The Real Dog Blog

Justice For Condemned Rottweiler

2008-07-11T13:29:00.005+01:00

Chloe Grayson was left scarred for life following an incident at a New Year party at her neighbours house.

Chloe Grayson's mother claimed that Bully, the neighbours' rottweiler launched at Chloe and grabbed her face in his jaws when Chloe came downstairs for a drink. According to press reports, he then dragged her around the room by her face.

Mr and Mrs Pearson who owned Bully have a different perception of events but consented to the dog being seized by police, apparently confident that he would be cleared of any dangerous dog charges and returned to them.

Judge John Foster who first dealt with the case in April sentenced Bully to be destroyed following the prosecution's description of how the rottweiler 'pounced on Chloe' and 'clamped it's jaws around the youngster's cheek, scarring her for life'*.

Mr and Mrs Pearson, however, took the case to Sheffield Crown Court to appeal against the verdict due to their belief that the dog had not bitten Chloe.

Judge Robert Moore overruled the destruction order saying that Chloe's injuries were caused by scratches and a dew claw inflicted laceration.

Bully had undergone extensive temperament tests and not shown any aggression and according to Mrs Pearson, when she collected him the kennel staff told her he was a pleasure to have around.

Mr and Mrs Pearson recently released the following statement:

On 4th July 2007 my husband Lee Pearson and I attended Sheffield Crown Court regarding our dog Bully.

Bully was involved in an incident on New Years Eve 2007 and the Police became involved. Bully was kennelled by the Police after we voluntarily handed him over to the police. We did this because we are law abiding people and we were confident that the correct decision would be reached.

At Rotherham Magistrates Court Bully was ordered destroyed as a dangerous dog, we did not accept this and appealed to Sheffield Crown Court .

On 4th July 2007 Judge Moore and 2 lay colleagues heard the Prosecution evidence and had sight of 2 reports by expert witnesses regarding Bully.

The Prosecution case was that Bully had bitten the child to her face and that he was a dangerous

The decision was made by the Judge and lay bench that the medical notes provided to the court were not consistent with a bite or shaking as claimed by the prosecution. The Court felt that the injuries were consistent with a claw injury. The expert reports read by the Court both felt that a claw injury was more likely than a bite.

The case was dismissed at half time as the Court did not feel that the Prosecution had proved that Bully was out of control or that he was a dangerous dog.

The Court ruled that the injury was not a vicious attack but a tragic accident.

The injury was severe and the trauma and pain that this child went through was awful, Bully is a large and very heavy dog and his full weight was obviously on his front end as he came down after jumping up.

Comprehensive behavioural assessments were carried out on Bully by eminent behaviourists during which he behaved impeccably.
We understand that this poor child’s fears are real and that she may never be comfortable around dogs again and that is tragic.

We are now aware that accidents can and do happen and cannot be predicted, that is why they occur.
The lives of all parties have been affected by this awful incident.

We are however happy to have Bully home and are grateful to Fieldings Porter Solicitors and Ms Pam Rose for their assistance and the Courts for their decision.

It is fantastic news that justice has been reached for this lovely dog who took it all in his stride and that his owners have got their boy back. Rottweilers have had a lot of bad press recently and are marred in the public eye but in reality many of these dogs are gentle giants and just love human company.

Having spoken to other rottweiler owners, it appears any injuries these owners ever sustain are from paws, claws and dew claws. Rottweilers are very exhuberant souls and usually very emthusiastic so when a rottie jumps up or tries to give you paw, they put their whole into it - and they're heavy!

Of course this doesn't make Chloe's injuries any less serious and her fear and scarring is very real. She is very fearful of Bully himself which is understandable following such a traumatic experience. Whether Bully intended to injure her or not, she endured a lot of pain during his apparently over the top greeting and is understandably fearful that it could happen again.

I will end this by saying I truly hope that Chloe regains her confidence and can go out without fear but congratulations to Mr and Mrs Pearson and well done for standing up for your boy. Enjoy him!

*Quote from The Sheffield Star

Teaching an old dog new tricks

2008-07-01T20:59:00.003+01:00

It's not as hard as they make out.

Dogs work from a 'reinforcement history' (the more a certain behaviour is reinforced, the more likely it is to happen again) which is why older dogs can have some bad habits - anything they have done which is 'self reinforcing' (jumping on the furniture makes them comfortable) or that they have been inadvertently rewarded for (begging at the dinner table, for example).

Dogs that have a strong reinforcement history in begging at the table, will be harder to train out of it, hence the saying 'you can't take an old dog new tricks' but it's certainly not impossible.

More to the point, the saying itself appears to be very inaccurate - whilst it means that you can't stop bad habits in old dogs (and, often made reference to when discussing elderly people), it actually sounds like you can't teach anything new to an old dog which is completely untrue!

An elderly dog obviously doesn't learn as quickly as a young pup would, but in my experience teaching an elderly dog new behaviours is very similar to teaching any dog above the age of 2 years a new behaviour.

So don't let your dog's age put you off training him! Using the right methods, your elderly dog will pick up on things just as easily as any other adult dog!

Couch Potatoes?

2008-06-26T11:52:00.002+01:00

As I sit here, watching the boys dream of chasing rabbits whilst curled (in exactlty the same position!) up on the sofa, I can't help but wonder... 'what happened?'

I had such good intentions, having white dogs it's important that they stay on the floor otherwise you get covered in short white hairs whenever you sit down.

But no - they have, once again, got their way!
Why?
Because it's easier! It's all for a quiet life!!

Please people, unless you want to be hoovering your furniture several times a day or getting covered in hairs - don't get your dogs into bad habits!!

The Good Old Days When Dogs Weren't Dirty

2008-06-25T22:27:00.004+01:00

Attempting to find a venue for my training classes is proving to be more of a challenge than I had ever imagined.

It's funny, I don't seem to recall any children dying from 'dog germs' back in the day when training classes were held in the local community hall or school assembly hall out of hours so dogs must have become much dirtier in the last few years!

According to 'Health and Safety' regulations I cannot take a dog class in a hall which is occupied by children a different day of the week, even if I clean up after each visit.

Considering the children have to walk where dogs have walked (and pooped!) on their way to the hall, do we not think this may be ever so slightly OTT?

Perhaps we should be concerned by the irresponsible parents that keep their beloved babies with these dangerously dirty, germ generating monsters?? I mean, how are these children not dead yet?

Honestly, in the next few years we won't be allowed to take our dogs for a walk without them wearing a nappy and booties to ensure they don't spread any disease!