Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Sarah McGurk — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 15:53:48 GMT

[quote user="Dagmar Steele"]I am sorry, being no native speaker sometimes leads to misunderstandings!

[/quote]I'm a Brit, living in Norway, so I absolutely understand. Not only that, I suspect I rather waffled on and failed to get properly to the point, so it's not surprising if you were confused.

My point really was that even if the child minder was to blame, (which she obviously was) I still don't understand the people getting their knickers in a twist over whether the dog is euthanased or not. There are children dying of starvation in the world, and they are campaigning over whether a dog that has eaten half the face of a child should be given a second chance. I just don't get it.

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Dagmar Steele — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:41:19 GMT

[quote user="Sarah McGurk"]

[quote user="Dagmar Steele"] I think the child minder is very much responsible for what happened![/quote]

I agree with you, and I'm sorry if you felt what I said implied otherwise.

[/quote]

I am sorry, being no native speaker sometimes leads to misunderstandings!

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Sarah McGurk — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 11:13:13 GMT

[quote user="Dagmar Steele"] I think the child minder is very much responsible for what happened![/quote]

I agree with you, and I'm sorry if you felt what I said implied otherwise.

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Dagmar Steele — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 09:29:00 GMT

[quote user="Sarah McGurk"]

Having read the article, it isn't very specific, but it sounds as if the child was just wandering in the yard where the dog was tied up. If the dog was known to be a bit unreliable, and it hadn't been well socialised, then it does indeed seem foolish. I don't think children and dogs should always be kept apart, and accidents like this can happen so much faster than people expect (we know from experience how fast a dog attack can be, but many people might think that so long as they are close at hand, they would be able to prevent too much damage) but even so, it does sound preventable in this particular instance.

[/quote]

The article not only said the dog was on a chain but also the child took the dog's bone. Plus one of the relatives of the child minder claimed the dog had previously mauled her own dog to death. Sorry, but apart from my view that I would put this dog down (and that it is not the dog's fault what happened but the one of the owners who kept it like that) I think the child minder is very much responsible for what happened!

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Bob Russell — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 09:17:58 GMT

If you really want to become depressed and disillusioned with the human race watch 'Dangerous Dogs' on ITV (and ITV player).

It is enough to bring you into the fold of Wynne' s gentle 'left of centre' views on the British public!

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Sarah McGurk — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 09:00:27 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

I agree the dog should be put to sleep BUT whoever was in-charge on the child has to bear at least 50% of the responsibility. With proper supervision of the child this would simply have not happened

[/quote]

That said, I find the attitude of all these "It's a Pit Bull and they don't deserve their bad name, so this one must be given a second chance" people incomprehensible. I get the idea of not demonising a breed, but how many people really need a pet which has such strong jaw muscles that it can cause horrific damage in such a short space of time? I suppose I just don't understand the level of enthusiasm for a certain breed standard that would encourage such an attitude. I want to apologise for my previous flippant reply in a serious topic Niall, but I too have come across such discussions on non-veterinary forums and find some of the arguments so illogical as to be deeply disturbing.

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 21:25:16 GMT

I agree the dog should be put to sleep BUT whoever was in-charge on the child has to bear at least 50% of the responsibility. With proper supervision of the child this would simply have not happened.

By the looks of things it follows the pattern we see in this country where it's the low socio-economic groups affected.

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

cat-mcc — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 21:13:31 GMT

Agree completely. The dog has no hope. It has been chained in a dirt yard its entire life with no socialisation, exercise or care. You can read a lot into the way it was looked after when you know it was not vaccinated against rabies (the legal minimum for dog ownership). So yes there are mitigating factors, but it also had previously attacked and killed another dog that strayed into its radius. Could it be rehabilitated- possibly? Should anyone try- definitely not! The stray situation in Phoenix is appalling. When I moved here from the UK I was shocked. Some parts of the city are like a 3rd world country with packs of street dogs roaming the place. No resources should be spent on this dog other than for blue juice. (and hopefully prosecution of the poor dog's piece of trash 'owners'.)

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Anne Seawright — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 15:11:12 GMT

And, secondly, do any of the UK veterinary bodies have policies on dog training, behaviour, or the dog-human relationship?

Niall

Yes there are. Here is a joint venture from many uk and European organisations involved in animal welfare with their position. Happy to find more if you are interested. http://www.dogwelfarecampaign.org/index.php Anne

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Sarah McGurk — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 13:53:20 GMT

Barking.....

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Mark Holmes — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 13:46:57 GMT

Pointless saving it. Given there is a relatively fixed number of homes and an excess of dogs saving one dog results in the death of another - you don't actually save a life just the location of them. Euthanase it and invest the resources in others

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Virginia Campbell — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 10:39:50 GMT

[quote user="Niall Taylor"]could a dog like this be "turned from the dark side"?[/quote]

Who knows? Who cares? Why bother trying? There are plenty of homeless dogs which don't have a history of ripping the face off a child. I vote for the blue juice.

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 09:48:11 GMT

I agree with Dagmar

Wynne

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Dagmar Steele — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 09:46:19 GMT

It stunnes me a bit that in a country where many dogs are put to sleep on a daily basis just because there is o home for them this one that has done so much damage has to be saved. Was it the dog's fault? Probably not, it was on a chain, the little one stole his bone, we don't know anything about how it was kept, educated, walked, maybe mistreated before. The woman looking after the child has failed big time. The possibility that a dog which has bitten and damaged before will do it again is huge though. Maybe it can be trained and kept safe by a responsible owner but from here we definitely cannot know. Should people take the risk? I don't think so. There are thousand of reliable nice dogs looking for good homes.

Re: Campaign to save dog in Arizona Mauling

Robin Grimmer — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 09:34:50 GMT

The injuries are horrific - broken jaw, eye socket. The kid faces months if not years of reconstructive surgery. I cannot believe that people want this dog kept alive. If this were here the dog surely would have been euthanased immediately (aside from the fact it is a banned breed).