Dog on dog attacks

Whilst not at all nice, they do happen, NOT always the dogs fault.

Merlin and his younger half brother, Stryder, are two of the most passive dogs you'll ever likely to meet but provoked/attacked, they will defend themselves and when they do, god help the culprit.....

It happened today, a Pitbull (banned?) attacked Stryder, biggest mistake of its life, Stryder was more than capable of looking after himself but big brother Merlin made sure, no blood whatsoever, our boys just pinned it down, Merlin lightly held its throat.

Now I don't want to be steriotypical but the pitbull owner was a hooded black youth, all too common here in London.

It's not the dogs fault, I blame the owner!

 

i agree, its normally bad owners that raise bad pets, so glad your boys were able to defend themselves, unfortunately another dog may not be able to do so

 

Lisa Caroline, Merlin and Stryder look and are built like wolves, just glad it wasn't any of our dalmatians or god forbid my Shadow, with the Dalmatians they may have got hurt, Shadow (with me?) one dead pitbull! (Daddy's girl)

 

Are you sure it was a pit bull Vince?
Silly question I know, but just tend to think they just fight to the death whatever the consequences.

 

Definitely a pitbull Pete, quite an underground trade here in North London and they are prevalent, Utonagans not as prevalent, Utes tend to use their bulk in defence, pin down their adversaries using teeth (and huge teeth at that, I should know, been bitten by one accidentally) as a last resort. I know what you mean about a pitbull fighting to the death, a bit hard when you have 50kg of solid muscle pinning you down with wolflike jaws holding your throat? Even pitbulls know their limits?

 

Vince, I am so relieved to read that Stryder and Merlin were able to hold their own when under attack!

I have read quite a bit on Utes (mainly due to Ozzy's cross breeding) and I do appreciate how passive they are - generally! But, I would never underestimate their strength under attack!!!!

By no means a "silly question", Pete. When all the furor went up way-back-when pitbulls were banned, there was a huge confusion over pitbulls vs staffordshire bull terriers; even some vets were (and remain) hard pushed to tell the difference between the two breeds. If that is so, it would be difficult for any lay person to be able to tell the difference - definitively. Have a google search and see if you could (hand on heart) tell the difference

However, there are some groups of people who pride themselves on breeding, selling and perpetuating illegal trades (of all descriptions of contraband); this includes American pitbull terriers.

While I do think "owners" are accountable for their dogs behaviour (and rightly so!), one has to remember that these are animals, with animal instincts. Recessive genes exist in all species (even human!) and as much as we can breed out many characteristics, we cannot guarantee recessive, or unpalatable, genes have not snuck through. And that goes for all breeds.

What did the owner do, Vince? How did he handle the situation?

 

Bit of a blur there between owners and the dogs,
I dont think there is much difference, quite a few "owners" need to have their recessive genes bred out.

 

Quite!!!!!

 

If vets cant tell, what chance does a buyer have?

http://www.thevine.com.au/life/news/miniature-poodle-is-actually-a-giant-steroid-rodent/

 

Some breeds of dog have different traits to others, slightly. But most of it comes down to how they are raised. There's also a very significant 'perception' thing going on.

Take something like a border collie. Lovely dogs. Soft as putty? Well, no. They look it, but trust me they are not. When I was a kid we had a lovely collie. As is the way, she grew old and decrepit, but she'd lived a lifetime, and had had the odd minor set to over the years (as dogs do, its inevitable). One day my sister's daft boyfriend at the time had a doberman with a terrible reputation. One day while he was visiting, he brought his daft doberman. It decided to set its cheek up in our living room. Nobody (dogs included) came to any harm, but, it all happened in slow motion. I saw the mutt coming, and leapt into action. Its a funny thing, a dog is supposed to defend its owner, but I never saw it that way. Anyone (regardless of leg count) wants to fight my dogs, they have to fight me too. Between me and the oncoming doberman was our decrepit old collie, laid on her belly, relaxing on the living room floor. She didn't even move, but I saw her aged, milky grey eyes lock onto this young interloper, and as the doberman came into range, there was just a grey blur, as a 16 year old collie just sprang up, took a secure hold on the underside of the doberman's throat (but didn't squeeze), held him for a few seconds until he knew without doubt who was the top dog in that house, then she just let go and laid back down as the poor doberman bolted for the front door in blind terror. A male doberman in his prime, put in his place by an geriatric almost blind collie, all without anyone actually getting hurt.

 

Vince, so glad your boys were okay. I abhore Pit Bulls and anything of that type breed. In my opinion they are even 'ugly' dogs with devious eyes ... t'other half agrees with me ... and we don't agree too often! We love Huskies (long or short haired) and such like and IF we were ever to have a dog (cats for 45 years) we would have one of your types ... or a Border Collie (as t'other half had at home before he met me ... but I knew and loved Fred, a 'she') although I would like a miniature Yorkie or Shih Tzu but t'other half says they are not 'dogs' but 'rats' ... well, I think a lap rat might be nice for an old woman ...

 

Pit Bulls get such a nasty wrap. It is all about the owner with any breed. Where we holiday in Key West the neighbors have 2 of them and they play with their young children so nicely, running in the ocean. I enjoy visiting with them myself.

Speaking of dog fights. I had a very layed back Great Dane once, and he entered dog show frequently, (son of a 3 continent champion). Anyway, one of the times he and I just roaming aroung the tents minding our business, when my eyes a little to late caught the eyes of a big rotty, his lead draped over the handler shoulders. In seconds he the rotty leaped on my Dane and I then let go of his lead, thinking teeth my hands etc. In seconds my Dane was backing the big rotty into a corner. Other men came and got both leads, no one got hurt. My sweetie Sundance, so gentle he was.

 

Do not get many of those around here, we all got Labrador dogs and boy can they dance for another dog if they want to. Spring over the back and spin around like mad. ROFL CGU

 

I feel sorry for the dogs


The shelter manager's letter:

"I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge wake-up call.

As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all - a view from the inside, if you will.

Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know - that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore.

How would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at - purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays" that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.

No shortage of excuses
The most common excuses I hear are:

We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat).
Really? Where are you moving to that doesn't allow pets?

The dog got bigger than we thought it would.
How big did you think a German Shepherd would get?

We don't have time for her.
Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!

She's tearing up our yard.
How about bringing her inside, making her a part of your family?

They always tell me:
We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her. We know she'll get adopted - she's a good dog. Odds are your pet won't get adopted, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is?

Well, let me tell you. Dead pet walking!

Your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off, sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy.
If it sniffles, it dies.

Your pet will be confined to a small run / kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it.
If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers that day to take him / her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose.
If your dog is big, black or any of the "bully" breeds (pit bull, rottweiler, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted.
If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed.

If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, though not for long. Most pets get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment.
If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.

The grim reaper
Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".
First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk - happy, wagging their tails. That is, until they get to "The Room".

Every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door. It must smell like death, or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there. It's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs (depending on their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk it's leg. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood, and been deafened by the yelps and screams.

They all don't just "go to sleep" - sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pet's corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back, with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage.

What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know, and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal, and you can always buy another one, right?

Liberty, freedom and justice for all
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.
My point to all of this is DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!

Hate me if you want to - the truth hurts and reality is what it is.
I just hope I maybe changed one person's mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this thing on Facebook and it made me want to adopt".
That would make it all worth it."

Author unknown

**I HOPE EVERYONE READS THIS WHOLE THING AND SHARES IT**

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