A dreadful thing has happened

In a village not far from me. A recently adopted dog from a rescue centre
has killed a 4 year old girl and apparently the mother had to stab the dog
to get it off her.
My heart goes out to them.
Imagine having to stab your dog to try and save your child, it doesn't bear
thinking about but of course you would do it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...g-at-home.html

I sometimes wonder if big dogs in rescue are really checked out enough
because, let's face it, they have a difficult history and that's why they
are there.
Reporters are swarming all over the rescue centre with difficult questions
for them.
But actually, even a small dog could kill you if it went crazy and so could
a cat if it ripped you to bits and wouldn't stop.
I am very sad here tonight.

Tweed

On 11/6/2013 1:16 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
In a village not far from me. A recently adopted dog from a rescue centre
has killed a 4 year old girl and apparently the mother had to stab the dog
to get it off her.
My heart goes out to them.
Imagine having to stab your dog to try and save your child, it doesn't bear
thinking about but of course you would do it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...g-at-home.html

I sometimes wonder if big dogs in rescue are really checked out enough
because, let's face it, they have a difficult history and that's why they
are there.
Reporters are swarming all over the rescue centre with difficult questions
for them.
But actually, even a small dog could kill you if it went crazy and so could
a cat if it ripped you to bits and wouldn't stop.
I am very sad here tonight.

Tweed


No wonder you can't sleep at night! (At least in the story Lesley
posted no human or animal died.) This is a very sad story. It must
have been absolutely shocking to the mother, who was probably just
hoping for a playmate for her daughter. How tragic!

I wonder about rescue dogs sometimes, too. You can't really know what
will set an animal off, especially not one that may have been abused.

There used to be a lovely medium-size dog living down the street. (I
think they've moved away. At least I hope so, otherwise it means the
dog died which would be sad.) I'd see her owner taking her for walks
sometimes when I'd walk out to the mailbox.

I know better than to just walk up to a dog without first asking if it
is okay. This dog was a rescue. The man said it's fine to pet her, but
don't approach her with your hand held above her head or she'll assume
you're going to hit her. In the case of this dog, he said she'd cowl
and shy away. Awwwww

Still, it's entirely possible at some point she might just think nope,
no one is going to hit me again, I've got teeth!

I'm one of those people, I can remember things from when I was very
young. When I was six years old I had my tonsils out. I shared a
hospital room with a little girl, about three or four years old. She
cried all night. I remember her head and jaw were heavily bandaged.
When I mentioned to my mom she cried all night, Mom told me she'd been
bitten by a German Shepherd. From the way she was bandaged, the dog
must have had practically her whole head in its mouth. Yikes!

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 11/6/2013 1:16 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
In a village not far from me. A recently adopted dog from a rescue
centre
has killed a 4 year old girl and apparently the mother had to stab the
dog
to get it off her.
My heart goes out to them.
Imagine having to stab your dog to try and save your child, it doesn't
bear
thinking about but of course you would do it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...g-at-home.html

I sometimes wonder if big dogs in rescue are really checked out enough
because, let's face it, they have a difficult history and that's why
they
are there.
Reporters are swarming all over the rescue centre with difficult
questions
for them.
But actually, even a small dog could kill you if it went crazy and so
could
a cat if it ripped you to bits and wouldn't stop.
I am very sad here tonight.

Tweed


No wonder you can't sleep at night! (At least in the story Lesley posted
no human or animal died.) This is a very sad story. It must have been
absolutely shocking to the mother, who was probably just hoping for a
playmate for her daughter. How tragic!

I wonder about rescue dogs sometimes, too. You can't really know what
will set an animal off, especially not one that may have been abused.

I think the rescue centre will be in trouble about this, but the real fault
is with the original owners by not training him to be a good dog, which is
probably why they gave him up in the first place, because they *could not be
bothered.*
Every dog is a good one, unless you let them down yourself.
Tweed

On Wednesday, November 6, 2013 11:29:32 AM UTC-8, The Other Guy wrote:

NEVER heard of a house cat killing anyone.

Although my ankle still aches after Redunzel (RB) tripped me on the stairs and Sarsi did once go for me after I stood on her tail

Let's get things straight the dog was not from a rescue organisation but the pound that handles dogs brought in by the council. I imagine any responsible rescue would have looked at the size of the dog and the size of the child and said "No way" especially as has come out the housing association the mum was renting from has a "no dogs" policy

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

On 11/6/2013 2:28 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 11/6/2013 1:16 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
In a village not far from me. A recently adopted dog from a rescue
centre
has killed a 4 year old girl and apparently the mother had to stab the
dog
to get it off her.
My heart goes out to them.
Imagine having to stab your dog to try and save your child, it doesn't
bear
thinking about but of course you would do it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...g-at-home.html

I sometimes wonder if big dogs in rescue are really checked out enough
because, let's face it, they have a difficult history and that's why
they
are there.
Reporters are swarming all over the rescue centre with difficult
questions
for them.
But actually, even a small dog could kill you if it went crazy and so
could
a cat if it ripped you to bits and wouldn't stop.
I am very sad here tonight.

Tweed


No wonder you can't sleep at night! (At least in the story Lesley posted
no human or animal died.) This is a very sad story. It must have been
absolutely shocking to the mother, who was probably just hoping for a
playmate for her daughter. How tragic!

I wonder about rescue dogs sometimes, too. You can't really know what
will set an animal off, especially not one that may have been abused.

I think the rescue centre will be in trouble about this, but the real fault
is with the original owners by not training him to be a good dog, which is
probably why they gave him up in the first place, because they *could not be
bothered.*
Every dog is a good one, unless you let them down yourself.
Tweed

In a case like this, it's not merely an untrained misbehaving dog.
Chances are it was abused or beaten. For all we know the original
owners had the dog taken away from them because they were treating it
cruelly. Or maybe training it to be a guard dog, which often involves
cruelty.

I agree every dog can be a good dog, if given the chance. But dogs (and
cats) have personalities, just like people. My little dog Sampson (all
of 12 lbs. in his heyday - smaller than Persia!) was a good dog. I
raised him from a puppy. But he didn't like children. They were too
noisy and frenetic for him. I had to keep the neighborhood children
away from him. They saw him as a "cute small dog". I saw him as a dog
that would bite any one of them given half a chance.

He was also very protective of me. He didn't like men. At one time my
brother and I were roomates. Sammy certainly knew my brother. Yet one
day my brother reached across the couch to hand something to me.
Sampson interpreted it as a threatening move. He started snarling and
bared his teeth. The point is, you just don't know what a dog, trained
or not, familiar or not, might be thinking.

Jill

On 11/6/2013 2:29 PM, The Other Guy wrote:
On Wed, 6 Nov 2013 18:16:39 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I sometimes wonder if big dogs in rescue are really checked out enough

While "NOT thought to be a banned breed"??

It sure LOOKED like a pit bull.

It did look like at least a pit bull mix.

AND had a history of being 'abused', both HUGE red flags,
or should have been.


I agree, probably not the best dog for a home with a small child.

However, pit bulls can be perfectly lovely dogs if raised lovingly.
This dog obvious didn't come from a loving home.


NEVER heard of a house cat killing anyone.

Not likely unless the cat has rabies. Fun read:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...ill_y ou.html

I still don't believe most of the "a cat will smother a baby" stories.
Certainly not a cat will suck the breath out of a baby. Such tales
smack of old wivery. If you've got an infant and a cat, it's easy
enough to close the door to the nursery when baby goes down for a nap.

Jill

"The Other Guy" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 6 Nov 2013 18:16:39 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I sometimes wonder if big dogs in rescue are really checked out enough

While "NOT thought to be a banned breed"??

It sure LOOKED like a pit bull.
AND had a history of being 'abused', both HUGE red flags,
or should have been.


It was not a pit bull so let's stop blaming them for everything, eh?

Tweed

On 11/6/2013 3:05 PM, Lesley wrote:
On Wednesday, November 6, 2013 11:29:32 AM UTC-8, The Other Guy wrote:

NEVER heard of a house cat killing anyone.

Although my ankle still aches after Redunzel (RB) tripped me on the stairs and Sarsi did once go for me after I stood on her tail

Let's get things straight the dog was not from a rescue organisation but the pound that handles dogs brought in by the council. I imagine any responsible rescue would have looked at the size of the dog and the size of the child and said "No way" especially as has come out the housing association the mum was renting from has a "no dogs" policy

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

The article did say the dog was from the pound. Even in the US, "dog
pounds" aren't considered the same as rescue organizations or shelters.
The pound is more like when you need to call the dog catcher.

I tend to think of rescue organizations as being much more vigilent.

Many years ago I lived in an apartment complex where one family would
let their fairly big dogs (three of them) run loose all over the place.
They'd just open the door and out they ran. Yes, there was a leash law.

I always walked my little dog Sampson on a leash. Their dogs were big
and unruly and they absolutely terrified Sampson.

I asked them to please not let their dogs just run loose. They
basically told me to F-off. So I called Animal Control. They sent the
dog catcher around and took them to the pound.

That wasn't a fun experience. They "bailed" their dogs out of the pound
the next day. Then they stopped me on my way to my car, with the dogs
running around not on leashes. They yelled at me because they had to
pay $125 to get their dogs from the pound. Good lord people, it's the law!

Fortunately I had already made plans to move to a much better area.
That apartment complex had been rapidly going downhill.

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 11/6/2013 2:28 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
On 11/6/2013 1:16 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
In a village not far from me. A recently adopted dog from a rescue
centre
has killed a 4 year old girl and apparently the mother had to stab the
dog
to get it off her.
My heart goes out to them.
Imagine having to stab your dog to try and save your child, it doesn't
bear
thinking about but of course you would do it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...g-at-home.html

I sometimes wonder if big dogs in rescue are really checked out enough
because, let's face it, they have a difficult history and that's why
they
are there.
Reporters are swarming all over the rescue centre with difficult
questions
for them.
But actually, even a small dog could kill you if it went crazy and so
could
a cat if it ripped you to bits and wouldn't stop.
I am very sad here tonight.

Tweed


No wonder you can't sleep at night! (At least in the story Lesley
posted
no human or animal died.) This is a very sad story. It must have been
absolutely shocking to the mother, who was probably just hoping for a
playmate for her daughter. How tragic!

I wonder about rescue dogs sometimes, too. You can't really know what
will set an animal off, especially not one that may have been abused.

I think the rescue centre will be in trouble about this, but the real
fault
is with the original owners by not training him to be a good dog, which
is
probably why they gave him up in the first place, because they *could not
be
bothered.*
Every dog is a good one, unless you let them down yourself.
Tweed

well, they both died but the police are not saying how the dog died. Mum
stabbed it.
Imagine stabbing your pet to death to defend your child.
OMG.

Tweed

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...


"The Other Guy" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 6 Nov 2013 18:16:39 -0000, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

I sometimes wonder if big dogs in rescue are really checked out enough

While "NOT thought to be a banned breed"??

It sure LOOKED like a pit bull.
AND had a history of being 'abused', both HUGE red flags,
or should have been.


It was not a pit bull so let's stop blaming them for everything, eh?

Tweed

~~~~~~~~
The picture looked like a pit bull, but one of the comments (apparently from
someone who was familiar with the tragedy) said that the picture was not the
actual dog involved.

MaryL