I heard this story on the radio today, and it sorta torqued me off.
Basically, a chihuahua charged a gas company employee, which caused the gas man to kick the dog. Now the family is suing the gas company over the death of their dog.
There are several problems with this.
First off, the gas company employee is not to blame in this incident. The blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the dog's owners. These people let their dog run out of the house and charge the gas guy. The dog owners even admit the gas guy shoved the dog aside first, then when the dog charged him again, he kicked it.
What would they have him do? Stand there while the dog chews on him?
"She was just a little two pound chihuahua."
So? Did you have her teeth removed? If not, then she was a two pound toothed fur missile aimed right at the gas guy's ankles. Half inch long teeth can cause some pretty nasty puncture wounds. Sure, the dog is not likely to kill the guy, but death is not a requirement to defend oneself. Self defense is defending oneself against death or bodily injury.
I don't give a tinker's damn if it's a two pound chihuahua or a two hundred pound Saint Bernard, if you can't control your dog and it charges me, I will defend myself. If all I have is a steel toe boot, that's what I'll use.
Secondly,the dog owner said because she was holding her newborn son at the time, there was little she could do. I don't know about you, but every dog I've ever had... well, none of them would have charged the guy in the first place, but I digress... any dog I've ever had would have stopped dead in its tracks if I yelled at it.
Maybe you should have trained your dog to respond to voice commands. For that matter, maybe you should have trained your dog. Period. Maybe then it would have stayed in the house.
Chihuahuas are nuisances anyway. They run around and bark at EVERYTHING. They are practically untrainable, because they are STUPID! People have them because they are a Paris Hilton and Britney Spears status symbol.
People who want a real dog get a real dog. People who want a little yappy lap dog that can ride on their lap in the car get a chihuahua.
With their apparent lack of pet parenting skills, those nimrods should be glad they didn't have a dog that could have done more severe damage to the gas man. Then it would be them getting sued, and rightly so. However, I don't believe they should be able to sue the gas company for their own stupid mistake.
Hey, Southwest Gas. Don't give those idiots a damned dime. If their doggie was so precious to them, they would have kept it in the damned house...
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12 comments:
I concur.
Chihuahuas are annoying. That said, I'm hard pressed to imagine one biting through work boots and jeans. As nice as it would be to kick a field goal with one of those things, I doubt it was actually necessary in this case.
If they can't train a dog to listen, how the heck are they going to raise that newborn for gawd sake.
Amen.
I call these types dogs Yippie little rats dogs.
So what's the replacement value of a Chihuahua, anyway? It can't be more than three or four dollars. Mail the fools a five-spot in exchange for a written promise not to get another one until they're willing to learn to train it and call it a day.
Probably a damn good thing that it was only a Chihuahua. If they can't control a dog that size, how would they control a 90 Lab or German Shepherd?
BTW, I don't think you really replace Chihuahuas. I think you just flush 'em right along with the gold fish & the hamsters.....
I hope they don't get a dime! For goodness sake's if they can't control the thing put him on a leash!
I agree that the gas man had every right to kick the dog. The dog owners should be the ones held liable since they let their dog off leash outside.
Me said...
"So what's the replacement value of a Chihuahua, anyway?"
Naaah, they'll just smuggle another one across the border.
I'm largely in accord with your take on this subject.
I would be interested to hear your opinions regarding a case from a couple years ago in Kennewick, Washington, in which a man -- an innocent bystander to a police pursuit -- was mauled by a police dog and then beaten by the police when he fought off the K-9 attack:
http://www.morelaw.com/verdicts/case.asp?n=Edward+F.+Shea&s=WA%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&d=33122
In your view, does a civilian attacked improperly by a police dog -- usually a "fur missile" much larger and more dangerous than a chihuahua -- have the right to self-defense, including killing the dog, if necessary? Or is "puppycide" purely a police prerogative?
I note Mr. Grigg got an immediate, honest response.
Hadn't noticed his comment til now, but...
I'm not sure how the gas company guy killing the dog is a "police prerogative".
At any rate, a police dog generally will not bite someone who is not running away or otherwise resisting. As such, there should be no need to defend oneself against a police dog if one happens to be an "innocent bystander".
Occasionally, however, police dogs do "go bad" and attack innocent people. It has happened in a few nearby cities.
I can tell you, the officers are so in tune with their dogs, they can tell when something is wrong and will do everything in their power to stop it, up to and including killing the dog.
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