Service Dog Attack

[LARHAGE]

Oh My God!!! I was at a tack store where my best friend works, this man and woman come in with a HUGE Bernese Mountain Dog with an orange vest that says " Don't pet". The man asks my friend for help with a saddle and my friend starts to show him some, I go and wait at her desk and the woman walks over to my friends desk and starts to ask me about the dog pictures on the desk and wall, my friend has a beautiful red/black Showline that she competes in Obedience with and is doing great with, the lady says " Oh I don't trust Shepherds, they are unpredictable, lol!!! I tell her they are simply put the best dogs in the world and of course show her a picture of my Gavin, she than walks over to her friend looking at saddles and the dog lays down completely blocking the aisle through the saddles, my friend asks if she can move the dog and she says " Oh just step over him'' she does and walks approx. 2 feet more to get another saddle when all of a sudden the dog jumps up grabs her by the arm from behind and drags her down to the floor where he goes after her legs and arms growling like a lion, I ran to my friend with a lead rope to try to spank him off of her, the two could not pull him off, a fireman was shopping with his wife and literally lifted the dog up by the collar, my friend was bleeding profusely, an ambulance was called and my friend was rushed to E
Emergency.

I just got back from taking her home and feeding her dogs and horses for her, she has severe injuries and a severed artery in her arm, I did get to ask the woman what kind of service dog was this, in other words what did it assist with, she didn't appear to have any handicaps , at least not visible. I never got an answer, I really think Service Dogs should be regulated as these kind of things are going to ruin it for real Service Dogs, there were a lot of people there that were screaming in shock and horror, not good for the public perception.

I did say to the lady, I guess German Shepherds aren't the only unpredictable dogs huh?

[Jax08]

omg...so hope your friend fully recovers. I just simply have no words for this person's stupidity and hope your friend has all her medical bills AND pain and suffering fully compensate.

[GSDElsa]

Holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PaddyD]

Originally Posted by Jax08

omg...so hope your friend fully recovers. I just simply have no words for this person's stupidity and hope your friend has all her medical bills AND pain and suffering fully compensate.

Couldn't agree more. That's horrible!

[Alexandria610]

Yikes! I hope your friend is ok.....that's horrible.

I know exactly what you mean about the regulations. I got so frustrated one time when I was trying to get my rescue Alex used to the pet store. She was finally starting to somewhat trust it and relax when a HUGE (and I mean, monstrously huge) GSD walks in. He, too, was wearing a service vest from what looked to be a legitimate service company. It, too, said similar things such as 'do not pet, I am working'. He seemed normal, just walking by this lady (that, again, didn't seem to have any need for a service dog) and minding his own business. When I walked toward the counter with Alex, ignoring him and not looking at him (we were about 20 - 30 feet away at this point, by the way, and Alex didn't even bat an eyelash in his direction) he FLIPPED out and started baring his teeth and snarling and lunging at the end of his leash at us. I blocked my pup (even though, again, we were a considerable distance) and of course she flipped out, because she had JUST started to gain confidence. The woman looked down at him, pat him on the head, and kept on walking. WTF. Made me so mad. REAL service dogs don't randomly go off the handle like that - especially in a pet store. Just. Ugh. I know someone who TRAINS service dogs - and none of her dogs have EVER acted that way. I told her about that incident and she couldn't have been any more upset. She told me if I ever see him and the woman again that I am to find out the service he 'works for' or is under, and she would have his service license revoked. I don't even believe he was a service dog. I think she just took that vest from another dog that she MAY have had as a service dog. I dunno.

At least we didn't have the problems that you guys had. That's disgraceful and unacceptable. Tell your friend I'm praying for her.

[Stevenzachsmom]

How horrible for your friend - not to mention you and every customer that witnessed that. WOW! Your friend will definitely be in my prayers. Praying for a full and speedy recovery. Thank you for being there for her. Please keep us posted.

[selzer]

Note to self, never walk over a dog I don't know regardless of what the owners say. Not blaming the victim here, but that seems like something that wouldn't happen very often. I step over Cujo all the time, but I was there when he was born and knew him his whole life.

That is just awful. I like BMDs in general, though I have never owned one or been around one regularly. It definitely sounds like the people have serious issues. Especially that bit about shepherds being unpredictable, makes me wonder what the history is there. I highly doubt this was the first time the BMD showed any signs of issues.

[Whiteshepherds]

OMG is right!! Is she going to be okay? Boy I'd love to know if that was really a service dog.

[Stevenzachsmom]

That is most definitely not the breed standard for BMD temperament. Very sad indeed.

[selzer]

It sounds like the way things are, it CAN be a service dog. A lot of service dog owners train their own dogs. Just because you have a disability does not mean you are good at dog training, socializing, etc. and I always wonder, these dogs help people be more independent but how do they control the dog if there is a problem?