I came from a time when KIDS were a bit mature, responsible, and listened to "responsible" parents and were mature and knowledgable enough for "mature" responsibility, even if they became a parent at 15, 18 or 21. Truthfully, I must say that too many of today's kids have parents that are too side tracked and not as responsible as those of the era I grew up in, for obvious reasons. I grew up on a ranch (an added asset), was riding horses before I was out of diapers, and understood responsibility and parental "grounds" for actions and behaviors. I was the oldest of my siblings, and even my cousins. I'M THE OLDEST & MOST MATURE OF THE BUNCH!!! When you look at what's popular on the boob tube, one can really become cynical about the state of our society!! Perfect example...........Honey Boo Boo!!!! You either think it's wonderful, or you find horrible societal slams against it. Both fit, but both are a sign of the decline of our society and truths. I will wear the scar on my face from a dog bite for the rest of my life. I consider it a sign of my rebellion against my parents' knowledge and admonitions, and the experience of growing up, and accept the responsibility that the dog that bit me lost her life that day because I drove her to "snap at me". It didn't kill me, and it really isn't a scar that people find disgusting, so I'm fortunate. I'm a GOOD person, responsible, caring, generous, helpful, honest, and OLD. I did exactly what this child did..........went against parents' words of rule..........but I lived from the rebellion and experience, and the poor child in the situation we're discussing didn't. Nobody is truly at fault in this situation. You can find fault in certain areas, but nobody fell down on responsibility, and a young life was lost. So SAD, so HEARTBEAKING, so AWFUL in so many ways, so PREVENTABLE in some, but the free will of the children can't be denied, and you can't supervise or monitor them 24/7/365, no matter how hard you try.

you and come from a time when kids actually listened to their parents and parents held their children responsible. a friend of mine jumped over in to the neighbor's yard and their dog bit him...know what his parents did? busted my friend's azz for climbing over into the neighbor's yard when he wasn't supposed to.

i hear ya...oh well.

I'm old and came from a time when a 9 yr. old WAS responsible enough to keep little sibling from climbing a fence with a "vicious" dog on the other side that they'd been warned about, especially while Mom went inside to feed the new baby. Now, I guess I'll just shut up and go away because I'm so old I don't fit into today's society & world, and this story and circumstances aren't the only thing that has "enlightened" me in the past few days.

a nine year old is not responsible enough to adequately look after a 4 year old...especially if the 4 year old has a mind of his own. eh, just different opinions. 'tis sad though. guess next time they will think

On the other site: Under local news, then down under Texas news, the article is still there. I have comments disappear from there frequently, so don't know what's going on. At least they don't have this spam!!!!!!! This problem has run quite a number of the regulars away, and I'm not happy with it. Right now, the two "words" below that I'll have to type to post this comment are just about unreadable!!! GGgggrrrr!!! As for the story we're discussing, I'm happily shocked at the support for the pittie!! But, I disagree on the parents' liability. You expect your kids to be safe in their own backyard, and he was with his 9 yr. old sister, and had been warned to NOT CLIMB the fence. Just a horrible, sad event.

i don't comment on the other station anymore...it never keeps my comments. whatever...

@lervia..yah, i saw the story off the other site's fb and was pleasantly surprised at the people who were defending the dog. sadly a 4 year old lost his life because his parent's sucked at parenting and left their 4 year old unsupervised. i was looking for the story on their webpage but couldn't find it

yah...what they don't realize is these spammers are not computers running "loops" so to speak. these are real people with nothing else to do with their time than run useless spam on which no one is going to click. they are wasting their time...the only spammers these types of reCAPTCHA runs off are those that are computer generated...typically

@Ruger1, Phrilly is so right on this one. The addition of the reCAPTCHA is only running off regular commenters and doing NOTHING to curb the spam!!! WOAI has a big problem that it seems to not be able to handle well. I haven't seen you comment of the pittie story here, but I really want you to check out the pittie story on the other site. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the defense for the pittie involved!!! Sad story, tho, because a 4 year old lost his life. Check it out!!!