Sympathies to that poor old man.
The whole incident is upsetting. So what if the old fellow’s dog was off leash. It’s hardly a crime worthy of being killed over.
The dogs attacking would probably have killed the Pom whether it was on a leash or not.
It’s best if dogs aren’t allowed to run free without supervision.
One of my dogs was attacked while sleeping in the van when I opened the door to get in. How the aggressor knew he was there I don’t know but she did. My dog wasn’t even fully awake, was unhurt but was extremely upset for an hour or so.
No, it shouldn’t have happened. I’m not blaming the breed nor the owner. Accidents happen.
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How can you not blame the owners? Dogs do not police themselves. It is the owners responsibility to keep their dogs safe and in turn others safe from those dogs. Beyond irresponsible to let any dogs run loose.
I also have to disagree that a leash would have helped the Pom. Have you ever seen someone with a dog on a leash in an off leash dog park? Or a dog picked up in an off leash dog park? They become the centre of attention immediately and the energy gets bad quickly.
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DrBeckett, true enough but I also suspect (at least based on vets I’ve personally asked in the past) that you and your staff are already vaccinated against rabies based on the nature of your job.
All other small animal vets I’ve asked have said they are vaccinated.
From their comments some poster here must live in or expect to live and what’s worse expect others to live in the utopia they subscribe to. Perfect people, perfect attitudes perfect everything according to their philosophy.
Unfortunate old man, unfortunate Pom just a horror from start to finish. A horrible accident.
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This case, the attack on two children in Atlanta, and the woman in Philadelphia disgust me. People on public property, being assaulted by escaped, or stray animals is disgusting, and I hope if the owner is located, they are charged accordingly.
People should have the right to walk down a public street without being maimed or killed by rogue animals. I think if an animal attacks a human, and the person isn’t on the animal’s property, then the animal should be listed as dangerous, or put down. The fact that some jurisdictions allow rehoming, or return animals is ridiculous. I don’t care what breed it is, a responsible owner confines their dog. If an animal attacks other animals or people, then it should be reported. I wish every jurisdiction had standard vicious and dangerous animal laws, but they don’t.
There needs to be law in every state addressing this, for the protection of people who do nothing wrong, and are attacked. It amazes me that in some jurisdictions I’m familiar with, an unprovoked attack on another animal isn’t even actionable.
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Not wanting to have to watch your small dog get ripped apart in front of you, followed up by a near-fatal mauling on yourself, does not mean one expects to live in a utopia. It is perfectly reasonable to expect not to be nearly killed when walking one’s dog.
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Very unfortunate.
Letting dogs run free and packed up is nothing short of complete negligence on behalf of owners and people who abandon their pets…no excuses for them.
The other piece is the elephant in the room - the breeds. I hunt with my dogs quite extensively and I prefer the Chesapeake Bay Retriever for hunting ducks and the German Shorthaired Pointer for pheasants. And I wouldn’t do either with the neighbor’s German Shepherd. You know why? Because breeds were developed for a purpose.
Sure, there is some cross over among individuals as well as good apples and bad apples within the breed, but as a whole the breed has a purpose. And I can’t fathom a good reason why folks feel the need to keep dogs bred for tearing the h#ll out of another dog and aggression. They may not even be statistically not more inclined to that behavior, but when it does happen there’s no arguing that it happens worse.
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Right - so my friend’s English Mastiff that sat while a small dog bit him repeatedly on the face isn’t a good dog but should have killed the Chi? No, she has trained all four of her mastiffs to be very forgiving… now, if a person or dog went for her that would be a different story. (oops, that’s right they are not bully breeds! But well-bred and purpose-bred and well-trained big dogs.)
Even off-leash, no dog deserves to be killed just 'cause it is off-lead. Dogs can be trained not to chase/kill smaller animals - look at re-homed greyhounds; they have been trained to chase furry small toys and need to be re-trained to not do that.
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[QUOTE=roseymare;9037797]
That is not completely true. There have been cases of Rabies occurring after the ten day quarantine albeit rare. Cost is still more than likely the issue. One county I worked in got very mouthy about Rabies submissions. I had to argue every one.[/QUOTE]
The dogs can absolutely come up positive for rabies more than 10 days after this attack. In fact, the incubation period has sometimes been as long as 6 months. But the incubation period isn’t really the concern, the ability to shed the virus is. They cannot shed the virus more than 10 days before exhibiting symptoms. So even if they became symptomatic a month later, they couldn’t have exposed this man during the attack. I hope I explained that well, my brain is fried tonight.
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Training out a prey drive isn’t as easy as you seem to imply. And they don’t train the grey hounds not to chase cats they test them and adopt appropriately.
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[QUOTE=Garnet_Z;9037999]
Eh? Dogs are the result of people ‘changing nature’ through selective breeding. We can breed dogs that don’t run around killing other dogs and people. Don’t forget that these so-called ‘perfectly normal’ dogs also turned on and nearly killed a human being as well.
There is no need whatsoever for a person to keep dangerous dogs like these, especially in a city. There are literally hundreds of thousands of dogs in the world that don’t maul and kill other dogs and people - those are the ones that should be pets. Frankly, keeping dangerous dogs like that is sociopathic behavior and I hope the owners face some serious charges.[/QUOTE]
I’ve heard, but do not know if this is true, that a human should never become engaged in a dog fight. That the fighting dogs process human shouts and attempts to intervene as just another participant (maybe dog?) in the fight. My experience tells me this may be true, but it may also be anecdotal. I use a hose or water gun now rather than shouting or attempting to get close to the dogs who are fighting, since I got a very bad but accidental puncture on my back porch when a female and a new male tangled. Now if they are outside I mostly just let them fight it out if of similar size unless a dog seems to be going for the legs or throat. I have never had a true dog fight inside my house.
I have to think that the depth of ignorance of natural dog behavior in today’s urban society leads to totally unwarranted expectations.
[QUOTE=Hawkridge;9037939]
And if the little dog WAS leashed…but still able to run around his owner yapping and barking and approaching the fence that the pit bulls were behind (maybe the fence was within a 3 or 6 foot reach of the leash) would you still think it was warrented for these dogs to attack?[/QUOTE]
You are mistaking what I am saying.
I do not in any way, shape or form think the attack and death of this little dog was warranted.
[QUOTE=rubles;9038279]
From their comments some poster here must live in or expect to live and what’s worse expect others to live in the utopia they subscribe to. Perfect people, perfect attitudes perfect everything according to their philosophy.
Unfortunate old man, unfortunate Pom just a horror from start to finish. A horrible accident.[/QUOTE]
What Utopia?
Keep your dog contained and under control 100% of the time…it’s not rocket science.
Two dogs with killer instincts that were able to get out of their yard and kill another dog then seriously maul a human is not an accident.
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[QUOTE=sisu27;9038223]
How can you not blame the owners? Dogs do not police themselves. It is the owners responsibility to keep their dogs safe and in turn others safe from those dogs. Beyond irresponsible to let any dogs run loose.
I also have to disagree that a leash would have helped the Pom. Have you ever seen someone with a dog on a leash in an off leash dog park? Or a dog picked up in an off leash dog park? They become the centre of attention immediately and the energy gets bad quickly.[/QUOTE]
I meant and continue to explain, that if the dog had been on a leash it would have been under better control and would not have been able to agitate the pit bulls as easily, if indeed that was even the scenario.
I too owned a dangerous dog for 13 years. Not once did he have the opportunity to harm anyone/thing. But it would take more than two hands to count the number of times he could have and would have seriously hurt or killed a yappy off leash dog if I did not ensure he was muzzled each time we left the house.
[QUOTE=rubles;9038198]
Sympathies to that poor old man.
The whole incident is upsetting. So what if the old fellow’s dog was off leash. It’s hardly a crime worthy of being killed over.
The dogs attacking would probably have killed the Pom whether it was on a leash or not.
It’s best if dogs aren’t allowed to run free without supervision.
One of my dogs was attacked while sleeping in the van when I opened the door to get in. How the aggressor knew he was there I don’t know but she did. My dog wasn’t even fully awake, was unhurt but was extremely upset for an hour or so.
No, it shouldn’t have happened. I’m not blaming the breed nor the owner. Accidents happen.[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. You live in Ontario, is there an area in all of Ontario where it’s not against the law to have your dog unleashed or under 100% control? If there is I would like to know where that area is.
It’s not “best if dogs aren’t allowed to run free without supervision”, it’s illegal for them to run free…supervised or not unless they are in a designated dog park.
[QUOTE=Bluey;9037820]
My understanding is that those were state health department regulations we were following.
You don’t “argue” with those.
In the later years, there was a provision for, in certain bite situations, the quarantine could possibly be in the owner’s home, under very strict conditions.[/QUOTE]
I was specifically referring to her statement that quarantine is a better option than rabies testing because of false negatives. Ten days IS standard quarantine but quarantine is not used in place of FAT due to quarantine being more accurate than FAT.
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Yes I was vaccinated against Rabies 20 years ago when I first started vet school. My staff is not vaccinated. Most staff does not get vaccinated because it’s about $2500 to fully vaccinate one person against Rabies.
Plus, Rabies is not spread through a scratch, but rather, a bite wound. I get scratched by dogs and cats on a daily basis. My bigger fear is cat scratch fever rather than rabies.
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Reply with quote isn’t working.
So what if it is illegal for dogs to be off leash. It still happens and I for one don’t mind seeing off-leash dogs accompanied by their owners. Nor do I believe off leash dogs are a menace. Some dogs however shouldn’t be allowed this privilege for one reason or another.
It doesn’t matter if that Pom was on or off leash when the attacking dogs encountered it because those dogs were the way the were.
Rather than blaming certain breeds blame the individual dogs that were responsible for the deed.
[QUOTE=rubles;9038915]
Reply with quote isn’t working.
So what if it is illegal for dogs to be off leash. It still happens and I for one don’t mind seeing off-leash dogs accompanied by their owners. Nor do I believe off leash dogs are a menace. Some dogs however shouldn’t be allowed this privilege for one reason or another.
It doesn’t matter if that Pom was on or off leash when the attacking dogs encountered it because those dogs were the way the were.
Rather than blaming certain breeds blame the individual dogs that were responsible for the deed.[/QUOTE]
This is exactly why what is happening to dogs, is happening.
The fact that you say “so what if it’s illegal?”, speaks volumes of irresponsible dog ownership.
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