So you are shopping at PetSmart...

I say good on the guy for doing what he had to do. Shame about the dog, but our pets - let alone our kids - depend on us to protect them.

I think it's worth considering lethal vs. nonlethal force. It would be a bit different if he had pulled a handgun and shot the attacking dog in the head before it even made contact with the Westie. It sounds like he started by shouting and kicking, once the dog had latched on, and then escalated to the pen knife. I think it's reasonable to expect that a pen knife carries a lower (though not nonexistent) risk of lethality.

(But honestly, really and truly... if it were my dog, with a loose Pit Bull hanging onto her, I can't say that I wouldn't be perfectly a-OK with killing the Pit Bull, in that moment, with whatever instrument was handy.)
 
What do I do? I take out my my legal gun & shoot the living daylights out of the offending pitt. Then I pistol whip the owner.

(I know there was no 'owner' per se in this story, but it's actually much worse imho that a rescue group is trying to home these unstable breeds in the first place so the rescue rep gets an earful & more. Legal action, a call to the local news, whoever approves the rescue groups operations, and the local dogcatcher who should know of adoption events in their locality).
 
If my dog attacked another dog, especially a much smaller one, and the other dog's owner killed him, I would weep for my loss, and wonder what I could have done to prevent it.
 
I'm sure you can guess what I think of this....

But honestly, I would still escalate my use of force from non-lethal- yelling, punching, kicking, or hitting with whatever o had handy (hello, mason jar full of protein drink.) If that didn't work and no one was able to gain control of the attacking animal- I wouldn't hesitate to escalate to lethal means (I often have a knife somewhere on my person.)

I didn't read the whole article, just Jesse 41 ' s synopsis so I'm uncertain if this was a bite and run or if it latched on and wouldn't let go... if the formed I question the stabbing if the latter I feel it's completely justified.

I would then push for the rescue to be investigated for their temperament testing procedures and find out who thought this dog/handler combo was safe in public and proceed to seek damages from the rescue.
 
Myself and my husband both agree that the guy was acting reasonably, and that we wouldn't hesitate to use just as much force. Yes the dog had the westie only by the ear. But even after being stabbed repeatedly in the throat it still had to be pried off.

I don't think the owner of the westie even had to bring his kids or his own safety into the equation in order to justify his actions. If the pit had latched onto the throat or it's body, there is every chance that the story would have ended with two dogs that were euthanized.
 
JacqueZ said:
Myself and my husband both agree that the guy was acting reasonably, and that we wouldn't hesitate to use just as much force. Yes the dog had the westie only by the ear. But even after being stabbed repeatedly in the throat it still had to be pried off.
Click to expand...

Yup, that cleared it up for me. If it was holding on, it could very easily adjust it's grip and get a throat, belly, or other vital part. The dog that attacked Watson did just that. Started at the shoulders, released and grabbed the belly. Owner justified in cutting the dog and pushing for an investigation of the rescue.
 
Oh dear.....this issue is a little close to home....

As many of you are aware, I own pet store. We don't sell pets, but we do offer pets for adoption from time to time through local rescues and shelters.

I have two store cats that we adopted, plus my staff and I have my two Shelties, one mix breed puppy, one 5 year old Papillion, and one 4 month old mini poodle, and one yorkie mix.

Yes, I let my store pets loose in the store, on the proviso that the owner of the dog is responsible for its behaviour. I've lately gotten grief from a dog trainer who uses my store for dog training (but never actually buys anything) because I have dogs loose in my store There was an incident where one of the dogs she was was training (a 100 lb something) got into a tussle over a toy with the 4 lb mini poodle puppy.

She has been blacklisting my store every since and active on FB because I have lose dogs. I'm sorry to lose her as a potential partner, but frankly, my store is available to help you socialize your dogs. But my policy is that I have store pets. And if you bring your dogs into the store, it is your responsibility to control your dogs, and we will do our best to ensure that our loose pets are controlled as well.

I've been struggling with this issue for a couple of weeks now. Most of my customers love to come to the store and visit with our store pets. I have customers who come every week just to visit with our cats. And now our dogs. I don't bring Indy to the store much because he can be aggressive with other dogs, and I won't allow any of my staff to bring dogs to the store that might appear to be threating

I'm at a loss, frankly, as to the correct answer.

As to adoption events.....we hold those almost every month. No adoption pets are EVER allowed loose in the store. I supply an xpen and the foster parents always keep the dogs on leash otherwise.

Just my point of view....
 
For myself Barb, I'll say I'm always delighted when I'm in a store with friendly dogs wandering. It sounds like you are proactive insuring only animals who are calm enough to be trusted are there, andthe minute we choose to bring our dogs with us into pet stores these days, we have to take responsibility to insure the same.
 
In Ontario that pit bull would have required a muzzle while out in public - had this dog been wearing one it likely would still be alive today.

I don't blame the guy for defending his dog, and potentially his child as well - I'm not sure I would have had the courage to do what he did. I do blame the rescue organization for not being in control of the dog and also for clearly not having done a good job screening it. Thankfully it wasn't a toddler it latched onto - or this could have been so much worse.

I'm still of the opinion that there is no good reason for anyone to continue breeding these dogs - there are sadly, just too many stories like this one or worse.
 
BarbV, no offense to you, but no way on earth would I shop at a petstore that has loose animals roaming around. For my own, my pets, and the other animals safety that may enter the store. It's a recipe for disaster imho. There are too many knuckleheads with their own uncontrollable dogs walking into petstores these days. Well here in Detroit anyway, I can't speak for the rest of the world but there are some real lu-lu's on both ends of the leash strolling around petstores here. I wouldn't even consider taking one of my dogs to my closest petstore, it's so ghetto, they have gates into the store & seemingly half the products are locked behind glass displays. I had to get help to buy $10 bitter apple spray a few weeks ago. I've witnessed numerous dogfights there and yes almost every time one or both are a bully breed attached to a jerk by a leash.

My fear would be for the ones you're allowing to run loose btw, more than the ones coming in, if they were attacked they'd be at a disadvantage. May I ask, at any given time of day, how many animals are walking loose? Okay, i just re-read your post. I'm coming up w/6? :hide Please please tell me they aren't all loose at one time, that is pandemonium! I guess the two cats could run & jump to safety but the dogs? Sitting ducks.
 
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