Posted on 12/16/2017 2:07:04 PM PST by BenLurkin
Bethany Lynn Stephens had been gone for about a day since she left to walk her dogs. So her father went out to look for her at the area she frequented.
There, authorities say, he found her two dogs, guarding what he first thought was an animal carcass.
“Much to his horror, discovered that it was not,” Goochland County Sheriff Jim Agnew told reporters at a news conference Friday.
Investigators in Goochland, Va., a rural community about 30 miles outside of Richmond, say the petite, 5-foot-1 young woman, who weighed a little more than 100 pounds, was mauled to death by her dogs, which had a combined weight of about twice hers, while out on a walk earlier this week. Her father found her Thursday evening in a wooded area that used to be a farm, about a half a mile from the main road...
“The dogs clearly, at least in our estimation in a dark night, had something to do with this. It was an absolutely grisly mauling,” Agnew told reporters. “In my 40 years of law enforcement, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Hope I’d never see anything like it again.”
Officials from the county’s animal control department and sheriff’s office spent at least an hour trying to tranquilize the animals, Agnew said. Investigators also found bloody articles of clothing scattered in the area.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I am too old and too unhip to recognize hand signs. Do you know what the
one Bethany is making in the picture means?
Tell me about it.
The dog I referred to is the one pictured with the victim. The article said that dog and the other were about 120 lb. each. I have a 120 lb. Great Dane who looks quite large because, although quite thin, he stands about as tall as a whitetail deer. Then, horror of horrors, my other dog, who weighs 90 lb., is half American Staffordshire Terrier, a quarter Labrador, and eighth Golden, and and eighth Cocker Spaniel. When I adopted him from a human society over twelve years ago as a puppy, he was represented as being half Great Dane and half black Lab. He’s been a great dog all his life, except for thinking he owns half of what was my bed.
Neither of my dogs has ever been spoiled.
Dog doesn’t look “huge” to me; I think 120lb is a bad estimate. I’m guessing they guessed and did not put them on a scale! The dog is too short and not fat enough to weigh that much.
“I adopted him from a human society over twelve years ago as a puppy, he was represented as being half Great Dane and half black Lab.”
Yet somehow you ascertained his exact ancestry although obtained at a shelter? I’m curious how that happened. How did you get exact measurements of AmStaff/Lab/Golden/Cocker?
Actually all this proves is that it can be hard (not always) to figure a dog’s background.
OK, I got you.
I still say the short dog is a PBT type. Wouldn’t surprise me at all that one instigated it, and the Dane just joined in per pack mentality.
And “curs” and Plotts (!) mostly look unmistakeably like actual “hounds”; PBTs do not. You can find a few I’m sure (just like Labs) who kinda look like a PBT but they are minority.
“Have to pretty thick to not recognize a Great Dane when you see one.”
So true. Of course, I’m really at risk now since I own a 120 lb. Dane and a 90 lb. AST cross. Pray for me.
Buying from an AKC approved breeder also gives you a better chance of getting a dog with good health, a vitally important consideration with many large breeds, like Great Danes, that often have tragically short lives.
It’s a bit of a story. About four weeks after I adopted him, I took him to puppy basic training, where the instructor told me he was part Pit. I didn’t do anything about it then and didn’t return him because he’d won me over. Then, a couple of years ago, I was dropping him off at the vet’s and ran into a full blooded AST that looked almost like my dog, especially from in front. That got me going, so I had the vet run a DNA test on him, hence the exact breed structure.
Bah. Don’t believe those DNA things.
When they declare German Shepherds to be Molossars, like Bullmastiffs and the like, it’s complete full of it. Clearly Shepherds are not built at all like Mastiffs and Rotties and Bernards.
You can only guess, and all of us are fallible especially when it comes to mixes.
"They're actually darling animals, statistically they actually bite less than chihuahuas do; it's just that so many have been trained to kill and maim that's a problem." /s
She was someone’s daughter with a long life ahead of her, and she didn’t deserve to go out that way.
Wild hogs are fair game here if they are on your property-we have more than enough of the things, and they are a good source of lean pork, although a lot of the town-bred people out here won’t eat them-but bacon is bacon and ham is ham and the locker plant/meat market /slaughters and butchers all hogs, wild or domestic-most of us are fine with eating them.
There is no denying mountain lions here-they were reintroduced in the mid-80’s and keep to themselves-we have a moratorium on development in this county to protect water and other resources-it also gives room and game for the mountain lions so they don’t need to eat people or livestock-just don’t let your pets run loose-the lions are attracted to easy fast food like that. My brother calls loose pets soft, slow, delicious mountain lion take-out...
We knew the bears were being reintroduced, too-and that is okay. Why is re-indroduction a secret where you are-they don’t think people are intelligent enough to learn how to live with bears and lions if they are told how to keep themselves and their pets safe?
Look at my AST mix and you’ll see the DNA test is pretty ell proven through his conformation. Personality pretty well proves out too.
That is how I see it-I’m hopefully investing 15+ years in my companion dog-I’m not going to be stingy with the money-I want the best of breed-I was also taught to look for the healthiest, best looking livestock-won’t do less for a companion animal.
After losing two dear German Shepherds at barely 13, and only liking large working/guarding breeds, I carefully chose a Chow, which has a longer lifespan in general. He died peacefully at 17. I didn’t want another Chow-he was one of a kind-so I chose a Siberian Husky-she was as fine a companion and protector as any of the other 3 dogs-quite possibly the best dog I’ve ever had. After slowing down a bit for several months, her heart just quit in her sleep -she was 17-that was nearly 2 years ago, and I still miss her so much I haven’t gotten another dog. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for...
Congratulations on the wonderful job you’ve done getting long life spans out of your dogs. Right now it’s so far, so good, with my two. The AST mix will turn 13 in March of next year and the Great Dane will make seven about the same time. Good health for both so far.
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