Chicago Man Killed by Daughter’s Dogs
You can read the story in the Chicago Tribune about the man who was killed by his daughter's dogs that were living in the home. At this point, not much is known about the attack and whether all, or just some of the 4 adult dogs and several puppies that resided in the home.
Dr. Hetts was interviewed for the story and said that rather than focusing on the dogs' breed – said by authorities to be "pit bulls" – it's important to consider all the factors that likely contributed to this tragic attack.
At this point, we can only speculate as to what might have happened, but it appears that the daughter was breeding the dogs, suggesting that some or all of the 4 adults were intact (not spayed or neutered). If there was a female in heat, that could certainly have caused an intense degree of arousal and potential social conflict if intact adult males were also present.
The attack on the man could have been a case of redirected aggression, meaning that the man wasn't the initial target for the dogs' aggression, but the behavior was directed onto him. Or, he could have tried to intervene in a fight between the dogs.
Suzanne has been an expert witness in four fatal dog attack cases, and in all but one of the four, it was clear the dog or dogs involved were dangerous prior to the fatal attack. As Suzanne said in the article, a number of factors contribute to creating circumstances that result in fatal attacks. These can include a lack of socialization, abusive treatment, either active or passive encouragment of aggressive and threatening behaviors by the owner, and the dogs not being spayed or neutered. Unfortunately, the media often wants to focus on the dog's breed as the most important factor, which is actually only one of many.
Breeds that have been bred for protection, guarding, or fighting can be expected to have lower thresholds for aggression in certain circumstances. That does not mean they are inherently dangerous. But owners of such breeds need to take extra care to intensely socialize their dogs, train them so that they are well behaved and controlled, spay or neuter them, and not encourage aggressive behavior. When just the opposite happens, a dangerous situation is created – which may have been the case in Chicago.
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4 Responses to “Chicago Man Killed by Daughter’s Dogs”
Suz and Dan
Thanks Dany – we are aware of Janis and her book. It's quite interesting
Suzanne and Dan
Dany Grosemans
Hi, There is a great book with lots of data about aggression. I found it very interesting.
DOGS BITE But Balloons And Slippers Are More Dangerous. By Janis Bradley.
Regards.
Dany Grosemans/Belgium
Suz and Dan
Hi Rachel – we'd like to see those stats too, but unfortunately they don't exist at least to our knowledge! The type of information we have about dogs bites is pretty rudimentary. There was a project undertaken here in Colorado that we'll write more about soon in another post – that was at least a well intentioned attempt to get better data, but was in our opinion somewhat flawed because of the kind of data that were collected.
More later – stay tuned!
Suzanne and Dan
Rachel_PawPurrry
This is a great piece because I appreciate the fact that you have stressed that just because a particular dog breed might be predisposed to certain behaviours, it doesn't mean that they are not inherently dangerous…none of these articles ever mentions the irresponsibility of the owners. NEVER! I would like to see some stats on the things that the owners have done in relationship to the breed of the dog.