A family in Kentucky is giving up their Native American Indian dog after it took a newborn boy from his crib.

Michael and Chrissie Smith have two Indian dogs. Dakota and Nikita, both female, are "the most mild-mannered dogs you could have," Michael Smith said at a press conference yesterday, The Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

But the family reacted in horror when their three-day-old son, Alexander James, went missing from his crib on Monday. They found him in the mouth of Dakota, who was carrying the boy "like she would carry a stuffed animal, very gentle, kind of like a loaf of bread," Smith said.

Dakota eventually dropped Alexander James, who was born premature with one collapsed lung and one partially collapsed lung. He suffered a cracked skull and cracked ribs, along with some other scrapes, and remains in critical condition at the University of Kentucky Hospital.

Dakota is being held in an animal shelter while the family decides what to do with her. "Obviously," Smith said, "Dakota is not coming back into my house."

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Infant snatched from crib by dog remains in critical condition (The Lexington Herald-Leader 7/22)