# Your dog attacked my wife! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 5, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083 "2005-07-05T00:53:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tofergregg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tofergregg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofergregg)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/41 "2005-07-06T15:14:16Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > What is your “appropriate response” here. . .same as **Cunctator** ’s? Have a family dog that’s never attacked anyone put down? Unfortunately, yes. I understand that you think the dog didn’t attack, but I don’t believe you’ve made your point. The dog attacked two people, in my book. The owners should be held responsible, and the dog should be put down. -Tofer ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/42 "2005-07-06T15:36:30Z")
The COP, who was supposedly ATTACKED didn’t even see fit to call animal control (actually I’m not sure if animal control was already there or not. . .either way, either the cop or the animal control officer didn’t deem the dog dangerous enough). Anyone of you think this whole story might have passed through a little filter before it made it’s way to the dope? I think someone’s got a flair for the dramatic. . .(a snipped up OP) > [@EarthStone](#): > > Tonight, she was walking down the sidewalk only three blocks from our house when two dogs ran out of the yard, across the street from her, and **attacked** her. > > But after the second **attack** , she was too frightened to manage that and just fled.) > > \*\*A quick examination of her back revealed no damage, no bleeding, and no scratches, just 3 holes in her dress. \*\* > > And even if they had gotten outside, they insisted that their dogs would never **attack** someone as my wife was claiming. > > until it lunged forward, growling and barking and **attacked** the police officer!!! > > Yeah lady, there’s No Way that Your Precious F’ing Dog could have ever **attacked** My Wife! (Ok, just a bit of rage left in me) > > It **attacked** two humans within a half hour period. > > It had no conceivable reason to **attack** her. > > The officer was just standing there, not even moving and it **attacked** him. ---
**Author:** ![EarthStone777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@EarthStone777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EarthStone777)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/43 "2005-07-06T20:52:38Z")
**Trunk** - For someone who took the time to chop up my OP, you must not have read it very well. I already stated that I got a call from Animal Control before the officer arrived at the house. They needed the address of the house to which to go. That’s why the officer took us there, to determine which house the dogs came from. And to get the street number of the house. Also (not already stated) they only had one officer on duty that evening, because it was the 4th of July, so there was no one on hand to rush to the scene of the **attack**. I followed up with them later, gave them the address, made sure they had the facts of the first incident, as well as the officers own report of his **attack** that he filed. They said they would send an officer over and speak to the couple. Even if you think that my wife wasn’t **attacked** (because she wasn’t explicitly bitten) then what do you call what happened to the officer? He felt _its teeth_ through his pant leg!! His report said he was **attacked** **Silentgoldfish** I’ve seen dogs that bark and growl when playing. My own mother has one that does that. Yes, you can tell because his tail is wagging and his ears are up. When the officer was **attacked** , the dog charged right at him, its tail straight back and down, not wagging, ears flat back. Like I said in my last post, _none_ of the adults present thought that dog was playing, even it’s owners. … If you’re not going to believe the dogs owners as to its behavior… I’ve got nothing else to add. **Rick** the fireworks weren’t going off yet that evening. It wasn’t even dusk. Admittedly they might have been setting off firecrackers (or whatever) on their own, I have no way of knowing. But I didn’t hear any ‘bangs’ for at least an hour afterward. I will admit that the dog may have **attacked** because of the stress of the day (people, kids, lots of activities, etc.) added to having heard fireworks the night before (kids in the area setting them off sunday night). So it’s clear, we’re not pressing charges. $50 for an old (favorite) dress and a scare is fine with my wife. We’re not asking for the dog to be destroyed. We both love animals too much to do that, given that no one was harmed (physically). (Had someone actually been injured, that would be a different story.) We are letting the animal control office do it’s job. Whatever they decide to do, they’ll do. All the **attacks** in this post have been bolded so that **Trunk** can find them. Just trying to make your job a bit easier… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/44 "2005-07-06T21:29:27Z")
Normally I would hope the dog get’s a second chance. But vicious dog coupled with soon to be new born baby is not a reasonable combination, the dog should be put down or rehoused before it risks being a danger to the child. As for the OP, the dog wasn’t attacking outright but was non the less acting extremely badly, so the penalty the owners got by paying to repair the dress, and now being on the animal-control books would hopefully be sufficient to make the owners mend there ways, or ensure they are heavily fined and the dogs put down if a similar thing happens again. But with the owner pregnant, I would fear for the action of a vicious teritorial dog when the newborn takes all it’s owner’s attention. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/45 "2005-07-07T04:22:07Z")
> [@EarthStone777](#): > > **Silentgoldfish** I’ve seen dogs that bark and growl when playing. My own mother has one that does that. Yes, you can tell because his tail is wagging and his ears are up. When the officer was **attacked** , the dog charged right at him, its tail straight back and down, not wagging, ears flat back. Like I said in my last post, _none_ of the adults present thought that dog was playing, even it’s owners. … If you’re not going to believe the dogs owners as to its behavior… I’ve got nothing else to add. > [/size] Hey, I never said I didn’t believe you and I think you handled the situation well. The only people I have an issue with are the ones up the thread who are advocating lawsuits and more police presence without even knowing the full story just because it makes for better drama. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/46 "2005-07-07T04:24:53Z")
Sorry to double post like this but if you read what I wrote up the thread I actually used your very sensible reactions to the incident as one of the reasons hysterically declaring that the dog should be put down and you should sue the owners was overreacting in the silliest way. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/47 "2005-07-07T08:03:38Z")
> [@Margaret Drysdale](#): > > You are right, and I’m glad you didn’t make it a pit-bashing thread (I own a pit.) And as a pit owner, I can say I NEVER let my dog run around off leash. My dog was bitten seven (yes, seven) times by three small, vicious, badly abused dogs in my building. It took animal control two weeks to get here. (This is LA.) I’m guessing that if my dog had done the biting, they would have been here immediately. You misread, on this board a “Pit” bashing is a thread started in “[THE BBQ Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=5)” forum, where flaming is allowed, so to “Pit” someone or something is to rant and rave and vent anger about it. 😉 [SUB]See the stickies at the top of the forum for the rules of behavior. [/SUB] ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/48 "2005-07-07T10:42:17Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > You misread, on this board a “Pit” bashing is a thread started in “[THE BBQ Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=5)” forum, where flaming is allowed, so to “Pit” someone or something is to rant and rave and vent anger about it. 😉 > [/SUB] She’s talking about a pitbull, methinks. It’s a breed of dog. ---
**Author:** ![EarthStone777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@EarthStone777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EarthStone777)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/49 "2005-07-07T11:46:01Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > You misread, on this board a “Pit” bashing is a thread started in “[THE BBQ Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=5)” forum, where flaming is allowed, so to “Pit” someone or something is to rant and rave and vent anger about it. 😉 > > [SUB]See the stickies at the top of the forum for the rules of behavior. [/SUB] Heh, I thought she was joking… but now I see that she was a guest and perhaps didn’t know about the BBQ Pit. I’m not sure what breed that dog was, but it wasn’t a pit bull, that’s for sure. It was medium sized, long black hair with brown at the feet and ears. … It might have been a collie-something mix? It was larger than the collies I’ve known (all small-medium dogs) and only slightly had the nose-eyes that I picture with a classic collie face. ---
**Author:** ![EarthStone777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@EarthStone777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EarthStone777)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/50 "2005-07-07T11:55:22Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > Sorry to double post like this but if you read what I wrote up the thread I actually used your very sensible reactions to the incident as one of the reasons hysterically declaring that the dog should be put down and you should sue the owners was overreacting in the silliest way. That’s OK, I’ll double post in order to reply… You are correct and I apologize for **attacking** your non- **attack** at me. (I wonder how many more times I can use **attack** in this thread?.. just to tease **Trunk** , of course.) As you pointed out, I should have originally said "Barking and growling, _while having the ears straight back and not wagging tails_ are No Signs of Play. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083/51 "2005-07-07T12:40:17Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > She’s talking about a pitbull, methinks. It’s a breed of dog. Yes, I realized she was speaking of a breed of dog, but she misunderstood when people said “pit thread” and “bashing” in a sentence. She thought people wanted to bash the breed of pitbull dog, not that they were wanting to vent their wrath upon stupid pet owners. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-dog-attacked-my-wife/311083.md?page=2)