Posted on 04/30/2014 5:43:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A policeman whose off-duty police dog mauled a seven-year-old girl in Norway last year is refusing to have the dog put down and has even brought it back home, leaving the girl and her family terrified.
Seven-year.old Naomi Funkner was brutally attacked by a neighbour's police dog last September, leaving her with scars all over her body and long-term disabilities , Norway's VG newspaper reported on Sunday.
However, the owner of the dog is refusing to have it put down, despite pressure from his own police force, claiming tests have shown that the dog is not a dangerous animal.
"I do not know what to do anymore," May Linda Funkner, her mother, told VG newspaper. "We are not being heard and we are not taken seriously. I'm terrified it will happen again and that next time we run the risk that a life will be lost."
The dog attacked after the girl fell in the yard next-door and startled it with a scream, and then began to maul her in what her neighbour Lise Kristin Aaberg Ljungreen described as "a terrible sight".
"It clawed her, bit her and slung her around like a rag doll," she told the newspaper.
Despite being heavily pregnant, Ljungreen felt compelled to intervene and eventually got the dog to stop its attack.
Ole Vidar Dahl, the owner's boss at the Oslo police, said that dog must have thought the girl was attacking its family.
"It looks as if the dog misunderstood and thought that a family member was being attacked," he said. "When a police dog lives in the home of a police officer, it also becomes part of the family. It cannot distinguish between the policeman and other family members; they are considered to be part of the herd, which the dog will defend. It is deeply regrettable that it attacked the young girl."
Seven months later, Funkner is still in treatment for her badly damaged shoulder.
To her horror, the dog returned to their neighbour's back garden last month, although it has since been moved back to police kennels.
"It is absolutely horrible that the dog is back," May Linda Funkner told VG. "The whole neighbourhood is afraid that the dog will attack again"
The police have dismissed any case against the police officer because of insufficient evidence. The dog's owner has meanwhile appealed the local police's decision to have the dog put down.
No problem..., Put the cop down...
Yes, well that's the problem isn't it.
When you hear a handler say they want an "edgy" dog, what they mean is they like or want a dog that likes to bite. That would be a malinois.
When I'm handling or training a dog I want control and a nice dog not a loaded revolver with a mind of it's own. Bite dogs do not have to be anti social crazy animals.
The answer to this is simple. Put the dog down now.
By the way, a bunch of dogs is not a herd it is a pack. So much for the K-9 knowledge of this writer.
Kill the canine.
“When I’m handling or training a dog I want control and a nice dog not a loaded revolver with a mind of it’s own.”
I love LE’s attitude about their animals vs ours. If ours even looks at a cop, it is a rabid killer than must be stopped instantly. Even if squirrels laugh at his bark.
While their animal can be a proven danger. LE does not belong using attack trained animals of any kind. It is always as you say “A loaded revolver with a mind of its own.” And it is an aggressive mind.
Cops shooting dogs has gone way over the top. One of these days they are going to run into a rabid owner. People, especially people who live with their dogs, are damn tired of this new dead dog game.
I'm usually an LOE supporter but not in this. If they can't handle a 50 pound dog trying to play with them how are they going to handle a 200 pound pissed off drunk. Are they just going to shoot all of them too?
Nothing is like a pit-bull-bulldog type dog. They have not just the aggression but the tenacity. The sheer will to hang on no matter what.
Malinois may be hyper but as even this story shows, a pregnant woman could stop him.
Don’t criticize the words; this is a Scandinavian story, so translation - even the usage - may be different.
As to this story, I would not be averse to putting down the dog.
How does a dog know it’s off duty?
I'm not sure what the mom did to get the dog off of her kid. What ever it was I'm glad it worked. I watched a kennel master pour a full coffee pot of scalding coffee on one to get it off of another dog. That dog let go in a hurry.
Malinois are not known to come off of an attack/bite easily. I've had many of them on a leash and have never been comfortable with them. I'll take a German shepherd or Belgian shepherd over a Malinois any day of the week.
Malinois are almost as useless as pit bulls.. The are smarter than pits and the choice of many LE dog handlers. I do not like them or their attitude about life.
When you hear a handler say they want an “edgy” dog, what they mean is they like or want a dog that likes to bite. That would be a malinois.
When I’m handling or training a dog I want control and a nice dog not a loaded revolver with a mind of it’s own. Bite dogs do not have to be anti social crazy animals.
This is true, and the vast majority of malinois are at least as social as a german shepherd, IMO more social. I have a good friend who trains dogs at the top level (special forces, seals, etc), he will tell you that the social dogs are normally more confident, don’t feel threatened, and trust me that his dogs are tough as nails biters when needed.
I have a malinois myself, she is as safe as a beagle with kids, very definitely will bite and hold if commanded. In my experience they are less likely to bite without a command than a GS, you don’t want the dog making the decisions about whether to bite or not, liking to bite has nothing to do with doing it on their own, that’s training and control.
Good handlers don’t want a dog of any breed that isn’t social, it is at best a giant pain in the posterior.
For information, a malinois is a belgian shepherd. There are three belgian varieties, differing only in one being longer haired, one wire haired, the malinois smooth and closer coat.
NO. They are not. Been where they came from and trained many of them. The Belgian shepherd has a different shaped head, thicker body, longer hair and a different attitude about life then a malinois does.
Here are a few more wiki fantasies about these doge.
Look at this and then tell me what is true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phhUTIRLXko
The Black dog is a belgian sheepdog not a belgian shepherd. It was posted by idiots.
Then we have this post.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Shepherd
and it is full of crap too. The posts on wiki that say the belgian shepherd are the same as a malinois are also full of crap.
We raise and train belgian sheepdogs and I've been to the areas of Europe where these bloodlines come from. The Belgian Shepherd, the German Shepherd, and the Belgian sheepdogs are all distinctly different dogs than the Malinois.
This is what Belgian shepherds look like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Shepherd Sorry, next batter.
Not to be overly argumentative, but I would make the assumption that FCI, which does the registry for them, quite possibly has some idea about belgian shepherds. This is the quote from their 1920’s era breed standards.
At the General Consultative Meeting of 8 February 1920 of the Société Royale Saint-Hubert, the members vote unanimously to maintain the five existing varieties. The qualification of Belgian Shepherd is recognized for dogs with all coat colours belonging to the breed. The following matings were allowed:
dogs of all colours with the same coat texture
short hair with rough hair
The other matings, i.e. short hair x long hair and long hair x rough hair were banned.
In the absence of an official publication, the standard published in a booklet by the Royal Berger Belge Club in 1923, is taken as reference.
According to show rules and registration in the studbook (L.O.S.H.), the varieties were divided into eight different classes (eight C.A.C. per sex):
The 5 existing varieties:
Malinois Shepherd dog
Groenendael Shepherd dog
Belgian Shepherd dog with fawn long hair
Belgian Shepherd dog with fawn rough hair
Belgian Shepherd dog with dark ash-grey rough hair
The other varieties:
Belgian Shepherd dog with short hair, other than Malinois
Belgian Shepherd dog with long hair, other than black or fawn
Belgian Shepherd dog with rough hair, other than fawn or dark ash-grey.
I have a feeling that some of them have also been where they are bred and raised. I don’t get my information from wiki!
Here’s another link of the 1989 standard from FCI for Belgian Shepherds showing malinois, groenendael, turveuren, and laekenois as varieties. No wiki
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