Posted on 03/04/2011 9:00:24 AM PST by marktwain
The owner of a 70-pound greyhound said Thursday that he exhausted all options before pulling his handgun on a 140-pound dog that had latched its jaws around his greyhound’s neck.
“I had no choice but to shoot into the dog and kill him,” Robert McCombs said.
Tammy Martinez, who owned the dog shot to death, was served a summons Thursday afternoon on suspicion of unlawful ownership of a dangerous animal, a misdemeanor, according to Joe Stafford, director of animal services at the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region. Martinez identifed her dog as a bullmastiff.
The incident left McCombs’ 6-year-old greyhound, Cooper, with a gash to his neck requiring five staples. Martinez’s dog was not injured by Cooper, Stafford said.
McCombs was walking Cooper about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on the 4800 block of El Camino when he said he heard a woman across the street “having some trouble” with her dog. He didn’t turn toward her, however, until he heard yelling. The dog was dragging Martinez, he said.
“He blasted across (the street) and came right at us,” McCombs said. “They fought just a little tiny bit and then that dog clamped down on my dog’s neck.”
Grabbing the bullmastiff’s leash, he tried pulling the dog away from the Cooper but the dog did not relent, causing him to drag both, McCombs said.
He said he kicked the bullmastiff before pulling his gun.
“I told her one last time, I said ‘Get your dog off or I’m going to kill him,’” McCombs said. “The lady was yelling things... and he was not responding to anything at all. She might as well have been a stranger to that dog.
“I could see that my dog was dying because his eyes got real red.”
A tearful Tammy Martinez told The Gazette her dog Flato wasn’t dangerous and shouldn’t have been killed.
Martinez moved to Colorado Springs from Corpus Christi, Texas, with Flato and two other dogs in October, a few months after her husband, Ruben, died from cancer. Flato was a stray the couple took in seven years ago.
Flato was very loving, she said, referring to him as her “dog with the waggly tail.”
“When you sing songs to him, you can hear that thing thumping,” she said.
When Flato saw the greyhound and darted toward it, Martinez fell and was dragged about 15 feet across a grass slope and a sidewalk, causing her to lose her hold on the leash, she said.
“If he was aggressive, he would have went after the owner in self-defense” when kicked, Martinez said.
McCombs shot the attacking dog twice, killing it, Colorado Springs police said. He had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, police said, and appeared to be “within the guidelines of the law” when firing his handgun.
The Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region is investigating whether the shooter was justified in firing on the bullmastiff, Stafford said.
“I’m not going to say this is a straight-forward case,” said Stafford. “I don’t ever jump to conclusions. I want to be as objective, impartial and thorough as possible.”
Bullmastiffs are among the dogs banned from Fort Carson under a policy restricting so-called aggressive breeds that also include Rottweilers, pitbulls and Doberman pinschers.
Martinez’s friend, Shawna Pugmire, a former professional dog trainer, was consoling Martinez on Thursday and agreed with her that Flato wasn’t dangerous.
“I let my 6-year-old play with Flato,” Pugmire said. “Given a couple seconds, I have no doubt he would have responded to Tammira (Martinez). And it would have been a whole different outcome for him.”
McCombs said there was a “noticeable difference” in Cooper’s temperment after the incident.
“Most greyhounds are timid anyway — he’s really, really shy,” McCombs said. “I hope he goes back to his playful self once he gets all healed up.”
— Gazette staff writer Lance Benzel contributed to this report.
Um, I’m guessing that dogs are at least a serious hobby for you? Wow.
Any comments re: the wolfdogs mentioned up thread? Have an acquaintance who raises them, or rather one family of them through 3 generations. Actually have met - and played with - a few. To the point they know/knew me, know I don’t put up with jumping on me, doggy kisses, or mouth play, so don’t, but will play chase (me chasing) and tug. The tug can get pretty intense because they’re so strong.
No problems, 10 years in. But all WELL trained with good masters.
So, are they looking at time bombs here?
Shotgun is much better.
Shotgun is much better.
Yeah, I’m into dogs a lot...due to no kids in the area to play with and disconnected parents, I was pretty much raised by dogs and horses.
[my human social skills suck but with critters, I’m perfectly comfy]...:)
My good friend in CA had a permit for full blood wolves.
Never had a bit of trouble with them but then she’s as into dogs as I am.
Her kids played with them to the point that her bitch kept trying to keep her son in the litter den in her back yard.
He’d climb up the dirt mound and the wolf would patiently go up, grab him by the shirt collar and drag him back into the den.
He’d scream “Mom! She’s trying to make me nurse!”
The neighbors kept seeing/hearing all this and called social services on her.
The SS people came and she just had them sit inside and watch it all through the back window.
They went away amazed and deeply impacted by the gentleness and care shown to the tot by the wolf.
*If* a person knows canine body language and habits *very* well, there ~likely~ will be no problems.
Few are willing to commit to all the study that entails, unfortunately.
Some people up the pike had wolves and wolf-hybrids in their back yard in a small fenced area.
They couldn’t really interact with them and basically just fed them and “showed them off”.
One elderly bitch had a huge tumor on her side but they couldn’t even take her to a vet to have it checked.
[I don’t want to know what eventually happened to her]
IMO, they were some of the most miserable critters I’ve ever seen.
Wrong environment.
Wrong understanding.
Wrong treatment.
Wrong reason for having them.
All just...wrong.
Also had a biker friend who got a hybrid because she thought it would be “cool”.
I told her not to.
[she was utterly incapable of dealing with a wolf, I -knew-]
About a month later, it ate the neighbor’s little dog.
She “got rid of it” and I didn’t ask “how”.
[didn’t want to know that, either]
Your friends sound like they truly know their animals.
For years, I ran a one-person Dobe rescue.
Never met one I couldn’t turn into a great family dog, regardless of what horrors they’d endured, previously.
[kept a lot of them for myself, too]...LOL
So you don’t mind hitting the dog who’s being attacked, too?
LMBO, that’s funny right there.
Back on topic, everything I can see says this was a good shoot. Some of our close friends have have had bull mastiffs for 2-3 decades, and we’ve known 3 of them, and met a few more through them. They are generally very laid back, docile dogs. The dog in this story needed shooting.
Actually I did nothing but choose to ignore you. Perhaps it was your personal attacks.
I see you can insult me behind my back.
Thats nice.
Keeping a dangerous animal doesn’t make you cool or a man. It makes you dangerous.
Threatening to kill someone who won’t put up with your dangerous animal is not rational. But what else should we expect from someone getting their kick off keeping a dangerous animal.
“But it didn’t have one and now the dog is dead -because- it was owned by an irresponsible idiot.”
Yep, there are many irresponsible dog owners around here.
Wasn’t me, be careful jumping to assumptions. Perhaps it was the brilliant logic of the posts in question.
If you read the post with a rational mind, you will see that he did not threaten to kill any human.
I know wardaddy.
He’s not “getting his kicks” by owning a Mastiff.
He simply likes the breed, just like I prefer Dobermanns.
Methinks you are projecting a deep seated fear of “scary” dogs.
[and thank goodness owning a “dangerous animal” doesn’t make ~me~ a man...I’d hate to be demoted]....:-P
Riiiiight.
I believe you.
[wow..nearly bit through my tongue typing that]
By “here”, should I assume you mean FR?
You couldn’t be more wrong if you tried.
He stated he would get retribution on anyone who killed his dog. The context was this case where the animal was out of control.
Breeds don’t matter except some require more expertise to properly manage.
So now I’m a liar eh?
we’re done, take your petty personal attacks and jump in a tick infested briar patch.
“What was she bred to do?
And I was impressed, because that seemed to me to be THE question at getting at the heart of the character of a dog.
My Bull-mastiff is unsure (they seem naturally concerned and worried - makes for a better guard dog) if the people you pass by are neighbors and their dogs who you will greet with waves and wagging tail - or poachers who shall have their dogs destroyed and them knocked down and subdued.
She is READY for the second scenario. Her fur bristles and her muscles twitch.
If I were physically unable to subdue the dog I would be even more insistent that she obey every verbal command with instant obedience (she is the best dog for that I have ever seen) and would go everywhere with a muzzle.
My brother and sisterinlaw, who should have known better, thought I was CRAZY for buying her a muzzle. They didn't think this loving affectionate and obedient dog had a dark side - until they saw it. When I came to get her and brought with me the muzzle - they didn't think it so crazy anymore.
Nobody else had any complaints about him so by process of elimination.....
You have reading comprehension problems, as well:
u kill my dog though for any reason and i will probably get yours in time..i will always avenge my boy”
*Where*, ~precisely~, did he state that he was going to kill a human?
Take your time studying it.
[you’ll no doubt need it]
T’would seem that *I* am not the one with “truth issues”, here.
[I laughed when you called my flat-out logical assertions of contextual evidence “petty personal attacks”. Can’t take the heat, can you?]
You are a wise and conscientious steward for your dog.
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