Rotts Kill 11-Year-Old Boy: The Sabine Davidson Murder Trial

By Ed Frawley

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Lessons to Learn from Many Mistakes

In Junction City, Kansas, Sabine Davidson was charged with reckless second-degree murder. On April 24th, 1997, three of Davidson's four Rottweilers killed 11-year-old Christopher Wilson as he waited for a school bus. On January 15, 1998, I testified for 2 1/2 hours for the prosecution in this case.

The facts in this case are rather repulsive. Sabine Davidson is a German native married to an American. She had 4 imported Rottweilers. One being a 3-year-old Sch 2. She had done protection training on the other 3 (although she denied it). She kept these dogs in the backyard—not in kennels—just running together in the yard. The gate on the yard was defective and the dogs were constantly getting out and terrorizing children in the neighborhood. Several neighborhood children testified that they had been chased more than once when the dogs were out of the yard. Davidson had been warned on a number of occasions by the police to fix the gate and keep her dogs contained. She and her husband did nothing to correct this situation.

On April 24th, 1997, Christopher Wilson and his younger brother went out to wait for the bus. The Rotts got loose and chased them up a tree. The Rotts left and went to a wooded ravine about 50 yards away. When the bus came Christopher climbed down (as his bother pleaded with him to stay) and made a run for the bus. The Rotts charged and attacked him before he could get to the bus.

The killing took over 10 minutes. The photos of the scene looked like autopsy photos. It was witnessed by a bus full of children and the bus driver (a female in her 30s who could do nothing to help). When the first police officer arrived on the scene, he was attacked by the male. It took 3 shots to kill the dog as it charged the officer. One of the other 3 Rotts was shot at the scene and the third was wounded and ran off. A police K9 tracked the dog as it made a 3-mile loop back to the wooded area behind the Davidson house where it was also shot by police.

Sabine Davidson (and her husband) show no remorse for this incident. In fact, she blames the children for teasing her dog (which testimony indicated never happened). They claim they had never trained their dogs in bite work even though they had purchased a bite training video from me. She has also been thrown out of several local Schutzhund clubs.

This case is one of the most disgusting examples of dog ownership that I have ever seen. It demonstrates a callous lack of responsibility. This woman and her husband deserve every minute of jail time the Judge and Jury choose to give them.

There are a number of lessons that can be learned from this case:

• Dogs should never be allowed to live together in a group. This is not a breed-specific statement. It applies to ALL BREEDS. All dogs need to be kenneled separately from the time they are 8 weeks old. The only exception to this rule is when a male and female are allowed to share the same pen or home. Dogs that live together form a "PACK". When this happens there is always an "alpha" pack leader. If a dog does not have a problem with dominance before assuming this role, he quickly develops a problem. If he was a dominant male before, "packing up" is just reinforced by the pecking order of living as a dominant pack leader.

  A pack becomes territorial and prey motivated. The pack's territory IS NOT JUST THE BACKYARD. It's the entire area the animals roam in. So if the owner walks the dog 4 blocks one way and 3 blocks another, the dogs will consider those areas their territory. In the Davidson case, the territory was the entire neighborhood the dog ran in when they were out of the yard. The reason they aggressively ran the fence and barked at kids was not because the kids were teasing them, but because the dogs became very territorial and saw the kids as intruders in their territory and ultimately as prey.

• While Rotts are going to take a beating for this case, this is not a situation that proves that this breed is any more dangerous than any other. Trust me, it could have happened with German Shepherds, Dobermans, or any other large breed that is allowed to pack up. Especially if individuals within the pack have temperament problems.
• Dog owners need to make sure that the containment system they use is secure. If a dog gets out one time, this should send up red flags that something needs to be changed. Gates need to have bolts tightened or new latches put on. Latches need to be clipped and chain links need to have extra fasteners put on the chain.
• If a dog is to be protection trained, it is the responsibility of the owner (and trainer) to recognize good temperament and follow the training procedures. This means that in addition to protection training, a dog needs to be obedience trained. If he displays signs of dominance (see my article titled Dealing with the Dominant Dog) steps must be taken to control this behavior.

In the case of the Davidsons, I can only comment on the 4th Rott that was in the house at the time of the incident. I saw video of this dog being tested by Tom Brenneman (at the request of the District Attorneys) and video of the same dog being tested by some guy for the defense (he didn't have a clue about what he was doing).

This 4th Rott had weak nerves. It was not a social animal. It was a sharp dog that was quick to bark. It lacked self-confidence and prey drive. When pushed, it bit with a frontal bite. In my opinion, it should never have been trained. It would never have passed a Schutzhund temperament test. When released and the helper stimulated the dog with a whip from a distance, the dog did a standoff hold and bark. It was very obvious that this dog had some protection training. No dog with weak nerves is going to react like she did without training. When pushed, the dog came very close to running before it bit.

Schutzhund clubs need to be prepared to do what the clubs in Missouri and Kansas did. They refused to work with this lady. Not only were her dogs unsuitable, she did not bring crates or water to the training sessions. They were all loose in the back of her station wagon and her dogs were constantly getting loose during training.

Some Schutzhund people (who do not know the facts of this case) have been concerned that this incident is putting a black cloud over the name of the sport. The fact is, this did not happen. The local Schutzhund people acted responsibly. They recognized the flaws in the temperament of both the dogs and the handler. They refused to work with her. I talked to one club member who shook his head and commented that even though it was difficult to throw her out of the club, they were ever so lucky they had done so.

So words of advice, if someone comes to your club and refuses to follow the rules or if there is something amiss in their temperament or their dog's temperament, don't work with them. They are an accident waiting to happen. It's the old story: if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

Sabine Davidson and her husband were both charged in this case. Their lawyers chose to have separate trials.

The jury teetered on whether or not to charge Davidson with manslaughter or second-degree murder. Manslaughter meant that it was an accident due to negligence. But it gets bumped up to second-degree murder when it's an accident due to intentional negligence.

There were several instances that Davidson's Rottweilers got out. She was warned repeatedly to fix the gate but chose not to.

Ultimately, Sabine Davidson was convicted of reckless second-degree murder in the death of 11-year-old Christopher Wilson. She received 12 years in prison.

About Author

Ed Frawley

Ed Frawley is the founder of Leerburg. He has been training dogs since the 1950s. For 30 years, Ed bred working bloodline German Shepherds and has produced over 350 litters. During this time, Ed began recording dog training videos and soon grew an interest in police service dogs. His narcotic dogs have been involved in over 1,000 narcotics searches resulting in hundreds of arrests in the state of Wisconsin. Ed now solely focuses on producing dog training courses with renowned dog trainers nationwide. If you want to learn more about Ed, read about his history here.

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