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

[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 =)