In response to Bear- Bear the Husky who was shot at the dog park earlier this week. I am not going to go into details about the event you can find it all over the news and online. They even made a Justice for Bear-Bear page on facebook which went viral yesterday. What I do want to discuss is the fact that the federal officer thought it was ok to bring a concealed weapon with him to a dog park where there were families and children and dogs all over. Really?!? But even that is not something I really want to discuss because I am sure there will be an investigation into why he was carrying a weapon while off duty in the first place.
What I did want to discuss is the fact that this person who had his dog on leash in a DOG PARK where the other dogs were off leash responded to another dog engaging his dog who at least were approximately evenly matched both in size and bite strength grabbed his GUN to break up a dog fight. It might not have even been a dog fight (as of when I signed offline at 2am there was no clear answer to if the Federal officers dog even had a single bite wound on its body). From witness reports it seems that it was 2 dogs rough-housing.
From personal experience I can tell you that at the time that Davinia was being viciously attack did I once think if only I had a gun to shoot the dogs attacking her. I did kick them to try and get them to let her go and I did have to keep a solid hold on her leash so they didn’t run away with her body. I know I did not have the presence of mind to aim and shoot a gun (not that I have ever shot one under any circumstance) and actually hit a target.
I have been asked why I don’t now carry a weapon or at least some sort of spray when I walk the dogs my answer is that I feel more nervous because it would be something else I would have to think about to use and honestly when Davinia was attacked I don’t remember thinking if only I had such and such I could have done more. It happened too quickly and was too violent for anything to have for sure just gotten the dogs attacking her and not also harmed her in the process. In this case there was a massive size difference between her and the two dogs who attacked her. In fact if I had shot the dogs their jaws would have probably just clamped down harder on her body and not helped the situation at all.
The second part about the horrible situation that resulted in Bear-Bears death that I wanted to discuss is the fact that Bear-Bear was still in the park and witness statements given when the police arrived. I can tell you I did NOT wait to speak with the police before taking Davinia to the ER. The police did arrive on scene by the time a neighbor was getting us in his car to rush us to the ER. I gave a rushed description of what happened and I am pretty sure I was screaming and coming off as a mad woman because it wasn’t until while Davinia was in surgery and both Animal Control and the Senior ranking police officer arrived at the animal hospital and see Davinia in surgery that everyone realized this wasn’t a dog fight or a dog bite but a vicious completely unmatched attack.
What I am saying is that it took HOURS for first Animal Control and then the Police to clear the scene and write up reports and do what they needed to do. Those same HOURS that it took to stabilize Davinia and get her into surgery to save her life. There is no way that Davinia would be alive if I had waited even 20 minutes to give a complete statement and then get her to the hospital. So why did Bear-Bears owner wait. Why was Bear-Bear still in the park and not rushed to the vet to save his life? Maybe they knew he had already passed away from being shot but I guess that part will come out eventually. To get Davinia to the hospital sooner I told my neighbor they could just put Indiana in a bathroom until I could come back for her because I knew that once I had picked up Davinia from the ground that we only had minutes if that to get her help and I felt Indiana would be both safer and I wouldn’t have to worry about her as long as I knew she was somewhere anywhere but alone in my own house and that it wouldn’t be helpful or fair to her to have her with me at the hospital when everyone’s attention needed to be on saving Davinia’s life. I am not saying that Bear-Bears owner didn’t do everything they could they were for sure in complete and utter shock over what happened and so was everyone else at the park.
so discusting and aggravating. Why to animals have nice doggys for pets?
Benny & Lily