Gentle German Shepherds killed; owners say they were shot by hunters

[Kittilicious]

Originally Posted by LARHAGE

I know dogs shouldn't roam loose, but they were near their house and just explored, they are dogs and dogs do that, the point is MOST decent people don't shoot a dog for being on their property, I always try to find a dogs owner that wanders on my property and I have livestock, it is just the ugly, cruel nature of these a-holes, I hope to God a deer jams their antlers through their black hearts or a car accident leaves them mangled and suffering, filth like these men don't deserve to breath the air we share as decent, copmpassionate people, I can't wait till the day their hideous souls rot in ****!!!!

Tell us how you really feel!

[AbbyK9]

I can only agree with what everyone else has said already.

Yes, it's an awful thing that these hunters shot the dogs - but we have no idea in what circumstances they were shot. If they were running deer, which is illegal in most places, the hunters would have been well within their rights to shoot them.

I think it's awful also that the owners are placing the blame only on the hunters and not on themselves at all. It was their dogs who were running loose on someone else's property - these hunters didn't come onto their property to shoot the dogs. And the dogs were under nobody's control.

Actually, the article says the dogs "were playing in the yard when they decided to explore. Hautala and Kuoppala followed, hollering their names." So, basically, the dogs were in an unfenced yard and suddenly took off. Maybe after deer. Maybe "to explore". But, at any rate, they were loose in an unfenced area and clearly didn't respond to being called which is a pretty basic obedience skill. Then they ran onto someone else's property and wound up dead.

I think this is an owner's failure to keep the dogs safe. They should have either been in a fenced yard or had sufficient training to stop them if they decided to take off. It doesn't excuse the fact that these dogs were shot, BUT the dogs would have never been shot were it not for those circumstances.

[selzer]

Two dogs running off and not listening for the calls of their owners do not sound like they were just exploring, it sounds like they heard or saw something and were going after it. That is a guess, but when my dogs are just exploring, and I call them, they make a bee-line for me. The reason most dogs do not recall is if whatever they are interested in, is more exciting then their owner, ie prey drive.

But the fact is, we can do NOTHING about the actions of our neighbors and their friends. We CAN keep our dogs on our property. We cannot FORCE the whole world to be animal lovers, to have morals and ethics, to be considerate, but we CAN protect our dogs. I will save my livid outrage for the people who have someone come on to their property and shoot or poison or otherwise kill or try to kill their dogs. I feel bad for the dogs and the kids, but I think the dog-owners should shoulder their responsibility.

[Franksmom]

Originally Posted by AbbyK9

I can only agree with what everyone else has said already.

Yes, it's an awful thing that these hunters shot the dogs - but we have no idea in what circumstances they were shot. If they were running deer, which is illegal in most places, the hunters would have been well within their rights to shoot them.

I think it's awful also that the owners are placing the blame only on the hunters and not on themselves at all. It was their dogs who were running loose on someone else's property - these hunters didn't come onto their property to shoot the dogs. And the dogs were under nobody's control.

Actually, the article says the dogs "were playing in the yard when they decided to explore. Hautala and Kuoppala followed, hollering their names." So, basically, the dogs were in an unfenced yard and suddenly took off. Maybe after deer. Maybe "to explore". But, at any rate, they were loose in an unfenced area and clearly didn't respond to being called which is a pretty basic obedience skill. Then they ran onto someone else's property and wound up dead.

I think this is an owner's failure to keep the dogs safe. They should have either been in a fenced yard or had sufficient training to stop them if they decided to take off. It doesn't excuse the fact that these dogs were shot, BUT the dogs would have never been shot were it not for those circumstances.

Agree!
I think it's very sad that the dogs were killed in this way, but I also wonder from what was stated in the article if this was a first time the dogs had been on the neighbors property or if it had happened numerous times with a neighbor type fued going on and the dogs got caught in the middle of it.

[crackem]

why is everyone so quick to want to hang the hunters? you have a story from a person who's dogs were shot because they let them wander onto private property during a major hunting season. Dogs that were "going to be therapy" dogs that couldn't even follow a recall command. I'm going to take a wild guess and say the story portrayed isn't the story that really played out.

[selzer]

Everyone?

[PaddyD]

Originally Posted by selzer

Hunters will shoot dogs running deer. Dog owners need to protect their dogs. The dogs were loose and off their property. It is sad that this happened. But your dog should not be off your property, out of your sight, and out of your control.

That said, most hunters own dogs and really need a reason to shoot one, and do not do it happily.

What I find hard to understand is why the deer stand would be 150 feet from the dog-owner's property. That sounds like they are setting up deer stands really close to dwellings. Does not make a lot of sense. But whatever. If this happened the way they said, then these people wouldn't be very likely to care how near someone's house they were.

However the story really sounds writtten to jerk the tears out of people. They were being trained to be therapy dogs -- they had so much more to give. My son usually sleeps with them, my daughter was dragging the dog and crying. They called us hillbillies, get the **** off my property. She and her husband were there, two dogs, how come the daughter had to drag the dog away?

I know I am pretty callous. But people should not let their dogs roam over other people's property at any time, and particularly when there are a lot of city people running around with guns in the woods, looking for anything to shoot at.

When owners are ignorant, dogs suffer, and it is sad. These people failed their dogs.

Yup, you are pretty callous. And the word is spelled IGNORANT. But I guess you are igorant of that.
There is no reason these dogs should have been shot even if they were in the wrong place. If these ***** are such good shots they could have chosen to make the RIGHT decision.

[Dainerra]

if that was really the hunters' attitude (hard to guess because the tone of the article is obviously slanted) then they are losers. But, shoot/shovel/shut up is a a pretty old farmer code.

The dogs were off the property. The dogs didn't come when called. The dogs' bodies were on the neighbor's property.

I put 1000% of the blame on the owners and less than 1% of the hunters. The only reason they get any blame at all is that I think they likely heard the people calling for the dogs, so knew that they were trying to round them up. If, however, the people were actually farther behind and they weren't heard, then all the blame is on the owners

[Dainerra]

Originally Posted by PaddyD

Yup, you are pretty callous. And the word is spelled IGNORANT. But I guess you are igorant of that.
There is no reason these dogs should have been shot even if they were in the wrong place. If these A$$holes are such good shots they could have chosen to make the RIGHT decision.

I wouldn't call it callus. and if anyone was ignorant, it was the owners of the dogs. It's the middle of deer season. The dogs obviously don't have a good recall and were off-leash and outside a fenced area.

[PaddyD]

Who pulled the trigger?
It's OK to shoot a dog when it is in the 'wrong' place?
Does the word 'humane' come into mind? Does the word 'judicious' come into mind? Does the word 'considerate' come into mind?
You people astound me.
And the word is spelled callous, not callus.
Yup, you people astound me.