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A few years ago I lived down the street from a guy who had a very large Black Lab.  The dog was a complete annoyance because he barked at anything that walked by.  At the same time, I felt bad for him because he spent most of his day on a short chain in the yard and his only friend was a bucket of water.  Ramsey and I would encounter him on our walk each day as he stretched his chain to the limit.  I was thankful for that chain because it was pretty obvious he wasn’t looking to come over and play.  His bark was mean and his body language was aggressive.

One day in particular, the Lab’s bark seemed to get louder and louder.  Ramsey stopped in her tracks and immediately started to grunt as she tends to do instead of growl or bark.  I looked over and saw this 100 lb. Black Lab coming at us at full steam.  I started to panic.  I quickly unleashed her so that she could run or do whatever she had to do.  My plan was honestly to climb an evergreen tree on the boulevard if necessary!

And I’ll never forget this as long as I live.

Ramsey put herself directly between me and the Lab – as if to say “you have to go through me first”.  She calmly walked several steps ahead and stopped.  I’d never seen the hair on her back stand so high.  I started shifting towards the tree.  The Lab finally reached us and didn’t even think about slowing down as it lunged for Ramsey.  Ramsey crouched down and the dog actually flew over the top of her and tumbled on to the street.  He got up, spun around and jumped on top of her.  I remember thinking that Ramsey was going to die.  This dog was seemingly twice the size of her.  My reaction was to get in there to try and save Ramsey, but the funny thing is, she was in there trying to save ME.   That Lab would have tore my arm off.

The whole incident probably only lasted thirty seconds but it seemed like an eternity.  I was yelling and watching a big ball of dogs roll around on the ground.   All of the sudden there was a loud and continuous yelp.  I thought it came from Ramsey, but all these sounds were new to me and I couldn’t be sure.  It ended as quick as it started.  Ramsey shot over towards me and literally sat on my feet.   I remember how bad my hand was shaking when I was wiping dog slobber off her and looking for blood.  I glanced over and noticed the other dog was in rough shape.  He was slow to get up and he headed towards home bleeding and without the use of his front left leg.

When I realized that Ramsey didn’t have a scratch on her, my panic turned to anger.  Just then, the owner came outside.  He saw his Lab limping toward him and he started yelling at me.  I couldn’t believe it!  Of course I was yelling back.  After about five minutes of chaos I somehow I managed to explain to him that HIS dog attacked MY dog.  In the back of his mind, he must have known the tendencies that dog because he eventually shut up and apologized.

The only reason I didn’t call the police that day is because it was clear the whole time that his dog was after Ramsey and didn’t want anything to do with me.  If he had attacked me, I would’ve felt obligated to call because there were little kids in the neighborhood and it would only be a matter of time before something worse happened.  Thinking back, the dog didn’t bark when I would walk by without Ramsey.   In this case, I didn’t want to punish a dog that was clearly neglected by his owner and never properly trained or socialized.  The authorities would’ve most likely had him euthanized.

I had never seen Ramsey act like that before and I haven’t seen it since.  Some would argue that I simply witnessed the UNPREDICTABLE NATURE of a dog.  I would argue that I experienced the  UNMATCHED LOYALTY of a dog.   One that would protect what it loves at all costs – no matter how many times I’ve yelled at her for barking or told her to go back to sleep when I wasn’t ready to get up.  I think we as humans could learn a thing or two from our ’shadows’.

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Happy Easter from Ramsey and Pablo!

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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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