Armed Neighbors End Dog Attacks

http://carrollwood.tbo.com/carrollwood/MGAIHP0ZMBD.html ^ | 2/1/2003 | SEAN C. LEDIG

[cynicom]

"no one will be charged"...Why would that subject ever come up? Only in this socialist world in which we now find ourselves.

[Nov3]

Most people don't have that desire. They just want a scary dog.

The morons that own these dogs now and the breeding practices are the problem. It is amazing there isn't more carnage. It used to read in dog books that pits made lousy watch dogs because of their temperment and lack of territorality. That is obviously no longer the case with the present state of this breed. Dobermans were inbred during the 70's in the same way by the same class of dog owning morons.

Just what is it about with these people owning a big dog?

[metesky]

My wife works for the Humane Society. More Rotties are brought in and euthanized than any other breed. People think they can make big lovable goofs out of them and then they find out different.

[chuknospam]

Bang

[yarddog]

I wish all these incidents got reported so the general public would realize just how useful guns can be.

As to Rottweilers, someone dropped two dogs off here in a three day period. We live way out in the country and this happens occasionally. Both dogs were really good natured. The other dog appeared to be a Lab/bulldog mix plus probably a few others.

The Mixed breed is a really good tempered dog but for some reason did not like the Rottweiler. She was expecting pups. Anyway, within a week, she had literally run the Rottweiler off. The pups turned out to be little jewels. I have given 7 of 8 away already and am going to keep one male who looks just like his mother.

[dark_lord]

Harr, a librarian's assistant at Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library near Carrollwood, said he fired the rest of his bullets at the third dog, and it seemed to back away. He bolted for his house for more ammunition and a flashlight. Did he miss? Or did the dog just eat 5 rounds of 45 FMJ/JHP whatever?

Well...1st of all, one of the dogs had already bitten him. Which may mean his body was going into shock.

2ndly, maybe he doesn't go to the gun range every other week and practice. The vast majority of gun owners don't. Unfortunately, in many areas gun ranges are far and few between.

Finally - firing a pistol at a moving target when your glands have just dumped a massive dose of all kinds of funky stuff into you will negatively impact your accuracy. It is hard to shoot straight when your muscles are all trembling like you just had a double dose of amphetimines. Which is one reason why cops, who do get regular gun range time, miss so many shots in real world shooting situations.

[HamiltonJay]

I prefer my dog personally... but I would never have a Pit Bull or Rotweiller as a pet... I am sure many have them and will swear by them, but my dog is a guard dog, not an ATTACK dog.... anything around the house going on in the middle of the night, I am awake long before they get anywhere near inside. And my dog is one of the sweetest animals on the planet... would probably end up licking the intruder to death if they ever did get into the house, but she makes noise long before they get in, which is her job.

I would not choose the two breeds here as pets in my home.. but that's just me.

[xsrdx]

firing a pistol at a moving target when your glands have just dumped a massive dose of all kinds of funky stuff into you will negatively impact your accuracy.

Absolutely - all the more reason not to bring a short gun to a long gun fight.

If you have time - these guys did - shotguns are superior dog medicine.

[coloradan]

And to think that Molly Ivins actually said: "You want protection? Get a dog."

[shamusotoole]

I have always been partial to German Sheps. I have had one or two constantly for about thirty five years. I have bred them, shown them, obedience trained them, loved them, etc. Even so, I ridded myself of a ten month old, beautiful male, within the past month. It broke my heart to do it, but the left brain tells me I did the right thing.

In spite of the fact that he never bit any one, he was not reliable enough to be trusted 100%, in my tearful but soul searched opinion. Neither positive or negative stimulus (or a combination of both) worked to make him reliably obey. He simply remained a little scary. With neighbors and grand kids, my conscience would not let me risk them for his sake.

I'm not a paragon of any virtue, or anything, but if any one reading this sees a problem like this, I hope they also face up to it.

[Joe Hadenuf]

That's why I have always been big on German Shepard's. Very seldom you hear about a German Shepard going stupid.

Gentle as a lamb, yet smart enough to know real trouble when it sees it....Actually, my 110 pound German Shepard is probably smarter than 25 percent of the human population.....And more trustworthy than 99.999 percent of them...

[fourdeuce82d]

My wife is eyeballing the Ultra CDP II for when we can legally carry.

Semper Fi

14 posted on 03/05/2003 6:00 AM PST by dd5339 (Lookout Texas here we come!)

Hmm- gun owners, ex-Jarhead...sounds good. Y'all come! If you wind up in Houston give me a shout- I'll take you by Collector's Firearms. Good store, good folks.

[fawn796]

You can trust a German Shepherd, their behavior is honest. They don't pretend to be nice and then flip out! (more wise words from another vet - after my rottie bit me)

[Ches]

"If a lab bites you, it's just annoying."

I was attacked by a lab and spent four days in the hospital following a three hour emergency surgery. That was more than "just annoying".

Mrs. Ches

[Badray]

Welcome to FRee Republic!!

[Snowy]

Y'ever notice that no one is mauled by a happy Golden Retreiver?

Golden retrievers can be dangerous! One we had when I was growing up, knocked my father down and broke his ankle. Steve Doocy on Fox and Friends said that his golden knocked down his wife and she broke her kneecap. :) Ours scrapes his nails against us when we're swimming in the pool....

[JuliaAnne]

I agree with you completely. It is as I like to say - "No stupid dogs, just stupid owners." I too have a German Shepherd and a Dalmatian and neither have ever been mean or tried to bite anyone and they HAVE had protection and advanced behavior training. A few nights ago, some friends came over and brought all of their dogs. Of all of the dogs here including both of my BIG dogs, the meanest one who kept snapping at and biting the other dogs as well as other people was a tiny little chihuahua! Like so many other things, responsibility is the key and in our society today RESPONSIBILITY is not a PC word.
I take full responsibility for my pets just as I do for everything else I am responsible for. We have had a professional trainer work with them for a year and continue training and playing with them every single day. THAT is the key - to be smart and to be responsible.
Again, NO STUPID OR MEAN DOGS - JUST STUPID OR MEAN OWNERS.

[Frapster]

It's good to see there are owners like you out there. My list of dogs that I don't trust are as follows:

Dobermans
Rotts
Pit Bulls
German Shepherds
Chihauhuas (those things can be mean!) lol

Not every owner is as objective as you when it comes to their dogs. And not every owner (too few in my experience) works at training their dogs. There are some dogs that are just too dangerous to be owned 'casually'.

[Snowy]

Actually I think GR's account for the largest number of bites by breed - but they don't do much damage.

By definition, a dog bite is described as teeth touching skin. In that case, my golden bites me all the time. They have very 'soft' mouths (they can carry a raw egg in their mouths without breaking it). When he gets really excited, he gently takes my arm and leads me to where he wants me to go.

[JuliaAnne]

Same here - our German Shepherd Dog is 98 lbs. She is very intelligent and well trained and she will no doubt let me know if there is trouble around. She is so gentle and so loving that it is unbelievable. Nice to have a good dog who also is protective but gentle with everyone. Nice also to have a dog that will let me know when it is time to get my gun out :) Julie