CountryByNet.com Forums :: Bittting dogs

Hiya Handyman,

You have met our blue heeler Bart. We had a biting problem when Mike first came into my life and moved into the house.

Bart too is a trucking dog and has been riding in an 18-wheeler from the time he was 6 weeks old spending 24/7 with only me. Bart totally resented this new intruder (Mike) into our lives and made it very clear. Everything from not letting him in the bedroom to challenging for a spot next to me on the couch. Biting, nips, growling, barking you name it.

We contacted a dog trainer who said that Mike had to assert his alfa male status in the house and show Bart that he called the shots. For 2 months everything Bart needed had to be asked for and only Mike could give it to him, food, treats, fresh water, belly scratches and any aggession was not to be tolerated no matter how slight. If Bart decided to show his hateful side Mike had to hold Barts head down on the floor for about 20 seconds and softly say 'Bad Dog'. This established Mikes role as the alpa male. It did take some time but we have it all together now.

The following artical I cut and pasted for some prespective. This happened only about 45 miles from where we live. Sad case indeed.

Posted on Thu, Sep. 11, 2003

Dog's shelter faces criminal probe
The adopted Doberman killed its Medford owner. The police chief vowed an aggressive investigation.
By Troy Graham
Inquirer Staff Writer

Burlington County authorities have launched a criminal investigation into an animal shelter that allowed a Medford woman to adopt a Doberman pinscher that was supposed to have been euthanized for biting its previous owner.

The dog mauled and killed its new owner, 67-year-old Valerie deSwart, in her Stokes Road home Sunday, just 10 days after she adopted him from a Newark, N.J., shelter run by the Associated Humane Societies.

The Doberman's previous owner, a North Jersey woman, paid the shelter $55 to put down and cremate the 95-pound dog after it bit her this year. Instead, the shelter placed the dog in a pool for adoption.

"We are aggressively pursuing the investigation for a criminal nature," Medford Police Chief Edwin E. Wood said. "We need to do an aggressive, complete investigation. That's owed to the victim and her family."

He said his investigators had interviewed the dog's previous owner and confirmed that the dog had attacked her. He declined to identify her.

Wood said he intended to have the dog destroyed. The dog's legal owner - deSwart's daughter - can appeal the decision, he said, but she has agreed that the Doberman should be euthanized.

Wood could not say who might face criminal charges in the case or provide a timetable for completing the investigation.

"That would be fact-specific. It could be individuals," he said. "It depends on involvement, acts."

Robert D. Bernardi, the Burlington County prosecutor, said that "at a minimum there's a breach of contract" by the shelter for not euthanizing the dog - although, he said, that is a matter for the civil courts.

"There may be an issue of theft by deception," he said. "If they took money never intending to kill the dog - and you can prove that - there's a theft charge."

Harry Jay Levin, a lawyer for the Associated Humane Societies, said the shelter simply had made a mistake by not destroying the 3-year-old Doberman. He said Tuesday that three shelter employees had told deSwart in person that the dog had bitten its previous owner.

The woman's son disputed that, saying his mother "would have never brought it home" had she known.

DeSwart's boyfriend discovered her dead in her bedroom when he came home from work. The dog, which deSwart had named Luger, was covered in blood and lying on a comforter in the room.

Investigators treated the case as a homicide until an autopsy determined Monday that deSwart had died from a dog bite.

The shelter is examining Luger's adoption "from beginning to end" and "speaking to every employee who had a hand in the process," Levin said. The shelter has instituted more layers of safeguards, but it had not determined why the Doberman was allowed to be adopted.

Levin also said he did not know why shelter employees, who knew the dog had a history of biting, did not realize that it was supposed to have been euthanized.

"That's the issue we're trying to determine," Levin said. "What mistake was made by a human being that allowed this to happen?"

Levin said he did not know of a similar mistake ever taking place at the shelter.

"Never. Absolutely never," he said. "They've been in business for 30 years, they handle about 15,000 animals a year, and this is the first time."

He also said deSwart, before adopting the dog, had signed a disclaimer that provides no warranties "with regards to the health or demeanor" of the animal. While the disclaimer provides the shelter with some protection from lawsuits, Levin would not address the liability in this case.

"Everyone's so upset about what happened," he said. "I don't think anyone's focusing on liability."

Martha Armstrong, senior vice president at the Humane Societies of the United States, said her group urged all shelters not to put up for adoption animals with a history of biting.

"Everybody who attends one of our training programs knows that if you get a call about an animal that has bitten, you do not tell them: 'Bring them in, and we'll find them a new home,' " she said.

In New Jersey, there are no regulations regarding how shelters handle an animal surrendered by an owner.

"It's really a management decision as to whether the dog is fit for adoption," said Jennifer Sciortino, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services.

The dog that killed deSwart was at the Newark shelter for 87 days and did not show any aggressiveness, which might explain why it was allowed to be adopted, Levin said.

But Armstrong said the Newark shelter had "a moral responsibility, if not a legal responsibility," to euthanize the dog.

"That's a bit disconcerting, that the data on the animal that said he was supposed to be euthanized was not accompanying the data that said he had bitten," she said.

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Contact staff writer Troy Graham at 856-779-3893 or tgraham@phillynews.com.

Everything in life comes full circle, it's just a matter of time.

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