You may be a responsible dog owner who does the right thing with your pet -- but there's always some irresponsible jerk who unleashes danger on everyone else, literally. Caren and Laine Henry were walking their beagle on a leash when a Labrador-retriever mix named "Buddy" came tearing out from nowhere and sunk his teeth into Caren's thigh and abdomen. Then it attacked her face, breaking her sunglasses, biting and scratching her eyes, and finally tearing her nose off.
Can you imagine how terrifying? Laine tried to fight the dog off. The dog bit his left arm, but Laine bit the dog on the nose and it finally let loose. Laine's arm became so badly infected he's had to take a leave from his job moving heavy machinery. But of course Caren has it even worse -- they're hoping a series of reconstructive surgery can restore her nose.
You would think that after an attack like that, there would be heavy penalties for the irresponsible dog owner and the dog might even be put down. But nope! Not in Dallas County, Iowa. There are no laws requiring criminal penalties for negligent dog owners -- or leading to a pet being put down.
In fact, Buddy was impounded last year for attacking another dog, so he has a history. But Dallas County isn't equipped to deal with dogs like Buddy. They don't have an animal control facility or a place to keep quarantined dogs -- which is why Buddy is being quarantined at his own home. And here's the most infuriating part -- the man who lives at the home where Buddy has been living claims he isn't even the owner. He says the real owner is a homeless man in the area. Investigators aren't sure he's telling the truth, but it's a pretty convenient story. Saves someone from a lawsuit ... for now.
But come on. Isn't there a common-sense solution for this menace? Is it really fair to everyone else that there's a dangerous dog on the loose? What if he'd attacked a child? If I lived in this community, I would be furious and demand my local officials to pass a few laws that would protect the public from careless pet owners.
I also think it's interesting that this was a mix of breeds that are usually so sweet. Usually people think of pit bulls as the meanest, most dangerous dogs. But they just get a bad rap. Clearly other breeds can be vicious, too.
What do you think should happen to the dog and its owner -- whoever that is?
Image via davharuk/Flickr