What is WRONG with this Picture?

I don't understand leaving a doggie door open at night when the dog can't use it.  But then, I don't "get" a lot of this story.  I'm with Callie....stinks like old fish....

and just to add one more strange part of this - if there was no fence, why, WHY!, would you have a dog door? Esp. one that's unlocked all the time?! That's an open invatation to more that just strange dogs...

It isn't even just pit bulls -- it's this maniac "let's write about THIS because we can make it sound REALLY BAD!!!!" -- anything to sell news slots and the American people have gotten so they will WATCH anything or read anything and call it "entertainment" -- the idea of ethical and responsible journalism barely exists *sigh*.
 
grrr, rant over but if this were MY town and MY paper I'd be writing to the management to complain AND I'd be complaining to the companies who advertise with them and tell THEM I'm not patronizing anyone who sponsored this crappy journalism.

Thalie - being just a little over particular aren't we??? It doesn't really matter exactly where the woman was from or if she passed out after taking medication. The fact is the dog did the damage and the POINT is no one will ever know why! I am a dog lover, but sometimes dogs do things we will never understand. They are animals...... The fact that it was pit bulls, in my opinion, is beside the point...........even thought they may be trying to make it one - it could've been any breed of dog and it would've made it in the news. It's just newsworthy. I agree, certain things reported in this story do not add up and it is very sad all the way around.

why did the fire department show up? cats stuck in trees.... ok... pit bulls trapped in your house??

Not sure about this situation, but in general the firemen are first responders for everything - police, ambulences, etc.  I called 911 b/c a man in our building was having a seizure (at the time did not know this, just heard his kids shrieking and saw him bleeding and frothing at the mouth) and the firemen had to come first even though an ambulence was on the way.  I took CPR training last month and they told us the firemen are now always first responders.

Thalie - being just a little over particular aren't we???

 
I don't think so. If you believe that dogs just turn from good to bad in a second, or do unexplainable things, then owning dogs at all is a pretty big risk, don't ya think?
 
The WHY of biting is extremely important to me. My dog has bitten a person, once. If that's the ONLY information I give you, or all I take into consideration, my dog could be considered pretty dangerous. But it's a little more understandable, and a lot more excusable (to me, anyway) when I tell you that the guy she bit was stinking drunk, and after I thought I pretty well drilled into him that he was NOT to touch Cherokee, he reached out and pet her before she even SAW him. So she whipped around and bit his finger, and then took off running from him. He didn't even notice she'd bitten him til he saw blood. (And yes, I realize this was totally my fault. She should have been leashed, shouldn't have had the opportunity to be near him, etc.)
 
My point is I don't agree that "dogs just do weird things sometimes." Most dogs are ridiculously predictable. Most dog bites are totally preventable. I don't understand how anyone, but especially dog owners, can believe that the circumstances around a dog bite or attack are not important.

Here is a video about what happened to that poor woman and the little dog. Explains a lot more of what happened. I leave my back door open in the good weather, I have a screen on it, but it sounds like the dogs would have gone through the screen anyway.
 
edited to add the link duh[sm=party.gif][linkhttp://www.kirotv.com/video/13951619/index.html]http://www.kirotv.com/video/13951619/index.html[/link]

ORIGINAL: glenmar

I don't understand leaving a doggie door open at night when the dog can't use it. .

 
I leave mine unlocked at night because Max does go out to pee,  and sometimes when it's pretty warm he goes out and sleeps in the lounge chair ... but our fence is secure all the way around and we have a self latching gate. I can't imagine having a doggie door that opens into just everywhere with no containment at all. It did say that her dog was a service dog though, so maybe the dog could be trusted not to get too far from the house.
 
Joyce

Aaaaand once again, when a story of a dog attack occurs we have people jumping in to blame the victim (why was the doggy door open? Why didn't she just call her neighbor in the middle of the night and nicely ask him to remove his dogs from her arms and the body of the JRT instead of creating a big fuss by calling the police? Why didn't she invest in a secure fence so that dogs wouldn't enter her house in the middle of the night and attack her? she must have been worried about not mussing up her house to not shoot the dogs....) and blaming the press for having the audacity to report something we'd rather not think could happen.

Here's a link to a more detailed description of the incident:

[linkhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003847662_pitbull22m.html?syndication=rss]attack[/link]

A few salient points:

The service dog was sleeping on the bed with the victim and apparently managed to escape the attack.

The JRT was a frequent visitor to the house and was also sleeping on the bed with the victim - he did not enter during the attack.

The victim tried to shoot the dogs but her gun failed to fire.

That makes a difference Joyce.....Max USES the door at night.
 
I'm sure not blaming the victim.  I'm saying that the story doesn't make sense.

you know, they make doggy doors that only open for dogs wearing a particular collar.

It sounds like these dogs have just been wandering around terrorizing the neighborhood and letting themselves into peoples houses any time a door is opened.  If anybody should have had a good fence up, it's the owners of those dogs.  I kind of got the idea that the dogs are chained up a lot.  That most likely contributed more than a little bit to their problems.
 
Joyce
 
ETA - I agree.  There's more to this story than meets the eye.

 
 
 

I thought it was a sliding door she had open, not a doggy door?  That's what they made it sound like in the news report.  I keep my sliders open when it's hot.  I supposed if a viscious dog wanted to come munch on my dog and cats, there's not a lot to stop it, but I'm not going to bolt shut my doors and windows for a "what if".

true, why should i have to put a fence to keep some idiot's dogs out? the idiot should have to put up the fence to keep his dogs IN.
and if you live your life by what ifs, and maybe's then is that really living? i know its great to plan ahead for the unexpected, but to lock yourself in your house, bolt the windows shut and keep a loaded pistol on the table next to you is a bit over the top....
the way my house is set up.... lock all the doors ya want, someone could still get in by breaking a window on the porch.
but that's IF they get past the dogs. by that time i have put my kids in a safe place, loaded my gun and gotten a good position to add a couple of extra holes to ya....
the way i see it is when its your time its just your time, but it doesnt mean you need to be stupid and ALLOW it to happen.
leaven a door open can allow in wild animals, dogs, people, etc.
many people who have hand guns have never tested them, and you'd be surprised how often they fail! even police officer's guns fail! and in the heat of battle you will probably miss your target anyway. i much prefer a blunt object like a ball bat or something similar, but you still runa risk of missing, but you can sure bet you will hit SOMETHING!

its a shameful situation, once again the factors are all the same... chained dogs... a history of trouble making...

I keep my sliders open when it's hot. I supposed if a viscious dog wanted to come munch on my dog and cats, there's not a lot to stop it, but I'm not going to bolt shut my doors and windows for a "what if".

 
It depends on the part of the country you live in but down here during certain times of the year but if you don't keep your doors and sliding doors closed you could end up with a gator in your living room.  They show up in pools and open garages from time to time.  They will go right under a fence and thru a pool cage.  I would think that in your part of the country you could end up with other assorted critters you wouldn't want as house guests.
 
That reminds me of a true story.  Where I work there is a office tower and hotel and a esplanade between the 2 with trees and number of squirrels that live there.  Thre are several businesses on the ground floor that face the esplanade including a bank.  Well the bank guard always stood outside the door to the bank and gave the squirrels peanuts.  Well one day he went inside and as you could guess the squirrels went inside to find him to get more peanuts.  Well no more feeding the squirrels by the guard.  They moved the supply of peanuts to the loading dock and just left them on the ground so no person was giving them peanuts.