Looking at this thread, I can’t help but feel that it would be best if you just left, and posted the results of your court judgement when it’s done. Seems like too many insensitive bastards around the pit, and it’s not going to do you any good to hang around - go read a nice thread by Eve or someone else, and calm down. Some of us have empathy, even if there are a larger number of cold blooded assholes around.
To county: Maybe you missed the part about the dog bite on her leg. I’ll be damned if a dog bit a human, and wasn’t classfied as a dangerous animal. I’ve read some of your other posts, and you really are a fucking piece of work. Good job, I hope you’re getting your jollies from this.
Well, no, you are mischaracterizing what I posted. Interesting, not.
Let me summarize it for you. The dog should not be destroyed as it is not vicious or a candidate for a “dangerous dog petition.” You or anybody else want to do something about the “irresponsible owner” - well have at it. But it is not reasonable to kill the dog.
Metacom, I do get what you are saying. The thing is, the interaction as describes in the OP strikes me as horribly insensitive and callous. I do get that people can have less than objective judgment in times of grief, but in this case I see no compelling reason to doubt the events as the OP portrayed them. It is a laudable goal, on your part, to want to present other points of view but my take is that in this specific case it is not warranted. That is all that I am trying to say.
From the OP:
Well, you appear to be taking issue with opinions that don’t mirror your own.
The dog won’t be given a life sentence - the dog will be destroyed, it doesn’t matter what the goal is - what matters is the outcome.
Tear jerker? I thought I was pissed off. Nice characterization, very kind, thanks.
Fuck your hyperbole and sarcasm. I am suing for the minimum amount I can possibly sue for based on the injuries incurred by Achmed and me, so give me a break, OK? There is an alternative to the above posting possibilites you mentioned that wouldn’t cost you anything–don’t post to my thread if you aren’t going to like what you read. Not trying to censor you, feel free to say whatever you want, but you don’t HAVE to.
How do you know I’m going through LIFE calling people “bitches” and “assholes”? Going through LIFE?!? Nice hyperbole, you’re very good at it, but it’s a shitty and wrong thing to say to me. How about going through a period of intense, excruciating grief, compounded by insensitivity in certain quarters, an antiquated legal system, and a vet bill that totals 10% of my annual salary? Would you maybe want to swear if it were you? Maybe YOU should try to put yourself in MY shoes, before you start giving me a lot of shit. Practice what you preach.
Normally, I am pretty open-minded and try very hard to see the other side of the story, but in this case, I cannot and do not and will not and don’t think I should have to. I am completely uninterested in the “other side of the story,” the side that makes excuses for anyone or anything that could do what was done to my cat. I’m sure you’d be very high-minded in my shoes, so I’ll vote for your canonization when it comes across my desk, but I am giving myself a free pass to call people bitches and assholes when I feel they deserve it right now.
The dog control officer was rude to me on the phone when I called initially about this the week of the accident, before she ever met me or heard my full complaint, so I was not prepared for the level of hostility. Obviously she focuses on the “Dog” part of her job and neglects the “Control” part. I was near tears on several occasions in the conversation with her and she didn’t give a rat’s ass. I was also stunned by her defense of my landlord, who I thought was a horrible degenerate bastard well before any of this happened, for other, equally valid reasons (do a Pit thread check, I think I may have ranted about him).
Telling me how nice he is and how sweet the dog is was uncalled for and impolitic of her at best. Don’t forget, I lived with both of them for 8 months and fought the dog myself, so I think I have more grounds to assert their character than she does, having met them once in a law enforcement situation. Telling me my cat is only worth $10, while she may believe it’s true (the law does not back her up, but she may think it does) was also unnecessary to SAY and felt mean-spirited to me. Not to mention she was basically discouraging me from further litigation, which is both improper and fucked up, IMO, esp. when I definitely have a strong chance of winning the civil case AND she knows I have an attorney. Combined with her above rather huffy defense of my landlord, it make me spitting mad, which I take as an improvement over the near-crippling grief and depression I was experiencing in weeks previous and still experience on a semi-regular basis.
So don’t cry for me, as I never asked you to. I accept your expressions of sympathy, but my landlord offered those, and so did the dog control officer. They aren’t actually worth that much when the underlying attitude is blaming me and dismissing the culpability of those who deserve it.
Dogs who bite people who interfere with their fights are not necessarily going to be classified has dangerous animals. It’s just the way dogs are–if a dog is in a fight, it’s focused on the fight, and if someone tries to stop the fight, the deeply-seated and uncontrollable “something is trying to take away my food!/hurt me!/whatever” instincts kick in, and it will lash out and do something it wouldn’t normally do. It’s just the way dogs are–people who think all dogs aren’t capable of that kind of behaviour just don’t know dogs. They’re animals.
Note that the message that you’ve reply to as if it was addressed to you was actually a response to Binarydrome, not you. I was addressing a sentiment that I perceived in her post, which rebuked me for what he or she perceived has insensitivity.
No, I’d be very pissed. I’d probably be cussing, and crying, and wouldn’t be trying to understand the other side at all. And I’d be wrong, and hopefully whomever I confided my rage in would help me see that.
Suggesting that you might share some of the culpability is not blaming you, nor is it dismissing the culpability of others.
That just isn’t the case. A Dangerous Dog Petition can lead to two possible outcomes: restraint for life, or euthanasia. It’s up to the judge. The dog has no history of biting before, and the Dog Control Officer will testify that she’s not vicious. This leads me to believe that the outcome would be what I wish it to be, that the dog not be allowed to roam free all over the damn neighborhood, and be kept away from the renters’ property.
You are making a big assumption to back up your own point of view, without much of any basis for it. Perhaps just to be argumentative? I have no idea why, but it’s certainly not coming from me.
In any case, I am with you-- I don’t want the dog to die, which I think, despite **Metacom’s ** assertions to the contrary, is pretty damned open-minded of me under the circumstances. I think it would be perfectly within the range of normal human emotions to want that dog dead, and many people have expressed that to me. NO, I want her to be on a leash and kept away from potentially violent situations. That is the sole purpose of my petition. Other people’s cats and wild animals CAN and DO come onto the property, in the parking area and side lawn and stuff. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through-- if the dog was on a leash, the animals could escape. It won’t bring my cat back, but nothing will.
County, how can you possibly know this dog isn’t vicious if you’ve never seen it? And yes, in some areas dogs that repeatedly attack other animals without provocation can be considered a dangerous animal. It then becomes incumbent upon the owner to keep the dog under control, or to put it down. If the owner fails to control the dog and there’s a further incident, the court can order the dog put down.
It may not be the dog’s fault he’s a menace to the neighborhood, but fault isn’t the issue here. The safety of the other residents is the issue here. Sadly, the fact of the matter is that this dog is a threat to the other residents, human and nonhuman alike. It sucks ass that the poor dog was never socialized to other animals, and that her miserable shitstain of an owner doesn’t keep her under control, but it sucks even more that she’s attacking pets and their owners. She’s a threat to the public safety and needs to be contained or euthanized. Since this guy has shown zero intention of keeping her contained, she needs to be put down. It’s heartbreaking, but there it is.
Ruby, please don’t let the assholes ruin your perception of dog owners. They’re just the loud ones who get all the attention, and they’re about as accurate a representation of the demographic as a whole as the leather thong-clad dancers on one float in a gay pride parade are of gay people as a whole. If it’s any consolation, Dolly the Vicious Attack Hound and Claudia the Vunderhund fart in their general direction and send much wagging and slurping your way.
I really can’t believe you. You think her defending my “nice” landlord, who is an irresponsible, drunken lech, and telling me the dog was “sweet” were necessary and part of her job? What about the $10 comment? What about her believing his lie about me sneaking my cats into the apartment illegally, based on an UNSIGNED LEASE? If she just said to me, “I don’t feel the SPCA has enough evidence to pursue this, but you may do so on your own if you wish. I’m sorry. Good luck,” there would have been NO PIT RANT. It’s not that she’s “not doing what I want” that’s bothering me, b/c I can file the petition on my own. It’s her hostile, shitty attitude that’s bothering me. The fact that you refuse to see that shows your own bias and inability to walk in my shoes, which makes you a hypocrite, IMO.
FUCK YOU. I didn’t do anything wrong. I opened a sliding glass door and the cat got out of a locked screen door that came unlocked due to the repeated shaking of the cats. Achmed was one foot outside my door when the dog RUSHED ONTO MY PROPERTY and chased my cat. The dog bit me when I tried to rescue my cat, defend that all you want, I don’t give a damn. The landlord has no control over his dog and is proud of her killings. Where exactly is my culpability, since you’re the authority on it and I’m too narrow-minded to see it?
Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t care what you think and don’t want to hear your assessments of my culpability. You’re only hurting me with it. It’s my fault for opening this thread. I’m an idiot. I went through agonies of guilt, blame, and horror over this, and I’m back in therapy to deal with all of it. So don’t tell me about my culpability. I already know all about it.
Just to clarify: I am having a polite exchange Metacom with in which we are indeed of differing opinions on this matter; you are an ass who seems to have reading comprehension issues. Hope that straightens things out for you.
Your cat seems to have been loose as well.
So you put the dog back into the house, and your landlord let the dog back out, despite the fact that you didn’t want the dog out. Because your cat escaped.
And, although you were not able to tell him that your cat was loose, he should have known to keep his dog in the house. Telepathically, no doubt.
And yet you continued to live in the apartment even when you knew your landlord had a cat-killing dog.
I am sorry you lost your cat, but there might be a side to this story you haven’t considered.
Regards,
Shodan
“Restrained for life” - I don’t think so. The dog will be killed. Executed. Euthanized. Kaput. Dead.
And as for making judgements on the animal, well, the dog was checked out by Animal Control. That is what I am going by, rather than by the opinion of a grief stricken cat owner.
And, “CrazyCatLady,” excellent username.
Just to clarify, my outrage was not about the assessed financial value of the cat. It was the ugly attitude and insensitivity of this woman. I hope a rabid dog bites her in the ass while she’s wearing her favorite pair of jeans.
Your can anthropomorphize your pets and have them fart at me all you want, but if you think that they’re not capable of yielding to their prey drive and attacking a small animal–and injuring someone who tried to break up the fight–you’re kidding yourself. Especially if they really are hounds–for many centuries hounds were bred specifically to chase and kill other animals. It’s an instinct that a responsible owner tries very hard to keep under control at all times.
No need to resort to name calling and suggesting reading disabilities. You dildo.
Gotcha.
Rubystreak, I’m sorry. Document everything this woman said to you and forward a copy of it to her boss. Get a copy of the names of the animal control system board members, and forward them a copy too. Her behavior was completely unacceptable.
I understand that dogs are animals. No one is disputing that a dog engaged in a fight has the presence of mind to stop when someone whistles and says, “Fluffy! Come get your treat!” Of course they’re going to bite under those circumstances. And a responsible owner knows this, and takes whatever measures necessary to keep their dogs contained, and takes the responsibility for their dogs’ behaviors when and if they escape.
My dogs are a bunch of lazy coots, but as their OWNER, I’m the one responsible for them. If they got out and bit someone, regardless of the reason, I would fully expect to pay for any hospital and/or vet bills that resulted from that bite. I love my dogs dearly, but if one of them bit someone or killed someone’s pet, I’d have to be damned sure that they’d NEVER escape again (as in, a major super heavy-duty kennel), or I’d have them put down. Instinct or not, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing my dog might be out there killing someone else’s beloved pet.
Hells bells. Last week they nearly knocked over the pizza guy and made him spill the Cokes, and I have him ten bucks for his trouble. And it wasn’t even our pizza! (He was at the wrong address.)
Ruby–document, document, document. Go for payment of the bills. And hang in there. Dog owners are a good bunch, really. Most of 'em, anyway.
Best,
karol