The gate just happened to blow shut? Because the wind transpired to blow in just the right direction and right speed to close a gate at just the right time. What is this, a cartoon?
And so the person who said the dogs weren’t out goes back to get the dogs and either completely misses the fact that the gate is wide open or sees it and withholds this information from the police officer when he returns with the dog. Liar or incompetence.
Give it a rest. You can fool yourself if you want to try to justify your comments, but that doesn’t change facts.
Open gates blow shut in wind all the time, it’s not like there’s some implausible window of time that this needs to occur in for the whole situation to occur.
What facts am I not getting? All I’m saying is that you’re declaring these people to be liars or incompentant while not knowing enough to say either. As far as I can see you’re the one making up facts to support some sort of bizarre need to be even more outraged and indignant than the guy whose wife this actually happened to!
Wow, thanks for all the support. (emotional, legal, etc.)
Mrs Stone is doing just fine. She went for a long walk this morning with no fear. She loves dogs and isn’t letting one incident color her perceptions of them as a whole. We are still planning on getting our own dog (and a cat) once we buy our own house, hopefully within the next year.
For those of you debating the ‘gate’ issue, let me add a few details I left out in my OP (I didn’t think they were important or added to the story.)
The couple that owns the dogs actually lived across the street a couple houses down the block (from where in incident took place). They were visiting the other couple who had the three children. There was no gate or fence (on either property). All of them had been in the back yard having a cookout (it was the 4th of July) at the time of the incident. They did acknowledge that the dogs were out in the back yard with them at some period of time and then had been put in the house. They thought the dogs had never left their presence in the back yard or had been safe in the house. With 4 adults and 3 kids going in and out of the house, they admitted that they might not have kept track of the dogs all the time (an admission that came out after the attack on the officer).
Also, we have just moved to the area last month, so Mrs. Stone has only walked that way a couple times previously and had not seen those dogs outside before.
Lastly, of the couple who owned the dogs, the woman is pregnant. I’d guess 6 months or so. Talking it over with my wife, trying to think of why a dog who has never attacked anyone before (assuming they are telling the truth) would suddenly attack 2 people, that is the only change that I know about. (of course, I don’t know the people or their lives, so there could be any number of other things). I wonder if it’s possible that it has become more protective of her and more agressive because of that? Just a WAG, but it’s all I can come up with.
Dogs are very territorial, some believe that wherever they are, it’s theirs. It’s also true that dogs can become jealous/upset when they aren’t the focus of a family anymore. The change in the family, added to new surroundings, might have ramped up the dogs’ usually low level of aggression. But my money’d be on just plain territoriality, holiday excitement, plus opportunity.
I’m sorry, did I miss the part where the dogs attacked the wife.
A dog jumping up on someone with their PAWS might be frightening. It might have irresponsible owners. It’s not acceptable. . .but a dog has a fucking mouth, and when a dog attacks, it uses it.
When I was attacked by a dog, it bit through a down jacket, a shirt, and my skin.
Sounds to me like the dog wanted to play and the woman – who lives in a society where dogs often roam free (albeit illegally) – should recognize the difference.
I was running one morning before daylight and a large dog came running at me. FReaked me right out! It just wanted to play, but I didn’t know that at first.
It can be a very scary thing to have a dog jumping on you when you don’t know the dog.
Only my wife saw/heard the initial attack but she said the dog acted exactly the same as it did during the second attack when the dog attacked the police officer. That attack was witnessed by 7 adults and 3 kids and none of us thought that dog wanted to play.
She loves dogs, grew up with them, and will often stop to pet friendly dogs when walking. Believe me when I tell you that she can recognise the difference.
She’s not sure why it didn’t bite her when it attacked, but it could be because she turned her back on it and kept her hands in tight like a pole. It only jumped at her back, still barking and growling and then left her alone (after the second time) and she ran away.
But it did bite the officer. Not enough to break his skin, but he said he felt it’s teeth through his pant leg.
Is that enough proof for you Trunk that it wasn’t ‘playing’?
Pass on some more sympathy to your wife from me. A scary situation, no doubt. I’m glad to hear she’s doing better.
But I’m inclined to ask- are you sure the dogs were “attacking”? You said the dogs barked and jumped on your wife, but did they growl and/or bite her? Are you sure the dogs weren’t just overly excited and playful because of the holiday? Don’t get me wrong, the dogs shouldn’t have been out front- period. But if the dogs were just overly excited, I am going to have to strongly disagree with anyone who is saying they should be put down.
And as far as the dogs barking at the officer- my VERY well mannered dogs get VERY defensive around people in uniforms. I don’t know what it is. They freak out- tail between their legs, snarling, the whole deal. We could be talking about the UPS guy to a Police Officer- they get scared to death.
I’m not defending the owners- they were wrong; but they seemed more then sorry and offered to take care of any damages.
And on preview, I see your reply. So I retract (most of) my two cents :). It is still entirely possible that these are normal, happy, friendly dogs that were just freaked out by the holiday. Sounds like the owners need to take them to some training (at the least).
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.
Pit bull owners like this are the bane of every responsible pit-owners existence and make it almost impossible for us. Pits are tenacious dogs, bred to fight other dogs, not people. If they do bite people, it’s for a few reasons: they are badly bred or they have been trained to do so. A pit will do anything for its owners approval. Those dogs should be taken away from those people. And if I were you, I would file a complaint. I don’t advocate the dogs being put down, but they should be with a person or persons who can handle them responsibly and be the “leader of the pack.” My dog, by the way, didn’t bite any of the three dogs back. If I had let him off leash and told him to, I’m sure he would.
Really - do your wife, yourself, and those dogs a favor - file. And the best dog repellent? A squirtgun filled with ammonia.
I’m certainly not challenging your story, but oftentimes barking and growling is a sign of play. One of my dogs growls and barks when he’s excited and we’re running around. Easiest way to tell is to look at the tail to determine their mood.
Incidentally I’m not attacking you or what happened to your wife, I’m just sick of people assuming the worst in order to stroke off to their own righteous indignation :).
Ladies and Gentlemen I think we have a winner. Fireworks drive all the dogs in my neighorhood, nuts either making them bark like crazy or quiver in fear. My 90Lb. pure bread sofa setter will hide under my 'puter desk and won’t come out when fireworks are going off.
It is not too hard to picture a dog getting agressive from the loud bangs from fireworks.
Dogs bark, growl, jump, paw, and yes, sometimes even NIP when they play.
Dogs bare their teeth and bite into flesh when they attack. And they don’t stop just because you turn your back on them.
I’m sorry it freaked your wife out. It would freak me out. Any strange dog running at me barking would do that.
But no matter how much you want to play the victim card here, your wife wasn’t attacked by a dog. I wouldnt’ even care, except for chrissakes, there’s people in this thread advocating lawsuits and putting the dog down. That’s probably because you used the word “attack” about 8 times in your first post and about 10 more times subsequent to that. That’s throwing around a pretty serious accusation. Sounds like the police weren’t even worried enough to call animal control.
No, I got that’s what you’re saying, and maybe we’re just arguing semantics, but if a stray dog jumps on my back, barking and growling, I assure you in my mind I’ve been attacked and I will repond appropriately.