Posted on 12/13/2009 12:40:53 PM PST by WFTR
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (Dec. 13) - Authorities say a Rottweiler attacked and killed a Florida toddler when the boy reached to pick up a cookie he had dropped.
(Excerpt) Read more at sphere.com ...
>>”If a person is stupid enough to raise an animal as to be violent...”
Were these puppies RAISED to be violent?
“After her puppies were born, they were so mean that they largely had to be isolated. “If I let him out right now,” Markwell said, pointing to one of the young toughs who was leaping and snarling behind a glass door, “he’d try to kill you. No doubt about it.”
Markwell has seen litters of puppies that started trying to kill each other at 7 weeks...”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-bad-dogs11-2009dec11,0,458776.story?track=rss
Also at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2405160/posts
Nature or nurture?
DG
I don't know what the ratios are, and I agree that if animals that are now considered exotics would have the same impact if they were as prevalent, then that factor should be considered. When we make these ratios, what comparisons should we make? For any given breed, the number may not be that much more than the number of a particular exotic. I've never heard of a boa constrictor killing anyone, but S373 would put them under Lacy act restrictions. In that case, the ratio for boa constrictors is less than the ratio for rottweilers. Earlier this year, HR669 would have banned all non-native species except for dogs, cats, and some farm animals. I've never seen a report saying this, but I'll be surprised if a beta fish has ever killed someone.
The better analysis focuses on the animals' "weapons" and instincts. If we standardize on the dog, many animals that the politicians want to attack are much less potentially dangerous. I mentioned total numbers of deaths because dogs have produced a bit of a body count.
Many things in our society bring risk. To me, few things are as scary as seeing someone give a fast car to a teenager, and plenty of anecdotes as well as some statistics would bear out the idea that this situation is risky. Should the government step into that situation and legislate a maximum performance limit for vehicles driven by people under 25?
In terms of good advice, I'd go one step further and say that no young child should be left alone with a family pet. In terms of the criminal justice system, I don't like to try to legislate good advice. This family has paid a terrible price for what may have been a completely unexpected outcome. In this case, they hadn't left the child alone with the dog. As you said, a little more distrust of the situation might have prevented a tragedy.
I read the article you linked. It mentioned under temperment about Rots that are shy or aggressive should be excused from judging.
Seems the need to state this underlines my comment....these dogs should NOT be pets.
I am tired of reading about parents who say “I can always get another kid, but I can never find another dog like that one” when the reporters interview them after their child is found dead.
GET OVER IT NO DOG IS WORTH A HUMAN LIFE!
I don't think we have evidence to draw this conclusion at this point. There was a bad outcome, but so far we have no evidence to suggest that the dog had ever done anything that would suggest that he would be aggressive towards a child. If a parent makes a mistake that causes an accident and kills his child in the back seat, neither the accident nor the mistake mean that he is a bad driver. Often, tragedy happens because that one in ten thousand bad outcome comes true.
I don't think the breed of dog necessarily means that much. Individual dogs that are bigger and stronger than a certain size have a higher potential to hurt people. To the extent that breed determines size, breed has some meaning. With people, the differences in size are not enough to have a big influence on the ability to do harm.
Ok, I'll bite, no pun intended. What's the mistake that was made?
Source?
I don’t know whether a 9mm would have the stopping power for protection against the big breeds.
When I think of those kinds of mistakes, I think of things like driving a little too fast for conditions even though one normally drives more wisely. I agree that the mindless speedsters are usually accidents waiting to happen, but even people who normally drive wisely occasionally drive too fast on purpose or because they don't pay attention to speed.
A mistake that I make sometimes is misjudging lights, particularly in slightly rainy weather. I've occasionally skid because I tried to stop at a yellow when I didn't have room or I've run the beginning of a red because I didn't believe that I could stop.
Every so often, many of us are in a situation where we suddenly realize that we're in the wrong lane to make a turn and change lanes without looking. I can't remember doing this, but I tend to take "defensive driving" to the point of paranoia. I see this happen occasionally. Most of the time, the other drivers are able to avoid a collision. When there is an accident, the accident is usually not serious. On rare occasions, the results could be tragic.
I'm sure that if you gave the issue some thought, you could come up with other situations where someone who "always" does things right in some area makes a mistake.
Yes.
Also the statistics of fatal and other attacks
will reflect the total population of a particular breed/type
relative to other breed/type populations.
Where I come from "pitbulls" and Rotties
are nowhere near responsible for the majority of attacks.
pdf link
To suggest that a breed/type is more dangerous
than similar sized dogs based on the number of attacks is a simplistic analysis
which ignores many other factors that contribute to dog attacks
and does little to help decrease dog attacks over all.
The Rottweiller is a working dog that descended from a cattle dog left by the Roman legions in Rottweil, Germany. The Rottweiler accompanied local butchers on buying expeditions from the Middle Ages to about 1900, carrying money in a neck pouch to market. It has also served as a guard dog, a drover’s dog, a draft dog, and a police dog. The Rottweiler is still referred to as the Rottweiler Metzgerhund (Rottweiler Butcher’s Dog) in its native Germany. Some accounts have the Rottweiler descending from the early German Shepherd Dog and others consider its ancestor to be similar to the Tibetan Mastiff, brought as a guard by Roman soldiers. The dog was prevalent from the Swiss canton of Argovie to the Nacker and Rottweil distincts to the south of Wurttemberg, wher the Romans had a military camp.
Source: http://www.pets.ca/breedprofiles/a/rottweiler/r9.htm
Other research I have done indicates the Rottie was likely used to pull the butcher’s loaded CART to the market, which explains the neck pouch used to carry the day’s proceeds home, doesn’t it?
Well said, kanawa.
In terms of reducing dog attacks, these numbers suggest that a big factor is keeping dogs from running with other dogs. Having one big dog in the yard may not be that big an issue. Having two or three would likely cause a disproportionate increase in the risk. Likewise, letting one's single dog run with the neighborhood pack increases the risk of the whole beyond the sum of the individual risks.
We have many dogs in our neighborhood who are out running around. When I’m walking ours on a leash many dogs run out of their yards and run after mine in a confrontational way. I always put my dogs behind me, stamp my foot and yell “NO!” Amazingly, the owners come running to get “Fluffy” and always apologize. I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying “Why is your dog being allowed to do this? For your animal’s sake, KEEP YOUR ANIMAL UNDER YOUR CONTROL!” Had anything happened, their dog would have paid the price. Responsible ownership. Can’t be said enough.
I like to walk along the road near my home, and one neighbor had a miniature pincher that always chased me. I wasn't scared of the dog, but I was scared that the dog would be hit. I like to carry a walking stick, and the owner always told me to hit the dog with the stick. I didn't want to hit the poor dog, and I didn't think that doing so would help. If cars were coming, I'd wave at them to try to get them to slow down and avoid the dog. Eventually, the dog was killed by a car. I didn't see what happened, but I'm sure that he was just running in the road and the driver never saw him.
Well said. Poor animals. If people aren’t willing to accept responsibility, don’t get the animal. Animals are for life.
I hear that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.