Oh dear....

gettingready

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2216806/Mother-watches-horror-American-Bulldog-stabbed-23-times-irate-pet-owner-fight-dog.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

topsales

Oh no - how can people do this...

Jay_Tee

topsales wrote: »

Oh no - how can people do this...

To be honest my sympathy is more with the guy protecting his dog.

Today, Mr Stearman said he knifed the dog because he was only trying to stop it killing his own terrier Monty.

Mr Stearman said: 'The dog’s a lunatic. I’d just stepped out my house and the dog went for him. It wasn’t on a lead. It locked its jaw on to Monty’s head. He’s only little and he’s a donut around other dogs.

'It was like a lion on top of a gazelle. I was screaming for help and the owner was nowhere to be seen.

It seems it was far from an isolated incident by this poor dog, who I feel was totally let down by his owner.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

The only person I can see to be at fault here was the woman who did not have her large dog under control.

Odds are she'll have something else equally unsuitable soon enough, though.

coinxoperated

I have to say I feel terribly sad for the poor dog that died because he had a dreadful owner.

It's people like that that make my blood boil. It a shame that that vile woman (grandmother of 10.....) is even still allowed to keep pets.

A perfect example of a beautiful animal ruined by human greed and the 'I'm 'ard' culture =[

BigBlackcat

coinxoperated wrote: »

I have to say I feel terribly sad for the poor dog that died because he had a dreadful owner.

It's people like that that make my blood boil. It a shame that that vile woman (grandmother of 10.....) is even still allowed to keep pets.

A perfect example of a beautiful animal ruined by human greed and the 'I'm 'ard' culture =[

The owner of the dog is not the "grandmother of 10". Read again.


What an absolutely horrible situation for all involved. Those photos are really upsetting.:(

FabSascha

I'm glad you posted about this as normally in any scenario similar to this I would've seen red towards the guy who stabbed the dog, but I finished reading the article not really knowing how to feel and who's side to be on!

I honestly don't know what I would've done in that situation had it been my dog involved, but one thing I am certain of is that the woman who owned the Bulldog is mostly at fault and deserves to be banned from owning animals.

It's a tricky moral dilemma though!

gettingready

FabSacha - that is why I posted a link but did not comment one way or another.

I understand the man wanting to save his little dog.

But - if he has attacked a person, in self defence - a reasonable force could be used. So 23 stabs into someone would have been an excessive force and murder and not self defence.

Yes, the woman is at fault by letting an agressive dog running off the lead but at the end of the day - it is the dog that was killed.

Fire_Fox

Dog licenses, compulsory neutering (not saying who we might neuter).

Tropez

gettingready wrote: »

FabSacha - that is why I posted a link but did not comment one way or another.

I understand the man wanting to save his little dog.

But - if he has attacked a person, in self defence - a reasonable force could be used. So 23 stabs into someone would have been an excessive force and murder and not self defence.

Yes, the woman is at fault by letting an agressive dog running off the lead but at the end of the day - it is the dog that was killed.

To be honest, this is why the whole "reasonable force" argument is still so vague and misleading, despite what the lawmakers are trying to do.

People who are suffering from a significant emotional trauma are often incapable of acting in a rational or calculated manner; instead a combination of fear, the instinct to protect that which you love and adrenaline can take over and otherwise calm and rational people are overwhelmed by such a surge of emotional turbulence that they act on what people might term as auto-pilot.

Many people see dogs as an extension of their own family. They treat them like children and when you've had a dog for eleven years and watched it grow up, it's only natural that you will feel a strong bond towards it, like people generally do with their own children.

When something therefore is jeopardising the life of that "child" the reaction is powerful and in many psychologists reports presented to court after an argument has been made for an "excessive" level of violence, there are recurring ideas of the perpetrators feeling it is a "kill or be killed" situation - the thought of disabling the attacker never enters the mind, instead the thought that the attacker must be stopped at all costs takes over and that is where you get incidents with seemingly excessive levels of violence involved and this is why arguments about "reasonable" or "proportionate" force betray understanding of the psychology of those under extreme duress.

The man who killed the dog is now suffering from insomnia and has been prescribed anti-depressants. He has clearly suffered significant mental trauma from this whole incident and therefore his reaction (or overreaction if you prefer) may well be justified in context from a psychological perspective.

There was a study carried out (I believe by the University of Michigan, but I'd have to double check that) which collated data from self-defence shootings over twenty years. The studies showed that in more than three quarters of cases, the would-be victim who used a firearm to save their life emptied the clip. The fact is that one or two gunshot wounds is enough to bring down any would be attacker but the fear that takes over causes the defending party to act irrationally and click off every round they can in order to survive or protect their family.

In some cases, police even attended a scene where the defending party was still pulling the trigger, effectively firing an empty gun and doing so several minutes after the danger ceased (due to the would-be perpetrator being dead/critically injured). Is firing four times or more shots than needed to defend oneself excessive, or can it be justified in certain situations?

In my mind, stopping to reload to continue firing against an already critically injured assailant would be excessive and would show mental awareness of the situation, bordering on sadistic violence but simply panicking and emptying a clip isn't. Obviously knives have no bullets so how many "rounds" used could be even greater than the number of bullets in a clip.

As for the dog, it is unfortunate that it has paid the price for its pathetic excuse for an owner but perhaps had more complaints been made of the owner's poor behaviour prior to this incident to the proper authorities, or if they had been, the police and dog warden thoroughly investigated the situation, then this could have been avoided.

zaksmum

Oh my God. What a horrible story. And sadly I can see both sides.

I'd hate to have my dog - especially if small - ripped apart by an American Bulldog. Most of us would do whatever we could to protect our dogs in these circumstances.

I'd draw the line at getting knives from the kitchen...but still...

You can't have a dog like the American Bulldog and let it roam around off lead where it can, and perhaps will, kill another dog.

If the owner hadn't killed the bulldog, his own dog would probably have been killed. What could he do?

The Bulldog's owner is very much to blame here, although my heart goes out to her.