You have to read this! Attacked by her own dogs!

[shandoggy1]

Sometimes I don't know why I even watch the news but here is yet another dog attack story . A woman out cross country skiing yesterday with her two 100 +lb bull mastiffs was suddenly attacked by both her dogs. She was in some conservation land in Concord, Mass. when the two dogs turned on her after what she believes was done to her because she may have scared the dogs as she was about to fall. They shredded her clothes and left bite marks on her neck and torso. She will be okay, and the dogs will be returned to her after 10 days of quarantine. I have a question for all that read this! WOULD you want your dogs back after they attacked you? I'm not really sure if I would, I think I would always be scared of the unpredictability of such a large powerful breed. What do you think?

[Andrew556]

Wow! Thats a tricky one, my dog has never attacked me, neither has anybody elses. But i would look at it this way, if one of you friends or family attacked me, i wouldnt wanna see them again!

So no, send the dog to slaughter!!! Just kiddin, something made that happen, and i dont believe it was just becasue she was about to fall. Sounds like she hasnt brought them up right. Mastiffs (as far as i know, never owned one) have a unjustified bad rep. And they are 110% loyal to their owner, they would die theirselves before letting anything happen to you. So what has she done in the past?

If its a one off, then these dogs are dangerous and need doggy prison. But i think she shouldnt own dogs if she brings them up like that. My dog would never attack me! how do i know? well, i dont, but seriously my bc cross wouldnt hurt a fly (and she hasnt, if she catches them she plays with them so gentle and then they fly off, SO cute) and would follow me to the end of the earth.

If these dogs got scared, then maybe a fear bite is plausible. But to get mauled! Shes a doggy abuser and doesnt deserve them. Poor mutts!!!

[shandoggy1]

Well, they did interview some of her neighbors and they all said how sweet and calm the dogs were, so who knows what could of happened. You can't always blame the owner sometimes good people get bad dogs too, its not always the other way around. It's just a shame that that happened to her. You can automatically assume that she may have abused them but dogs are dogs and the pack instinct obviously kicked in when it came to the attack. Poor dogs, poor lady.

[Andrew556]

I guess, so if they are bad dogs then id get rid of them, but id still have to look at myself and wonder what i did wrong. Thats just me though, i always blame myself, too much time on GP i think.

[Tiffany0204]

If there's any common vien to any of these "attack" stories, is not once have I heard that the dogs were actually "mean" dogs. Almost every single one and you read how the owners are dumbfounded because their dog wasn't aggressive at all in the past.

I think that's why there's so much of a stereotype around, people are afraid because this makes everyone think that the dogs are walking timebombs and will snap for no reason one day. Whereas I believe it's shoddy owners, and not the dog that causes the problems.

but that's just my 2.5 cents.

[elegy]

if either one of my dogs that i have now attacked me or showed aggression toward me or another person without a daggone good reason, i'd take them to the vet, have them fully checked over including complete thyroid panel, and if there was no good medical reason for it, have them humanely euthanized. i will not own a pit bull who is aggressive toward humans. will not. it is completely counter to what the breed is all about, and i refuse to allow my dogs to fuel further breed specific legislation.

if i had dogs of different breed, my answer might differ.

[Carrie]

It's so hard to speculate as to why this happens. I have a hard time buying that the dogs attacked because she was about to fall and it spooked them. If the dogs were stable, that wouldn't do that to them. And if they've been apparently stable all this time, then what? It might be that pack instinct going into gear. I mean....both of them having a thyroid problem at once? Little things that we do shouldn't trigger a dog to come unglued. I mean...just the other night, I walked into my dark bedroom and didn't see Lyric sleeping on the floor just as I came in. I fell over him, putting my hands out in front of me on him to break my fall, my weight on him, stepping on him. Boy, was I suprised and so was he. He just stood up, stretched and wagged his tail. I switched on the light and he looked like, "Ok....what are we playing???" LOL.

Anyhow, that's an awful story and I wouldn't keep a dog who did that to me. Too scary.

[Novel]

It seems odd that they both attacked her, but I'm sure there could be plenty of speculation as to why. Having known a few mastiffs, although fleetingly, they are fiercely loyal, and can be a tad bit cranky.
For two months I cared for an eleven year old male Bullmastiff named Sampson. He was a cuddly baby, with women, but would just as soon bite any man. He was large, actually massive, and I always thought to myself, if this dog grabs me by the thigh, I am now his play thing. He easily weighed one and half times what I do.
With Sampson, he had severe arthritis that made his life very painful, and he was pretty much deaf with some blindness setting in, so you had to be careful. You had to make sure he saw you, or he'd whirl on ya if you touched him without him knowing you were there. Waking him up was not done by hand. Poor thing!
Anyways, I guess, if his personality is average for the breed, that these dogs have a tendency to react when confused or distraught. I suppose it is possible that this woman was very upset, and sent off signals to her dogs that then upset them. Perhaps, being upset and in an unknown situation they reacted without much thought. Still, not a good thing, and I would think that some conditioning and proper socialization may have negated that uneasy feeling for them, but... who knows.
If my dogs ever attacked anyone without cause, they would be put down, immediately, barring some medical reason, and then... it would still require some investigation. A medical issue could always reoccur, and I frankly wouldn't want that hazard either.
As far as my dogs attacking me. I sure as heck hope this would never happen. I can't forsee it ever happening! If they attacked me it would be a coup attempt, wresting leadership from me, and that would just be completely out of their nature, however, that is a human perspective and not a canine one, so....

[mulroony]

I agree with Novel and Carrie, something is not right. Mastiffs are notoriously owner loyal dogs. Ok maybe one might turn on her, but I would expect the other one to protect her. I don't know how falling would induce an attack either. This just seems a little fishy.

But back to the question, it would depend on the severness and situation. I also agree with Elegy in that there are some breeds where unprovoked aggression should not be tollerated (not just limiting it to pit bulls), that eing said I would look very hard for the reason for the aggression before acting. Maybe it is something stupid that can be overcome.

[calgal]

All I can say about this is......."IF" I had a dog or dogs that turned and attacked me, I would have the buggers put to sleep. There is no way I would ever be comfortable around them again, EVER!

[GSD]

Originally Posted by Carrie

It's so hard to speculate as to why this happens. I have a hard time buying that the dogs attacked because she was about to fall and it spooked them. If the dogs were stable, that wouldn't do that to them. And if they've been apparently stable all this time, then what? It might be that pack instinct going into gear. I mean....both of them having a thyroid problem at once? Little things that we do shouldn't trigger a dog to come unglued. I mean...just the other night, I walked into my dark bedroom and didn't see Lyric sleeping on the floor just as I came in. I fell over him, putting my hands out in front of me on him to break my fall, my weight on him, stepping on him. Boy, was I suprised and so was he. He just stood up, stretched and wagged his tail. I switched on the light and he looked like, "Ok....what are we playing???" LOL.

Anyhow, that's an awful story and I wouldn't keep a dog who did that to me. Too scary.

I have to agree, that it is hard to judge especially over the internet. BUT it does appear that something isn't right. If I started falling my dog would be looking back at me and scootin her butt out of the way of the clumsy white man and then hurry back after i've hit the ground to see if I was ok. Dogs don't just turn on their handlers or owners without any reason. Now whether or not the owner did something wrong, or was just a little naive and couldn't see the signs of underlying problems or caused them herself we'll probably never know. I'd have trouble keeping a dog around like that myself.

[dvsgryhnd]

As for me, I don't think I would trust them again. I would try to figure out why this happened, but in the end I don't think I would risk another attack to me or anyone else.

[rottnpagan]

Originally Posted by elegy

i will not own a pit bull who is aggressive toward humans. will not. it is completely counter to what the breed is all about, and i refuse to allow my dogs to fuel further breed specific legislation.

if i had dogs of different breed, my answer might differ.

Why would it differ? I don't feel that human aggressiveness is something that should be permissiable, with ANY breed. (I know that there's dogs that are bred for that purpose, and that's another can of worms that we could get into, lmfao).

I would euthanize my dogs if they were to 'attack' or bite for no reason. (I'd try to decipher a reason first, of course.)

[GSD]

Originally Posted by rottnpagan

Why would it differ? I don't feel that human aggressiveness is something that should be permissiable, with ANY breed. (I know that there's dogs that are bred for that purpose, and that's another can of worms that we could get into, lmfao).

I would euthanize my dogs if they were to 'attack' or bite for no reason. (I'd try to decipher a reason first, of course.)

I suppose Elegy will post the real reason, but what I think he/she is saying is they just won't risk it. If you have a lab, golden, st. Bernard (even after the movie cujo) and it bites someone, no big deal, you'll have to pay for medical bills and it will pass. People will still be able to own those breeds of dogs and nothing more will be said. So if you have a dog that reacts questionably in certain situations you can keep that dog safe and the people around it safe with a reasonable degree of certainty, and if an accident happens, its looked upon as an accident. BUT if a pittbull bites someone, wheter its warrented or not, its labeld strung up and paraded through the streets. Having a dog that wasn't 100% rock solid in all situations bodes a much higher degree for disaster. One wrong move by one of these dogs in this day in age will result in an onslaught from the media and public officials that know squat about dogs. I think most pitt owners would rather keep their dogs and rehab the image they have by getting rid of any remotely questionable animals so that accident doesn't have a chance to happen. I hope that made some sense.

[Novel]

Even if that wasn't elegy's point GSD, I think you made a fine one!!