
People couldn’t believe two dogs killed their owner - nature24
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/12/19/people-couldnt-believe-two-dogs-killed-their-owner-so-the-sheriff-described-the-horror/?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.fdba6946e426
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gumby
I find this fascinating: "Stephens' friends have said the dogs were not
capable of such a violent attack." This casual epistemology has worked out in
my favor.

A couple of years ago my dog was accused of biting another and a police
complaint was lodged. The complaint was quite horrific -- my violent,
unleashed dog ran into the street to attack his leashed dog, dogs fighting,
blood in the other dog's coat and on the owner... quite exciting. And an
expensive vet bill was sent to me (though not included in the police
complaint).

I got a call from the animal control officer. He had only one question: "was
this <my dog's name>?" I said "yes" and he said "Then I'm closing the
investigation." That was it -- he send me the report which said simply, "no
violation, issue closed."

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I was relieved to be spared a
complicated process of word against word. On the other hand, the police know
my dog (he is kind of a fixture around town) which seems unfair.

BTW I was of course there too (as my dog is always with me :-) and observed 1>
other dog was aggressive and _it and its owner_ were on my property and 2> my
dog made a very loud noise noise but was never within a meter of the other dog
or owner (never more than a meter from me in fact), and 3> my dog returned to
my side as soon as I called him. As in: all that happened is the dog did his
job properly.

FWIW I don't have a PB but all the ones I've met have been super sweet.

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alexibm
Just few days ago, I had conversation with my GF about Pit bulls. She told me
that they are adorable dogs. Well... Pit bulls - the only breed of dogs that
ends up on front pages of news. They are not dogs, they are weapons.

Entire story reminds me /r/relationships story about a woman with the child,
who's boyfriend had Vietnamese centipede(venomous and extremely aggressive
arthropod) in their apartments. Centipede escaped and they could not find it.

Why would someone keep venomous centipede or Pit Bull is beyond my
understanding.

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lucideer
> _The dogs, which were previously indoor animals, were left in a kennel
> outside with little human contact_

Specific dog breeds do tend to exhibit behaviours naturally associated with
that breed but if you're going to own a dog, look after it. That's all. Making
generalisations about breeds needn't override that.

~~~
paulryanrogers
"Making generalisations about breeds needn't override that."

Training goes a long way. Yet my experience with dogs is that there are
individuals with a bad temperament. And breed does strongly correlate with
size. So in situations where a bad mannered individual dog of a large breed
does act out the potential for harm is higher than if it were a smaller breed.

Owning large and powerful dogs of any breed is a risk.

~~~
lucideer
> _... does strongly correlate with size_

> _Owning large and powerful dogs of any breed is a risk._

Pitbulls aside, anecdotally, if we're talking breed size I've found
Pomeranians and Jack Russells to pose more danger than, say, collies, labs,
Great Danes, Newfies, etc. but I guess now I'm the one generalising.

I think training and care are really the main factors. There are certainly
cultural tendencies to apply certain training approaches to certain breeds,
but I really do think this is mostly correlatory.

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soared
This is kind of unbelievable! Advice from the article on how not to get killed
by your dogs:

* Don't have ~100lb pitbulls

* Don't breed them to fight

* Don't abandon them in outdoor cages

~~~
DtnB
1) don't abuse your dogs

2) don't abuse your dogs

3) don't abuse your dogs

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StanislavPetrov
A dog raised properly with love and compassion, that isn't starved and doesn't
have some sort of a brain tumor will never, ever attack its owner. It doesn't
matter what breed of dog. This unfortunate story is very easily explained:

>Stephens had been living elsewhere and had left the dogs with her father. The
dogs, which were previously indoor animals, were left in a kennel outside with
little human contact, aside from a visit from Stephens about five times a
week, Blackwood told reporters.

This woman abandoned her dogs and left them in an outdoor cage. Unfortunately
this attitude is common. Many people view their pets (and, in some cases,
their children) as accessories or possessions, and treat them as such. A dog
is a member of your family, like a child. You don't simply decide to "live
somewhere else" and leave your dogs behind (let alone leaving them in outdoor
cages without human contact) any more then you would decide to "live somewhere
else" and leave your children behind in an outdoor cage. If you have dogs, or
children, you make sure that the place you plan on moving can house your whole
family. This is a very sad story, but not surprising given her behavior and
treatment of her dogs which no doubt (rightfully) felt that she had abandoned
them.

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chiffre01
This brings to mind other stories I've read referencing studies showing people
appear to emphasize more with dogs than other humans. Is this a recent
phenomenon? Or has it always been this way?

