My best childhood friend's family are Mastiff breeders. These dogs took so much abuse from us kids, playing rough with them and so on yet the worst that happened to us was being licked and slobbered to death.
"[T]hese where purchased at 5 weeks old march 2010. The news left out a lrage part of the story. We where told they only had 50 sec. to report the story. The neighbors are the ones that called for the news help. They where all angry this happened. This was also right behind an old folks home that many where upset. They would not let the others speak. We had our pups kept up all the time. There are strays all over this town and nothing is done. This small dog came over often and teased the pups. It would get just close enough they could not reach him. The dog drug up trash and tore it up in our yard. Today they broke a leather collar in half and a log chain that was still around the females neck when he shot her."
***
"We heard the gun shots in the back yard and ran out. He had shot them both. He left one laying alive, let my children watch him gasping for air and bleediing from the head. He let this go on for twenty min. and then came back to finish the job in front of the kids. Is that animal cruelty??"
*** "Why was these pups shot at the edge of their yard and the stray that runs lose was not? Does this make sence? These pups grew up with a five and a ten year old. The statement about the kids is bull. It was to make himself look good when he foud out they where not pits..."
I have two large aggressive breed dogs. They can be menacing to strangers.
If there is one thing these FR stories have done, it is to make me aware it is not a good thing to call police to my home. All I have to do is get the wrong cop.
Sadly there’s a lesson here, and that is when you call the police you are giving up ALL control of the outcome. They are going to arrive and do what they think is necessary, both to solve problem and to protect themselves. They bring with them a myriad of attitudes, notions, fears, etc. Know when you call them that you have surrendered all input into how the situation turns out. Perhaps the situation is dire enough to warrant this, but YOU and YOU alone make that decision.
Think before you dial 9-1-1. At that point you become just another factor in the situation. Know up front that the fact you made the call means you have given up on solving the problem yourself and you have little, if any, input on how it ends up being handled. That’s not always bad, but it’s the way things are.
Oh goodie.
Another “All cops are bad - they murder innocent doggies” thread.
He explained that he had some very strong feelings about the issue, and that he is obligated by department policy to not give comment on such matters. He then followed up with the comment that in any business privaate or public, 20% of the employees have no business being employed there. His way of commenting without commenting.
I truly believe there are cops who have worked for years without having the opportunity to fire their weapons so when they finally get a chance to shoot a dog they can’t control themselves. They just have to know what it feels like to kill something.
But if a dog came into my yard and threatened me or my dogs and I shot it I’d be arrested. Or shot by a cop who’s never had the opportunity to kill anything before.
It’s a good thing this gun happy cop killed the fighting dogs. They might have hurt themselves.
We have had the problem around here, with dog packs running sheep and other farm animals, moose and deer. They have also attacked children and hikers, so this is far from a remote possibility. The larger breeds also X-breed with coyotes and wolves. The carnage left behind can be awful.
In Alaska and other less sentimental places, a loose dog is a dead dog, particularly in winter. Sorry. I love my dogs, too. But a loose 100lb dog running in a pack with others is a dangerous wild animal.
I am having trouble understanding why the officer thought shooting the dogs was necessary or helpful.
Obviously, we want the fight to stop, but wouldn’t it be less dangerous to the dogs to let them fight than to shoot them to death? Was he trying to protect a particular dog or dogs that he thought were being attakced by the ones he shot? Were humans in danger? The article does not indicate this.
The comments posted here actually make the cop’s actions seem slightly more understandable and make me think the irresponsibility of the Mastiff’s owners (who apparently posted them) may have contributed to this sad outcome.
a) 1 year old Mastiffs, while not fully mature, are not “pups” in the sense of cute, harmless little dogs. They are huge at that age, and should be treated as potentially dangerous dogs by their owners, though well trained Mastiff’s are not super aggressive.
b) From the comments, it seems like they had the Mastiff’s tied up outside, in an unfenced yard, and knew that at least one other dog was coming into the yard to tease them. You don’t leave dogs (especially large ones) chained up outside, especially in unfenced yards. This leads to aggression and terrioriality in the dogs and is illegal in many jurisdictions.
It sounds like the cop went way overboard and his actions should be investigated, but the owners seem to have created the dangerous situation.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t a child out being attacked by these two dogs,” Inman said. “They are saying they were pups but you can go over and look at the dogs and see how large they are. They are probably between 75 and 100 pounds each and if that had been a child we would have a dead child out here.”
What kind of stupidity is this? We had to shoot the dog because if they had been attacking children it would have been bad? By that logic, if a man is walking down the street and a cop drives up and shoots him, he could justify it by saying, if that guy had been on the way to setting fire to an orphanage, it would have been bad.
I am getting the feeling that police in America are increasingly becoming more paranoid and overly reactive.
After watching what the Egyptian police have been doing in times of unrest I can only vaguely wonder what they would do here in America should we have a similar national unrest.
Had he not done this, they might have gotten injured in the dog fight.
They’re right. He shouldn’t have shot those dogs.
He should have waded in with the baton.
So the dogs had log chains on them?
Why don't you build a fence so the dogs don't have to suffer teasing and chains?