Bad doggie!

[tikistitch]

Guard Dog Takes the Stuffing Out of Prized Bear Collection

LONDON, Aug. 2 -- A guard dog has ripped apart a collection of rare teddy bears, including one once owned by Elvis Presley, during a rampage at a children's museum.

"He just went berserk," said Daniel Medley, general manager of Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, England, where hundreds of bears were chewed up Tuesday night by the 6-year-old Doberman pinscher named Barney....

Elvis's teddy bear? Barney! You are a naughty, naughty puppy!

EDIT: Ya know, as people send in more links to this very weird story, we're beginning to wonder if this whole thing wasn't some kind of insurance fraud? Though, never ascribe to conspiracy what can be more parsimoniously explained through incompetence....

Comments

[dork-alot.livejournal.com]

OMG! That's awful! I would killed my dog if it ever did that!

I wonder what Barney's beef was with Elvis? =)

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, because the dog is totally to blame for humans' mistakes. *eyeroll*

Sorry, it's just -- what do you want to bet the dog actually DOES get put down? Because humans expected him to respect their pwecious collection and didn't allow for canine instinct or plain old error? Sigh.

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming the dog wasn't allowed to patrol the museum on its own. Where was the guard, and did the guard do anything when the dog went bonkers?

It's ridiculous to put the dog to sleep. He didn't bite a person. That said, he can't be trusted not to freak out on the job, so I'd retire him out of there. Might also look to make sure he's never around young kids.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Dude, he had to be alone/loose, at least for a while -- or else the guard was just standing there going "Durrrrrrrrrr" for a half hour. The photo didn't look like a quick chomp, but a good session of plush-destruction.

Heh, you know what that dog just did? The canine version of "Office Space." :P

Anyway, it's just dumb. I hope they don't put him down; I'm not really sure you could transfer the "likes to rip up stuffed animals" into "likes to rip up kids" thing, because most large dogs I know like to chew up stuffed animals. I'd be more worried about small animals/potential prey.

But then again, I'm really NOT in favor of letting large (or, you know, any) dog breeds unsupervised around small children anyway... mostly for the dog's sake. (If the dog bites you because you're pulling his ears = your fault, kid!)

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

Well no, that's not the point. A well-trained guard dog would not "go Office Space" on a bunch of stuffed animals.

I'd say the liability is with the security company who provided the guard dog.

[deadluckkingdom.livejournal.com]

large chane the owners of the damaged teddy bears, will be sueing / sendinga LARGE bill to the security company, chances are the dog will be permentaly retired, and these is a huge chance the security company will lose their contact with the museum.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

I only sort of agree with that -- I think we (culturally) have too much of the idea that well-trained = absolutely infallible. A dog that never makes mistakes is obviously a bad dog/poorly trained. Now, there are a lot of poorly trained dogs in the world, I certainly know, but every dog is, at heart, a dog, and not a machine.

A dog might be well-trained, but it still has instincts... I have had Akitas that were highly trained, and absolutely obedient to commands, but if a chicken ran in front of them, well, they had quite an inner struggle. (And often LOST, and ran after the chicken, and got reprimanded -- training is always ongoing.) I noticed they had a lot more trouble keeping control of themselves when they got older, and their senses weren't quite as sharp.

That's why I likened it to Office Space... formerly decent employees venting their instincts and going nuts over stuff. (Although I bet the dog just saw "CHEWTOY" and not, you know, evil copier of hatred. ;9)

Anyway, not trying to be snarky -- defintely, that Doberman needs to be retired. But still, just dumb to lock a dog up in a room full of teddy bears, steak, rabbits, etc. I wouldn't trust the most saintly perfectly trained dog in the world for TOO long in the Room of Tasty Treats. ;)

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Er, that's EVER make mistakes, I meant to write.

Anyyyyywaaaaaay, I know what you mean, but still... room full of chewtoys. I just keep thinking how I'd react if I were in a room full of priceless... cakes. Delicious, delicious cakes. ;9

[dork-alot.livejournal.com]

This is what I HATE about the Internet! Jokes get taken the wrong way. Guess I should of added a few lol's in there!

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Sorry -- I'm overly touchy, since the first thing I think when I read these is "Yep, that dog's gonna be put down." I've had mother in laws dump cats on me because, you know, the cats were hurting their new furniture, etc. etc. I apologize for being blatantly dumbtastic when you obviously didn't mean you'd REALLY kill your dog. ^_^;;;

[(Anonymous)]

That's okay. I could never imagine killing an animal for anything. I recently put one of my cats down, so I know what's that like.

No problem, it's not your fault. I once again blame the Internet for the misunderstanding.

[dork-alot.livejournal.com]

See? Stupid Internet! I forgot to login to post that comment above! lol =)

[blukat.livejournal.com]

anyone who has ever had a dog knows dogs + stuffed animals = mess

who was the idiot that has guard dogs in a museum like this? or the bears where the dog could get them?

guess they learned their lesson, the expensive way...

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Noooooo, our puppy "knows" not to rip up the expensive chewtoys teddy bear collection! Because dogs are exactly like humans! Exactly!

See, like, yeah, poop for their collection, but seriously, no sympathy from me. Sometimes my evil kitten chews up my nice books, and she's even gotten a few pieces of art and dolls, but you know what? She's a kitten. I'm keeping her here without locking up (whatever it is) so she can't get it. MY FAULT.

*cackles* Okay, at the exact moment I typed that, said evil kitten just randomly leaped two feet in the air, spun around with eyes wide, and ran into a wall. She's a bright creature. ;9

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

See, like, yeah, poop for their collection, but seriously, no sympathy from me.

If you read the article, some of the items, including Elvis's teddy bear, were actually on loan from other owners. I *am* sympathetic to them--we have a couple of pieces on loan to a local museum, and I'd hate to have something bad happen to them. (Fortunately, our stuff is well protected, and by intelligent curators.)

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes -- I more meant the curators/museum management. (Who weren't obviously very bright.) I read this article: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/03082006/356/hound-dog-rips-apart-elvis-s-teddy.html and actually the curator/owner/whoever seems kinda creepy, "Niiiice bear... niiiiice precious..." O_o

I've also had a good deal of museum management and conservation classwork (in addition to ranty zoology/animal behavior ;) so part of that was bafflement at their crappy displays, which appears to be just heaping all the bears on an unprotected shelf, like you would in a child's room. Not cool. Barring animal attacks, sooooo many other environmental problems could arise, particularly with stuffed animals/textiles. Heck, BEGINNER museum studies beat you over the head eighty times with HOW VERY IMPORTANT it is to make sure your loans are ABSOLUTELY PROTECTED, even moreso than your actual collection. The "yar, why the hell did you put the poor dog in there in the first place?" struck my emotions first, but the whole senario just seems... bad.

But yeah, sympathy for the owners, who didn't make those decisions, but not for the museum. If I were them, I'd be very hesitant to loan things, like, EVER AGAIN, which in itself sucks, because not all museums are that stupid. Most of them are good! Myeh.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

"The Wookey Bear Collection?" Egadz.

At least it says Barney is off to "retirement" on a farm.

[francarr.livejournal.com]

"Gone to live on a farm" is a nice-don't upset-the-children way of saying dead. At least it was when I was growing up. Many roosters from my mother's chicken flock went "to live on a farm" as did a couple of dogs belonging to family friends. Not sure if it is the same in the UK though, but it is always the first thing I think of when I hear the phrase.

The article I read stated the insurance firm insisted a guard dog be on the premises at night, for protection of the valuable bears. I feel sorry for the trusting owners who loaned their bears...I am a bit tense about my BJDs, as anyone who was present the night friend Todd tried to "muss this chick's hair so she looks like the girl in Ring" would tell you. (Said chick was my Souldoll Fairy Warrior!) Months later, Todd is STILL afraid of me. :)

[deadluckkingdom.livejournal.com]

- actually there are actual FARMS out there for retired security / police dogs, lots of fenced in property for the dogs to run around and they are very well procected.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

"Gone to live on a farm" is a nice-don't upset-the-children way of saying dead.

Oh, I hope not! Alas, poor Barney!

I am a bit tense about my BJDs, as anyone who was present the night friend Todd tried to "muss this chick's hair so she looks like the girl in Ring" would tell you.

*grumbles* You know, people (most people) would not come to your home, take one of your oil paintings down off the wall and then toss it around. I have no clue why people feel so free about dolls. "Oh, lookee, lets pose them like they're having teh sex!" Yah, so original.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

See, I eliminate the possibility by having mine ALREADY having sex when people get here! With lots of toys and gear!

... I'm not sure why I don't have any friends who will visit anymore, though...

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

I hope that didn't sound too "And I'm a total expert on this, as I've had a whole grad class!" pretensious -- my point was trying to be, if you crack open the most basic textbook on museum conservation, it's going to tell you to, basically, not be an idiot with your loans. So that added to my lack of sympathy for the curators. It just hurt my brain on so MANY levels!

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

basically, not be an idiot with your loans.

Oh, definitely! I remember when they came to pick up our stuff, things we'd just been touching with our bare hands for all these years, suddenly all the staff was wearing white gloves and and making sure there was always somebody physically looking over the moving truck. Very professional!

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Yay, good, your stuff is being handled PROPERLY! <3

Hee, really, in our intro textbooks we had about ten chapters on various aspects of loans and how to care for/transport/display/store them. It's good to know the Tikistuff is in good hands! And that you get to paint your foyer now. ;)

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not as if you can tell a dog, "Dude, that's *collectible*." It's all just chewie toys to them.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

URG. I'm already having a humans = idiots about animal behaviour day. (Trying to explain to my mother why my stepfather's akita keeps peeing everywhere while he's gone (dominance issues) and she completely doesn't get it. Buh.)

*slams head into desk repeatedly*

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

See, that's why you don't put dogs around TOYS.

GOLLIWOGG'S INVESTIGATED

[(Anonymous)]

Police say Golliwogg's ordered the HIT !!

[sinderellah.livejournal.com]

If these bears were that valuble, on loan or not, shouldn't they be behind glass? I wouldn't loan anything I had if it wasn't secured in a display case or whatever, not only for bored dogs, but grubby patron hands as well.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Definitely. The local doll art museum has everything behind really thick sheets of glass. However, I remember going to the Barbie museum down in the Bay Area (I don't believe it's open any more) and I seem to recall there were a lot of boxes that were just kind of sitting out on the shelves.

[jabberwockypie.livejournal.com]

It sounds like the curators were just being idiots.

Back in the day (ie - when I was nine or ten, so about eight years ago), the American Girl doll pets were made with real rabbit fur (and man were they freaky looking). I had Molly's puppy, Bennett. I also had real dogs. Dogs + Something that smells like animals = BAD combination. I was upset for a while, but I noticed and got him away before any serious damage was done (mostly just covered in doggy saliva).