Becca, I am SO glad these people consulted an attorney (and I sure wasn't trying to be Suzie Legal Assistant, but gosh I've seen bad stuff happen).
A good attorney is going to weigh all the angles and this one caught a darned good one. That could have had an unbelievably bad impact on a divorce settlement.
Unfortunately, DumDog your experience with the media is far different than in most parts of the US. The vicious dog story is just tooooooo tasty headline to miss and exploit. I am *so* glad it was not released to the media. The chance for this to have backfired and blown up in everyone's face was far far too great.
I'm going to venture my 'opinion' in one more place here tho.
Several folks have asked why Kain 'killed' rather than warned. Here you have to look to instinct and what a particular breed has been bred to do. Many many breeds are predators. Many breeds have been selectively bred so that particular tendencies are apparent -- like a lab wanting something in its mouth, or my bassett/beagle wanting her nose to be on the ground in lieu of all else in life.
Being a hound mix she's interestingly fearless in the face of a critter or a human 'intruder' -- but she picks her battles. If it's a machine (even a rolling wagon) -- it's EVIL and she ain't goin there!
Give her a floppy toy and she'll shake it until she 'kills' it.
Billy, the spaniel -- another hunting type breed but more to 'scent' or carry back the kill -- he'll mouth something or chew on it, but he won't shake ANYTHING. It's just not in him.
Ever see a SMALL terrier like a Jack Russell with a toy -- something say 'rat-sized'?? They will pick it up and snap it back and forth -- if it were a rat it would be dead. (sorry Nikki - I know you are a rat person, but many of the small terriers WERE bred to be ratters)
It's instinctive. More in some breeds than others. Bull breeds -- from boxers to pits, and beyond -- they were bred to have that bracheocephalic snout in order to have the jaw power to hold and get a grip. Bulldogs (as in Old English Bulldogs) were originally bred to bait bulls (hence 'bull ... dog').
And unfortunately we all know pits have often been bred specifically to be dog aggressive and essentially fight to win. That's no condemnation - it's the breed's history. The dog is going to act on instinct -- he's not going to think "Oh dear, I'd better be a good representative of my breed here."
Nope -- my best guess is Kain probably knows better than ANYbuddy what that dobe's intent was because ... quite frankly ... Kain could SMELL him. Kain didn't just react to "oh my family is threatened" -- my guess is he could smell cold, hard intent-to-kill in that dog as it came at them -- and he reacted to it.
None of us were there -- but everything folks have said above about a dog who isn't a true threat will 'circle' and bark.
But a dog who makes a solid beeline for quarry, and the mother DID step in front of Kain and the kids, so the dog had to get around her to do this (and the dobe had to get THAT close b/c Kain was on leash).
My guess also is that KAIN knew he was leashed. He knew instinctively he was at a **serious** handicap here. He knew how much leash he had to work with, but he also knew how close the other dog would have to get in order to get TO him and him to get TO the dobe. Instinctively he had to make the decision to make absolutely ONE strike count, and count utterly.
Kain was pretty astute. If he'd only postured, it would have given the dobe time/space/incentive to have *then* attacked family and then he would have been beyond reach. Kain probably instinctively knew he had one and only one chance.
There's a tendency for we humans to want to be anthropomorphic here and think the dogs should have 'given each other a chance'. That's not dog thinking.
When dogs communicate it's not just sound. And scent plays such a huge part in sizing up your enemy's strengths, weaknesses and intent. My guess is Kain smelled no fear at all -- just anger. I'd bet he had way more "input" than any of we mere humans can guess. Scientists only guess at how much they know about dog sensory/olfactory perception. But they get information from that, information that triggers inate responses, that we humans can't even begin to process.