[nagdu] How would you respond?

Tue Apr 24 12:45:52 UTC 2012

I think blackballing the handler from ever getting another dog is kind 
of harsh and premature.  I suppose there are situations in which I'd 
agree with that approach...you know if the guy or lady was purposefully 
working at making the dog mean and then entering him into dog fights.  
That's about as bad as it gets and I'd agree that this person doesn't 
need any more dogs, but I rather doubt that anything of the sort was 
going on in this case.  We are so quick to convict people of the worst 
when we have no idea what is going on.

I'd still file a report with the police, assuming there are state laws 
regarding this sort of thing.  I think I'd also request the 
handler/school of the biting dog to pay for all associated costs of 
making things right.  If they refused to pay, I would consider a civil 
suit.

I agree that both programs need to know about the incident.  I think the 
owner of the biting dog and the program he came from need to investigate 
why in the world the dog bit and what is the best possible thing to do 
from that point forward.  I know for myself I cannot handle biting, 
that's where I draw the line.  I'm not sure if I would re home the dog 
or have him euthanize.  I think if I could find a good home where I was 
sure the people had experience with aggressive/fearful/ill dogs I would 
go that route if I felt reasonably confident they could live in peace 
together.  I think though if I felt like the dog was dangerous, 
seriously unpredictable or likely to get worse I'd have to think about 
putting him down.  That's hard, really hard, but I think it'd be worse 
if the dog bit the neighbor's toddler.

If the reason the dog bit was true aggression then I think the training 
program needs to take a very close look at it's breeding program. Is 
this some sort of single incident or are there litters or lines of dogs 
showing signs of aggression?

There are a million reasons a dog might bite, aggression, fear, 
training, medical issues, pain, and who knows what all.  If it's 
possible to figure out what happened to prevent it from happening again 
that would be best, but that isn't always possible.     It very well may 
be of no fault of the handler at all.  You can do everything right and 
still horrible things happen.  For all we know the dog has some rare 
brain tumor that affects his behavior.  Wouldn't it be awful to condemn 
a handler for something they had no knowledge of or ability to influence?

Julie

On 4/24/2012 4:45 AM, Larry D. Keeler wrote:
> Oh, thats bad!  Guides are deffinetely not supposed to do that!  I 
> think both schools should be contacted and the case should be taken to 
> court.  I get the feeling that someone really relaxed there control of 
> there dog!  The attacker should be subject to the fullness of the 
> law!  And maybe even black listed with all of the schools!
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steven Johnson" 
> <blinddog3 at charter.net>
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 12:17 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] How would you respond?
>
>
>> Julie,
>> Both dogs were guides.  What I do not know if they were both in 
>> harness, but
>> both students were attending the blind skills training program and 
>> had their
>> guides there as well.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Julie J.
>> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 9:37 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] How would you respond?
>>
>> I'd find out who the owner of the dog was.  If there are state laws
>> addressing this issue, I'd have a visit with the police and file the
>> appropriate paperwork.
>>
>> I have no idea what I'd do about my own dog though.  Probably take it 
>> very
>> easy for a while.  then very gently introduce calm, gentle dogs to 
>> see how
>> it went.
>>
>> Or was the other dog also a guide?  I wasn't exactly sure from your
>> description of things.  I don't know that that would substantially 
>> change my
>> approach, except that I might also let the program know that I was 
>> filing a
>> report with the police.
>>
>> Julie
>> On 4/23/2012 5:51 PM, Steven Johnson wrote:
>>> Another what would you do question, or maybe, how would you respond
>>> scenarios for you all to ponder.  Many times, we hear of guides and
>>> other service dogs being attacked by other stray or uncontrolled dogs,
>>> rendering the attacked dog unable to continue in their line of work.
>>> Today, I learned from a colleague at work, that her son's good friend,
>>> who is blind and attending a formal blind training program, had his
>>> dog viciously attacked by another dog.  The injuries were severe, the
>>> attacked was unprovoked and the trainers had to break up the fight,
>>> but the guide that was attacked, is now showing very serious signs 
>>> of fear
>> and anxiety.
>>>
>>> What would you do if you were the handler?
>>>
>>> Steve
>>>
>>> 2.
>>>
>>>
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