Comments welcome below.

Comments welcome below.

Comments welcome below.

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!

Comments welcome below.

Comments welcome below.