http://www.abbynews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=38&cat=23&id=782457&more=

*Shakes head with disgust*

The boy that was attacked is a friend of mine's son. He recieved 172 stitches to close the wounds. I love how the media attempts to put a "kinder" spin on things.

Wait, I thought the article read very objectively.

Are you speaking of a "kinder spin" because they did not specifically address 172 stitches? Because they did not ridicule and condemn the handler? Because it noted *factually* that the dog had been actually playing with children earlier?

Horrible event for your friends child, terrible, awful for him as a young boy.

I am just curious how you would have preferred to see the article written?

I would of liked to seen the handler raked over the coals instead of the K9

Point there taken. However, I do think, the last sentence in the article pretty much sums up raking the handler over the coals. A k9 being removed from its handler?

Very sensitive subject.

IMO, a graphic description to the child's side may have sparked city "hysteria" regarding k9's, a vivid description of extreme punitive measures to the handler could likely have created doubt/public disregard for department/K9 units.

I will say again, I thought the article was written objectively, factually, with consciencious regard to the community there.

Hind sight is PERFECT - and I have never seen a news paper reporter who let the facts get in the way of a good story.

I spent 3 weeks at Innesfail Alberta (the headquarters for the RCMP K9 unit) These are the best trained most professional police K9 handlers I have ever seen. The standards they are held to would eliminate 98% of the K9handlers around the world.

Accidents happens and sometimes things happen that were not caused from handler error.

The correct response here is lets wait until all the facts are known. The RCMP are good cops and will be the first one to admit when a mistake is made.

A few more details then...

The handler of the dog went to the hospital and spoke to my friend and his son. It goes without saying that he felt absolutely sick about the incident. Some big name brass came out in person to talk with my friend from back east and they're treating this very seriously.

I have no doubt that the situation will be resolved professionally, and with the utmost compassion and regard for the boy and his family.

The "spin" I disagreed with was simply that "it bit an eight-year-old boy" and "The boy was taken to MSA Hospital, where he received stitches on his right forearm." doesn't quite do justice to the injury or the seriousness of the event. If it were one of my ring dogs I'm certain the term "mauling", "brutal", "savage" or at least a couple of strong adjectives would have been thrown into the mix. And I don't think my dog would still be walking the earth.

I'm curious as to why if people had seen this dog playing with children they didn't think to try and contact the owner. This is NOT the kind of dog I would want to see running around with children.

 Quote: michele mcatee

Point there taken. However, I do think, the last sentence in the article pretty much sums up raking the handler over the coals. A k9 being removed from its handler?

Very sensitive subject.

IMO, a graphic description to the child's side may have sparked city "hysteria" regarding k9's, a vivid description of extreme punitive measures to the handler could likely have created doubt/public disregard for department/K9 units.

I will say again, I thought the article was written objectively, factually, with consciencious regard to the community there.

It looks like the article has already provoked hysteria:

I posted this yesterday.

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=119594&Searchpage=1&Main=13194&Words=&topic=2&Search=true#Post119594

No disrespect to the boy and his family.

Yes...I thought I'd read something somewhere about the same town...couldn't remember where.

So, so sad and again, sensitive. My prayers to their community and to the handler/team. Like Ed said, accidents happen. Obviously, even in the best of the best.

There are some pretty strong opinions here on this subject, and I don't think any of them are wrong or without merit. Yes it's tragic (I'm so happy the poor lad wasn't hurt more severly than he was; I'm sure we all know what I mean), yes if this dog were privately owned the "linchining" being called for against dog and handler would have probably already come to fruition, the parents are pissed, and their son is probably emotionally scarred!

But, if there is some kind of defect or mental malfunction with this service animal the RCMP will take all appropriate measures to correct the issue with regard to the public's best interests. I can guarantee that public safety is NUMBER ONE on the agenda of the RCMP! I'm sure this incident is both embarrassing and emotionally stressful for those involved and the force as a whole.

However, I don't mean to downplay the real issue here or defend the incident. As a fellow Canadian, my heart goes out to your friends, thier family, and especially their young son.

Unfortunately, as with most tragic accidents, it takes the actual occurrence of the incident for us, as human beings, to realize faults in our daily practices and I'm sure we will see future improvements in all PSD units across our country as a result of this one.

Ed, thank you for your comments.

Well I've given it some more thought, and I think best case scenario the dog has to be re-located to answer the concerns of the neighborhood. And for clarification, the boy in question doesn't live near there so there wouldn't be a history of teasing and I'm sure the handler wouldn't have had his dog in a place where he could be teased by children.

Comment/Question for the PSD handlers out there... I think it speaks to the dogs temperment that he didn't come off the original bite and start doing major damage to the boy with mulitiple bites despite being bashed repeatedly with snow shovels and finally "The club" (one of those auto theft detterent devices that locks the steering wheel.) Also, since it was bystanders and neighbors attacking the dog I'm curious why the dog didn't then engage it's attackers. I'm a firefighter and we have four members who live on that street and one of the guys is on my shift. He told me that when the dog came off the three people that were hitting it "stood guard" with their implements and the dog just sat quietly in a driveway. Only once did the dog attempt to walk away and a very loud "DOWN" was all it took to keep the dog still until the handler eventually showed up.