OMG that is horrible!

 Quote: dennis jones

I am sure most rescues try the best they can to screen as best they can, when I tried to re home Roxie most of them didn't want anything to do with her...

"Mr Jones, has Roxie ever bit anyone?"

"Only when I told her to"

"Thank you Mr Jones.... oh my look at the time I'm late, we'll get back to you soon........"


Seriously, I think it would be very rare for a dog to bite out of the blue without any sort of warning. Just a guess on my part seeing this poor guy was a dog owner before, he may of initiated some rough housing that his previous dog understood as play and his new dog didn't. hopefully there will be a follow up and an honest statement from the victim

So true. Although rescue dogs go through evaluations you still have to remember the fact that you are dealing with a dog and dogs will be dogs. There is no evaluation thorough enough to detect all of a dog's possible triggers. Also rescues often come from less than perfect backgrounds and can carry baggage because of that.

I would never tell someone to not take in a rescue. Most are great dogs and make wonderful pets but you still have to realize that issues will come up and need to be dealt with. An unknown dog is well, it's unknown and any time you are living with an unknown dog you will need to keep your guard up. Given the right circumstances ANY dog will bite even one you have known all it's life.

I also wondered about the heart attack, stroke, seizure thing too. It says the guy was a retired police officer and he was only 53 years old. If he wasn't retired because of a disability then he was probably in very good physical condition so to have a dog do that much damage sounds uncharacteristic unless he was helpless at the time of the attack.

 Quote: Melissa Thom

Seizure alert dogs (the ones that do the job with any kind of accuracy) usually sit or down on the onset of pre seizure symptoms.

This is a different ball of wax. Just as random movements in kids can trigger some bad behaviors in dogs the random movements, thrashing, and disorientation combined with the people being helpless can create a very horrible situation with a dog that triggers to it.

The worst one that haunts me was an attack on an elderly man in Canada where he was mauled by his dog after suffering a stroke which turned into a predatory moment while the man was aware but unable to get away. The RCMP had to shoot the dog upon entry to the property. This elderly fellow lost an arm and pieces of his face but survived. I cannot imagine the horror of being in such a situation which is part of the reason the rarity of these events is such a blessing.

As a trainer of service dogs and guide dogs, I've never seen anyone use a sit or down as the cue for an impending seizure. The most common cue is nudging. Most SA dogs follow this by staring at the person in the eyes. Sitting or downing could be easily misinterpretted as SDs spend much of their time sitting or downing by their partner when the team is not in motion.

Seizure alerting itself is not taught. The dog either alerts or doesn't. But the cue can be either emphasized or altered to a better cue than the one the dog does naturally. A dog that alerts to seizures is highly unlikely to follow with predatory behavior after the expected seizure ensues.

Seizure response, is a service dog task that IS taught. It is a task the dog does after the seizure, and can be taught to dogs who don't naturally alert. The most common seizure response task, is turning the partner to facilitate easy breathing.

Dogs who any reputable program or private SD trainer certify, must be low to medium low in prey drive. This, as well as the extensive training and evaluations they recieve make the possibility of the dog attacking ANYONE, often not even to defend themselves or their partner; very remote. But their are disreputable programs and trainers who will certify unsuitable dogs for profit.

Joy maybe we've just visited different training circles on the matter. Most of the very few seizure alert dogs I've crossed programs with are for alerting to oncoming seizures. A track record which is super iffy.... http://www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1084289240 for the particular person I was seeing the alert for the dog was trained to down upon seeing a facial tic. Another dog was trained to sit upon hearing a noise that indicated an oncoming seizure for a child.

However this isn't the topic we're talking about. This wasn't a seizure alert dog topic about a service dog attacking a handler. It was about a shelter dog mauling it's handler and searching for the reasons why. Most of these kinds of horrific maulings in my limited memory are associated with the very old, the very young, and being unable to get away due to a medical issue like stroke, confinement, or seizure.

If you want to chat about seizure alert dogs or assistance dogs, I'm game. Just start another thread.

 Quote: melissa thom

... If you want to chat about seizure alert dogs or assistance dogs, I'm game. Just start another thread. ...

As mentioned, the fact that the dog does alert to impending seizures is just there -- you take what you can get, and it's always a motley crew of dogs who happen to offer this service.

"If you want to chat about seizure alert dogs or assistance dogs, I'm game. Just start another thread."

Me too!

I bet you there were tons of signs something bad was going to happen with the dog, they just missed them.

 Quote: Melissa Thom

Joy maybe we've just visited different training circles on the matter. Most of the very few seizure alert dogs I've crossed programs with are for alerting to oncoming seizures. A track record which is super iffy.... http://www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1084289240 for the particular person I was seeing the alert for the dog was trained to down upon seeing a facial tic. Another dog was trained to sit upon hearing a noise that indicated an oncoming seizure for a child.

However this isn't the topic we're talking about. This wasn't a seizure alert dog topic about a service dog attacking a handler. It was about a shelter dog mauling it's handler and searching for the reasons why. Most of these kinds of horrific maulings in my limited memory are associated with the very old, the very young, and being unable to get away due to a medical issue like stroke, confinement, or seizure.

If you want to chat about seizure alert dogs or assistance dogs, I'm game. Just start another thread.

Okay. I'll start another thread. But I wasn't the one to bring up seizure dogs on this thread. Just responded to your post. Look for my new thread to continue this discussion.

 Quote: al curbow

I bet you there were tons of signs something bad was going to happen with the dog, they just missed them.

Its been my experience that there is always plenty of warning. You always hear, "He's never done anything aggressive before!" from people, but that is almost never true.

Since this dog was new to the man, he may not have seen the signs; or he may have triggered the attack by inapproapriate actions. Who can say. But I think the rescue should have seen if the dog had a temperament problem.