Posted on 03/12/2010 12:57:14 PM PST by solosmoke
A spaniel that attacked an 89-year-old woman has been euthanized by Alachua County Animal Services.
Theresa Herman was injured while feeding the dog on Feb. 4, said Animal Services Director David Flagler. She needed surgery for treatment of extensive wounds to her leg.
The dog, named Chief, was owned by Mary Clark of 10108 S.W. 44th Lane and was "food aggressive," Flagler said."This dog did substantial damage to the victim," Flagler said. "It was a very serious bite, probably one of the worse that we've seen in a long time."
Herbert Clark surrendered the dog to the county, which euthanized it last week. He was about 3 1/2 years old and appeared not to have been neutered, Flagler added.
"In this case it was extremely foolish to have anybody but a family member feed this dog," Flagler said. "Obviously, if somebody is putting down food and the dog snaps at them, they make sure they are cautious. I can't imagine what would trigger this dog - even food aggressive - that once the food was down to continue chewing on the person."
(Excerpt) Read more at gainesville.com ...
Another vicious dog attack by a pit bull letting on to being a Spaniel...We know all the tricks...
Wow, where are you finding these?
Hope the lady recovers okay.
If it had been a real spaniel the only thing in danger would have been the carpet...
Actually not totally true. This doesn’t state what kind of spaniel, wish it did, but I’ve had spaniels since 1979 and we had one we adopted who had been badly abused, had two broken ribs when we got him, and that particular dog was badly affected from both his past and — as it turned out — from the rabies vaccine required by law. It took years, but finally even our vet agreed there was a link as we noticed with each vaccination his disposition got worse and worse and worse.. there was more that eventually even brought our vet to the same conclusion we had drawn, but that is all off topic this article.. this particular dog my husband could handle, but if I even looked at him sometimes he would lunge at me like he wanted to attack, I could not put a leash on him, etc... we probably should have put him down, most would have, but we kept him till the day he died and he is one reason I am VERY careful where I get my dogs and how I care for them. We knew someone who had a Springer who had what they call rage syndrome.. that dog was put down, I used to see a lot of stories like these on the cocker forums... it really makes you count your blessings when your dogs have the sweet disposition a cocker is supposed to have, but I blame a lot of their problems on back yard breeding and think their issues are 180 from pit bulls.
>>>Herbert Clark surrendered the dog to the county, which euthanized it last week. He was about 3 1/2 years old and appeared not to have been neutered, Flagler added. <<<
Wow, they had a pre-schooler surrender the dog? And what’s up with Mr. Flagler checking to see if young Herbert’s genitals were intact? :-)
No I had a food aggressive cocker that we rescued at age 9 months.
He had not been socialized and had been mistreated; crated 16 hours a day and then beaten for barking and soiling the crate.
He grew to love and trust us, but was wary of strangers.
He was a beautiful dog, who died this past Jan of a heart condition. He was 6 1/2.
I agree. See my post 7.
Overbreeding has created some real problems in cockers. Sad as they are my favorite dog.
Amazing. I have had 5 Cocker Spaniels through the years and every single one of them had been so sweet and loving. We could even take up their food bowls with food in them and they wouldn’t even snap at us. They were totally trusting.
We had a Brittany Spaniel that was really great & who lived to be 14 1/2. Never even tried to bite anyone & loved everyone. Only time I seen Taffy show any kind of strange behavior was when we lived on a farm & the next door neighbors doberman came over & Taffy chased it all the way back to its home with me screaming for Taffy to come back as I thought the doberman would hurt her.
Sorry, I should have made it clearer that I was parodying the stereotyping of pit bulls by doing the same thing to spaniels. Any breed of dog can be vicious depending on the upbringing and circumstances. I worked for several years as a carpet cleaner (and yes, spaniels helped pay for some of my paychecks, bless their little bladders) and I was attacked without being hurt three times. Twice by goldens (!) and once by a shepherd. I don’t really blame either of the goldens’ owners. They genuinely didn’t believe that their friendly dog would get protective when some stranger came into the house and started throwing the furniture around. You never know how any dog will react to what it perceives as a threat or what it will consider such.
That is why I am very careful where I get my cockers from that last ten or so years... my current three a literally little angels, it is still possible to get a good cocker, but a person really has to be careful.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.