Ok - this is something that happened a while back - but I thought I'd ask your opinion about what should have been done.

We had a pitty/lab mix as a rescue foster. One of her issues was friendly jumping on people. I would grab her left paw and twist it slightly to the right, which caused her to fall on her back - I would hold her paw and lower her to the ground, rather than let her fall.

Shortly after this, my husband was visiting his father's apartment in a bad area of town. The guy driving behind him got mad (My husband said he was going the speed limit but he can drive like a jerk sometimes) The guy followed him to the apartment building, they exchanged words, and the guy said "Well I'll show you" He called a pit out of his car and "sicced" it on Tim. Tim told me that the dog didn't seem to want to obey the command - was hesitant. Anyway as the dog jumped up, he did the paw twist trick that we used on Sugar. The dog fell on his back and ran away tail between his legs and hid behind a car. The guy was apparently pretty shocked. There were 5 - 6 witnesses. So, it turned out that the dog was stolen (went home that night)and the guy was arrested. The part that bugs me is the animal control officer that was called out is terrified of dogs, and my husband put the dog in the van. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

But if the guy had any idea of how to train the dog, my husband would be missing pieces of arm!

What would be the correct thing to do. Is there a correct thing to do?

I'd have to say that if the dog were to actual attack your husband he wouldn't have been able to stop the dog with a paw twist, but it sounds like the dog was just a sweet house pet.

As for the animal control guy being terrified of dogs - that is pretty sad. I'd be worried about him enforcing anything dog related because he would be incapable of handling real problems and likely to over react to non-problems.

Your story reminded me of what happened to me this weekend. I took my 10 month GSD pup on a flight from LA to Chicago and back. I was anxious because it was his first flight, but to my surprise he behaved like and angel the whole way.

Anyhow, on the flight back my wife and I got dropped at the curb at Chicago O'hare. I walked over to the sky cap with my dog to inquire about whether there was a special place for checking in dogs. He told me where to go and I turned around and started walking back. My dog was a little excited and he started to pull towards the TSA security guy inside the sky cap kiosk. He was on about a foot and a half leash so he never even got inside, but the TSA guy jumped back and was noticeable startled.

He was obviously petrified of my harmless and extremely friendly puppy. Next thing you know I am being lectured by him about control and I responded to him that my dog was absolutely in control.

Next thing you know, we are in this stand-off because he is supposed to be in a position of control, but he is petrified of my dog. He starts interogating me about why I don;t have a muzzle on and where is my Airport clearance paperwork. He obviously has no idea of the procedure for transporting dogs and I just told him I had no idea what he was talking about and that a muzzle is not a requirement an there is no such paper work.

So he starts back in on the control thing. ANd it goes like this: He points at me and says "control" I say "he is in control" and this little sequence repeats like 5 times. I had a strong feeling he was egging me on to say something because I was doing everything I could to stop from going off on this guy. Of course, I figured, if I had he probably would have arrested me under the guise of airport security.

Nevertheless, I was completely red and 1 blood vessel away from going off on this guy. Finally, I just walked away while he was shouting "control"

Then we made it to the area where you check in kennels and my dog behaved perfectly in a down while every manner of thing passed by him. The airport worker who loads the luggage into the security check, etc. had german shepherds and he loved my dog and bent over backward to help him.

He was really amazing and made the whole trip - nothing like this happened in LA so the service for dogs via United at Chicago O'hare is great provided you don't run into this one TSA guy. It took me 3 hours to stop being angry about that guy.

Sounds like that uy was just mad that he's a woossy scaredy-cat. I would have gone off on him. When it comes to the rules and laws regarding handling of animals, I make sure I know them forwards and backwards, better than anyome who could try to confront me. (So I won't make a fool of myself)

Well as for animal control...
In this city, animal control is the part-time position that police officers start in. They rotate between animal control, meter maid and fingerprinting. They have no training in animal handling. One of the receptionists at the vet clinic is an on-call person for when animal control can't handle an animal. She said every time, the officers have a terrified dog cornered in a house or garage. She just walks in with a collar and leash and asks the dog if it wants to "go for a walk" and has never had a problem! So when I see a stray pitty, I go after it. I want dogs to go to the shelter so the owners have to pay the fine for the dog running loose.

He was lucky it was just a house pet! Is there guidelines for if it really is "vicious"? They guy I work with that ran Paws and Claws Humane Association and does Personal Protection work with his dogs, would get called to handle dogs from drug houses. He says the only thing possible to avoid getting bitten is to find something else to stick in the dog's mouth. Not a very safe option in my eyes - but still better than nothing.

What city and county do you live in ?

Eau Claire, WI

howdy Anne, Im from Fond du Lac, WI