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[tiffanykh]

I just finished reading Newsweek's "My Turn: 'My Boy' Had Become a Threat to Our Safety" article in this week's issue (Jan 9, 2006).
Am I the only one appalled? I became irrationally incensed while reading that article! I was so angry! All that kept running through my mind was "that stupid @&#(!*&!". My heart broke at the fact that a FOUR YEAR OLD dobie was put down...and it could've been prevented.

When are people going to learn to research breeds? When are they going to learn that it is OUR responsibility as humans to take care of the dogs in every way possible including "reading the signs" and working on obedience issues among other things?

This guy's dog, Jack, "randomly jumped up on the bed and bit his wife three times" and he rushed his wife to the hospital, took the dog out for a final romp playing frisbee and chasing squirrels in the park for a couple of hours, and then took him to the vet and put him to sleep. Am I insane? Am I the only one who sees so many problems on so many levels with this article? Argh!

Granted, this article and event is not as bad as the animal abusers, etc. that have been on the news of late, but I was still disgusted at reading it. I have never heard of a dog becoming aggressive for no reason. There is *always* a reason, be it medical or environmental. Am I just ignorant? The guy says so himself that he and his wife dismissed Jack's snapping and nipping at him, her, and friends visiting as "moodiness." I wanted to reach through the article and smack him. Hindsight is 20/20, yes, but if it were MY dog, I would've been asking the vet why he does that. What can I do to discourage that behavior?

My lab mix, Shelby, is over 90lbs. He doesn't trust men other than family (my dad and brother) and he doesn't like other big dogs. He barks and growls and looks a bit menacing. He began doing this after he was about a year old. (He's neutered...all of my animals are fixed.) So what did I do? I researched this behavior. I asked the vet. I trained him. He went to obedience school so we could learn proper training and he could interact with other dogs and become better socialized. I still work with him every day to make sure to reinforce commands, etc. He's fine with our cats and our small dogs. I trust him around children. He's a barker, but will put up his hackles at men and big dogs, and lunge if he feels threatened. Calm words and commands from me (and he is always leashed) and he is perfectly well-behaved. It's not hard. It takes time, patience, and understanding. It takes some initiative to learn about this behavior and how to discourage it.

I may be over-reacting to this article. Perhaps because I've volunteered at shelters and have seen so many dogs come in because their owners are idiots. One lap in an obedience school and "the dog just isn't obedient." Funny...when I work with that abandoned dog, he is perfect. Ugh.

Sorry, needed to rant. This article bothers me. I find it hard to feel any sympathy for the man. And I doubt that his dog's last look at him was "it's OK. I had a good time." More like, "I don't understand why you're doing this. What did I do?" Poor Jack.

[linnie]

sometimes people just take the easy way out
"afterall its just a dog" arrrghhhhhhhhhh
I hate people that are like that.
Poor poor dogs at the mercy of stupid humans

[mulroony]

I understand where the rant is coming from. People get a dog and expect it to be this perfect little mold that either knows everything or will learn it in 30 seconds. Ironically, my dog Shelby has the same fear of large men, but we have sense worked through most of that, and she now mostly realizes it is just some men she should be worried about. Even with this though I still watch her and her actions with nit-picky detail, and take every precaution. She had been adopted and returned, because she was "untrainable" which I would accept as legit after maybe 6 months of no progress, but they had her less then 2 weeks.

I would never blow it off if my dog was growling at me (unless she was in pain or something). Now esp if the dog was a dobe (or any large powerful breed for that matter) I would never brush it off as moodiness. I know my dogs to get cranky when they are tired, but that entails a lot of whinning and not doing what they are told, not snapping and being aggressive.

From the sound of the article the author is just trying to make himself look good. I think he had the dog from young and was responsible for raising it, and failed. I am sorry, but NO dog being PTS at 4 (for non-medical reasons) would think "It's OK. I had a good time." Now I am as ticked as you are about this stupid article and the fact that it even got published.

[tiffanykh]

EXACTLY MY THINKING! What the hell was Newsweek doing PUBLISHING this freaking article? I was so incensed, am still incensed, just thinking about it!

Shoddy owners just drive me insane.

And I agree...I wouldn't EVER dismiss a dog growling or nipping at me as "moodiness"....grrrrrrrrrrr. people are so stupid.

It's silly and a bit immature, but it's a times like these I wish I could train my Shelby to bite stupid people. Too bad he's a barker, not a biter. (Thank god, though....or this guy might've hunt me down to have me put my baby to sleep! Grrrrr)

[Tiffany0204]

I think that's just awful as well! What gives people the right to just put down a dog for whatever reason? It's like that thread that Shadowkins made about those people putting the dog down for having FLEAS.

Idiots.

[mrsgrubby]

Yes, some owners are ignorant and shame on the magazine for publishing the story.

I get so frustrated when I take Jasmine out to the store and everyone is petting her and she is sitting nice, then someone says, "wow, I didn't know rottweillers were so nice, I want one."

I always say, well she is this nice because I train the heck out of her, she didn't just "come" this way.

People want perfect dogs, right out of the "box"

[elegy]

i guess i'm in the minority here, but i've gotta admit some respect for the guy for putting the dog to sleep after what happened. i think they screwed up royally in passing off the earlier aggressive behavior as nothing to worry about, and in that they did the dog a huge disservice which eventually cost the dog his life, but i do not blame them for humanely euthanizing the dog after he had inflicted a seroius bite.

i'm not saying it's the case with this dog, because i have no idea, but i do believe dogs can simply have poor temperaments as the result of poor breeding, and no matter how they're raised, they're never going to be truly safe. they can be successfully and safely owned by people willing to work with them and take precautions, but i do not believe that aggressive dogs are purely a result of their environment.

and i would euthanize a dog for human aggression. it would kill me to do it, and i would hold my dog and stroke my dog's head and whisper sweet nothings and cry and cry and cry, but i would do it.

[mulroony]

Originally Posted by elegy

i guess i'm in the minority here, but i've gotta admit some respect for the guy for putting the dog to sleep after what happened. i think they screwed up royally in passing off the earlier aggressive behavior as nothing to worry about, and in that they did the dog a huge disservice which eventually cost the dog his life, but i do not blame them for humanely euthanizing the dog after he had inflicted a seroius bite.

I agree that the guy did the right thing having the dog PTS, and i would do the same. (The dog attacking a family member, relatively unprovoked that spells deeper issues) I also agree that some dogs are predisposed to a bad temperment that would make them more likely to attack, but I do not think this is a large percentage of dogs.

What I take issue with here is that the guy clearly ignored signs that should have been huge red flags, and now he is trying to play himself off as the "hero" when he probably could have taken steps to prevent this entirely. To me the entire article sounds like one shameless self promotion.

[elegy]

Originally Posted by mulroony

What I take issue with here is that the guy clearly ignored signs that should have been huge red flags, and now he is trying to play himself off as the "hero" when he probably could have taken steps to prevent this entirely. To me the entire article sounds like one shameless self promotion.

totally agreed.

[CTDog]

Is there a link to this story? I want to write this guy a letter

[CTDog]

I found it. I'm so angry:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10653223/site/newsweek/

This part really ticks me off:

I can't tell you what to do," the vet said to me during the 20-minute telephone conversation we had while Tracy was being seen in the emergency room. "But once a Doberman crosses that line, there's often no turning back. I'm sorry to say that I think Jack's one of those cases."

Depending on the circumstances, any dobe rescue will tell you this is not always true!! Of course, I not talking talking about severe aggression. Dobes need rules and direction!! I agree it was the right thing to do with this dog...even though he probably caused all the problems... but not always true.

At least he admits that they ignored all the signs and didn't do anything about it.

[calgal]

Well lets all hope he doesn't go out and get another dog since he simply doesn't know how to train. If he does, then maybe someone will send him a book on "how-to".

[tiffanykh]

I, too, know and understand that a dog who has viciously attacked someone has to be put to sleep. Can I honestly say that I would do this myself? I know it is the responsible thing to do, but in my fevered imagination, I would take the dog and run and be a hermit and allow the dog to live a full life with just me and the vet. ;-) Not practical, would never happen in reality, but god, how I would want to.

Thanks for validating my anger, everyone. You all brought up the same points that just ticked me off to no end.

And yeah, they have another dog. The article talks about how he knows better now and will be rescuing dogs and blah blah blah. I couldn't focus on that sliver of positive...I was too incensed about everything else! ;-)

Tiffany

[mulroony]

Originally Posted by tiffanykh

And yeah, they have another dog. The article talks about how he knows better now and will be rescuing dogs and blah blah blah. I couldn't focus on that sliver of positive...I was too incensed about everything else! ;-)

So he cannot raise a dog from puppy w/out it developing issues, but he is going to rescue dog's that often have hidden behavioral problems you must seek out and correct? Yeah right, expect another article about how untrainable all dogs are from this guy...

[gaddylovesdogs]

Kind of off topic, but what bugs me is when dogs are euthanized because they have dog-aggression...I have a dog-aggressive dog. She is trained every day...we go over basic commands and work on her dog aggression, and she is doing very well. Putting a dog down because it has a behavioral issue that CAN be dealt with is stupid.