Posted on 02/27/2010 6:53:31 PM PST by nickcarraway
A 17-pound dachshund is at the center of a bitter battle between his owners, who say he's a sweet dog who wouldn't hurt anyone, and the Colorado city where they live, which says the 10-year-old pooch is a "vicious" hound.
Spork, who has been featured on animal magazine covers, bit a veterinary technician during an office visit for dental surgery, KDVR.com reported. Both the technician and the animal hospital filed reports with animal control, said Kelly Walker, Spork's owner.
"I was holding him and he bit her on the chin," Walker told the station. She also says the vet tech got too close to Spork's face with some scissors, and that scared him.
State law says people who work with animals are banned from filing charges in dog bite situations, but the city of Lafayette says that city rules apply and Spork's owners will face charges.
Walker and her husband received a ticket charging them with owning a "vicious dog." Walker fears the dog she tucks into bed at night will be euthanized, and they are fighting the ticket.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It’s probably responsible for choking several children.
Leave them alone and they will tend to leave you alone. Be friendly and don't provoke them. They have weapons.
As a kid with several paper routes, the “wiener dogs” were the single most likely to bite breed on the route. I was bitten eight times by wiener dogs (three of them). Never was I bitten by GSD’s, pit bulls, boxers, Dobies, etc. Never had a problem with bigger dogs. It was always the little SOB’s - the wiener dogs, toy poodles, yorkies, etc.
And the owners of the toy dogs always laughed it off.
Wow you take your dog to the vet and they file a complaint about it? I guess they want to see how good their liability insurance is?
There are no pit bulls?
I wonder how many people will take their animals to that vet now
“...bit a veterinary technician during an office visit for dental surgery...”
Heck, I’ve bitten more than one of my dentists.
If the dog is a biter he would have been muzzled. He wasn't therefore he is not a biter.
I hate little rat sized dogs. They serve no purpose. But if their owners like them what the hell. And if they try to bite a swift kick from a big boot will solve that problem.
The vet may be obligated by law to file reports about bites. IIRC, in some jurisdictions people docs are required to do so when a patient sees one for an animal bite. The overkill is the city’s doing.
Good God! Don’t tell any of this to Chet99!
The terrier family produces some really pugnacious dogs too. Smaller breeds like Spork (`teckels’) were bred to pursue vermin into holes & under rocks and kill them. They were used in ratting contests and against other dogs as well, so—all appearances aside—yeah, they can be as mean as snakes.
Perhaps the vet is a transplant from one of those sue-happy states?
Yeah, I can relate. I used to pass by a weiner dog nest on my way to school as a kid. They’d come charging down their driveway with the nastiest expressions on their faces — always with crinkled little brows, like they were worried about something. They never bit me though. There was also a Chow dog who was pretty mean, but he was behind a fence, thank God.
My Jack Russell was one mean son of a gun.
Small dogs exhibit bad behavior including biting a lot more than the big dogs.
The reason is that owners don’t address this kind of thing as seriously with weiners or chihuahuas or pekinese. A pit bull or a rott starts biting and the owner will address it immediately.
But the unusual thing here is that it was the veterinary staff that made the complaint? You’d think they would know how to deal with uptight mutts and would be careful not to get bit.
I would think that this would end the whole matter right there. Municipalities derive their authority from the state; ergo, state law trumps city law.
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