So there is a narrative, and I’ve not just read it about pit bulls. I recall people who won’t own Dobbies because when they are 5 years old they “just snap” and become aggressive for “no reason” and have to be put down.
There are other stories, which sometimes end up in court when the dogs maul neighbors where it comes to light that there have been signs of behavioral issues for years. Even if the dogs were loving most of the time they may not have been completely socialized and showed enough aggression often enough that it seems inevitable they eventually bit or killed someone.
So a few days there was a pair of diaries about the pit bulls that mauled and/or “ate” their owner while out on a walk and this diary follows up on that.
Regardless of opinions about breeds I do think this recent case may be illustrative that often something did happen. They may not have “just snapped”.
Trigger warning, some of the information in the link is pretty grisly. I won’t post that information but if you go to the linked story it is in there.
New information is emerging about the two dogs...
So on to the “rest of the story”.
So there is information about most of these dogs lives. She should have had the knowledge and/or resources to train the dogs properly and there is evidence they spent most of their lives as beloved indoor dogs who had their needs met.
We don’t know why it all changed, but it did. According to Sargent Mike Blackwood:
They went from being inside dogs doted on by Stephens to living outside in a kennel. Stephens left the dogs with her father, and Blackwood said: “he wasn’t taking care of them – it wasn’t his responsibility.”
He goes on to add:
Blackwood said that with Stephens coming home maybe five times a week, the dogs became more isolated and only had contact with each other.
They were not fed daily.
Yes, not all neglected dogs attack people. The capacity dogs have when given a fur-ever home with someone who loves them and meets their needs every day for the rest of their lives is inspiring with the tales being told in dusty rooms.
The reporters also talked to certified master dog trainer Valerie Paul. She doesn’t know these dogs but provided insight based on knowledge of dogs in general and the needs of this breed.
“The breed in and of itself is a high energy breed, they like to have a lot of structure and a lot of exercise, so by keeping them in a pen, alone, under-socialized, away from people – that energy is just building up and building up and building up and that’s when you start to see dogs fighting more regularly, that’s when you start to see more negative scenarios," Paul said.
She pointed out that resource guarding, or getting hyped up could quickly turn into a negative energy – especially from dogs who had been cooped up.
“Someone getting involved, if done improperly, could get bitten,” Paul said.
We don’t know why her circumstances changed and she couldn’t care for her dogs every day or find someone who could. I wonder how often in these “snapped” cases there was something similar where the lifestyle of the dog changed. I know on some of the dog training shows sometimes behavior went south when the owner was depressed or having troubles and for whatever reason stopped being the person their dog used to know.
I know a lot of the joy of dogs is their capacity to love us no matter what, but even that has limits. I do wonder how often the “they just snapped” is something changed. The narrative usually is “they had the dog for years”. How often is it life changed and the dog’s needs were no longer met. How often is the dog now middle-aged and having pain or other physical issues that may not be attended to but effect their reaction to things they normally tolerated. How often does life change and they are no longer getting the exercise, interaction, and socialization needs met.
Most dogs put up with a lot from us humans, but that “they did not get fed every day” just sticks with me as well as the issues that happen when they are no longer part of the pack but exiled to being an outdoor dog. I’m sure she just wanted a nice long hike, maybe things were looking up for her and this was going to be the fresh start. But the dogs wouldn’t know that maybe they would be going back to their old life where they were fed and loved every single day.
Sounds like they are doing further tests that may shed some additional light into any factors that could explain what happened.
So, I am thinking through my “just snapped” narrative. For dogs in general, but also for the breeds it tends to be attached to. We may not always know how often it was a behavioral issue that was never addressed because either the owner liked their “tough dog” or the dog was of a breed where aggression is “cute” or the owner just didn’t know those where the warning signs that would lead to tragedy years later and didn’t have the knowledge or access to trainers to fix it when it first started up. We may not know how many are because something change in the life of the family or the pet and even if they were completely socialized they were allowed to become isolated, and maybe even neglected.
Anyway, just some thoughts about “some dogs just snap” and how there may be things that “snap” the dog rather than this breed or other is “just prone to snap for no reason”.