Thread: Trophy dogs, and feral owners

Now, I know that a large number of you on here are absolutely devoted to your dogs, and treat them as a member of your family, as we do with our stoopid mutt. However this is a story of some owners that really aren't in that category, with a result that is seen all too often on the news these days......

We have lived next to our neighbours for just short of three years. We had 'got along' with them fine, chatting over the fence, or occasionally hopping the fence for a beer. This was in spite of the issues we had with their dogs. The dogs they had were two Rottweilers, a smaller 40kg female and a much larger, very aggressive, 60kg+ male.
I used the term 'trophy dogs' in the title, as that is exactly what they were. The owner would be bragging about how much he had paid for them, but did he actually spend any time with them? No. He worked away 2 or 3 weeks a month, and during the time he was at home, you would see him coming out to feed them, but not spend any other time with them. Total human contact time for those dogs, <5 mins per day.

As a result, They would escape a couple of times a week, usually onto our property, in spite of repairs to the fence, replacing the fence, getting those electric fence style controllers that would give the dogs a shock if they got too close to the fence, and then finally building a 6 foot tall compound for them to live in.

We put up with it, not wanting to damage the relationship, each time giving the neighbours a call to come and get their dogs, or if it was just the female, put a lead on her and take her back round to their house.

In hindsight, the signs of what was to come were all there in the final 7 months or so. The dogs escaped through our property a few times onto our neighbour's property the other side, and on a number of occasions killed their chickens. They also knocked our neighbour's 75 year old mother-in-law over, and late one night rushed at our neighbour. It was only safety boots flying and shouting and screaming at them that got the dogs to back off.
They also knocked me over. 2 o'clock one morning I got up to investigate why the sensor light on the shed kept turning on (fearing burglars). Walking round with a torch, I heard a loud barking behind me, and turned just in time for two large dogs with a combined weight of 100kg plus to hit me and knocked me flat on my back. I managed to jump up on my feet before they turned, and then swinging the torch and hitting out at them got them to back off enough that I could get to the house.

But the worst one was back in July. My wife was at home on a Friday afternoon with my 14yo son. Hearing our dog barking on the back verandah, she went out to see the female dog on our property (again!). So usual routine of, lock our dog in the house, get lead, attach, and take the usually docile female dog around to the front (note - their driveway gates are always open and accessible to the general public, the back part of the property is fenced and gated where the dogs are kept), up their drive and knock at the front door. No answer, so goes to walk towards the side gate to let the female back in, whereupon the big male dog barges the gate open and starts attacking her. As soon as the male starts attacking the female joins in, the pack mentality kicking in.

It took my wife ten minutes in her estimation to get back to the front gates, fighting and kicking out at the two of them. Protecting her face and throat with her arm, trying to resist them pulling her over. Slammed the gates shut behind her. And at that moment the school bus pulled up, and the 7 or so local kids got off.......

She Shouted my daughter, who had just got off that bus, who lead her back home (our lounge carpets looked like something from a horror flick as a result). My son ran and got our other neighbour, who bundled my wife into his car and sped to the local hospital.

I got a phone call at work, "I've been attacked by next-door's dogs". Which as you can imagine, did lead to some fairly loose interpretations of the road rules getting to home, to pick my son up, then on to the hospital.

As I walked into the cubicle in the ER I was greeted there with a sight that will live with me for a long time. Two powerful dogs, in pack attack mode, can make a real mess. My first thought was that my poor wife looked like a teddy bear with it's stuffing hanging out, such was the mess and the size of the holes on show.

38 bites to her left arm, both thighs and both calves was the final tally. Enough to qualify for a couple of rounds of surgery and nearly a week in hospital. 4 months on, and she has yet to get feeling back in her left calf, and still suffers a lot of pain, particularly where she was bitten deeply behind both knees. The mental scars are much more complex, and much deeper.....

I'm not going to go into the legal/council part of this saga, as it is not yet complete, but suffice to say that a law is only a law to those that want to abide by it.
Humanity is a concept that not all of humankind want to consider.

But to all you owners out there, is the dog you have merely a possession? Or a companion? Do you have a large breed dog because you genuinely like them? Or because it makes you look tough?

You told me about these dogs months ago when I last visited, wandering, eating chooks etc,

Speedy recovery to Mrs sheerluck

Just as well you are up and about now, think how the family would have coped several months ago if you weren't



Mrs hh