Final Update for Congo - Page 2

A dog need not kill to be considered vicious. But yes,  Sam, I agree with you that it was indeed a large part of irresponsible ownership there. None the less, someone who can say with pride that their dog bit a delivery man is foolish. The dog will bite again and someone will report it, and in my county, the dog will end up being put down. It is incumbent upon breeders to not sell dogs to people who do not understand their responsibilities to keep society safe and the dog properly secured.

I agreed only about the intent part, Hodie, guess I should have been more specific. It used to be a dog got one free bite, but even one bite is one too many.  The problem of selecting responsible puppy buyers is a major reason why I have never and will never breed dogs.

Hodie, you missed the point. Dont believe so easy whats written in a news article regarding circumstances and wounds inflicted as Media tends to exacerbate things. And none of us was there, yet we are judging every aspect of the event by hearsay.

I agree with you that there is no excuse for a dog to bite unprovoked. But "provoked" is very open to interpretation. And no, dont call me or anyone else part of the problem or foolish. You are also dead on wrong that I proudly report my dog biting. Indeed I was very disturbed that this happened at all, and I am not very proud of it as my boy is trained and generally works off leash arround strangers and other dogs. So hold off on just assuming things as you dont know the circumstances.

Hodie, as usual you comments are right on the mark. You know, in the first incident I took the dog's side (I usually do) and understood from a dog's point of view how that episode occured. I did not have so many doubts about his owner(s). But with this latest episode all doubts are cast aside.

All of my dogs are well-socialized with most types of people-save for one (1) type, the elderly. I have noticed that on the very rare occassions they were near a very old person that they were very edgy. Most people of that age group do not socialize with dogs, and I certainly understand that.

In this latest case the owner(s) showed absolute disregard for the safety of the mother-in-law. Dogs can become very excited as a group if only one (1) dog is agitated, and can engage the pack mentality. Do I allow my dogs around older people or children? Yes I occassionally do, but only the ones who have proven that they do not pose a threat to somone's safety and they are always under my supervision. Even the dog who means no harm, but is still prone to jump and knock a person down can be the source of much grief for the owner(s). One can be sued just as easily for the cause of a broken arm as they can a biting incident.

I agree it is sad that four (4) dogs paid the price for the stupidity of their owners, but that is exactly what happened here.

Best Regards,

Bob-O

I think there are a few things we can all agree on: 

It wasn't exactly a smart move to tell the gardners to drive in the yard, but not get out of the car, then leave them like that, unsupervised while he finished his shower.  It's just too easy for the situation to spin out of control, as evidenced by what happened.  I don't think this is "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" either, I mean come on, who does that ?  (Other than that TV series, Magnum PI where if anyone drove on the estate the two dobies were snarling, foaming, attacking crazed monsters until Higgins would quietly say "Zues, Apollo - desist" and they  automatically ran back to their runs....or was it off set?.)  Anyway, that's just not real life and all of us know to take precautions with our dogs.

After what happened, why didn't the guy invest in some dog runs and why in the hell would he EVER allow these dogs to be loose and  unsupervised in his yard while he had anyone outside of his immediate family in his home - especially with access to the yard?

Like a very wise woman says, "You can't fix stupid".

I wish our criminal system would euthanize murderers this fast instead for waiting years.

Hi Bob-O,

Great to hear from you. How are things going with the job? Well I hope.

This is such a sad situation, and again, too many people blamed everyone, including the Guatamalan gardner for being in the country illegally. So since he was illegal, he deserved to get torn up and torn up is an understatement. Whether the man got out of the car before he should have is not the issue. If he was expected, the dogs should have been put away. Hell, who knows if the guy even understood what he was told about waiting in the car. So that makes it all ok for the dogs to come after him? Not in my book.

I have many dogs. They are NOT allowed to jump on people. Nor are people allowed to be where the "pack" is unless I am there. Dogs do not run loose on my large property unless I am right there with them, and should I see someone coming, they are immediately secured. Dogs are secured before someone is allowed to walk into an area where dogs are present. Why? Do I trust them? Well, yes I do, but if I am wrong and for some reason a dog would jump up or knock someone down or God forbid, take a bite *(which I don't think they would do), I would loose a dog. Dogs are dogs. They can be unpredictable and every single person ought to know this.

In this case, the owner realized his own folly. I hope he goes to sleep at night and thinks about how he failed the dogs. He and his wife were completely irresponsible and, as sueincc said, after such an inititial incident, you can bet your butt I would make sure the dogs were completely contained. I cannot imagine allowing my mother to walk around with the dogs loose. 

Anyway, until it is about the dogs and not the money, breeders breed and sell to whomever comes along with money to buy. Just this month I turned a sale away because the people looking to buy a dog did not have a proper containment system for the dog. But, I can be sure they found a dog from any number of people who say they care about the breed and would sell to anyone.

In any case Bob, glad to hear from you and best wishes as always.