DON’T BUY THE B.S. …
I’m not going to get into the details of the case, here… but I did want to let all of you know that the hype around the Presa Canario (Canary Island Dog) attack and death of Diane Whipple, a lacrosse coach at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA., who died after a 120-pound Presa Canario named Bane gripped her neck, has me amazed.
The tragedy of this case (in addition to Whipple’s death) is the audacity of the defense remarks from the couple who owned the dog.
Forget for a moment that they’re both lawyers. And forget that they had “adopted” a 37 year-old White Supremacist who is serving time in jail. And forget that the dogs had been trained to attack using some archaic method that incorporates under-socialization and red-neck anthropomorphism.
The couple are now claiming that Whipple may have been partially responsible for the attack because of a perfume she may have been wearing. Or because she may have been taking steroids and the dog smelled and reacted to the chemicals.
This is complete NONSENSE.
There is absolutely NO LEGITIMATE REASON that the dog should have been allowed to attack this woman. The owner is 100% responsible for her dog’s action. If you own a large dog, it is your responsibility to know how to handle it.
But like everything else in America, we blame the symptom (in this case, the dog) rather than the true cause (the owner).
Yesterday I was taking my dog out of the apartment for a walk when a stranger suddenly appeared. It was obvious that he was there to visit my neighbor. But his sudden appearance surprised both me and my dog Forbes, who immediately took a defensive posture and issued a couple of warning barks to the stranger.
As an almost instantaneous reaction, my hands gripped the leash and brought the dog back into heel position. Forbes, being trained and respecting my commands, immediately complied and awaited further instruction.
The stranger smiled and after a pause, continued walking to his friend’s apartment.
End of incident.
No unwarranted dog attack took place. No excuses. Just a passing “non-incident” because I HAPPEN TO HAVE CONTROL over my dog.
Any dog can be like a weapon, and it is THE OWNER’S RESPONSIBILITY to make sure that the dog acts appropriately.
Now the city of San Francisco is thinking about making dog owners muzzle their dogs anytime they are in public. (Yeah… as if the bad guys and irresponsible people follow rules?)