The official website
Dog that chewed tires, tore bumper off Chattanooga police car sentenced to obedience classes
Associated Press
Last update: March 26, 2010 – 8:58 AM
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A pit bull mix in Tennessee has been sentenced to obedience training after his dogged attack on a local police car.
Winston didn’t bite anybody, but he mauled a Chattanooga police car in what might have been a confused attempt to take a bite out of crime. The persistent pooch managed to tear off a section of the front bumper and damage the tires.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that a judge ruled that Winston had been a very bad dog. He was sentenced to obedience and canine good citizen classes, and he’ll have to wear a tag that says he is “potentially dangerous.”
Charges against his owner will be dismissed if the classes are completed successfully.
Owner Nancy Emerling said Winston got out of a fenced-in area at a welding shop March 14.
My Opinion:
This obviously should have never happened, but a couple things make this situation a little more tolerable. The fact that Winston escaped his fenced-in area shows that the owners at least made an attempt to be responsible. Also, the officer was on private property when this took place. Some other articles and videos suggested that Winston has never been aggressive towards people, but only objects which make loud noises such as lawn mowers and apparently police cars!
The fact that the officers didn’t shoot Winston and that he’s getting a second chance through obedience training is an incredible victory against breed prejudice. Hopefully this will make a small wave in the legal system when dealing with animals who show aggression. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Owners are responsible for their pets. Winston should have been corrected the first time something like this happened. My guess is, his owners blamed it on so-called breed characteristics and ignored it since no one got hurt. Now they’re getting a rare second chance. We can only hope they take advantage of it because I think a lot skeptics will keep be waiting for the result of Winston’s obedience training and hoping to use this as an example if he can’t be corrected which is unfortunate.
Good luck Winston!
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17 Responses to “A Step in the Right Direction”
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Megan Webster
March 26th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Love how the other dogs are running around excited, living vicariously, but not actually doing anything wrong. Seems like a lot of people I know! LOL
Rhon
March 26th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
LOVE this. Other doggies cheering him on. The little brown on did take a nip or two. So glad cops didn’t shoot the puppy.
Donna M.
March 26th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Maybe Winston just wanted a little more iron in his diet.
Seriously, I’m glad the judge had the wisdom to do the right thing here, especially since the dog doesn’t have a history of aggression toward humans.
Joanne
March 26th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Wow. Any indication how this started? Was the car’s siren on when the dog attacked? I love almost all types of dogs, but this makes me even more nervous of my nephew’s new puppy who is a similar-looking breed. The debate about whether their attack behaviour is part of the breed or a result of poor upbringing continues.
Madiha Haque
March 26th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I think it’s a little sad that a JUDGE had to deem it necessary for the dog to get training; this dog should have already had some degree of training already!
I am a bit concerned that he is such a chewer. He must be one bored dog…
Either way, the video made me laugh. I too find it hilarious how excited the other dogs were. Haha!
Deb
March 26th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Taking a bite out of crime. Literally.
Jamie
March 27th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
exercise, discipline, affection. The dog apparently needs more exercise
I often wonder why they say “pit bull mix” instead of ” ‘insert here’ mix”. Say it’s a pit bull/border collie — i bet you they’d still say “pit bull mix”.
Sounds to me like the dog was fearful rather than aggressive. I’m sure the little guy also has issues with other loud things such as vacuum cleaners.
grannytrucker
March 28th, 2010 at 11:37 am
I guess it’s not funny but y can’t i stop laughing when i watch this clip a big thank-u to the officers for not shotting the dogs
Lenka
March 29th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Yes, this should have not happened, the dogs should be trained, etc. but still it is kind of funny – the way they are enjoying the bumper.
Lucky
March 30th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Dogs are somewhat like kids in some regards… They sometimes need clear and strict direction… or else they can do silly things… but without any real malice… This could have turned ugly… Poor Winston : bad owners… Me too I laughed seeing how the other dogs acted : bored kids!!!!
Nikha
April 17th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
When you first see this it looks like he is attacking the car (which he very well may be doing) but after looking a little more closely it looks like he is more or less playing with the car in what looks like an epic game of tug-of-war
Amy
April 19th, 2010 at 1:02 am
Maybe Winston just wanted a little more iron in his diet.
Seriously, I’m glad the judge had the wisdom to do the right thing here, especially since the dog doesn’t have a history of aggression toward humans.
Dobe Mom
April 20th, 2010 at 3:15 am
This dog evently needed to blow of some steam. Not a better thing to do it on!
Martin
April 24th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Wow. Any indication how this started? Was the car’s siren on when the dog attacked? I love almost all types of dogs, but this makes me even more nervous of my nephew’s new puppy who is a similar-looking breed. The debate about whether their attack behaviour is part of the breed or a result of poor upbringing continues.
Joseph
April 25th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Wow. Any indication how this started? Was the car’s siren on when the dog attacked? I love almost all types of dogs, but this makes me even more nervous of my nephew’s new puppy who is a similar-looking breed. The debate about whether their attack behaviour is part of the breed or a result of poor upbringing continues.
Eric
April 27th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Yes, this should have not happened, the dogs should be trained, etc. but still it is kind of funny – the way they are enjoying the bumper.
Jesse
June 18th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
Police don’t care about breed nor aggression. They just shoot dogs. Period. It’s called puppycide. It happens alot.
Of course, if you are being attacked by a trained, hostile police attack dog and you kill it while defending yourself, you are charged as if you killed a human.
It’s called a “double standard”.
http://www.theagitator.com/2009/06/09/puppycide-roundup/