Final Update for Congo - Page 1

Link ... http://cbs3.com/local/Congo.Dogs.Attack.2.751273.html 

This case has been a matter of discussion in the past on this forum, and this is the end for Congo and 3 other German Shepherds. It will always puzzle me as to why people continue to have dogs that they cannot properly take care of. VB

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/german_shepherd_congo_involved.html

This was already bumped up from the posts before. 

This was another incident waiting to happen. It is no different than the dog in Denver, Rollo, whom everyone rallied around and some fool managed to convince a judge that he, the trainer, could guarantee the dog would never bite again. Ridiculous. And it is EXACTLY such situations that cause more trouble for the breed. I always tell my clients and those looking to purchase a GSD that the breed has 2.5 strikes against it already. Sell or adopt to someone irresponsible, or just a plain idiot, and you can be certain that it will spell trouble.

The judge will have also learned a hard lesson from this and you can bet he and those like him will think twice before sparing any dog in the future.

The news article smacks of an owner who is an idiot, saying that the dogs only jumped up on the elderly woman when, according to the article, she had puncture wounds and lacerations, in other words, bites. Would you allow your elderly mother to live in a situation where she could not open a door to the outside? Hell, sure, tell her not to do so because the dogs are out there. She forgets, and she gets injured. Some people should not have dogs....and others should not have a mother.

Wow.....

Every one can keep asking why till they are blue in the face,but the reality is that untillwe humans start looking at our own faults and start holding ourselves and each other accountable for our actions nothing will happen.remember it is very easy to just put a dog down and it is the easy way out which we human love (easy way out).i am 100% sure that if we start putting stupid owners down instead of the dog we will and i truly belive this,control this problem.untill then lets keep on bitching.Have a nice one.

Well, sounds like the news kitchen is cooking it up again. The sad part is that 4 GSDs had to die because they were just that, dogs. If the true intend of 4 GSDs would be to attack, then grandma would be death. Think about it before you believe what you read. How many of you aquire scratches on a daily basis just from training and playing with your dogs? How many of you got bruises on their arms (or where-ever) because your dog took your arm instaed of the ball you were holding?

So now imagine you are 75 years old. Your skin is like paper, and you are unstaedy on your feet. 4 large dogs bolting through the door while you try to get out. You are run over, and hit the ground. Even a man in his best years would have trouble keeping on his feet. Every single foot nail would leave a puncture or a larger abrasion on your brittle skin. But the news call it an attack, makes it sound better, right?

Who's fold is it? The family's for owning 4 GSDs without providing proper training? The honduran man who didnt do what he had been told, and grabbed Frauchen? Congo who spent months in a shelter, away from his family and from being used to have run of the whole property? Grandma who opened the door, knowing the dogs waiting outside? Unfortunate chain of events? And how is an illegal immigrant able to sue anyways?

And the only way to satisfy the general public was to euthanize all dogs..... Great, I feel for every dog owner in that county. Dare you to ever be in that situation. Because I have........my GSD boy bit the UPS delivery girl last november in a chain of unfortunate circumstances. And yes, he is trained in Rally, Obedience and Agility. The difference? The girl never filed any charges, but I am aware that this could have had a complete different outcome.

Finally some common sense. Well-put, Elkoor!

Here another thought. Why just dont we euthanize every horse who has bocked off its rider inflicting injury? Or at least put them in quarantine for being... omg....ja....obnoxious? And hope when they come home they wont bock anymore???

Or maybe we just should minimize and cutenize our breed to the size of a Chihuahua. Or even maximize to enormous size. "Hey, he is a horse, what you expect?"

Geeeze...its just one of those days. I am off to training....

 Elkoor, 

Sadly, from your comments posted here, it seems you and the person following you are also part of the problem. There is NO excuse for a dog biting someone unprovoked. Also, I am older, my skin is very thin, and yes, I get nicks and scrapes daily from all the GSDs I board and train. But no, I do NOT get puncture woulds and lacerations. Also, I think you forget that the owner of the dog finally had the sense to put the dogs down. Did they all deserve to be put down? Probably not, and for that, the owner should be searching his own conscience about how he failed to train and socialize and supervise his dogs.

Very sad outcome for 4 GSDs. I agree with Elkoorr, if the intent had been to kill, Grandma would be dead. It comes down to irresponsible owners. GSDs can be trained not to rush the door. I've done it. They can be trained to do many things if the owner takes the time and/or is willing to take precautions to keep her dogs from doing doglike things (like defending territory) when you don't want them to do those things.

Even then, accidents occur. My pup bit my hand the other night when we were doing ball play. It bled then and I have bruises now. He didn't mean to do it, he just missed his target. He's a clumsy puppy, but he's also very strong, has a good set of teeth and loves ball play. I would not let him play with someone who doesn't know dogs well.  Another time, my yard man surprised me by arriving early one morning when my dogs were outside in my fenced yard; I rushed out and found the guy brandishing a weed whacker at my snarling alpha female. I ordered her into the house. She went. Life goes on. And yes, the man knew I had GSDs; I have a sign on my gate and he'd been here before, just later in the morning.

I'm well aware of the liability issues involved in having German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Dobermans, Malinois and other large protective dogs. They aren't the only breed that gets into trouble. The worst bite I ever got was from a Labrador. I have encountered dog agressive Goldens. Don't get me started on 10 pound canine terrorists. Most of the time, the problem is a lack of proper training and proper understanding of dog motivation on the part of the owners. There are a few, very few, dogs who are just plain genetically crazy; IMO, these dogs should be put down. But in the vast majority of cases, the problem is the owner. The late Congo and his friends are the casualties. I hope Rollo's owner continues to train him; I hope we don't hear about him being put down too. The trainer who guaranteed Rollo will never bite again is a fool.

When I'm out with my dogs, I encounter people who are cautious around GSDs. Good for them. I also encounter people, especially children, who will come right up and expect to pet my dogs without asking first. I have trained all my GSDs so that they do not react badly to friendly but naive people like this and I watch them like a hawk when we are out and about. I wish every GSD owner would take the time to train their dogs, but some do not and we so will continue to hear about sad cases like Congo's.  <end of sermon>