After the attacker was gone, Jake returned and remained with the victim and his owner until police arrived.
The man was convicted for this attack and a previous attack on a 13-yr-old. He faces four years in prison and, after that, deportation.
These stories are interesting, because they highlight our unrealistic expectations of dogs.
For example, what if Jake had chased a young boy playing and screaming with his sister in the woods? Perhaps Jake would be able to judge that playful behavior is acceptable but violent behavior is not, but perhaps not.
In the former case, he is a hero, but in the latter, he would be a menace.
I am glad Jake was there. He showed great restraint in not biting the assailant. I think he would show great restraint with a child too. He did a good job.
3 comments:
Good for Jake. For helping the woman in need, putting a creep behind bars, and shining a good light on one of those "nasty" breeds.
What a good post. I never thought of it exactly this way:
"These stories are interesting, because they highlight our unrealistic expectations of dogs.
[...]
In the former case, he is a hero, but in the latter, he would be a menace."
That is so true. I've been trying to think a lot more in the last year about what is fair to expect of dogs, but I've never considered it exactly this way. What exactly is a dog doing when he chases an attacker vs. when he chases an "innocent bystander"? And we applaud and say this confirms how loyal dogs are when he does the former, and are shocked or angry when he does the latter. When really, he might very well be doing the exact same behavior. It's only we, as people, who see different situations. And somehow we expect dogs to read context like we do. Hm.
You put it very well, thanks for provoking interesting thoughts.
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