WAI'ANAE — All it took was a few minutes for Opal Sao's dog to attack and kill her 8-week-old great-nephew.

Sao said she left the baby on her bed, asleep, and had gone to the kitchen for a drink of water just after midnight on Sunday.

Penelope Rose, a pit bull mix, followed her to the kitchen, but while Sao was drinking, she realized the dog had left.

Panicked, she ran to the bedroom to find the dog standing on the bed over the baby, Iokepa Liptak. The bed, raised on metal milk crates, had always been off limits to the dog, Sao said.

By the time she handed the baby to her niece, his mother, the baby was dead. But the dog attacked the niece, biting her thigh and calf.

"The dog went wild," Sao said. "Penny grabbed my niece's leg. She was attacking her. I attacked the dog to get her off. Penny's behavior was something I'd never seen before. I didn't recognize her."

The dog was euthanized yesterday by the Hawaiian Humane Society.

"It replays over and over in my mind," Sao said. "If only we could go back in time. I'd give my life to bring this baby back. It was a tragic mistake."

Sao did not name the mother.

The Honolulu medical examiner's office conducted an autopsy yesterday and said the baby died from "cranial cerebral injuries" from a dog attack.

The state Department of Human Services announced it was investigating the attack.

Asked what was being investigated, department spokesman Alan Eyerly said, "possible lack of child supervision."

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATION

The department investigated Sao's niece previously in an unrelated case, Eyerly said.

"The mother did have prior involvement with DHS," he said. "But it was at a different location and had nothing to do with the dog attack."

Eyerly said he could not immediately describe the previous investigation or whether it involved the boy killed on Sunday.

"We are definitely investigating," he said. "Under law, we have to investigate situations like this to determine if child neglect or a lack of supervision was involved."

The humane society said it put the dog to death yesterday afternoon at the request of the owner, after holding it in isolation since 4:30 a.m. Sunday. The dog had been removed from the home on Kakaiapola Street at the request of the Honolulu Police Department.

Sao said she bought the dog when it was 6 weeks old as a gift for her husband, who lives in 'Aiea. The dog lived four of the last five years of its life there, until it moved to her Wai'anae home about a year ago.

After attacking the baby on the bed, the 40-pound dog also attacked the baby's mother, Sao said. The dog bit into her thigh and calf when Sao handed the baby to her niece, who was treated at a hospital and released.

The dog, she said, was not raised to be malicious or violent. Just recently, Sao had let Penny out of the kennel in the backyard to socialize with other dogs, who were inside and outside dogs.

Before Sunday, humane society officials had not received any complaints about the animal, said Kawehi Yim, society spokes-woman.

The dog had never attacked anyone before, Sao said.

"The dog was a good dog," Sao said. "She was a family pet. It was obedient and was never allowed on a bed. It was never allowed in the room with the baby alone.

"Nothing is ever going to change things. Nothing will bring back that baby. We're just so lost. Alone. We all just want to be near each other."

TRAINING MATTERS

Owners of properly trained dogs should not have any problems between their dogs and their babies, said Dave Pang, owner of The Pet Spot at Ward Warehouse and the father of a 13-month-old boy, Kailoa.

"Proper training makes the difference between having a good dog and a bad dog," Pang said. "In 20 years, I can count on one hand the number of dogs that were nontrainable, and they were trained by being abused.

"That's the only way they know how to respond, by attacking. And if the baby does something they don't like, they respond the way they were trained, by attacking."

All dog owners need to exercise their pets daily and stimulate their minds by teaching them tricks and playing with them, Pang said.

Dog owners who are also new parents need to blend all of their dog's old routines with their new children, Pang said.

"If you suddenly put the dog outside, it's punitive, and you haven't done your job as a pet owner," Pang said. "The No. 1 thing that comes to mind (of new parents) is the fear factor: This dog is going to bite my baby.

"It doesn't have to be that way. If you walk your dog twice a day, you still need to walk your dog twice a day, but bring your baby along. That way, you include him in your new family."

FAMILY GRIEVES

With only a few precious pictures of 8-week-old Iokepa, family members are grieving and seeking solace in each other's arms. Friends and family drop-ped by the home all day yesterday bearing flowers and food.

A sheet of laminated photos taken at the hospital shortly after Iokepa was born on July 30 at 7 pounds, 12 ounces, was passed around to family and friends. But the three pictures were never far out of Sao's sight.

Baby cribs, car seats and bottles still are in the house, reminders of Iokepa's short life. All the aunties and other family members always wanted to hold him, Sao said.

A funeral date has not been set.

"We're out of our skin. It's hard to explain," Sao said. "We've been crying since Sunday. We haven't slept. We are all just hurting. We need time."