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by Phil Behun on 19 February 2010 - 17:02
Point being,,,,,this is not the "German Shepherd Forum" but the "General Topic" message forum. "He" looked like yours? Or yours looked like his?
by Phil Behun on 19 February 2010 - 17:02
I agree Keith. This is one of the issues I have with the increasing popularity of the Malinois. People who have no business breeding them, are breeding them, and selling them on the cheap. People who have no business selling "K9" dogs, are selling them. People who have no business "providing handler courses" are teaching them and putting dogs and handlers on the street that are under prepared or under qualified. This kind of incident does no one any good, the child, the dog, the K9 program or the reputation of working dogs in general.
by Mystere on 19 February 2010 - 17:02
It was not just the lack of an "out" that is the problem. Obviously, the handler was not on the ball, the dog's nerves and/or training is in question (and he may NOT have been certified, so why was he there?), and the situation was handled poorly.
by RLHAR on 19 February 2010 - 18:02
I'm sorry but I do take exception to the reporter dragging GSDs into this story as well as using video of a working GSD with the sound bites about a bitten child behind it. This story has nothing to do with GSDs and they should not have been referenced in the news article.
People who know working dogs, who know K9-Training can see and understand that this is a case where a dog in training was not properly trained or handled for the situation he was in and a child was bitten.
Joe Blow hearing and seeing this news story is only going to see GSD as a 'dangerous breed'.
Sure this could have happened just as easily with a poorly trained or handled GSD as a Mali but the reporter should have focused the story on how these dogs are SUPPOSED to be trained and any steps that will be taken to ensure this situation never happens again. Instead the reporter went for sensationalism and because your average non-dog person doesn't know what a Belgian Mali looks like, the reporter used the GSD comparison.
It's bad reporting on top of a bad situation for all involved, from child to dog.
People who know working dogs, who know K9-Training can see and understand that this is a case where a dog in training was not properly trained or handled for the situation he was in and a child was bitten.
Joe Blow hearing and seeing this news story is only going to see GSD as a 'dangerous breed'.
Sure this could have happened just as easily with a poorly trained or handled GSD as a Mali but the reporter should have focused the story on how these dogs are SUPPOSED to be trained and any steps that will be taken to ensure this situation never happens again. Instead the reporter went for sensationalism and because your average non-dog person doesn't know what a Belgian Mali looks like, the reporter used the GSD comparison.
It's bad reporting on top of a bad situation for all involved, from child to dog.
by Keith Grossman on 19 February 2010 - 18:02
Joe Blow hearing and seeing this news story probably wouldn't know the difference between a GSD and a Mal or a Dutchie anyway.
by eichenluft on 19 February 2010 - 18:02
Terrible. And why did the mother get bitten while trying to get the dog to release her child? The handler should have been the one with his hands "in there" getting his own dog off that child. What was he doing, standing there yelling "out"??? geez. Sounds like they need better handler training, in addition to dogs with better temperament and training.
molly
molly
by Mystere on 19 February 2010 - 18:02
Keith,
That may be part of RL's point-- John Q. Public now thinks it was a GSD that bit, not a Mal, which John Q. probably never heard of, anyway.
That may be part of RL's point-- John Q. Public now thinks it was a GSD that bit, not a Mal, which John Q. probably never heard of, anyway.
by Mindhunt on 19 February 2010 - 18:02
My question is now what? The training program is obviously an issue as is the temperment of the malinois and handler who were "in training". Very experienced trainers, breeders, and good training programs can be given a bad name by the so called Joe/Jane Blow breeders, trainers, and training programs (I hope I made sense) out there. We all know how the media loves to distort stories to sell. I have read so many articles and seen on TV where the words "trained police dog", "trained Schutzhund dog", "trained attack dog", "attack dog", and "trained to bite dog" were interchanged randomly and many times used to describe the same dog! Funny how the dogs described or shown were almost always GSDs.
We used to have problems with the News Media always reporting how overpaid Firefighters were and always sitting around the station waiting for a call, sitting in their lazy boys and watching TV. We finally got fed up with trying to correct their misconceptions and invited a few trusted news reporters out (yes there are those that exsist, not an urban myth) for a "be a Firefighter for a shift". We ran them through the agility test used on potential recruits, gave them a taste of the academy, and put them in gear to learn to do what we do. They had to take certian classes to be able to ride with us for a shift. They realized how busy our day really was, the station duties, the daily training, the calls, everything. We even had a couple that were with us on those days were we ate breakfast at 7pm instead of the usual 7am because we didn't see the station until then and still never got to eat dinner or sleep, a full 24 hrs of busy. It started with just a few interested, now we have waiting lists and have cultivated media contacts that know what we do without distorting it. The K9 unit did it as well as the METRO drug team. Worked wonders
I wonder if any of you that have clubs or training facilities can find a trustworthy news reporter or three who would be interested in doing something similar, learn what goes into the choosing, testing, training of both Schutzhund and K9? The only way to fight misconceptions is education.
We allowed them to become invested in what we do. I wonder how a reporter would feel being with a dog and handler from the start to the handler/dog receiving their first title or find or criminal apprehension, etc?
We used to have problems with the News Media always reporting how overpaid Firefighters were and always sitting around the station waiting for a call, sitting in their lazy boys and watching TV. We finally got fed up with trying to correct their misconceptions and invited a few trusted news reporters out (yes there are those that exsist, not an urban myth) for a "be a Firefighter for a shift". We ran them through the agility test used on potential recruits, gave them a taste of the academy, and put them in gear to learn to do what we do. They had to take certian classes to be able to ride with us for a shift. They realized how busy our day really was, the station duties, the daily training, the calls, everything. We even had a couple that were with us on those days were we ate breakfast at 7pm instead of the usual 7am because we didn't see the station until then and still never got to eat dinner or sleep, a full 24 hrs of busy. It started with just a few interested, now we have waiting lists and have cultivated media contacts that know what we do without distorting it. The K9 unit did it as well as the METRO drug team. Worked wonders
I wonder if any of you that have clubs or training facilities can find a trustworthy news reporter or three who would be interested in doing something similar, learn what goes into the choosing, testing, training of both Schutzhund and K9? The only way to fight misconceptions is education.
We allowed them to become invested in what we do. I wonder how a reporter would feel being with a dog and handler from the start to the handler/dog receiving their first title or find or criminal apprehension, etc?
by Keith Grossman on 19 February 2010 - 18:02
Any idea, Mindhunt, how many skydiving fatality reports I've seen that were described as "parachute failed to open"? It's never that simple; it's sort of like reporting a plane crash as "aircraft failed to fly".
by Mindhunt on 19 February 2010 - 18:02
You are right Keith, things are never as simple as a single sentence.
So you jump out of perfectly good airplanes for fun???? Kind of like running into burning buildings when everyone else runs out.
So you jump out of perfectly good airplanes for fun???? Kind of like running into burning buildings when everyone else runs out.
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