PETCO in trouble

Rottweiler mauls little girl

Follow up

They're looking to ban pets in Petco now.

 

We3ll It Was Just A Matter Of Time To Be Quite Honest About It. For The General Public To Just Be Able To Walk Their Pet In With No Questions Asked Was An Accident Waiting To Happen. Sorry To Hear But I Personally Feel; That Was The Owners Negligence To Have Carried The Dog In There. Law Suit Coming Is What I Am Smelling.

Would You Carry Your Game Dog In There? I Maybe Would As A Puppy But Not A Grown Dog To Much At Risk Ms. Mom Might Let Fifi The Poodle On The Floor And Well Ytou Get The Picture.

 

The other point is also WATCH your kids. Don't let them just walk up to a strange dog and then not watch them. It says right in the article that she wasnt watching her kid. When I take my dogs in the store I don't let people pet them and try to keep other peoples kids away because the parents arent even watching them.

 

I have done so on several occasions! Must say I keep mine on an extremely short leash or muzzled. The good thing is that the floor is tiled and slippery. Best thing to do is to muzzle them while in there.

 

If you have to muzzle your dog to take it into a pet store, then you shouldnt be taking it there. Even if the dog isnt dangerous..think what kind of example you are setting for the breed. Since the majority of People are back stabbing jerks, they arent thinking oh what a great considerate dog owner.. they are thinking how horrible of you to bring a danergous dog into the pet store even if its muzzled..

Pet stores that allow pets are like Dog parks! ITs an accident waiting to happen. No way should even a pup go in there, as people visit pet stores with their sick dogs, too
(even at dog shows..ask a few members about their tramatic experinces)

you know, a parent can only do so much. Kids wander..even if parents are good, have taught them ..some kids simply wont listen or have some force that drives them to do something even though then know its wrong (kids will be kids..) So its not always a bad parent.. Again, human life is more valuable and kids, adults have the RIGHT to walk in a store, a park, down the sidewalk , play in their backyard without having to worry about getting mauled. dogs arent 100% predictable. (this is for dogs of all breeds)

 

you know thats exactly what i try to tell my dad... he always makes me take a muzzle for Diegoh because the general public will "appreciate the fact that i'm being considerate and putting them at ease and to remember that i'm not protecting the public, i'm protecting my dog"... yeah right, they see a dog with a muzzle they immediately think vicious beast but my dad's just too hard headed... so i just take a muzzle with me to shut him up and don't use it, far be it for me to be concerned that's alot better then arguing with my father, who mind you, is a rock (he's not as dumb as one but surely as stubborn)

 

In at lot of places now it is the law to muzzle bully breed dogs, of all kinds. So, now you can look like you are walking a vicious dog legally. J/K. I for one agree with HighVoltageAPBT. I have seen many kids just run up to other peoples dogs in that store. My kids have been taught, that if you want to pet someone elses dog you ask first. Then, if they say no then my kids know that the dog could bite them and they back off. So, it does have something to do with watching your child in the store. If you can't watch them then educate them, on what to do.

 

I undertand what you are saying and do agree when it comes to "human aggressive dogs". That is not my case. The only reason why I have muzzled him is to protect other dogs. Although, now that I think of it, I have only muzzled him twice in the tens of times in the store. Again, my main measure to safeguard other dogs is by keeping my boy literally by my side (very short leash) and constant awareness of my sorroundings (My boy smells them before he can see them which alerting me if out of site).

 

im split decision on this one. i dont let strange ppl pet my dog without my approval and i was taught as a child to stay in sight and i was also taught how to handle animals at a young age. i am getting a bit tired of parents who dont teach their kids how to act and dont watch them bcs they feel all warm and cozy and complaicent. Unsupervised children are like unsupervised dogs neither are predictable.

Folks always remeber there is more to the story. Oh and sueing pet co is just F*** stupid and money hungry. There is a common known fact that people will have their pets in there and anytime you knowingly enter a premises and know there are animals on hand you are responsible for your own well being. I go in that store and know there are strange animals in there who might not take a likeing to me or my dog so i keep this in mind. people need to take responsibility for putting themselves in these situations and get their head out of thier arse.
Susie behave and stay by me! Dad was always good at reminding me of things before i walked into a place. But i was also taught my whole life to watch my surroundings and be aware of possible problems that could occour.

 

It doesn't matter whether a dog is human aggressive or dog aggressive, either way it does NOT need to be in a pet store! I'm with rocksteady all the way on this. If you have to muzzle your dog in public (& it's not the law), then all you are telling people is that you do not trust your dog, that your dog is "dangerous", & thus everyone will only talk about the "vicious" pit bull that has to wear a muzzle. If you do not trust your dog in the store not to bite someone or another dog, then your dog has absolutely NO right in being there. It's called responsiblity....not put a band-aid on the problem.

That said, I don't think Petco is repsonsible. The owner of the dog might have known her dog had issues, but she might not have. The dog might have never been in that situation before. Who knows.

As a consumer & mother, when one enters a store like Petco or Petsmart, one understands that there are leashed dogs allowed inside. Thus it's the adults decision as to whether to bring a child into the store or not. Yes I've seen chilren running around unsupervised & whatnot. But that should not be allowed either. In a related article, it states that the girl asked to pet the dog before doing so. However, her mother was nowhere around. As a responsible parent of a young child, you should know where your child is at all times.

The mother of the child is only suing Petco b/c they are a large chain & she's hoping to get a lot of money probably so she can retire. It's only about money. The store is not at fault here as their policy has been in effect much longer than the 5 yr old child has been on this earth. Ultimately it's between the mother/daughter & the owner of the dog.

And honestly, who lets a kindergardener run around unsupervised with all the abductions & whatnot going on these days?

 

I aggree with you pokey! My city had a muzzle policy until 2003 when a dogger finally won in the higher courts (Good for him!). The police attempted to make me put a muzzle on my dog but I refused. I just asked him if he did not get the MEMO. He got noticeably upset but his partner said something and kept driving. Suckers.

In regards to kids and dogs, I make it a point to educate them whenever we cross paths. Regretfully, around my area, kids as young as 8-yrs are walking without adult supervision. Basically, kids in a group taking care of themselves. Once upon a time, I was one of those kids. Anyway, one time a kid that had petted my dog (a previous day) just came and petted my dog without my ok. I really got angry. Not because he could have gotten bitten but b/c it was dumb of him to touch without the owner permission. I told him that another dog may have bitten him out of reaction and he was lucky my dog does not mind kids. Since, him as his friends will ask me before petting him and will not surround him as before. They make a line

 

I think the little girl asked to pet the dog, but the person who had the dog was not the owner and perhaps was not as familiar with the dog. All I can say is that when my kids were little they were taught that dogs, cats all animals are just that, animals and therefore not as predictable as the general public would like to assume. Both my girls love animals but they also have quite a bit of respect for them as well.

I read some where that the guardian breeds tend to exhibit "pack order" behaviors more so than seen in Pit Bulls, so a small child walking up to a big dog and looking them square in the eyes may be interpreted by the dog as a challange for the dogs place in the pack order, as well as a bazillion other reasons. Any way these basics with all animals should be taught to children, but that assumes mom and dad needs to take the intiative and learn them first.

All I can say is poor kid, poor dog......

 

NEVER would i take my dog ANYWHERE w/a muzzle, that just reinforces negative images. YES you are being semi-responsible (fully responsible is not taking your dog there in the 1st place), but theres NO way i'd do it. The ONLY dog i ever took in a "petsmart" (i hate those stores), was a min. dachsund that i bought my little sister for christmas (unfort. i dont have a bulldog loving family ), and i HELD her the entire time, i only took her in there to make sure i could find a collar that would fit her teeny tiny neck ( i ended up having to buy a cat collar! lol)

 

Why in the hell would you carry your pet to a place where a bunch of other strange animals have been in the first place.

Whats the purpose of taking the dog along?

I don't even like to carry my kids shopping, much less my dog.

Yes you should watch your kids at a store, but you don't expect your kids to get dog bit at a store.
I say fuck'em.Bunch of overpriced shit anyway, and they pander to the HSUS.

 

Some kids you can talk to and educate till your blue in the face. But again, Dogs are not given the same rights as humans. People enjoy the consitution and that consitution does not apply to dogs. Therefore I dont really care if the parents werent watching the kid or not.. that child has the right to be in a store and not get hurt.. the handler of the dog shouldnt have let ANYONE pet it and certainly shouldnt have had it out in public if they were unaware of its behavoir

I owned Rotties.. they are excellent judges of character and well bred socialized ones do not act like that unless their family was in harms way. They are natural guard dogs..they are able to judge a situation before reacting

 

Rock you are right on the mark as usual....and doubly true with respect to the comment about kids!!!!

 

As a mother of two young children who often goes out alone, I can comment that when you need to get stuff done you need to get stuff done. All places that you are allowed to bring your children to should be kid friendly. They don't have carts at the pet store that support more than one child. I try to keep my kids in eye sight but sometimes they zip around the corner before I can react. Now when I go to the pet store I try to remember to bring my son's wrist leash so that I know where he is. But I still don't want to risk my kid getting bit. So if your dog bites then it shouldn't be in the store. It's easy to teach a five or six year old how to ask to pet but it's not going to stick with the 2 or 3 yr olds. *sarcastic* I think that since the kid was off a leash her mother is at fault, lol. Unfortunate but what do you expect?

 

To sum it up, the owner or caretaker of the dog is solely responsible. To try & put any blame on Petco & their policy is b.s. If someone doesn't like it, then don't shop there.

 

Yeah, it's bound to happen... children will get attacked anywhere at anytime whenever, because in our society there are millions of dogs where ever we go. Things just happen.
I know enough about dogs NOT to let my kids run up to them or hug them, occassionally I will allow petting if the owner and the dog seems good. I have to say though, on great occassions I take my kids into Petsmart and I do my best to keep them in check, but like any store it only takes a few flash seconds for a kid to take off. This isn't what happened here, but I'm just saying that all you can do is your best as a parent and hopefully you have enough sense not to let your kids make a habit of approaching canines. Kids and dogs will come in contact constantly and sometimes things go wrong, it's no ones fault imo MOST of the time. I wouldn't ever, ever, ever bring my dog into public if I knew it was sketchy, timid or unstable in any way, often these dogs are being forced into uncomfortable situations and the owners think they are doing their dogs well. Ignorant dog owners are far more to blaim than parents SOMETIMES.

 

if you read my post again, it says WHY i took the little mutt in there.