I find this all very sad, but there's some good discussion coming from it. I am so very sorry that this horse was so badly injured and damaged. I too am VERY sorry that the dog's owners just plain were not careful **enough**.
And you know -- that's often just not a popular thing. I am FROM "farm stock" -- and I've known MANY a cow dog, or dog who lived on a farm and/or near horses.
But take the idea of a dog being a "carnivore" or a "predator" one step further please. This might be unpopular but it's true.
When we choose a dog as a companion ... pet ... or as a worker like a farm dog. Part of that decision has to be to be realistic about not only that dog's canine nature, but ALSO the specific things that make that breed(s) what they are.
I have a hound mix. More than any dog I've ever owned there is a true separation in how her mind works when she's in a situation where she knows, beyond a doubt, that the humans ARE in charge ... and that situation where she can make the choice to let the animal fully take over. I *know* when she's further than I can reach that the "dog" part of her brain is going to take over and she's going to try to ignore me. She's less that way with David.
In particular -- when the hound part of her takes over, every thought she has is going to go straight thru her nose. Cos she IS a hound.
But she also has unique physical characteristics that impact that "hound" persona. Sawed off tiny legs be darned ... she can clear a five foot fence FROM A STAND. Never touch it on the way over.
So we've had to re-organize how we deal with her, cos if left to her own devices for an instant she'd be GONE. To do whatever the h#ll she wanted to.
What's my point? EVERY SINGLE DOG has to be viewed not only as faithful little Poochie we love. But it has to be viewed with cold hard reality as to that dog's physical capabilities. If you *ever* catch yourself saying "Oh -- my dog would NEVER do that!" -- beware. Because given the right set of circumstances a dog is a dog. It's not a little human in a fur skin -- it's an animal and it's going to make certain choices because of that. Those choices may be BETTER in a dog who is well trained. And that's the aim of every trainer out there. But if a dog is pushed in a certain way by circumstances, and by it's perception of what's happening -- including it's scent perception of fear, weakness, illness, etc. -- it's capable of simply being an "animal" and not "my sweet Poochie.
I like pits. I truly do. But we had a pit mix and I saw once -- and ONLY once -- that capacity she had to make up her mind to grab onto something and NOT let go. And it happened to be my thumb. She didn't hurt me. She could have ripped my hand half off -- but she merely had my thumb behind her canine and bore down JUST enough so the joint of my thumb was caught IN her mouth. She locked her jaw and I tell you -- it took both all my husband's strength AND HIS WILL to demand she release me. She wasn't hurting me. Not at all. BUT she had decided she didn't want to take a particular pill and she wasn't about to open her jaws enough for me to do that. I never encountered that sort of will before -- and this was a dog who was particularly gentle and loving. But I came face to face with reality that night -- she WAS a dog, and a particularly strong and determined one.
Now -- beyond this -- some of you (Sandra Slayton and a couple of others who knew me back on the old AllPets board13-14 years ago) may have known a fella named "Gord". He knew pitbulls -- he was the one the authorities used to call in his state when they busted a fighting ring. He was the one tasked with evaluating the dogs that might be placeable vs. the ones who were ... not.
It was his position -- and it's not a popular one -- that pits were a marvelous breed. But they were BEST at one thing. Being a companion animal to a human in a ONE DOG home. In a one PET home.
Because of how they have been bred to fight, generation after generation, there is something in them that is simply a "possible" -- it may take the right combination of stimuli, the right circumstances, the right everything -- but there is always the **chance** that a pit can simply go "hot" for virtually no reason that is at all logical to a human. it was always Gord's position that they made marvelous pets -- but they needed to be contained at all times, and they needed to be "only" pets UNLESS the humans were 100% completely committed to ensuring the safety of all by keeping the animals completely and utterly separated and NEVER be allowed to mingle unattended.
Why? Because they were horrid slobbering beasts just waiting to attack?
NOT AT ALL -- But simply that given the right unique circumstances a disaster COULD happen that could be horrific. And when you know a thing *could* happen, it's our moral responsibility as humans to make darned sure it can NOT happen.
AT the risk of running on a bit -- I think it goes further than just the pit bull issue -- and I guess that's part of my point here.
We've had discussions on here previously about crating -- and I tend to always be one who advocates crating any time the humans aren't present and there are a lot of folks who don't agree with me.
*shrug* -- that's fine. That's where discussion comes from.
But any time animals are left alone together -- whether they are playing or one gets its back up over some "thing" -- there IS the potential for disaster. I've cited before that a friend of mine had two young medium-sized dogs that were left alone - they got to playing and somehow pulled a portable TV off a wall unit - the set struck one of the dogs on the way down and killed it instantly. The other dog got hit by flying glass and died of its injuries before my friend got home. Remote possiblity? Maybe -- but an accident that COULD have been averted.
So -- some folks want to leave their dogs "out" during the day and feel crating is too restrictive and not necessary. It's simply MY point that they don't mind it and if everyone is secure in a crate then I won't come home to a horrific accident. Lord knows -- Billy swallowed a quarter and I was right HERE. *sigh* But I minimize "bad" as much as possible. That's where that "moral responsibility" comes in.
In the instant case we have humans who were FAR too relaxed in a country setting where everyone things you "gotta" let the dogs run and "be free". And all it takes is ONE bad day.
But we also have a breed here who is unbelievably strong. The bigger bull breeds were BRED for strength. So, when they snap, unfortunately it means that the "bad" in "bad day" is tragic.
My hound is bred to use her nose and give chase. A greyhound is bred to run and run and run (and can do so until its heart bursts).
Beyond that certain traits are SO ingrained that they take on a life of their own. A herding dog -- I'll pick particularly on a sheep herding dog -- has been bred for centuries to literally have that unique fractured concentration of a herder to keep track of 99 different sheep all at one time and mentally think ahead enough to know how it can snag the one lamb back from the cliff while pushing 3 others closer in because there's a faint smell of wolf on the wind from that direction. But don't ask that same dog to relax and not care if you are driving in a car weaving in and out of traffic with people/bikes/cars crossing every which way -- you're likely to have a dog half crazed because he can't "herd" the traffic. Nor do you set that "working dog" UNSUPERVISED in a room full of rowdy 2 year olds. Shoot -- you don't even allow them to be with ONE baby unsupervised.
AT the same time, that same herding dog will attack any living thing that it perceives is threatening to it's pack or herd or whatever it was tasked with protecting. It's what they do.
Bottom line - you don't put the dog in a situation ALONE where it's at odds with its own breed nature.
You can't ask ANY dog NOT to be it's own breed character without a LOT of training and a lot of supervision. And we all know that there are always those unique situations where even with tons of training there can be that one distraction that just plain proves too much.
I'm not singling pits out here -- but I do think there is - particularly in rescue circles -- a lot of optimism instead of realism. But I also think there's a TON of assumption that they are just "bad". Both of those mindsets are just plain wrong.
I'm simply saying we need to respect our breed. They are ALWAYS dogs -- but **in addition** each and every one has a particular talent that can be particularly problematic IF control is lost at the wrong time (or if there's no control to begin with).