R
RedyreRottweilers said:
Rottie Girl, I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a few minutes.
There once was a very responsible Rottweiler owner. She showed her dogs, had a very nice top winning male dog, who ended up being one of the top producers EVER in our breed.
Her mother also had Rottweilers. 3 Rottweilers belonging to the daughter were being kept by her mother (very experienced Rottie person) while the dau was out of state looking at real estate.
To make an awful very long story very short, a medical emergency occurred with the mother, who had to be rushed to the hospital. Somehow in all the hubbub, 2 people were left at the home.
A 12 YO girl, in charge of a 2 YO toddler.
There were 5 or 7 dogs present, I can't remember now, all downstairs in their individual runs.
Somehow, all the dogs were let out, and were playing in the backyard, with the 2 children. The dogs had a big tire that was a favorite toy that they would drag around and pull on all the time as dogs will.
Now you have multiple dogs out in a dog yard who do not live with each other, more than one intact male, more than one intact bitch, all adults.
Somehow, the toddler ended up being "played with" just like the tire. He was severely injured, suffered permanent brain damage, and the family was torn apart forever by the fall out from this incident.
No one will ever know exactly what happened. No one could ever prove which dogs participated in the attack. No animal behavior experts could elicit any dangerous or vicious behavior from any of the dog on an individual basis. This was tied up in the legal system and Animal Control for almost 2 years. The grey muzzles of the 2 older bitches appeared on a regular basis on the nightly news as this terrible event was hashed out over and over and over.
Long story not so short, under the right circumstances and stimuli, dogs behave as the canids they are. Your dog. My dog. Most any dog, with the right circumstances and stimuli, will "pack up" and do things as a group that a single dog would NEVER do alone.
It's not always as simple as "this only happens to irresponsible people". Dogs are dogs, and humans are humans. As long as they live together, accidents will happen.
Much of it can be eliminated with responsibility of ownership and breeding, about that you are certainly right, but let me tell you.....
That Butler County PA incident impressed upon MANY of us that "there, but for the grade of *od go I."
I love Rottweilers.
I respect them too.
There once was a very responsible Rottweiler owner. She showed her dogs, had a very nice top winning male dog, who ended up being one of the top producers EVER in our breed.
Her mother also had Rottweilers. 3 Rottweilers belonging to the daughter were being kept by her mother (very experienced Rottie person) while the dau was out of state looking at real estate.
To make an awful very long story very short, a medical emergency occurred with the mother, who had to be rushed to the hospital. Somehow in all the hubbub, 2 people were left at the home.
A 12 YO girl, in charge of a 2 YO toddler.
There were 5 or 7 dogs present, I can't remember now, all downstairs in their individual runs.
Somehow, all the dogs were let out, and were playing in the backyard, with the 2 children. The dogs had a big tire that was a favorite toy that they would drag around and pull on all the time as dogs will.
Now you have multiple dogs out in a dog yard who do not live with each other, more than one intact male, more than one intact bitch, all adults.
Somehow, the toddler ended up being "played with" just like the tire. He was severely injured, suffered permanent brain damage, and the family was torn apart forever by the fall out from this incident.
No one will ever know exactly what happened. No one could ever prove which dogs participated in the attack. No animal behavior experts could elicit any dangerous or vicious behavior from any of the dog on an individual basis. This was tied up in the legal system and Animal Control for almost 2 years. The grey muzzles of the 2 older bitches appeared on a regular basis on the nightly news as this terrible event was hashed out over and over and over.
Long story not so short, under the right circumstances and stimuli, dogs behave as the canids they are. Your dog. My dog. Most any dog, with the right circumstances and stimuli, will "pack up" and do things as a group that a single dog would NEVER do alone.
It's not always as simple as "this only happens to irresponsible people". Dogs are dogs, and humans are humans. As long as they live together, accidents will happen.
Much of it can be eliminated with responsibility of ownership and breeding, about that you are certainly right, but let me tell you.....
That Butler County PA incident impressed upon MANY of us that "there, but for the grade of *od go I."
I love Rottweilers.
I respect them too.