Dog Mauling

[Chris]

I was watching the news last night about the Marjorie Knoller trial.  She got Murder 2 for basically being ignorant about her dogs.  In my opinion she got what she deserved, 15 to life.

People see the verdict of Murder 2 as too harsh, others see it as just.  "I don't think I should be sent to prison for the actions of my dog."  says one dog owner.  Why the hell not?  It's your dog isn't it?  Drunk drivers are sent to prision.  Gun owners are sent to prision if someone misuses their firearm.  So why isn't your dog any different?  

The other question is about dogs being viewed as "lethal weapons".  Are they lethal?  Ask Diane Whipple's parents or 10-year-old Alicia Lynn Clark, who was mauled to death by 6 Rottweilers on Valentines day.

Dogs have been trained as "weapons" by the military, police and even private citizens for personal protection and fighting purposes.  If these dogs get out of hand and kill someone, its flat out murder.  This dog was trained in an agressive manner and thats what it did.  

Your the owner, your responsible.

[EricW]

I look at it as vindication of one of my biggest pet peeves.  If I put a landmine in my yard and blew up a hapless child, I'd go to jail.  But if my dog kills somebody, I have no responsibility whatsoever.  

BS!  

This verdict is decades overdue.  Where I used to live, little kids would get ripped limb from limb (in the literal sense) by vicious dogs all the time and NOTHING would ever happen to the owner.  No citation, no fines, nothing.  It's just an outrage.

Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, but people who harbor vicious animals need this wake-up call.  It has nothing to do with the breed and everything to do with the owner.  

Three cheers for making those people take responsibility.

Eric

[jhgtyre]

A local talk radio host who was totally in oppostion to your (and mine as well) point of view on this topic actually said "This is like holding a parent responsible for the actions of their kids!"  The idiocy of this worldview astounds me.  Of course I am responsible for the actions of my children untill they reach 18.  I don't care what the boneheaded laws say I take the responsibility.  My dog is no different.  If it bites, mauls, or mutilates somebody it's my problem.

[BigDave]

What really peaves me is if these people get life sentences.  I might step on some toes here, but I don't care.  I rather see those stupid a**'s get strapped to a chair and someone throw the switch than to pay for their 3 sqaures, bed bed and shower for the next 40 years.  Hell, 15 for that matter.  But thats me, and I might be wrong.

Besides, wasn't there something like dozens of other reports or incidents of attacks, etc. by this dog???  The only people that should be allowed to own or possess an "attack" dog is the police or military.  If you want one, treat it like a damn Class III weapon and make them pay for some rediculous tax stamp or liscence fee.  

The though of all of this just makes my blood boil.  Who I really feel sorry for is the dog.  It really didn't know better, it was doing what it was "trained" (I use that term in its loosest sense) to do.  Domesticated animals have to learn to attack, it isn't instinct.

[John Thompson]

They trained viscious killer attack dogs that they couldn't control, knew it, and wanted it that way.  That's premeditiated IMHO and they got off easy with 15yrs.

Lady drowns her five kids(absolute terrible way to die) and the left coast whines that she's the "victim".

Like the cutie Constituational Attorney said on the Fox News O'Reilly Factor (paraphrase) ' If these(multiple murder) crimes had been commited by a male with a gun the scream for their death by the liberals would be deafening'.

(Edited by John Thompson at 5:42 pm on Mar. 22, 2002)

[bonedaddy]

     John, you must be talking about Ann Coulter.  Yeah, I find myself agreeing with nearly everthing she says.  Maybe because she is so intellegent and DROP DEAD GORGEOUS!   (NO apologies to Rosie, Hillary, Sara Brady, Di Fi, and all the other butt-ugly communist bloc chicks.)  

    The sad fact here is that Ms. Whipple could still be alive and well if she had been trained and packin a .45.  

        Local law and custom here in Wyoming is that free ranging dogs get smoked if "percieved"  to be a threat to lifestock or property.   Sheriffs report regularly includes Deputies responding to dog calls and wasting Fifi.   Your dog runs loose here, he risks being shot.   Your dog does damage here, you pay restitution.  In this county of 13,000 people, we may see 3 reported dog bites a year to probably 90 dogs KIA.   It seems to work.

                               -Sam

[BigDave]

Here we go again...

Last night in Indianapolis, a 3 yr old was mauled by 5 dogs.  From the early reports, it was 4 Naplolean (sp?) Mastiffs and a Pit Bull.  Supposedly, the child was alone in the room with the five dogs.  The father (I use that term loosely) was in the next room asleep and didn't awake until it was over.  The interview with the Animal Control officer stated something to the effect {para} "...based on the blood splatter patterns, it appears that the child was taken by the head in the dogs mouth and flung about like a rag doll..."

Who in the hell would leave their 3 yr old in a room, alone, with 4, 200lb dogs and a Pit Bull???  If the reports are accurate, I hope they excecute the "father".  I haven't heard how the child is doing, it was pretty dire last night.

Makes me sick...

[Nolan]

While I agree with you about dog owners being responsible for the actions of their dogs.  I find it rather odd that the public thinks it's OK to profile dogs, but it's not OK to profile people.  Personally I have more faith in dogs than in people because a dogs motivations are simpler.

I think Diane Whipple probably would have still died even if she had been packing a .45.  She simply wouldn't have shot the dog because she probably loved animals so much.  Knoeller she probably would have dropped in a heartbeat.  I'm suprised Knoeller didn't get the chair for UGLY in the first degree!

We live in the land of multiculturalism where we're supposed to celebrate our diversity, but it's against the law to point out our differences!

[ErikW]

Knoller was convicted of murder. So that means if Whipple had been packing, and she shot Knoller at the time of the attack, it would be justifiable homicide/self defense. Riiight. Even though Knoller wasn't giving attack commands to the dogs.

I don't know what the media spin is elsewhere, but this somehow turned into a homosexual issue locally. I saw a news teaser for the "gay community" reaction to the verdict. Huh?

[MBneACP]

I used to have Chows--large, intractable animals with a predeliction for biting first and asking questions later--and I spent hundreds of hours working with them, socializing them, going through obedience training (with a Chow, a little like smacking yourself on the head with a mallet) with them. It all paid off one day when I'd made a quick stop at the post office, tied my big male Chow to the flagpole outside, then got stuck in the line. I could see him through the window of the PO, and he was just hanging out, watching the parade. So I figured, no problemo. From out of nowhere, a little girl...maybe five years old...came running up on his blind side (this is one of those slo-mo moments while I'm dropping my mail and running for the door), then throws herself on him and grabs his ears. I see him go straight up in the air and spin to face her, and I thought, she's meat. He comes down on top of her licking her face, and by the time I shove half the post office out of the way and get out the door, they're rolling around on the ground playing together, she's pulling his tail and laughing and her mom says to me, "What a nice doggie!" Imagine what I said to her.

One of the parrot rescue operations has a slogan that goes something to the effect, "We are forever responsible for that which we domesticate."

They should have fried the woman in SF.

Michael B

[Chris]

My girlfriend had a medium sized Chow mix that blew a gasket one day and decided it didn't like the 130 lb Akita she had.  The Chow almost removed the Akita's front left leg (which had to be put down later).  Animal Control picked up the Chow, but we don't know what happened to her.

[jhgtyre]

I had a neighbor who owned a chow/great dane mix.  Cujo would look like the Taco Bell chiahuahua next to this beast.  I owned a mutt that most people thought was a rottweiller.  One evening I came home to find the Chowbeast fighting with my dog.  I had one of those collapsible steel batons so I began to beat on the Chowbeast.  Totally ignoring me he flipped our large dog onto his back and was getting ready to sink into his belly when I ditched the baton and began kicking him.  Fortunately his owner came along and helped stop the fight before anyone was seriously hurt.

Yet another reason I now carry a gun.

-jhgtyre

[bountyhunter]

Here in the Bay Area, we saw the coverage up close of the Whipple events.  The "gay" issue only came into play because here life companion (gay lover) had absolutely zero legal rights to say anything about her medical treatment, disposition of her estate, or sue for the horror and trauma the incident inflicted.  Daine Whipple's parents swooped in and ran the show, they didn't respect her much.  If she had legal spouse status, she would have had all those rights.  Whether you agree or disagree, that was the "gay" issue that was brought up by the incident and a relevant one considering the situation.

For me, the gay thing was totally irrelevant:  it was about arrogant and irresponsible people keeping vicous dogs and the fact that here in Kalifornia, so few people are armed there was nobody there to shoot that dog.  I'll guarantee you if she was my neighbor, that dog would have taken about four rounds of .40SW hollowpoints in the head.  Incidentally, I would have been arrested for a felony if I did shoot the dog (I already checked with the local police).  I might not have been convicted by a jury, but I would have been charged.

[kellyn]

You would not have been charged by me, that's for sure!

[MBneACP]

Okay...one *funny* dog story (if I told it before, skip it!)...

I'd just moved into this high zoot restored Victorian neighborhood in Tampa, and I'm walking my Chows around this little park. They're on choke chains with tough leather leashes. So this totally trendy couple jogs by, followed by this Volkswagen-sized Rot. The Rot sees the Chows & me, stops, drops its ears and starts that rolling Rot walk toward us, growling the whole way. I shout, "Sir! Sir! Call your dog!" The Chows have gone dead quiet, but are vibrating like out-of-balance lawnmower motors. I've got 'em reeled in as far as I can, the leashes wrapped around my left arm. Guy comes walking back, looks at me and the Chows, looks at the Rot and says, "Are you scared?" I say yes, indeedy, I am Big Time Scared, and could he please do something with his dog. He laughs and says, "Arnold..."--of course--"...is a scary, dangerous dog..." He and his wife are laughing away when I said, "Okay. That's enough." Pop a 2 1/2-inch Model 19 .357 out of the fanny pack, stick it about four feet from Arnold huge drooling maw and shout (I swear), "SIT!" Before I can put ole Arnold on the Long Down, the guy throws himself over the dog and screams, "You'll have to shoot me, too!" I say, "That's cool. You, your wife, your dog, your kids, your damn gerbil, if you've got one." His wife is screaming, "Help! Police! Madman with a gun!" I'm thinking I should have stayed in my old ratty gang neighborhood. Eventually, the couple succeed in dragging Arnold--who was not, shall we say, under voice control--away from the muzzle of the Smith, all the time promising dire consequences. It took me an hour to wind the Chows downs.

So (the punchline is) the next day...my first full day in the new house...there's a knock on the door. Instead of the cops, which I expected, it's the postman, a huge 250-pound black guy with a giant cigar clenched between his teeth. He stuck out his hand. "You the guy who almost capped Arnold last night?" he asked. Yep, I said, That would be me. "The U.S. Postal Service would like to extend it's sincere thanks to you, and, next time, finish the S-O-B!" Seems Arnold had been terrorizing the neighborhood, had had the cops called on him repeatedly and was so out of control that the block he lived on hadn't received any mail in two weeks  because the postmen wouldn't go there.

MB

[gm iprod]

Here in New Zealand if you own a dog, you fence your yard. If Fido is outside yard unleashed the dog control will collect him (in theory). If he is causing a problem the dog control guys have a nice way of calming him down.

Apply as required.

1 x Remington 870 12G

1 or more Remington #4Buck (41 pieces) at speed.

Saves on needles.

I have now applied this prescription to a few wandering Canines that infest the local golf course, and are interfeering with my rabbit reduction program.

Seems so simple.

To end. The problem is not with the dog ( gun ) its with the owner. I would rather sort out the owner than the dog.

[EricW]

MB,

I jog, and I'm so exasperated at out of control dogs that the next time, I'm tempted to just point the gun at the owner.  Somehow I think it'll have a more lasting effect.  

E

[warpspeed]

on the subject of dogs....

like all things in life, one must be responsible for ones actions and decisions.

I choose, therefore I am responsible. In a free society, it is part of the good and bad.

[Duane Thomas]

"Cujo would look like the Taco Bell chiahuahua next to this beast."

I'm in pain. I mean, literally laughing so hard I'm crying.