[hapasaparaz]

That was an excellent article. Well worth the read.

[Bobdilan]

Heart wrenching article ... thanks for sharing.

I do wonder what the "lesson" is though. It needs to state what the dog's owner (John) was doing wrong, letting Max have the complete run of things while he was distracted in the garden.

Anyone, be it his friend (in the story), or a Girl Scout trying to sell cookies, or another dog that wandered into the yard, etc . etc. was open to attack.

Or Max could have simply decided to take a little trot around the neighborhood and attack or be attacked himself.

How does this address BEHAVIORS is the point. Max's owner was lazy. The owner was the problem, not a "misunderstanding of dog behavior" or whatnot.

I agree Buddysmom. The article talks about how canine behavior was misread; which it was - but it does not detail the human responsibility and where that fell far short.

1. The dog is not used to anyone coming to it's home. Fine if you don't want visitors that's great; but do not fail to socialize your dog to accepting visitors in the home; then spring one on him with no training or conditioning on how he is expected to behave. Even better...your dog has no idea what to do with a visitor, so the 1 time you actually have one - ignore your dog and his reactions. The dog did give a warning growl. If you never had a visitor to your home, you should be right there to monitor the exchange and see how your dog will react, ergo the owner should have heard the growl, could have intervened...and nothing further would have happened.

2. The dog is unsocialized to sunglasses. Again if you're not going to socialize your dog to various aspects of human life, don't be surprised when something freaks the dog out. In this particular case, it sounds like the dog is very unsocialized and the owner springs a visitor on him...which is a big deal to a dog with limited if any social experience. The owner also doesn't know his dog well enough to know what will likely freak the dog out. I think one of the joys of dog ownership is getting to know all the ins and outs and idiosyncrasies of your dog.

3. Lack of proper supervision. Yes the dog apparently was in a fenced yard; but again...if you are springing an entirely new experience on a dog; be there to supervise and provide the dog some guidance on how you want the dog to behave. The owner could have put the dog on a leash, put him in a stay and properly introduced the visitor; maybe had the visitor give the dog a treat (since the dog has no experience with visitors)...but either way it was not going to go entirely smoothly because of lack of sufficient socialization.

Just my 2 cents.

[lionsiy]

I agree, excellent article. I am the better for having read it.

[xpllmr]

Excellent article, every dog owner, regardless of breed, should read this!

[VladFal]

I agree Buddysmom. The article talks about how canine behavior was misread; which it was - but it does not detail the human responsibility and where that fell far short.

1. The dog is not used to anyone coming to it's home. Fine if you don't want visitors that's great; but do not fail to socialize your dog to accepting visitors in the home; then spring one on him with no training or conditioning on how he is expected to behave. Even better...your dog has no idea what to do with a visitor, so the 1 time you actually have one - ignore your dog and his reactions. The dog did give a warning growl. If you never had a visitor to your home, you should be right there to monitor the exchange and see how your dog will react, ergo the owner should have heard the growl, could have intervened...and nothing further would have happened.

2. The dog is unsocialized to sunglasses. Again if you're not going to socialize your dog to various aspects of human life, don't be surprised when something freaks the dog out. In this particular case, it sounds like the dog is very unsocialized and the owner springs a visitor on him...which is a big deal to a dog with limited if any social experience. The owner also doesn't know his dog well enough to know what will likely freak the dog out. I think one of the joys of dog ownership is getting to know all the ins and outs and idiosyncrasies of your dog.

3. Lack of proper supervision. Yes the dog apparently was in a fenced yard; but again...if you are springing an entirely new experience on a dog; be there to supervise and provide the dog some guidance on how you want the dog to behave. The owner could have put the dog on a leash, put him in a stay and properly introduced the visitor; maybe had the visitor give the dog a treat (since the dog has no experience with visitors)...but either way it was not going to go entirely smoothly because of lack of sufficient socialization.

Just my 2 cents.

agreed, the owner definitely didnt do his part in upbringing

[Misebeita]

Yes the owner didn't do his part, but I think this help us understand more how the dog mind works.

[Bobdilan]

Yes the owner didn't do his part, but I think this help us understand more how the dog mind works.

Oh yes, I agree with that as well. I was just pointing out that the actions of the owner have a profound impact on how the dog's mind works. For example, what the dog perceives as a threat is mitigated by what the dog has been exposed to and taught.

I am currently reading "Aggression in dogs: Practical management, Prevention & Behavior Modification" by Brenda Aloff. So far it is fascinating and seems like it should be required reading for all dog owners. The focus of the book is exactly on how the dog's mind works, how & why aggressive displays come about, what series of behaviors precede them and what the owner can do to intervene either to prevent aggression problems from developing in the first place, or to modify the behaviors if they are already present.

[Misebeita]

A good article for all pit lovers

http://www.dogmagazine.net/archives/...-a-dog-attack/

[nebrarlepleme]

That was an excellent article!

[enasseneiff]

Heart wrenching article ... thanks for sharing.

I do wonder what the "lesson" is though. It needs to state what the dog's owner (John) was doing wrong, letting Max have the complete run of things while he was distracted in the garden.

Anyone, be it his friend (in the story), or a Girl Scout trying to sell cookies, or another dog that wandered into the yard, etc . etc. was open to attack.

Or Max could have simply decided to take a little trot around the neighborhood and attack or be attacked himself.

How does this address BEHAVIORS is the point. Max's owner was lazy. The owner was the problem, not a "misunderstanding of dog behavior" or whatnot.