by Pat Lunsford

Created on: January 22, 2007   Last Updated: October 12, 2009

Dogs that attack humans should be restrained while the incident is being investigated. If it was a fatal attack with no evidence of provocation, the dog should be put down.

Most dogs usually don't attack humans unless they're provoked. Determining whether or not a dog had a valid reason for an attack on a human is a very difficult job. In some cases, there seems to be no explainable reason. It could be a simple case where the dog didn't like the scent of their cologne or for some reason or another, the dog felt threatened. Then again, there is the probability that the dog, for whatever reason, just didn't like the person.

When a dog bites someone, leaving a terrible wound, and it is discovered that the dog had ample reason to think it was acting correctly, the dog should not be put down. And in a case where the dog was provoked, the owners should not be punished.

There was a woman sitting on a bench in the park near the school I once attended. She had a beagle on a leash sitting at her feet. A young man sat beside the woman and tried to pet the dog. The dog growled at him. He thought it was cute and began to tease the dog.

The woman asked him to stop, warning him that the dog may bite him. Nevertheless, he kept at it and of course, the dog bit him. He jumped to his feet and began to kick the woman's dog. Bystanders who saw the whole thing hurried over. The police were called and having heard the testimonies of eye witnesses, he agreed that the dog, in this case, had every reason to react the way it did.

When I was a child, I had a spaniel who had a litter around the back of our house. A little boy wandered into the front yard and my dog came racing around the house and attacked the little boy. I was furiously chasing my dog, begging her to stop.

The boy's father came running over and snatched up his little boy. My dog simply turned and went back to her litter. The little boy's injuries were serious enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room.

My parents naturally paid for the medical bills, and the boy's parents didn't press charges, knowing the dog had a litter of puppies. But the little boy suffered a terrible trauma. My dog should have been in a fenced yard and the boy's father would have been within his rights to take my father to court.

If the attack was fatal or maiming and there's no evidence of provocation, the dog should be put down. People should not take a chance on the life of another possible human victim by simply hoping it doesn't happen again. When people hurt other people, we take steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again. At the same time, however, when we feel threatened, we take the steps necessary to defend ourselves. Why should it be any different with dogs?

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