Worst Story
 

Unreal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/us/19dog.html?_r=1&hp

Oh man I took one look at the headline and the picture and couldn't even read it. :(

I've never understood why a dog's life is more important than a human's? There have been many U.S. troops killed here at home, several by a deranged Muslim Dr. The dog story is sad but far from the worst story.

Of course that's my opinion.

Dogs can't defend themselves. I'm not equating life here but there is a difference.

neither could the troops killed while eating in a cafeteria?

Again, there is a difference to me...

Why because the troops knowingly joined the marines to protect us, while the dog did nothing knowingly and was put down like a human fetus?

This is not a debate Dell...I think the story is awful for lots of reasons. That was my title.

it's awful I will agree but far from the worst. The Jewish reporter who had his head cut off on tape comes to mind. Not to mention the 4 securuty guards hung off and burned to death hanging off a bridge. In the big scheme of things this dog didn't mean shiat! But again that's my opinion

That's sad. It happens all the time. The past two years have been worse for shelters, as more and more families give up the pet because they can't feed it. There are not alot of homes and pets are pretty disposable in the US. They are euthanized.

The solution is to microchip your pet. Every dog I've ever bred, and sold to others, has a microchip that comes back to me. Period.

I had a woman bring a little Chihuahua into a clinic where I was doing relief work once a few years back - she had two kids, this adorable little dog she said she "just found a couple days ago at X location", had just bought the dog tons of dog clothes and toys - and she said no, she hadn't bothered to look for it's owner, nor called the shelter saying she found it.

I scanned it, it had a microchip, I told the woman it had a microchip and that proved ownership, I called the microchip agency, they gave me the owners telephone, and the owner and the police were there in 20 minutes. The dog was missing out of their well-fenced backyard in 10 minutes of time 4 weeks ago.

Sounds like one of the dozen a trainer I know has in Louisville. :D

Please. Those dogs are officially cool ;)

I'm jealous, as you can have 5-6 of those little suckers for one 90-pounder :D

He looked like a statue with pigeons on him when eating.

I agree with you that it is obviously much worse if a person gets killed than a dog. But that doesn't mean it's not really sad when a dog gets killed.

I don't see a contradiction here. Both situations are sad.

They fired the person who did this.

As well it should be. Little consolation to the dog owner. Heartbreaking story, and I don't mean that in any way that's it's more important than any other cavalier death of an animal or as important as a death of a human. But, I can only imagine how his owner felt as he was the one who came to aid of those who were wounded. This dog and her companion most probably saved the lives of a dozen or more military personnel in that barracks by not allowing the bomber to gain entrance.

I will say this about the story. Living in the state that it happened in gives us the whole story. This dog had no chip in it and no dog collar. As a dog owner,4 of them, i have collars on them and they are all chipped by their vet. I also have the back gates closed and locked. The guy had done none of this and he had the dog for many years. Its a terrible story for all concerned, but the owner must take some responsibility.

News is international on this story. And despite your living in the state where it happened and assuming you have the whole story, you have your story wrong - Terry Young has only had Target home with him since August - not years.

I don't know how the dog got loose or why she wasn't wearing a collar, but I doubt it would have made any difference. The shelter worker was intent on putting that dog down due to wrong paperwork. The dog was there less than two days when she was euthanized.

:tro:

Microchip your dog.
Collar/tag your dog.

As soon as the dog is missing call local animal control and/or police immediately.

Go to the shelter first thing the next morning and look at each dog yourself - do not call as ask if they "picked up a border collie"

Go to the shelter daily to look for your dog.

Why weren't the owners there?

(and yes, I think this is a horrible story and the shelter was wrong)

Because it stated on the shelter's web-site that the facility was only open Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Terry Young said he called and left a message that the dog was his, and he'd be by to pick up the dog on Monday.

Target was wearing her pink camo collar - the one she's wearing in the pics taken of her. There, however, was no tag on it. That was ill thought by Mr. Young. All dogs should have I.D. attached to their collar.

The story is that there were two dogs in the same run - the other dog was the one that was scheduled to be put down, but the shelter worker took Target instead. When Terry Young showed up Monday morning, they brought out the dog that was supposed to be put down. Only then did the shelter realize what it had horribly done.

Mr. Young states that he filled out paperwork for a city license and sent it in but hadn't heard anything back.

My warning point is if you lose a dog, and you want dog back, you need to not trust shelters, or the 'shelter system' to work - you need to aggressively go find your dog. Physically go to the shelters immediately (with your appropriate posters/pictures) You have to be politely dead-set that they pay attention to you (like when you fly with a dog)

That type of employee - well intentioned, undertrained, mistake-prone - is the rule in many shelters, unfortunately, not the exception.

I work with two awesome major national breed rescues, and they try to have a shelter employee meet a designate that night, if necessary, to release the dog - not wait until morning. Because the above happens.

In my experienced, 60-75% of pups and dogs coming out of shelters are misidentified anyway by shelter employees as to color and breed types - collie mixes called shepherds, AmStaffs called pits, etc. Dogs have been put down because, "Oh, we knew you lost a yellow lab mix, but we thought that was a Golden mix we euthanized. Sorry."

Believe me, there are tons of people out there, too, that just keep stray dogs, and never even bother to look for an owner. A microchip proves ownership definitively - even years later.

There was recently a Weim stolen out of it's owners' yard as a 9-month-old (Michigan I think), found here in KY this year - and returned to the original owners, and the dog is like 6 or 7 now! Pretty awesome :tro: