When the bite is worse than the bark

Originally Posted by jess2416

Here it is against the law to tease, torment or bait a dog not belonging to yourself... its considered cruelty and its under our cruelty to animals laws

Yup, I watched them haul off a dude the other day up the street for taunting someone's miniature Schnauzers.

[Groch]

There is another dog bite 1-strike case in Colorado right now that is getting some publicity - Rolo the GSD. It is very similar to the cases discussed on this thread.

You can read about it through links from the Rolo's owner site here:
http://www.rolodog.com/

The facts seem to be:
1. Rolo the GSD escapes from fenced yard while owner is about to take it for a walk.
2. Rolo aggressively charges mother walking 14 month old infant, who snatches her child from the ground and starts screaming.
3. Rolo lunges and bites mom, bite is very slight, but mom is injured as she twists to get away.
4. This is a first offense, owner says dog was startled by mom's screaming, but judge orders dog PTS.
5. Owner is appealing the decision, but several neighbors complained the dog previously showed very aggressive behavior in its yard (throwing itself against the fence while barking etc).

The dog did not cause a serious bite wound, but if the facts are as described, this could have been an incredibly tragic situation.

I think Rolo must be put down.

1. Dogs should not attack simply because a mother screams trying to defend her child. Human life is to valuable to take another chance.

2. Owner said after the incident she started taking Rolo to anti-agression classes...that is a bite too late. If the dog was truly charging and attacking their fence before the incident, they should have taken action then, before the mom was bitten.
I imaging some of you will disagree.

[Lilavati]

Originally Posted by Groch

There is another dog bite 1-strike case in Colorado right now that is getting some publicity - Rolo the GSD. It is very similar to the cases discussed on this thread.

You can read about it through links from the Rolo's owner site here:
http://www.rolodog.com/

The facts seem to be:
1. Rolo the GSD escapes from fenced yard while owner is about to take it for a walk.
2. Rolo aggressively charges mother walking 14 month old infant, who snatches her child from the ground and starts screaming.
3. Rolo lunges and bites mom, bite is very slight, but mom is injured as she twists to get away.
4. This is a first offense, owner says dog was startled by mom's screaming, but judge orders dog PTS.
5. Owner is appealing the decision, but several neighbors complained the dog previously showed very aggressive behavior in its yard (throwing itself against the fence while barking etc).

The dog did not cause a serious bite wound, but if the facts are as described, this could have been an incredibly tragic situation.

I think Rolo must be put down.

1. Dogs should not attack simply because a mother screams trying to defend her child. Human life is to valuable to take another chance.

2. Owner said after the incident she started taking Rolo to anti-agression classes...that is a bite too late. If the dog was truly charging and attacking their fence before the incident, they should have taken action then, before the mom was bitten.
I imaging some of you will disagree.

I would like to say that it would be best if Rolo could be helped and not killed. That said, however, under the circumstances, I won't cry foul at a euthanasia order. If everyone agrees on what happened, then that dog was, at least at the time, dangerous. I'd rather have her put to sleep for manifst agression, then have all GSDs banned and dozens put to sleep. And, under the circumstnaces, I wouldn't want Rolo living next door to me . . .

Where I think 1 bite rules will be a problem is provocation (especially if the law does not take it into account) and situations in which the dog bit or snapped and there were few witnesses, or none except the victim. Considering some people, a friendly puppy mouthing can be taken as a bite . . . with no injury and no witnesses, we are literally depending on the victim's word . . . and they may hate or fear dogs.

But I don't think one bite rules are bad in principle . . .they just need to be tweaked, and there has to be an appeal process. It sounds like Rolo is getting an appeal . . . if not a legal one, then one to public opinion. So we'll see.