Awful Story From Uk

[My Dog Rosie]

An awful story all round ...hate the photo of the SBT.

Hope that this story doesn't put people off adopting a dog from rescue...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13...ahua-death.html

A family were horrified when they adopted a dog from the RSPCA - and within hours it had savaged their pet chihuahua to death.

Mother Emma Higgins had the four-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier for a weekend trial visit.

The first time they took the two dogs for a walk together the terrier, called Troy, attacked and killed their chihuahua Coco.

Mrs Higgins, 31, of Rochford, Essex, said: 'He arrived on Friday. He had been found filthy and starving under someone's stairs where he had been kept. He was so thin you could see his ribs and backbone. It was awful.

'They said he would be fine with my children and two cats but they said he should come on a weekend visit first and I should take him out on a walk with our chihuahua Coco to see how they got on.'

Mrs Higgins who has an eight-year-old daughter, Maya and stepdaughter, Meggan, 11, added: 'As soon as we got outside he broke off the lead and killed my dog. He had Coco's head in his mouth. It was terrible. There was blood everywhere.

'I ran with Coco to a vet nearby but there was nothing they could do. She was still alive but she was brain dead. She wasn't even three. That could have been my daughter.'

Mrs Higgins said she wants to warn other families to think twice before taking rescue dogs on.

She added: 'That dog should never have been allowed to be rehomed with a family in that state. He just wasn't ready. They had no idea what his temperament was or what would trigger him.'

The dog has since been destroyed and Mrs Higgins said they have received no apology from the charity.

Sue Royal, spokesperson for the RSPCA said: 'This is a tragic incident and we would like to extend our sympathy to the family. We will carry out a full investigation to find out what went wrong.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13...l#ixzz1Eq5dQ8vJ

[LizT]

My sister lives in th UK (London) she says the shelters are full of STB's. Clearly this particular shelter did not incorporate a satisfactory rehoming and temperament testing regime. The poor animal sounded nowhere near ready to share it's life with another small creature.

The poor family, so trusting in what they had been told. Such a poorly handled situation.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Yes, the shelters are full of SBTs and SBT or Bully type crosses. I visited Battersea Dogs Home and they had over 70 SBT types with only a handful of different kinds of dogs. The profiles say that many of them are not good with other dogs.

This story is appalling, the people were crazy for taking one on and the RSPCA were really hopeless in matching the dogs. I have done adoptions of rescue dogs for years and would never in a pink fit have done this adoption.

[Cosmolo]

An adult Staffy with poor socialisation history and a Chihuahua.. Who made that decision.. Was the walk done at the shelter or at home?

There are many factors that could have avoided such an incident-

- Behavioural Assessment

- On Site dog introduction

- Proper equipment

I feel very sorry for the dog who was killed and the owner. I also feel sorry for the Staffy- should never have been put in that situation.

[poodlefan]

Absolutely no winners in that story.

[Steve]

How very sad but look at how much damage that does to rescue in general.

Apart from the obvious - I hope they have liability insurance - its taken us decades to try to get people to see rescue dogs as a great way of bringing a new dog into their home.

When you have rescue who cut corners and dont do what they have been promoted to do when placing dogs there is a much bigger picture and it doesnt just occur in that locality or even in that country.

The story is distributed everywhere and a percentage of people who may have been considering taking on a rescue will be looking in other directions.

It really does impact on all of those great rescue people who are going way over and beyond to get it right.

[The Ark]

How very sad but look at how much damage that does to rescue in general.

Apart from the obvious - I hope they have liability insurance - its taken us decades to try to get people to see rescue dogs as a great way of bringing a new dog into their home.

When you have rescue who cut corners and dont do what they have been promoted to do when placing dogs there is a much bigger picture and it doesnt just occur in that locality or even in that country.

The story is distributed everywhere and a percentage of people who may have been considering taking on a rescue will be looking in other directions.

It really does impact on all of those great rescue people who are going way over and beyond to get it right.

Sadly true. Let's hope all the good-news stories still manage to outweigh this.

[poochmad]

How terrible. It just goes to show that all rescue dogs need to undergo temperament testing before placing into new homes. Poor little pooch. RIP.

[k9angel]

Those poor dogs.

I am sorry but what were the chihuahua's owners thinking??? bringing home an unknown dog and putting it with their chi like that.

As for the RSPCA - shame on them.

Why was the dog NOT properly temp tested with other dogs beforehand??

Talk about poorly handled.