Plan to separate comatose boy and his dog sparks campaign

Videos show Tascha, a six-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier, gently licking Dylan's hand or laying her brown head on his arm.

He doesn't respond. He never has. But they're still best friends.

"When Tascha is lying next to him, he is much more peaceful. His pulse and breathing rate fall," says Dylan's father, Eckhard.

Ten-year-old Dylan Gerzmehle has been in a coma since birth, unable to breathe without assistance and kept alive with mechanical ventilation. While patients in a coma may have their eyes open, how much they take in of the world around them is not clear, according to doctors.

His parents say Tascha is one of his few comforts. But her breed is classified as one of the pit bull breeds and proscribed in many jurisdictions, including the German state of Brandenburg, where their current residence, Schoenwalde-Glien, lies.

The Gerzmehle's might have been able to keep her under the radar, except for a recent incident when the dog ran off the family property to attack another dog. Now state authorities want the dog removed from the family.

That has sparked a backlash on the Internet, with hope building that Dyland and Tascha will now be able to stay together.

Tascha came into the family's possession as a puppy while they were still living in Berlin. Initially, no one knew her breed. Once it became clear that she was an American Staffordshire, Tascha underwent a training course to ensure that her owners were capable of handling her.

But a move from Berlin to Brandenburg two years ago brought a change to the legal situation, with Tascha now officially classified as dangerous. Authorities have insisted the Gerzmehle family get rid of her as laid down by the law, which provides for confiscation by the authorities.

Berlin fire officer Juergen Toepfer, 48, then launched an appeal over Facebook in October.

"There were 2 000 likes within a couple of hours," he says. That figure soared to almost 90 000 as the end of November approached.

"I'm overwhelmed," says Toepfer, himself a father. After the Facebook page was translated into English. Likes flowed in from Britain, the US and Asian countries.

The family is also receiving support from the Erna-Graf animal protection foundation. "The boy needs Tascha," says chairman Eisenhard von Loeper.

Schoenwalde-Glien mayor Bodo Oehme says regulations allow exceptions for guide dogs for the blind and other handicapped people. He said Friday that a formal application that would reclassify Tascha as a disabled assistance dog has been filed.