Originally Posted By: laidback
Ya'll can blast away at me but I wouldn't have put the dog down.Getting rid of it was the right thing to do but I think it could have been placed somewhere in a home with no kids and owners who understood the circumstances. It sounds like to me he was startled out of his sleep and was doing what he thought was protecting his family. If he had been hellbent on biting your son it looks like the bites would have been much worse even though it was bad.I would have had a hard time putting down what had been my son's best friend for 5 years under these circumstances.




I've always said that I would kill my dog in a heartbeat if it bit me or one of my kids. However I had a situation happen a few weeks ago that made me think on that a little, and it goes back to the situational thing that laidback mentioned. A few weeks ago a thunderstorm blew up about an hour after it got dark. The thunder and lighting was pretty severe. I heard my lab come on the front deck and get up against the front door. I opened the door and she was standing in the doorway looking out at the storm and there was lighting popping everywhere. I guess she didn't hear me open the door and I reached down and put my hand on her back to calm her down. She jumped about a two feet straight away from me and the whirled and lunged at my hand. Just before getting to me she realized what she was doing and just bumped my hand with her nose. She was coming after me though... no doubt about it. In that situation, I would have forgave it and let it be because that was my fault. Those bites in that pic are pretty severe though..... I would be inclined to shoot it if it were mine. That's more than a little bite.

"Some men are mere hunters; others are turkey hunters."

-- Archibald Rutledge