See, I disagree with this in about 98% of the cases. People are cruel, horrible creatures for the most part, lacking the loyalty and love that dogs show as a matter of routine.
There is too little information to make the call. If it were my own kids, I'd assume I taught them well enough to not abuse the dog or try to hand feed and thus know something out of the ordinary had happened. If it's a child that I know abuses animals, well then tough crap, you got what you deserved. If my own kid was mistreating a dog, then I've failed as a parent. That's not to say I wouldn't have done the same thing, I couldn't answer that until I found myself in the situation, but I'd have to be wondering what the hell they did to the poor dog even if I did retrieve the finger.
Most dog attacks on people are the fault of the humans involved (either as the antagonist or the trainer), not the dogs. When I get a dog again, it is for protection of myself and my family. Any one dumb enough to hop the fun should get attacked, that's why we domesticated dogs in the first place. No reason to punish them for doing the very thing we taught them to do to protect dumbasses.
edit: and no, I'm not stating this just to troll. I got a very nasty bite on the face when I was just a youngin from the family dog, and yes it was my fault. My da didn't call for the dog's head, and rightly so. He saw it as a lesson and one that obviously took.
