Hi CJ, I appreciated very much your caring post. The dog's name was Czak and he was around 3 years old plus a couple of months when all of this happened. I didn't mean to type him by his upbringing, but it did seem to be a factor in his behavior. He was always easily weirded out by odd things, such as people carrying things, and men in particular he had reservations about.

When some men came to our house, he would actually run upstairs to get away from them. (Not really hiding, like under a bed or tail between legs, he just wanted to not be anywhere near them.) For the main two men friends that he ran from the one thing they had in common was they gave him a command, I think simply "sit" in both cases (I was not present, I don't allow people to command my dogs) (absolutely no harshness, nothing physical whatsoever, just a strong projection of personality is what I gathered from the descriptions by family, and it made sense to me at the time as these guys project strongly but are real sweeties.) For strange men, he approached them very submissively but without obvious fear. Once they did the whole high-pitched voice friendly thing, he would explode in relief and happy-dog-greetings.So I always felt that he had some suspicion of men.

Claudette, I am sorry for what your dad went through. It must have been truly horrific. I'm even more sorry that what probably could have been a great dog had to lose his life because of human ignorance and refusal to learn. and being 70 is no excuse. I'm getting close to that age myself and I'm still learning new things about dogs, training (and other things) every day.

If you ever bring another dog into your parent's home make sure it is one more suitable for them and their abilities rather than a breed you happen to love. And, please, even if you have to do it, make sure any future dog is well socialized because, sadly, this one was not. And that plus the fact that he had no leadership was a recipe for the disaster that unfortunately occurred.

Elaine, thank you for your kind post. It's hard for me to be very
angry with my Dad when his main sin was being too nice. I help them as I can, but whether or not they take the advice isn't up to me. There is no question that I will not be pushing large breeds on them in the future.

What is it with fathers and dogs?....my dad is not allowed to do anything with my dog. He completely underestimates him and cannot read him. He thinks its ok to let the dog decide if strangers are ok....I asked him what exactly do you think YOU can do if he decides to be aggressive? My dad is 70 and has balance issues. Do you think he should even try and handle a 80lb working dog? He thought he could. Sometimes their ego is bigger than them...the dads, not the dogs.

My Dad did EVERYTHING wrong with our first rehomer Boxer, and Rocky was a complete bloody nightmare all his long life, we were all just young kids, and if we dared voice an opinion, it was shot down with "I have had dogs all my life, I know what I am doing!"

I haven't let him near the Boerboels, they need a lot of firm handling, and I know he would try and 'play' with them like he can the Pointers, he is 80 now, and an accident waiting to happen with dogs of their size and power.

He is fixed in his ways and still knows best with everything, which is such a chore...

FWIW, I am sorry for what happened to your Dad, but I am also very sad for your dog, sounds like it was a bad mix from the start, I expect it has been a terribly hard lesson for you to have had to learn, and live with.

 Quote: tracey holden

"I have had dogs all my life, I know what I am doing!"

How many times have you heard this? There were at least three such replies in the "Fama Chronicles", from people who wanted to discount the warnings of the handler and show off their ability to interact with the obviously intimidating creature. I'm always awed by how differently similar situations can be viewed and handled by different people with similar experience.

I've been around dogs all of my life, but MY experience mandates that I exercise caution and due diligence around large, intimidating dogs, especially if they're making a threatening display. Even friendly-looking big, working breed dogs have my respect and distance, at least until the handler has provided a reasonable introduction and acknowledgement.

My dog can be intimidating. Though she is certainly not vicious, she can be defensive and she has made aggressive displays to passers-by. Even if she's interested in someone and wants to be friendly, she has a habit of approaching them quickly and directly, and some people are afraid of her because they are not sure of her intentions. Because she is a GSD and because not everyone is familiar with dogs, I tend to treat every occurrence with the same caution as if I was hanging on to an uncontrollable monster. This alone is enough warning for MOST people, but to be sure, if someone asks "Does she bite?", I usually respond with "Maybe".

Even then, I still get "I have had dogs all my life, I know what I am doing!"

Duane, an even better response to the "does he bite?"

- "Only sometimes".

And if they are still approaching, I say "he hasn't bitten me in a few weeks, so you're welcome to try"

That usually keeps the teenagers from playing schnookum/wookums with my beast.

Claudette Some of the hardest lessons we learn are the toughest.

i'd been waiting to see how old the dog was before posting but now that i see the dog was older than three years , i'm gonna come right out and say it :

your dad is a dumbass who got what he deserved . unless he has some sort of dementia , a guy can't can't play that game for that long with a dog of that size and temperament without having some idea where it was going to lead .

i feel bad for you that you had to witness the act , and that you probably had to take the dog on his last ride , way before his time . unfortunately that relationship was probably on that path from the get go .

of course , i feel the worst for the dog , who through no fault of his own wound up bearing the brunt of your dads' ignorance .

sorry i chose to play the devils' advocate in this thread , but i'm willing to bet i've stated what a lot of BB members are thinking .

i sincerely hope your dad takes this lesson forward with him for a long and fulfilling retirement .

 Quote: Webboard User

My father could have been killed just for walking around the house at night, even if he committed the crime of being a poor dog-handler

The crime of being a piss poor dog handler will always end with someone getting hurt or worse. And the crime is always punished. What's even worse is that the judge and jury are often the offenders themselves and in order to redirect that guilt, the ultimate sentence gets applied to the most innocent of victims.

Yes your father could have been killed walking around his house but it's not "even if" he committed the crime, it is "because" he committed the crime.

This pup was tormented by that poor handling and killed for just living in the same house that this "crime" was being committed.

 Quote: Webboard User

My dad is more of a child when it comes to dogs. He doesn't assert himself in any way. It wouldn't even cross his mind to hit a dog. He wouldn't even yell at one.

And this is the part that always gets me. It's so ironic. Wouldn't raise a voice or put any effort into changing the situation but has no problem using that voice to end a life. As simple as that. We've got a problem, let's kill him.

If that's a childlike kindness, the flipside terrifies me. It sounds like somebody needs to grow up.

 Quote: Al Curbow

It was his dog, didn't anybody actually read the post.

Yes; however, every other post leading up to this one, he was her dog.

I have limited tolerance for half truths..... make that NO tolerance. I doubt the story told is true; not the way it's written anyway.