB had the audacity to ask the breed. That cued a dog-nut to say that the question was breed racist. Really? I feel like I’m living in an alternate universe. These parents are responsible for this. They should warn parents, and be accountable. And, pay for your child’s funeral yourself. We’re witnessing so many dead children who were supposed to be protected by the “grown-ups.”

    • Hello, my name is Joe and I am the uncle of the sweet little girl Shiree who was tragically killed by her family’s two Cane Corso guard dogs. I would like to clear up a few details for your understanding in this horrific situation. First of all, each of you are concerned about the safety of certain breeds and that is understandable. Some of your comments are placing blame on my nieces parents and that is your opinion to have, but I see things much differently than that. I have actually personally been around the two guard dogs that attacked my niece. Both of them were raised from small puppies by my brother and his children , being played with and cared for by these kids every day. For several years they had been safe and protective of the children. It was absolutely shocking that they would turn on 9 year old Shiree like they did. Now you all are aware of these guard dog breeds and you may be wondering why my brother would keep such dogs as pets and guard dogs when he had children. He is very informed when it comes to dog breeds and chose this breed because the family was having trouble with thieves and sabotages that were coming onto the family property and actually attempting to poison their beautiful and well cared for breeding dogs. The bad guys were also putting the family at risk by removing lug-nuts from vehicles and even trying to break into the families home. The Cane Corso dogs were selected for this purpose of protection. They were not breeding dogs and they were both gentle with the kids and scary to strangers as they should be. They were the only dogs that were free to range the well fenced enclosed and gated yard and they protected the kennel dogs very well. Some will disagree with my brothers decision, but I believe he actually was protecting his family and his prized Sheepadoodle breeding dogs the best way he could given the circumstances. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. But I kindly ask that you respect the privacy of my brother and his family in this terrible time of loss and grieving rather than being hurtful. The Gofundme was not the idea of my brother or his wife but the idea of another considering the need for help in the awful expenses which no parent plans for.

      • “O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
        Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
        May who ne’er hung there.”
        (From poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins)

      • Heya Joe,

        yes, what happened to your niece is truly grievous. I agree wholeheartedly.

        To your points:

        As someone who worked with and trained *actual* protection dogs in high-risk security work, including cage dogs and shutzhund styles, the parents of this child were egregiously misinformed about how any of that works, in practise.

        Dogs aren’t “born” guard dogs. They may have guarding *instincts* which help in the training of them for certain tasks, but the dogs themselves are incapable of making the decisions necessary to actually carry out guarding tasks without a handler present. (Cage dogs are something else as they are not free to roam until an alarm triggers the cage doors)

        This is also what makes them so dangerous if they are not carefully selected to be trained for those tasks.

        Properly trained protection trained dogs are trained to *never* eat any food that is not in their bowl or when given permission by their handler. They are trained to *never* take food from children under any circumstances.

        Guard dogs are not there to play with, or interact with children or other dogs. They are trained to ignore them as just another distraction while doing their jobs.

        Someone sold this family a bill of goods and sadly, they bought into it. That just having these big, aggressive, guarding dogs was enough to scare off strangers and keep their other doodly dogs, safe. That such dogs are safe, without supervision and intensive training, around children. They aren’t.

        Do I think your brother was trying to do the right thing? Yes. Do I think he was misinformed? Absolutely.

        And with dogs this large and bred for specific tasks–that all-too-often ends with tragic results.

        Dogs are not good security providers except in the hands of experienced handlers doing specific jobs. Even then–the consequences of mishandling and treating them as family pets, makes the outcome highly uncertain.

        • Thank you. Reading this thread, is very informative. The father wanted to raise doodles to make money , but unfortunately did not know about dogs and their behaviors. He is obviously a back yard breeder on a large scale , and is not qualified. Poodle mixes are not AKC registered , and the father did not have a clue about raising dogs properly or getting a guard dog that was professionally trained. I took care of an absolutely wild, maniac Bernadoodle a couple of years ago , that came from Texas to Colorado. It probably came from this breeder.

          • Everyone breeds “doodles” to make a fast buck these days, it’s the in thing in dogs. They’re almost all from BYB operations or puppy mills, and the people buying them are completely clueless and think they are getting some kind of special new purebred from a reputable breeder. After pits, doodles are the type of dog I like the next least for several reasons.

          • Personally, not a doodle fan regardless of who claims to be breeding them.

            They’re just too temperamentally questionable.

            Poodles are an extremely intelligent and loyal breed. They come in every size and colour you could possibly want. Mixing a poodle with something else to get *what* characteristics, exactly? That’s the question I keep asking that nobody breeding them seems to be able to answer. Mixed with Labradors, which was the original nonsense mixing for purposes of discussion–what are you getting? A clever dog that can retrieve (poodles play great fetch) but is less useful for hunting or sport due to the skin and fur problems than an *actual* working labrador?

            They’re mutts. Nothing wrong with mutts if you’re skilled, understand temperament and are willing to work with what you have.

            Paying thousands for a mutt that lacks the essential characteristics of whatever work you want to do with it–it’s utterly pointless.

            Add to it that far too many are overly excitable idiots with far less training capacity and ability to learn than an actual poodle and I don’t get the point.

      • Hello, Joe. I understand that your brother *believes* that he did his research when he selected this breed. But he didn’t do a thorough enough job, in my opinion. I was one of those folks who used to think that it wasn’t the breed, it was how you raised them. When I began to have scary experiences from various breeds in my rural neighborhood (pit bulls, boxers, and a German Shepherd), and all I was doing was taking a walk on our rural, gravel road and minding my own business (no interactions with the dogs at all), I began to do research about dog breeds and aggression. I found this site, and I am grateful for it. I gave myself permission to remove the scales from my eyes about dogs and the role that breeding and genetics plays in lethal aggression. And I gave myself permission to trust what I was seeing and experiencing with my own eyes.

        The bottom line is this: if you want a safe dog for your family, you won’t choose a breed that was bred for aggression or fighting. After 14 years of reading about this issue, I now understand that too many people make the mistake of thinking that their own desires, or willfulness, or “training” can overcome the risk of genetics with regard to aggression, and it’s clear that this is not the case in too many situations. Read the other very real, human, cases on this page. I would *never, ever* have a bully breed as a pet, and I for sure would not put children or the elderly at risk for them. I have neighbors who have had these dogs, and from their actions, and the stories I have read of many other cases, there are too many people who actually *put dogs over their human neighbors and family*! It’s hard to understand, but the best way to address it, in my opinion, is via legislation.

        Exposing children to these breeds is not much different than letting them play with firearms; it’s a gamble that they won’t be hurt, or killed. Why take that gamble with the life of your child, or the lives of other people? To me, it’s neglect, at least, to get a breed like this for a family pet. I frankly don’t see a need for such a breed. They should all be neutered and allowed to become extinct. After all, we created them; we can remove the breed from existence if we choose. There are safer options for a family pet.

  1. What a pretty little girl shame she died because of her parents job.the parents are idiots why would they let their little girl walk by herself unsupervised with big dogs.sweet girl she must be terrified dying by the dogs she know she she was a baby.

  2. Unknown reasons? What a bunch of BS. Go put a land mine in your yard and then go send one of your children out at night to run around in the yard, and then state, “unknown reason”. It’s about that stupid. I’m sure, with all the time and “experience” raising dogs, they considered themselves “experts”. Yet, they can’t discern the “reason” ?

  3. If you can’t trust your own “guard” dogs with your precious family members, wth good are they??? I know firearms have their own issues, but they will never by themselves, turn around and murder a family member. Horrific for this poor girl.

    • There’s no reason to own a gun around children either! We have a lot of great security devices that work day after day without killing anyone! It’s probably a shock to the parents of these children but video cameras are available to warn you when you have someone at your door, to allow you to see what is happening outside heck light’s even come on with movement being detected! This barely cost the price of a single bag of dog kibble! It is just unbelievable that these people choose to put their children at risk, or even their “precious breeding stock” dogs! I’ve never heard of a video camera having a dog fight! I’m with you part of the way, I call BS on the security guard dogs! They didn’t want a security system they wanted big vicious dogs that they were hoping to kill their intruders! If there even was one! I knew of an ex meth addict who was still paranoid and delusional even though he’d stopped using the amphetamines! He was convinced that the police broke his cats leg by breaking into his house! They didn’t have a reason to break into his house but his cat had a broken leg to prove they were breaking into his house! His solution get a big scary dog that killed his cat! That showed the police though!

  4. Much like we need rescued from the dog rescuers children need to be guarded from the “guardian” breeds.

    It is a real shame her parents didn’t keep a couple of the Doodles they bred to be pets.

    I can not understand the level of cognitive dissidence it takes to think “These dogs are strong and intimidating enough to scare off hardened criminals and to attack them if they wont leave” and at the same time think “These dogs are 100% safe to be around small children”.

    • I’m trying to figure out why someone that breeds something as innocuous as doodles for a living, NEEDS some honkingly huge (untrained) aggressive “guard dogs” to protect their property.

      Colour me, “confused”.

  5. I don’t consider a CANE CORSO to be a ‘guardian’ breed. When they said guardian breed I was thinking Great Pyrenees, and how odd for one to attack a child. Why on earth would you have one of these giant CANE CORSO maulers around children is beyond me. Utterly delusional people.
    The advice of Ken Phillips, dog bite attorney is best:
    dogs for kids should be SMALL and GENTLE when MATURE.

  6. The name Cane Corso is bodyguard dog, derived from the Latin words canis (dog) and cohors (military guard).
    This girl grew up with their dogs and puppies , all doodles and poodles for breeding.

    Parents somehow believed that the dogs can distinguish who are the burglars – and “justifiable” possible dead humans, if trespassing their property and who is to “love” … to much for the dogs brain , specially for the dog made for “protecting” and you all know what that implies

    • Livestock guardian dogs ( LGD) can definitely distinguish family from foe. Thats why they can be trusted even with tiny lambs and goats all alone without supervision.

      Unfortunately cane corsos are not a true LGD breed. They were originally descended from war dogs and then were used for guarding property (not livestock), so they don’t have proper LGD qualities like forming a bond with their flock.

      Poor little girl. If the family had got a pyrenees or an anatolian shepherd I bet this wouldn’t have happened.

  7. UKC and AKC primarily register dogs
    in order for people to verify their dogs are purebred and of a certain breed. They also provide pedigrees which help people determine if their dogs have the capacity to be conformation champions, hunting champions, working champions, etc.

    Breeders typically have gotten a lot more money for purebred, registered dogs although the current trend of designer dogs has changed some of this.

    AKC and UKC both organize dogs in groups for purposes of exhibition. AKC first registered Cane Corsos in 2010 as a part of the Working group.

    UKC registered its first Cane Corso in 2008 as a member of the Guardian group. UKC further divides its guardian group into Flock guardians and Mastiffs.

    Although I’ve tried to explain this, many folks who promote their unregistered Cane Corsos likely have simply bred pitbulls to Mastiffs. Add more Mastiff, and one has bigger dogs.

    The family of the child murdered by Cane Corsos likely had unregistered Cane Corsos which could have been mixed breed dogs. Certainly their doodles are mixed breed dogs. These people are not breeding top quality dogs.

    In addition, one doesn’t breed and keep Cane Corsos as pets. They aren’t bred for that.

    The registration of purebred dogs is about organization into classes for exhibition purposes.

    Breed organizers will say nothing about biting unless someone and/or their dogs is bitten at a show. Then disqualification is likely.

    Years ago AKC put out a new breed book which stated too much. For example, Chihuahuas are not good with children. AKC quickly recalled that book and put out a new edition without that information. Please don’t forget that there are other organizations that accept bullies for registration.

    I hope this will help you understand Cane Corsos. I believe they were developed from pitbull/mastiff dogs, and dogs are what their bloodlines say they are. It’s surprising no one is making pitdoodles.
    First generation of those would be short-haired with likely some wirehair on the face.

  8. Mother confirmed then deleted her post. “King” Cane Corsos are a dangerous breed. The parents are 100% responsible for the death of their daughter. I raised 5 children WITHOUT a damned dog. My children are grown, all healthy and happy. I raised them with love. NO breed of dog is needed to raise children. Also, we don’t need a dog nutter to explain the breeds. WE CAN GOOGLE!

    • Pure breed – means that the dog has a pedigree document and it is qualified and judged at the dog show in order to be breeded further. In Europe there is 8 groups FCI of dog breeds.

      But – since a dog business is a big money, everything could be corrupt , specially pedigree papers .
      Breeders and so called breeders will not tell you everything , when you buy a dog. And most likely they will manipulate you with cute photos of their fur balls .

      And the first question – before getting a dog – is :
      Why do I need this particular dog ???

      Protecting a castle property with mastiffs beasts is one thing and “protecting” poor fenced backyard with ( frequently hungry ) dog is not the same motif. Getting a “protection” dog is often based on falls premises. Like in this unfortunate and tragic case.

  9. I just love how the mother is claiming that her little girl didn’t feel any pain.I’m pretty sure her little girl felt the worst pain .sheesh there what probably what 4 dogs on her top of her weighting around 90 pounds their sharp teeth comping down on her.gosh I sure she was hurting and felt every pain before she passed away.

      • The comments in the collage express some of my thoughts. Unfortunately the ones crying “fake” probably don’t believe dogs really killed a little girl – more denial.

        • There wasn’t disbelief the “guard dogs” killed her, there was disbelief that being killed by guard dogs could occur with “no pain.”

          • I hope that’s true. I said that because I see weird comments on YouTube and news site stories – some commenters can’t understand that a dog could possibly kill a person, and they react by thinking it’s some kind of conspiracy: “that’s not possible – there must be more to this story, this sounds fishy.” Too many people believe that dogs are perfect angels and that humans are evil, so when they see a dog doing something evil they reject the knowledge and grasp at any explanation that blames a human being.

  10. I talked with a professional handler at a dog show who was showing a Cane Corso. She said she did not trust that dog.

    Dogs in the USA do not need to be examined by anyone in AKC or UKC to prove its value before breeding.

    Years ago I bred one of my bitches to a friend’s stud, Max. He gave me Max’s pedigree. I knew Max’s sire’s pedigree but not his dam’s pedigree. When I examined the pedigree, I found one dog was both a male and a female. In addition, I found one dog had two different sires. I had to get a pedigree from AKC.
    From another bitch which was bred to Max came a black puppy named Speedstick. Speedstick saved his owner from a car jacker by putting a vicious bite on the carjacker’s arm. The car was totaled due to the fact that there was too much blood in it.
    We don’t know if the carjacker survived the bite. That wicked bite was genetic in nature.
    Speedstick had no bite work training. He was sleeping in the rear seat when he saw the carjacker. When the guy’s arm came inside the car to grab the keys, Speedstick grabbed and viciously bit that arm. Obviously he bit into a major blood vessel.
    Breed and pedigree are both important. Max’s sire was a German import with very high prey drive.
    He attacked livestock including goats and newborn piglets. He lived his life in a kennel run due to that.

  11. How fortunate many of you are to have never asked the community/strangers for financial help. If gofundme bothers you, then don’t look as they’re necessary for others and it’s petty to be so judgmental.
    I agree that an actual livestock guardian breed would have been a safer choice, as shepherds have bred these working dogs for thousands of years to have the temperament to freely roam and not maul people yet they keep their flocks safe, imagine that. Pyrenees, Anatolian Shepherd, Central Asian etc can all be easily acquired from stable, trustworthy stock here in the US and any knowledgeable dog enthusuast would be able to find these dogs. You get a corso because you WANT a corso. Godspeed to this little girl.

    • People are not bothered with Go fund me request, but 40 000$ is a way to much … looks like cashing the unfortunate event and the cause of death is missing on that request.

      It is not humble to ask form unknown people more than you really need.

      According to google : “The average funeral costs in USA are between $7,000 and $12,000. The viewing, burial, service fees, transport, casket, embalming, and other prep are included in this price. The average cost of a funeral with cremation is $6,000 to $7,000.”

      • I’m not sure “goal” amounts on Gofundme are meaningful – they seem to bump up to a higher number as soon as the previous goal was reached. The family may have emergency medical expenses in addition to the funeral, and sometimes survivors need to take time off work to deal with grief, as well. Looks like the parents won’t be incurring any legal expenses.

        • Of course, it is possible. But that also should be in request – medical bills , funeral bills etc …

          But in this case – most of written releases were not accurate .

          God forbid – that you lose a child – and you go to social network to write anything … And then, you do not like what people are commenting when you present yourself as a victim – not the real one.
          That child can not say anything about her pain or her last moments on this crazy planet.

        • The reason the prices on GoFundMe seems so high is because GoFundMe takes half the money, upfront.

          So if they need 10k they’ll only cover that if they ask for 20K

    • All of those are free roaming dogs that run for miles every day taking care of livestock.

      They’re not caged up in a small environment, frustrated and being used to guard other dogs. In fact, they’d consider any other dog on their territory, a threat. So add more into the frustration level.

      This was simply not a situation where guardian breeds are useful. Nor was the owner living somewhere where there were plenty of other livestock owners there to teach him the ropes on how to raise and train livestock guarding dogs.

      Nobody with a whit of dog breed knowledge would pick a Cane Corso for this job. They’re war dogs (and that’s questionable) not pets or livestock guardians.

      Donkeys are one of the best livestock guardians available. But nobody would be raising their donkeys in the house with their kids nor trusting the donkeys *not* to grab the kids and throw them which is what livestock donkeys, do. They’re not much use against whoever is going to “steal” your doodles.

      Also, the poisoning thing bothers me. Why would anybody *want* to poison the doodles? Were they chronically barking all night until one of the neighbours couldn’t take it any more? Wouldn’t THEY be barking at any intruders?

      Something is off about this whole thing, to me.

      • I thought that story sounded odd too. Like there has to be more to it. People stealing lug nuts off of vehicles, poisoning dogs, breaking into the home? Man, the doodle breeding business must be cutthroat!!

      • Nope LGD will not consider any other dog a threat, only other dogs that aren’t their family members. LGD frequently coexist with herding dogs that move the livestock around (LGD do not herd, only guard). The other dogs are considered part of their “flock” too and they will guard them.

        A wellbred LGD would have been a better choice. It would have guarded their dogs without harming the dogs or the child.

  12. If they’d have stuck with the whoodles, sheepadoodles and labradoodles this child would very likely still be alive.
    Gladiator dogs shouldn’t be trusted. This is designed to be a weapon not a PET.

  13. the Italians are not ‘experts ‘ in dog breeding that’s the Germans , Cane Corso a fad breed that’s notoriously hinky spooky jerky intractable and if i had to guess inbreeding etc etc , I had a friend years ago who had Italian champions , one big Champion male turned on him , its not a stable breed

    • Like most other “ancient molosser” war dogs and gladiator breeds, the corso was only recently “recreated” by fanciers “centuries” after the breed died out…”In the 1970s, a group of Italian fanciers banded together to revive the breed of their rustic ancestors.” Seriously.

      • I can believe that. The amount of bullsnot shovelled by breeders about their dogs’ origins would fertilize the entire rice fields of Japan.

      • I refuse to believe Cane Corso is an actual breed. I think they’re simple pit / mastiff mixes. Our neighbor has one and I hate knowing it’s there. Fortunately, it’s never gotten out… so far. And they seem to have a pretty sturdy fencing system. But with two teens who love to run / bike, a toddler and a newborn on the way, I am always vigilant.

  14. All people who are following this blog are angry to read about this tragedies – to many so far … and without stopping in the future.
    And we are angry about that too, because no one learns any lessons !

    I wrote about number of concerned people here and numerous people who make their choices with dangerous breeds around their own children. And that is going on – yt , insta, and fb with so called community standards!
    ( and that was deleted … probably as offtopic … I was just realistic about that crazy disproportion in who is following what – and how that goes wrong )

    People project falls beliefs and baby like traits on to dangerous dogs – and one day it goes deadly wrong.

    So , I am so very very sorry for this girl and her family from other part of the Planet , and also sad – because things will stay the same or worse with children and big dogs.

    We all need a strategy to protect children from protection dogs.

    And in modern terms – also need to spread an awareness on this subject – outside this pages .

    Share stories from this pages

  15. Why don’t we all stop making excuses about owning another species?! Do we really need to own dogs? I don’t. I won’t enslave another species to serve me. If I have an issue with another human being, I don’t expect a dog to do my bidding. The sooner we wipe-out this species from the planet, the better. But, no, too many people extract mental solace from having a privileged, pampered dog. Some of the facts are these: we annually kill 2.5 to 3 billion land animals each year to feed our dogs. We kill trillions of marine life to feed our cats and dogs. We destroy the environment so our little pets can wear a Halloween costume and/or a Christmas sweater. Owning a dog means sacrificing the lives of others. Owning a dog isn’t an act of virtue. It is an act of ignorant selfishness.

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