Great Dane Shot To DEATH, For hardley a reason...

[Duke_3]

I found this articall and it shocked me... This is soo horrible.



BRAIDWOOD - Dominic Quigley alleges that Braidwood police had no
good reason to shoot and kill his gentle Great Dane after cornering
the show dog in a neighbor's back yard last week.

But the city's police chief insisted that his officer exercised
good judgment in shooting down a 160-pound dog that was charging a
local code enforcement officer.

Quigley, of 146 S. Lincoln, said his 15-month-old dog, Little Boy,
was tied up in his back yard and broke the lead around 1 p.m. Nov. 6.
It was the first time that his dog, a gentle giant that he and his
wife have taken to nursing homes as therapy for senior citizens,
escaped unsupervised into the neighborhood.

The panicked owner went searching for Little Boy to no avail. He
would learn later from the police department that a Braidwood officer
had shot and killed his dog after Little Boy was cornered in a back
yard four doors from his house.

"They cornered the dog, and the dog tried to get away, and they
shot him," he said.

Quigley said the good-natured Little Boy, a $1,500 to $2,000 show
dog who went to regular training sessions, never displayed any
aggressive behavior. He said he told Police Chief Robert Andreina
that there is no way his dog would have attacked anyone.

"Our family is devastated by this," he said. "I don't want this to
happen to another dog. What they did was totally uncalled for."

Andreina said he and his officers were responding to a report of a
large dog wandering the neighborhood. The officers spotted the Great
Dane, but had trouble keeping up with the large dog when it ran away.

At one point, they lost track of the dog, he said. At some point
during the search, an officer talked with a woman who informed him
that she believed the dog had been abandoned in the neighborhood by a
man driving a delivery truck.

"In our mind at this point, we're chasing a dumped dog," the chief
said.

Fearing danger, police contacted a nearby school and told officials
to keep students indoors, Andreina said. A short time later, he said
he learned that one of his officers and the code enforcement official
had backed the dog into a yard that was fenced on three sides.

Andreina conceded that the dog did not appear to be aggressive or
mean when it was first spotted wandering the streets. But once the
Great Dane was cornered, it began to growl, he said.

The chief said he was rushing toward the yard just as the code
enforcement officer was trying to sneak up behind the dog to place a
cable around its neck. At that point, the Great Dane charged the
man, "teeth gnashing, growling and the hair on the back of his neck
standing up," Andreina said.

The chief said he believes that Little Boy never showed signs of
aggression in the past.

"But the dog was being chased by four people it didn't know in an
area it wasn't familiar with," he said. "The dog decided not to flee,
it decided to fight. I'm sorry. But I have to place a human life on a
higher priority than a dog's life."

Officer Doug Savarino, a former animal control officer for Will
County, killed the dog with one shot to the chest from a rifle.
Andreina insisted that there was no time to use a tranquilizer dart.

Quigley takes issue with the police version of events. He said his
family owns the only Great Danes in Braidwood and that the chief,
whom he has known for years, was aware of this.

His attorney, Doug Ziech, filed a lawsuit alleging that Savarino
shot Little Boy wantonly and without justification. The complaint
seeks damages in excess of $50,000. Ziech said the breeding dog could
have been used as a stud up to 40 times in its life. The owners would
have received up to $1,500 each time the dog mated, he said.

"It was a good dog," Ziech said. "The worst thing that this dog was
going to do to you was get up on your shoulders and lick you to
death."

Andreina said he did not recall that Quigley owned Great Danes
until after Little Boy had been shot. He also noted that police
called dispatchers during the search to check if a Great Dane had
been registered as required under village code. Little Boy was not
registered with the village.

He said Little Boy might be alive today if Quigley had either
registered his dog or called police immediately after it went
missing. "If we'd have thought for one second that it belonged to
him, we would've gone to him," Andreina said.

Ironically, as the chief was describing the events surrounding
Little Boy's death on Friday, a dispatcher called in a report of
another loose dog. This time, the officer put a piece of bologna
behind a fence and shut the gate behind it when it entered the yard.


SOme people.... :evil: :evil: :evil:

I just cant explain how angry that made me and shoked! they shot one dog and gave the other a snack!!!!!!!

Tell me what YOU think.

[courtnek]

I'm on the fence on this one.....Great Danes are HUGE, although generally Gentle Giants. They can appear very dangerous to someone who doesnt understand that. Especially if it was growling, which any animal will do if it's cornered and feels threatened, including my cat. Three things were done wrong here, on both sides. The owner should have had the dog registered, especially since it was a stud animal and valuable. The police should not have tried chasing it down all over, they should have called animal control, who is more likely (in most cases) to know how to approach a strange dog, and equipped with capture sticks. The code officer caused his own problem by backing the dog into a corner, and then trying to approach it. Also, it was never mentioned whether the dog had tags on, or was microchipped. And yes, the owner should have called the police or animal control as soon as he found out the dog was missing. I have done that when mine have escaped, and I give them my cell phone and then go out looking myself. That way, if the find the dog, they can keep an eye on it until the owner can get there and coax it back.

So there were grave mistakes on both sides. Also, the misinformation the police were given by that woman would make them more afraid of the dog. Because of the mistakes made on both side, the poor dog lost his life.

I lean towards blaming the owner for this one. The code officer was at risk, with a growling, approaching huge dog. If you own an animal that valuable, I would think you'd be more cautious as to how you care for it.
And had he registered it according to the town laws, they would have known who's dog it was since he had the only Danes in the area. They would have known had he simply called them when he realized it was gone. As far as the snack, they dont mention what kind of dog that was.
It might have been a smaller, less threatening looking dog. The article doesnt give complete information on that.

[Guest Mutts4Me]

Not that this makes a difference in how horrible this situation is, it was originally posted here in November. This thread contains that article, plus another perspective of the incident:

[url]http://forum.dogomania.com/viewtopic.php?t=9865[/url]

Poor dog :(