A nominee for mother of the year

[GreenvilleTexan]

Gee, what a loving mother! Hello, Psycho ward, make room for one more!

SAN FRANCISCO - The mother of a 12-year-old boy killed in his own home by one of the family's two pit bulls says she had been so concerned about one of the dogs that she shut her son in the basement to protect him.
Maureen Faibish said she ordered Nicholas to stay in the basement while she did errands on June 3, the day he was attacked by one or both of the dogs. She said she was worried about the male dog, Rex, who was acting possessive because the female, Ella, was in heat.
"I put him down there, with a shovel on the door," Faibish said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. "And I told him: `Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me."
Nicholas apparently found a way to open the basement door.
Despite her concerns about Rex that day, Faibish told the newspaper: "My kids got along great with (the dogs). We were never seeing any kind of violent tendencies."
Faibish found her son's body in a bedroom. He was covered in blood from several wounds, including a major head injury. No charges have been filed.
"It's Nicky's time to go," she said in the interview. "When you're born you're destined to go and this was his time."
Ella was shot to death by a police officer the day of the attack. Rex was taken to a shelter, but Faibish said she wanted him put down.


Cripes, she locks her 12-year-old son in the basement while she goes shopping, to "protect" him? It is tragic what happened to the kid, but he really needed protecting from his mom.

[Frizzo the Clown]

"Its Nicky's time to go"? Thats her reply? Geez...what a psycho.

[cg124]

wow I'm just speechless

[Angelixx]

"its Nicky's time to go" it wasnt the dogs...she killed him

[halo7]

Why not just take him with her?

[Warren]

Her kid got killed by her dog and she thought it was his time?!?

What a *****.

[GreenvilleTexan]

I couldn't believe it either, but the story was carried by the Associated Press. I mean, there are no freakin' words ...

[Ramplate]

She lets the animals run free to act on their instincts and tells her own son to stay cooped up in the basement? (Especially when she knows he apparently has a history of not doing what she tells him?)
Good thing she doesn't run the zoo.

Sounds like she set him up for murder - and should be charged that way.

[ruban]

Problem is, there's probably another nominee for mother of the year happening as we speak somewhere in the world =/

Some people just are not right in the head, and when they have kids tragedy is inevitable.

[Tara]

I would have been easier to lock the dogs in the basement and let the kid stay in the house. Dogs cant use door knobs as far as i know.

[flukeman]

We've been talking about this on a dog messageboard I visit - it's just insane. Lock your son in the basement because you're nervous about the dogs' behavior...how about separating the dogs, keeping the dogs crated when she wasn't home, consulting a behaviorist about the dogs, taking her son with her.....she had plenty of other options. Unfortunately she took the one that cost her son his life. Those dogs should have been spayed/neutured from the start anyway. And it's yet another bad rap for this breed, all because of yet another stupid owner.

[Rogue]

Why didn't she just...uhhhh..TAKE HIM WITH HER?! Good Lord, some people need to be fixed so they can't breed. This woman was one of them.

[CapricornDevil]

Some people should not be allowed to be parents.

You need a license to drive, a license to hunt, a license to get married. However, any moron with working genitals can have a child. I swear, there should be an IQ test and a complete psychological profile before people should be allowed to breed.

[Potter]

... And it's yet another bad rap for this breed, all because of yet another stupid owner.

I totaly agree. There have been a lot of dog attacks where I live, and the dog always gets blamed. They're actually considdering a ban on owning a pitbull/doberman/rotty because they are the dogs usually involved in the attack and they're a "dangerous breed".

The thing is though, any dog is dangerous. I bloody poodle will attack you if you poke it with a stick. Sometimes I think the parents should keep their kids ona leash instead of the dogs. In almost all cases, the owners have said something like "Rover's never been violent before" or "Rover's great with kids. The worst thing he did was poop in my shoe". If any dog is agravted, they'll attack.

People, more particularly, parents with young children should learn not to provoke an unfamiliar dog.

For example, my sister has two German Shepheards or Alsations, whatever. Indie and Ceazer. They're guard dogs for her and my brother in laws business premises. They absolutly love my nine month old neice. My sister sits evie on Ceazers back and he loves it. Yet, the other day, he dragged someone down of the fence because they broke in (just so you know, the guy wasn't actually hurt, though he ran away, **** scared and i think the cops got him). Dogs wont play nice if you threaten them or seem like you're threating them.

Be nice to dogs, and they'll be nice to you. Don't break into somewhere that's guarded by big dogs and you wont get dragged down off a six foot fence.

-Potter.

[woodywoodpecker]

Why didn't she just...uhhhh..TAKE HIM WITH HER?! Good Lord, some people need to be fixed so they can't breed. This woman was one of them.


:applaud: amen.... This world would be a better place if some of the morons where dropped off a cliff. "It was his time to go..." she should be charged for murder.

[flukeman]

Potter, I agree. This could have happened with any breed. Any dog can be dangerous. And this woman knew that hers were. Something MUST have happened before that made her want to keep the boy away from the dogs, enough to lock him in the basement. So she didn't trust the dogs, but left her son home anyway. I think separating and crating the dogs would have made a lot more sense, or maybe, I don't know - take your son with you if you're afraid for him! She can say all she wants "oh, my dogs are the sweetest, they've never done anything before", but she locked her son in the basement to keep him away from them. There's a longer article out there where she explains that the female was in heat and rejecting the male's advances, and he was being possessive of her - there is so much wrong with this situation that I don't even know where to begin. Was a litter more important to her than her son's life?

Mother shut boy in basement to protect him from pit bull
12-year-old was killed by family dog; owner sees death as tragic accident but defends the breed as loving pets
C.W. Nevius, Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writers

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Hours before being mauled to death by the family pit bull, 12-year- old Nicholas Faibish had been told to stay in the basement separated from the dogs, said his distraught mother, Maureen Faibish, who called The Chronicle on Saturday, trying to make sense of what she called a "freak accident.''

"I put him down there, with a shovel on the door,'' said Faibish, who had left the boy alone with the dogs on June 3 to run some errands. "He had a bunch of food. And I told him, 'Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me.''

Faibish said she was concerned that the male pit bull, Rex, was acting possessive because the female, Ella, was in heat. Apparently, Nicholas found a way to get the door open and come upstairs. At that point Faibish believes he walked in while the dogs were mating and was attacked by Rex.

"It was Rex, I know it in my heart,'' Faibish said. "My younger dog (Ella) was in heat and anyone who came near her, Rex saw as a threat. He may have been trying to mate. It was a freak accident. It was just the heat of the moment.''

Faibish felt compelled to call The Chronicle, she said, because she was upset by comments in a Saturday column that disparaged family members who own pit bulls.

In the column an Oakland surgeon who often treats bites by pit bulls said, "when you have an animal like that in your house you are recklessly endangering your family.''

"They made it sound like we put our kids in a war zone,'' Faibish said in a phone conversation. "That's not true. My kids got along great with (the dogs). We were never seeing any kind of violent tendencies.''

Authorities on Saturday said they had no indication that the dogs had bitten Nicholas prior to the attack, but may have menaced him previously.

On the day of the attack, Maureen Faibish arrived at the family home at 711 Lincoln Way about 3:15 p.m. to discover her son's lifeless body in a front bedroom. His face had been mauled, and he was covered with bite wounds and had a hole in his scalp from the attack.

She hasn't been allowed back into the home because of the police investigation, she said. She has been staying with her father, who lives a few blocks away.

She talked to The Chronicle by telephone and later at her father's home where, sitting on a couch and wrapped in a blanket, Faibish held back tears as she spoke about her son and the day he died.

"It's Nicky's time to go," she said. "When you're born you're destined to go and this was his time."

After police were called to the family's home the day of the attack, an officer shot and killed Ella when the dog prevented him from entering the apartment. Rex was captured in the backyard and taken to the animal shelter.

The family had been packing for a move, and her husband, Steve Faibish, was out of town. Their two other children were also not home.

Maureen Faibish said she put Nicholas rather than the dogs in the basement because the room, which also served as a playroom for the children, was filled with plastic bags in preparation of their move. She figured the dogs would have destroyed the bags filled with clothes.

Before she left the house, Faibish sent her 9-year-old son to the store to buy Nicholas a soda, bagel and chips. He also had video games to keep him busy.

"Nicky was happy down there," she said.

Faibish declined to say what triggered such concern that she insisted her son stay in the basement, away from the dogs.

"I don't want to go into any of that detail," she said. "That's between me and the detectives."

Clearly struggling with her emotions, Faibish said the death of her son had become "a media frenzy.'' On one hand, she continued to defend pit bulls and her dogs.

"Even after the whole thing,'' she said, "I'm not mad at my dogs. I just love them to death.''

Nicky had not known life without pit bulls, she said. When he was a baby, the family had Rex 1.

Ella and Rex II were "family dogs," Faibish said. They spent most of their time inside the house, slept in bed with the children every night and woke Maureen Faibish up every morning by licking her face. Ella was trained to lick her makeup off and kiss her ear.

"The police killed the wrong dog if you ask me," Faibish said.

She would never want Rex back in their house.

"Absolutely not,'' Faibish said. "I told them I wanted him put down. I think of Rex as someone who molested my child, murdered my child.''

Faibish's comments captured the confusion and mixed feelings pit bulls can bring out in their owners. She spoke of Rex waking Nicholas and her up in the morning by licking their faces.

"He's the most loving and giving dog in the world,'' she insisted. "There were no violent tendencies in him at all.''

Nor, she said, would she caution families who have pit bulls as pets. In the wake of this tragedy, some parents are wondering if they should keep their pit bulls.

"Oh, they should keep their pit bulls,'' Faibish said. "Even though my son has been killed in a tragic accident, I don't think they should be banned. You've just got to worry about them when they are in heat. I didn't know Rex was going to be so possessive.''

Faibish said she and her husband decided not to spay or neuter their dogs because they wanted their puppies. She said Rex had been eager to mate with Ella, but the female dog was resisting his advances.

"I used to say to Ella, just go ahead and let him do it," Faibish said. "Get it over with.''

Deeply remorseful, Faibish says she continues to think of what she might have done differently. For one, she wishes she'd persuaded Nicholas to go to a picnic with his younger sister, Ashley.

But she insists, "I have no regrets about that day," Faibish said.

She's also fed up with the second-guessing from public figures who, she feels, do not understand the situation. She says San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who made strong comments about restricting pit bulls, got an earful when he called.

"Just for the record, I yelled at Gavin Newsom,'' she said. "I told him off. How dare him say anything about my family?"

Newsom spokesman Peter Ragone said Saturday the mayor is deeply remorseful over her loss.

"Certainly, she's going through a very difficult time, and we extend our deepest sympathy to her for her loss," said Ragone.

Ragone said the mayor must also consider what policies should be taken regarding the wider issue of public safety.

"There's no question about the fact that the mayor, like most in the city, believe actions must be taken to prevent tragedies like this from occurring in the future," Ragone said.

While the public debate about pit bulls rages on, Faibish is left with the memories of her son, a popular and good-natured sixth-grader at Roosevelt Middle School.

"This isn't about a dog,'' she said. "This is about my boy. My precious little boy.''

Chronicle Staff Writers

[PsychoMike]

Aparenty it seems like the kid needed to listen better... If he had staied in the basement this wouldn't have happened.

When I was 12 I never wanted to go with my mom when she had to the store or something. So I can see why she didn't take him with her.

However there was probobly something better that could have been done. Like putting the dogs in a cage... or sending them outside in a fenced in yard. Locking the kid in the basement wasn't a good idea... even if he was happy. If you have problems with the dog lock the dog away not the kid.

As for violent dogs.... Pit Bulls are the worst, they are more likely than others to turn against their masters (at least from what I've read). Chow's are also pretty bad, even dogs that are only part chow have been known to turn against their master.

Most Rottwilers(sp?) I've known are pretty loyal even if they are agressive... the owners just need to know how to handle them.

Thanks for the second article Fluke

[flukeman]

It's not a matter of (insert breed here) having more propensity to turn against their master. It's poor breeding, inbreeding, poor socialization, poor training, poor handling. Years of that can produce inferior animals. It doesn't matter which breed it is. Yes, pits and other bull breeds are stronger than most, and part of their original purpose took advantage of that power. But there are more and more cases of labs and goldens with aggression problems now - are those breeds that you would deem vicious? This is what popularity has done to these dogs - backyard breeders churning them out to meet demand without a thought to temperament or health.

And the average person doesn't have a real good grasp of how to read dog language, and that's how accidents happen a lot of the time.

I'm not defending the dog here - he obviously had an aggression/dominance problem that was not dealt with that escalated (neutering would have helped too - does the world need more poorly bred pit bills?). It's just a sad situation that could have been prevented, and both the dogs and the child were the victims.

I just don't think breed banning and generalization is the answer. My current dog is a mix of malamute and German shepherd, both breeds that are on the "danger list". We were almost denied house insurance because of him. Yet he is the mellow lovebug who is a therapy visitation dog. Our previous dog, a mini poodle, was the perfect example of poor breeding and socialization. Had she been a bigger dog, she would have really been scary.

I wish there was some way we could screen out the stupid people, to prevent them from having children and keeping dogs.

[Rogue]

I still thinking the woman was cruel for LOCKING HER CHILD IN THE BASEMENT instead of just taking her child with them. It's not a matter of whether the kids listened or not. You just don't temporarily remove your kid from a dangerous situation, you fix the damn situation. She should have seperated the dogs or boarded them or something. She shouldn't have left her son in a dangerous situation and told him to mind. Anyone with half a brain knows that he majority of 12 year olds in the world are not going to stay once you leave.

Plus, what if the kid got hungry? What if he had to take a piss? I mean, come on..pretty flimsy excuse on the Mother's part. I think she needs to be tried or shot..or something. Her attitude after the fact just makes me sick too. UGH! Some people are just so stupid. And they're usually the ones that can have kids while the good people in the world try and try and can't concieve. I'll never understand it. :(

[Ramplate]

Most definitely it is the dogs that should have been handled better - no human likes to be treated like they were the dog - and that is exactly what she did.

She should be brought up on murder charges, endagerment of a child, and anything else they can pile on top of that to send her to prison.

[Boro]

wouldnt it make more sense for the dogs to have been put in the basement?

[Cloud Buster]

You can argue back and forth on this issue all you want, but you can't escape the simple fact:

That woman is stupid, and thanks to her, an innocent 12 year old boy was savagely killed.

You need a license to drive, hunt, and fly a plane....but not to raise a child....incidents like this make you think about that, especially given her response to the interviewer....

[PapaRoachRules]

damn, that is not cool at all. i agree with angel, she set it up.

[Satiric Angel]

But she insists, "I have no regrets about that day," Faibish said.


WOW.... she should be put in a room with her two dogs while they are breeding...andlet them lick her make up off her face...

some people are so twisted...

[equipe]

But she insists, "I have no regrets about that day," Faibish said.


I'm not a big fan of the death penalty... But give this ***** the chair.

[Potter]

Firsly, PhsycoMike, ANY dog will turn on their master. Pit Bulls can be the most loveing dogs you can own, until they're provoked. As I said in my earlier post, any dog can attack you.

As for "the child should have listened better"? Are you serious? The woman left her 12 year old son in a house with an at-the-time agressive dog. What did she expect? If the kid didn't find a a way out, how does she know the dogs couldn't find a way in? She should have taked the kid with her.

"It was his time to go" Obviously, this lady doesn't believe in dying peacefully. No parent should have to burry their child. Being mauld by dogs is NO ONES way to go.

If a dog mauld my baby, i would certainly NOT say "I just love them to death." Hell no. I'd strangle the *****ers to death.

The lady was brainless and completely out of her mind to leave the kid ALONE in the house. Where was her nine-year-old son that went and got the drinks and whatever? Whay didn't "Nicky" go with him?

-Potter

[Ramplate]

It should have happened to her. I wonder if there is a Darwin Award (http://www.darwinawards.com/) for dying from someone else's stupidity

[JBond]

For all those saying it could have been any dog, I really don't think that's entirely true. Sure Pitt Bulls and Rottweilers can be very loving and gentle dogs, but dogs can be bred for personalities. Look inside any book that tells you about dogs for pets, you'll see markings like "Has tendency to bite" or "Gentle". It's in the dog. I used to have a Newfoundland and we were told that they are very gentle and loving dogs, we could have trained him to hate people...but it still would have been easier if we had done it a Pit Bull.

Regardless, I still agree that it's not the dog's fault and they should not be shot to death because they did what they were trained. Same with circus animals that attack their trainer, to think this animal deserves to die because it "broke the rules" is so horrible. I just wanted to explain that breeds of dogs DO have personalities.

[flukeman]

Yes they do, many breeds have instincts that go back hundreds, if not thousands of years. But, Rhodesian Ridgebacks were bred to hunt lions, Irish Wolfhounds killed wolves, dachsunds hunted badger - we don't see these instincts coming out as viciousness towards people. I don't see a reason to blame the pit bull because it was originally bred to fight and bait. The instinct is there, but it can be contained. Herding dogs are following the hunting instinct, they are just not carrying through with the actual "kill" of the livestock.

There are dedicated pit breeders today who breed for temperament and socialize and educate their dogs. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, as many pits are bred to use in dogfighting, they are unsocialized to people and aggressive towards other animals. If you rescue a pit (any dog for that matter) from a shelter, you usually don't know its background.

If your Newfie had been unsocialized or had been treated badly, it very well could have had aggressiveness issues. Pits get the bad rap because they are the ones being used for the guarding, fighting, etc. It really could have been any dog, at least one that was large enough to attack a child. My trainer told us of a situation where there was a lovely golden retriever in a family, never showed any problems, was very loving. Well, the father used to "correct" the dog with a wooden spoon, which no one knew about. One day the family's daughter was taking the spoon out of the drawer, and the dog had had enough and attacked. The dog didn't see the child as a dominant (scary) figure like the father, and therefore it retaliated.

[Potter]

I agree entirely with flukeman. Except the part about it having to be big enough to attack a child. A Chuwawa (or however you spell it) could have done the same thing. Those dogs can jump far enough to jusp up and rip your throat out if they wanted to.

My B-I-L used to have a pack of American Pit Bulls when he was a baby. They could have attacked him at anytime, but they didn't. They were tame dogs and protected him, rather than ate him.

In an earlier post I mentioned Indie and Ceazer, my sister's dogs. They know Hannah and Daniel are the boss. The "pack leaders" perhaps. Yet, if you jumped the fence, they'll tell you to jump right back over again. If you don't, they'll show you why you should have. They're great dogs, but they've never hurt anyone.

My own dog (goodness knows what breed she is) used to get hit with a rolled up news paper by my auntie when she was bad. When we got her (because my auntie didn't want her anymore) we threw out the newspaper. She the best dog in the world, yet if you came at her with a rolled up news paper, or a rake (cause dad smacked her a few times for digging) she'd growl and attack.

Every dog has it in them, I'll admit that. It might be stronger in some dogs than others, but the point is, if they're provoked they bite.

-Potter

[flukeman]

My mini poodle had more of it in her than my malamute/shepherd ever will. And you're right about size - I don't think of a toy breed being able to maul someone, but they certainly can do damage. There are so many toy breed dog bites that go unreported because the dogs are cute and small, the owners think they can handle them.

There's obviously something that provoked the situation. A female in heat is enough to drive any unneutered male our of his mind, especially if he is pursuing her and she is rejecting him. I don't buy the woman's story of her son walking in on the dogs while they were mating - it's physically impossible for the male to just jump off the female. If she was afraid enough to lock her son in the basement, then the dogs were not the loving companions she made them out to be. Well maybe they were, but a problem developed somewhere along the way that was not dealt with and was allowed to continue to the point where the dog felt he had to attack.

[Potter]

Again, I have to mention Indie and Ceazer. She's on heat at the moment, and Ceazer is quite obviously a "family man" you might say, but Indie as very much a "career woman". She rejects him, and he keeps trying. He's never even bared his teeth at me for paying attention to her. He just comes and sticks his nose in a makes sure he gets a pat to.

A dog may attack if she's protecting her puppies, but I fail to see why a male dog would attack just because a female is on heat. Perhaps it was to cover up the fact that her (perhaps sometimes) mistreated dogs weren't as loving as she made them out to be.

-Potter

[GreenvilleTexan]

Personally, I think the mother should face some charges for endangering a child or SOMETHING! On the other hand, the death of her son didn't impact her all that much, so it is doubtful there is anything the law can do that would allow reality to sink in.

[Potter]

Poeple like that woman don't deserve children. Children are a gift from God, not something to lock in a basement.

-Potter

[Ramplate]

Then the owners of the ones that are big and aggressive by nature ought to be tested, qualified, and lisenced to own a deadly weapon before being allowed to have one.

[Potter]

Presicely. Although, not all big dogs are agressive by nature. Or at all. Most big dogs are too lazy to bite you.

[NotVinDiesel]

Some people should not be allowed to be parents.

You need a license to drive, a license to hunt, a license to get married. However, any moron with working genitals can have a child. I swear, there should be an IQ test and a complete psychological profile before people should be allowed to breed.

While I agree that some people shouldn't be parents, we all know that setting up a system in which someone determines who gets a "child-bearing" license and who doesn't, would create corruption, possibly further racism and a number of other problems. What we need to do is work harder to properly prepare the people in this Country for responsibility.