Man kills fighting dog with cricket bat :(

[persephone]

oh My Lord   The kids were watching, for heaven's sake !!   

I will not post video link . Pixelated , but obvious.   The two larger dogs each grabbed an end of the little pug ....

 

The owner of a pit bull beaten to death with a cricket bat while it fought with another animal says her family is devastated by the "preventable" loss.

ACT Police are assisting the ACT Government in an investigation into the incident, which was caught on CCTV.

 

 the drama began on Thursday when her two dogs ran out of her north Canberra home as her children greeted a neighbour.

"She came over, had the little pug behind her, and the kids had opened the door and the dogs had got out the front door," she said.

"They just started playing tug-of-war with the pug.

"The kids had separated the dogs apart from it. All they had to do is grab the other dog by the collar … and put the dogs in the house."

The man, who did not own any of the dogs involved, then intervened with a cricket bat, repeatedly striking the two larger dogs with force, in an apparent attempt to break up the fight.

After both dogs released the pug, he continued to swing the bat.

One of the beaten animals was killed.

Ms De Alvia, whose children were watching on during the incident, said she did not recognise the man, and was unsure whether he lived in the area.

"There was a hose that was right next to them that they could have used," she said.

"He could have grabbed the collar. He could have tried several other ways before using the cricket bat."

She said her 12-year-old son had been an emotional mess since the incident.

"He's not doing well," she said.

"[Karma] had never been violent … she just want to cuddle all the time and slept with me every night.

"This was totally unnecessary."

Neighbour Jenifer Hanson who witnessed the incident said she was yelling at the man to stop.

"It felt like it went for about 12 minutes but it would have happened in a minute," Ms Hanson said.

"It still doesn't feel real."

Police were called following the incident, and a spokesman for ACT Policing said officers were helping the ACT Government's Domestic Animal Services in its investigation.

 

'Darned if you don't and darned if you do'

PHOTO: Ms De Alvia's other dog Pumbaa the Staffordshire bull terrier was also involved in the incident. (Supplied)

 

Canberra dog trainer Bruno Grutzner said the issue of whether dog owners and bystanders should intervene in a fight was controversial.

"You're going to be darned if you don't and darned if you do," he said.

"If you do not interfere your animals are going to get hurt … and if you do interfere you are most likely to be injured as well."

Mr Grutzner said in some circumstances startling dogs would stop them fighting.

"If you do decide to go in there, you've got to go in hard," he said.

"There is the possibility for these dogs to get out of this frame of mind and take note of what has just happened and possibly get a fright."

But he said bystanders who did not know the fighting dogs should be particularly wary of getting involved.

"I would always say caution first, safety first, don't interfere," he said.

"As a newcomer it's highly likely that these two dogs will turn towards you."

Limited legal rights for bystanders

Criminal lawyer Paul Edmonds said minimal force should be used if a person interferes in a dog fight.

"If you are in a public park and another dog attacks your dog ... you are legally entitled to use all reasonable and necessary force to get that dog off your dog, if that prevents that dog from attacking a person," he said.

"If it is a life-threatening situation for your dog, an owner may be required to use lethal force against the other dog."

But Mr Edmonds said the law would only give very limited protection to a bystander.

"Unless that bystander has some legal right in relation to either animal involved," he said.

"The safest thing would be to stay out of that incident."

[BarbedWire]

I can't believe the mother's attitude. She says: 'They started playing tug-of-war with the pug.' She speaks about it all as if her dogs were doing nothing wrong.They were tearing the pug apart. I have just found out elsewhere that the pug was okay, well up to a point okay. it has been to the vet and has stitches on its back leg. There may be other injuries as well. I hope the mother is going to pay the pug's vet bills.

 

Yes what the man with the cricket bat did is indefensible but the mother's attitude isn't much better.

[persephone]

yes ! 

[RuralPug]

I would support the man striking the dog with the bat only until the dog released the small dog it was mauling. The story says that he continued to strike the attacking dog after it let go of the victim, I could not condone that unless the dog had begun to attack him or someone else.

The media saying that the mother was upset for her child whose dog died makes it sound like that mother didn't care that someone could easily have been grieving for the small dog that her dogs attacked. 

When will people learn that just because their dogs are smoochy and friendly with them it does NOT mean that their dogs are smoochy and friendly with other dogs! 

 

[Diva]

Calling it a dog fight gives a bit of a false impression. I doubt the pug was doing much fighting back. It was an attack and one that might well have killed the pug. I can understand the guy lashing out with the bat. But continuing to strike once they had let go of the smaller dog crossed the line. Had he stopped as soon as the attacking dogs did I would feel quite differently about it.

[gillybob]

Owning dogs that attack like that puts every child in the area in danger, I don't blame the dog I blame the owner for not controlling obviously dangerous dogs.

Its a disgusting thing to happen,.

This the reason I don't walk my dogs here in town, because there are dogs roaming everywhere and most are pigging type dogs large and aggressive.

[persephone]

I feel so bad for the little kids who were watching it all unfold . 
of course I feel sick for the three dogs as well . 

[juice]

The mother is a moron.

I'm sick of hearing people saying their dogs were loving softie's with people, when will they get it that it has nothing to do with how they are with people! they were bred to be great with people so they could be pulled off in the pit without turning on their owner ffs.

Perhaps the guy was scared the dog would turn on him if he stopped? only the footage will have the real answers.

One dog died, but it could have been the pug if he hadn't stepped in.

 

[BarbedWire]

I have been thinking about this overnight and I just can't get over this comment from the mother of the two attacking dogs. 'They got out and grabbed the pug. It looks bad in the footage but they were just playing with it like a tug of war like she was a toy.' The mother just doesn't get it. Maybe her child was traumatised at seeing a small dog being wrestled by two large dogs. Strictly speaking the other dog, the brindle one, should now be labelled dangerous because it also attacked the pug. Interestingly apparently the owner of the pug was carrying a baby and she called out to her husband to come and help. It must have been so traumatic for her.

 

Some of the comments on a local page (https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/7uorth/man_beats_dog_to_death_with_cricket_bat_during/ ) say that anyone who knows that people own large dogs should keep their small dogs away. Really! So now people who own small dogs are responsible for their dogs being attacked. What are the rangers doing about this problem? Very little. They just release the aggressive dogs back to their owners.

 

I do not know  the area where it happened but it may have been just a local area and the man with the cricket bat may have lived close by. Maybe the dogs have been out before. The mother also talks about using the hose to break the fight up which suggests she has some experience with breaking up dog fights and my understanding is that her son (who looks about ten or eleven) also knew how to break up dog fights.  It is all so scary.

Edited February 5, 2018 by sarsplodicus
edited tried to fix formatting

[juice]

Yes I did wonder wtf was she thinking letting her child break up a dog fight. 

[Loving my Oldies]

19 minutes ago, juice said:

Yes I did wonder wtf was she thinking letting her child break up a dog fight. 

Happened to me once, many years ago.  Woman sent her six year old son out to the footpath where their Rottweiler had attacked (and would not let go) an assistance dog.  The Rottweiler had the GR assistance dog by the ear and was shaking it continuously.  The owner of the GR (certified blind but with some sight) and her adult son were screaming for help and the woman did nothing.  I’d just arrived home from work and could hear a noise from the front which I first put down to children playing.  I then realised that it was coming from people in distress and went out to see what was happened.  

 

No one was helping and to my horror, I realised that it was on me.  So out I went yelling to the little boy asking him where was his mother.  He pointed to her just standing in her front yard.   Luckily, I knew the dog’s name had spoken to him on many occasions (but always went on the opposite side of the road if I was walking mine).  Once I’d gone out and taken the Rottweiler by the collar and got him away from the GR many neighbours appeared, but the owner of the Rottweiler still did not come to take him inside - she left it to the little boy.  I was unspeakably disgusted with the woman who knew her dog was dangerous and with others who did nothing to help (although I do understand how they would have been frightened).  She’d previously boasted laughing all the way about how he’d attacked other dogs in the park.   

 

They offered no help to the owner or the dog and I was the one who took them to the emergency vet hospital.  

 

The owner of the GR had been bitten on her hand and because of existing health issues suffered from that injury for many months not to mention the psychological trauma.  She was a wreck and had to take the owner of the Rottweiler to court to get any recompense.  The worst of it was that she was terrified her dog would be taken away from her.   

 

People can be just plain horrible.   

[BarbedWire]

I wonder where the woman in the OP was when the attack occurred. Why didn't she sort it out? I wonder if her children were home alone.

[m-j]

Hmm what the owner of the dogs says about the incident and what I have seen in the footage differs somewhat. To the point where Im wondering how accurate her accusations directed at the guy with the bat are.

[juice]

i just watched it for the first time, that bloody dog was not letting go even after being whacked so why the hell the owner thought a hose would work is pathetic.

I'm so freakin sick of badly bred amstaffs and staffys attacking dogs, i own a bull breed , but personally hate both breeds these days as there are so many dodgy ones out there.

[asal]

juice, the "well bred" ones were bred to kill other dogs. 

As said in an earlier post they were also bred to love people so they didn't tear the handlers apart when they were being separated after a fight.

 

each breed was "well bred" for its purpose, even tibetan spaniels were  "well bred" to protect the temple, read the breed standard, "Tibetan Spaniels are gay and assertive in temperament. They are highly intelligent and aloof with strangers." That aloof is what was used by an RSPCA vet to kill a recently rehomed show dog when his new owners made the mistake of going there for a checkup, they were very happy with their new dog as was it with them, its fatal mistake was in showing it did not liked the vet. The vet told them it might attack someone so should be put down, which they finally agreed to. but it got worse from there. According to its vaccination card its breeders vet was in NSW AND had debarked the dog.

 The Victorian government under rspca urging had invoked a new law, I expect it is still in place.  that no dog born and owned in victoria could be debarked in another state and shown in victoria, the penalty being ten years in jail, forget the fine amount.

The vet learned the dog was shown recently prior to being rehomed, resulting in the rscpa raiding the breeder and seizing her dogs, she was facing some 80 years in jail for showing her debarked dogs.

despite pleas for clemencay, as she had debarked them because a neighbour was dying of cancer and needed quiet. They used their favourite excuse "their hands were tied"  she had broken the law. usually their "hands are tied" when a starving horse has food and water. But this time it was the other way around.

It went to court and thank god the magistrate didnt consider his/her hands were tied and dismissed the case.

 The mental angish their elderly breeder must have suffered over the intervening weeks while her much loved dogs languished in their kennels exposed to goodness knows what diseases from the strays housed near them would have been beyond belief. 

 

There are many breeds that being "well bred" will get them into trouble today and ensure they will rarely past the infamous rspca's temprement tests.

 

as their owner you need to know this and ensure they are not put into positions where this can get them into trouble.

only this week I had a lady phone me looking to rehome her cattledog. 

He had bitten a person loitering beside her front door.

she was saying how loving and friendly he always is when she takes him for walks and at dog parks. no agression at all to other dogs or people.

I explained to her, he was bred to protect his home and his humans and their possessions. a stranger loitering at her front door would kick in his inate instinct to protect her home,  

Frankly she should never have put him in that position, she had not kept him behind a fence where could warn strangers away from their property , he had allowed him free access to all the property and unfenced front yard. it was an accident going to happen some day. 

my dogs love everyone, BUT threaten me or my family and the change is immediate and its been bred into these dogs for over a hundred years.

for example, I always tell a pupppy buyer, never let your dog run loose, it must have a secure yard.  one day I received a phone call from a chap who when he bought his puppy had told me he intended taking to attack training.  I told him dont do it.  if you do that its like buying a luger pistol and leaving it not only with ammo in it but the trigger cocked, your dog will always to looking to you for the signal, attack or not? you reduce his quality of life. well thats my opinion. The acd's ive seen attack trained never have that happy look to their eyes they had before that training.

so he didnt do it. the phone call was to tell me his dog was the neighbourhood hero today.

he had not done as I had told him, the dog had the run of the neighbourhood, he had worked out his routine and as he lived in a cul de sac the dog had embraced the entire cul de sac as his area which included the corner shop where the people from the nearby nursing home came to shop.

that morning one of his clients (as the dog saw it) was walking towards the shop when to her surprise he began to growl, surprised she asked him "what was the matter"  instead of wagging his tail and coming for a pat, he charged straight at her, leaping into the air and she in fear crouched down as he flew over her shoulder. Next she and the people in the shop heard the clatter of a metal pipe falling and rolling.

as she turned and the shopkeeper ran out, to see an intending purse snatcher who had been about to hit her across the back of her head with the pipe, flat on his back with the dog standing on his chest as if he had been watching the Rin Tin Tin movies. snarling at the man daring him to move. Both remained frozen in that position until the police arrived and he was arrested.

All I could think was thank god he had not bitten that man or his life would have been forfit.

Thats how bad things are today for protection bred dogs.

and for fighting bred dogs.

owners need to remember that. or they have failed their dog.

 

Same with a pit bull , strange dog near their home, its a disaster waiting to happen. know your breed, know the triggers that will kick in if those triggers are tripped.

 

Edited February 3, 2018 by asal