Question:

local6.com
Sleeping Fla. Boy Has 4 Fingers Gnawed Off By Family Dog
Fingers Found In Dog's Stomach
POSTED: 12:59 p.m. EDT October 15, 2003
UPDATED: 3:59 p.m. EDT October 15, 2003
A 6-year-old Florida boy who was partially paralyzed by a hit-and-run driver last year had four of his fingers chewed off by his family's dog because he couldn't feel what the animal was doing.


Dog Chews Off Fla. Boy's Fingers


Dontavius Bryant, of Tampa, Fla., was hit by a driver last year and left with no feeling on his left side, which is why he didn't feel the dog chewing off his fingers to his second knuckle while he slept.
Dontavius's 10-year-old brother, who shares a bed with him, found blood on the bed when he awoke sometime between 5 and 5:30 a.m. Monday.
"My brother told me to look at my hand," said Dontavius, sitting in a wheelchair Tuesday afternoon at the hospital with his left hand wrapped in white gauze. "I looked at it, and it was bleeding."
Hillsborough County animal control officials destroyed the puppy, a mixed breed of chow and pit bull named Chaka.
The child's fingers were found in the dog's stomach, police said.
Jerrolyn "Shawn" Dewberry, 27, rushed her son to St. Joseph's Hospital. Dontavius was being treated at adjacent Tampa Children's.
"When I woke up, four of his fingers were off. It was a lot of blood," she said. "He went to sleep with 10 fingers, woke up with six." Dontavius, who is right-handed, lost the use of his left hand in October 2002 when the driver of a pickup hit him as he was attempting to cross the street on his way home from playing football. No one has been arrested.
Dontavius and his two older brothers had received the puppy as a gift from their aunt two to three weeks ago, family friend Diona Thomas said.
"I believe the dog didn't know what he was doing," Thomas said. "He was friendly. Everybody loved him."
Chaka will be the last dog Dontavius will have, his mother said. "I don't want more dogs," Dewberry said. "We're going to stick to fish, to birds. No pets like dogs."
Dontavius is taking his latest injury in stride, saying it doesn't interfere with his passion for playing video games.
"I'll be OK. I can still play video games with one hand," he said.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
Copyright 2003 by Local6.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Answer:
Poor lad.


Answer:
I just read this iin the paper this morning. I can't imagine what this little little boy must be going through.
He sounds like a read trooper though.


Answer:
Bizarre.


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Answer:
thats so odd,,,I cant believe a dog doing this,,its strange thats for sure


Answer:
I was thinking that the puppy could have been teething and needed to chew on something and with puppies, we have to teach them when biting is acceptable and when it's not so the puppy might not have known it wasn't supposed to bite off human fingers.
Because, if the boy still had feeling in his hand, he would have woken up and disciplined the puppy or cried out in pain (which is how puppies learn whether they are biting the other dog too hard, the one being bitten would yelp in pain) and that would have stopped the puppy.
So it's kinda gruesome but at the same time, I don't think the puppy knew any better. I have to admire the boy's attitude, he's still positive even being partially paralysed and mutilated in his hand.


Answer:
Di, does it say that the dog was a puppy? I couldn't find where it did but it's probably right under my nose. In that case, the story is completely different and not bizarre at all. And I would be very opposed to putting the dog down.


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Dontavius and his two older brothers had received the puppy as a gift from their aunt two to three weeks ago, family friend Diona Thomas said.
this is where it says it was a puppy Candice


Answer:
Thank you.