Shut Up – Or Die?
June 25, 2009 at 9:24 pm 3 comments
Earlier this month ABC Australia reported a story about a man who was stabbed to death after complaining about his neighbor’s barking dog:
Joseph Durrant, 47, was fatally stabbed at Mount Pritchard in Sydney’s west after returning home from Australia Day celebrations in 2007.
He was attacked after making a comment about his neighbour Katrina Whitmore’s barking dog.
Whitmore has been sentenced to at least 10 years in jail after a jury found her guilty of murder.
Today the Milwauke Journal-Sentinal reports on an even more bizarre case of misplaced rage over barking:
Police say they believe a Madison woman stabbed her puppy because it wouldn’t stop barking, then she tried to stop the puppy from bleeding with super glue.
Madison Police left the 3-month-old German shepherd at a local emergency animal clinic. They arrested the 46-year-old woman.
Officers were called Sunday night to an apartment in the 1500 block of Trailsway St. According to an incident report, the woman officers eventually arrested claimed a male friend had stabbed the puppy, “Shep.”
The woman later told investigators that she was responsible, according to the report. She said “Shep” had been barking and yelping.
Officers found the bleeding puppy running in a hallway.
I don’t even know what to say about this. While the bitter, vindictive bitch in my can – at least in some way – understand taking out my rage on a chronically whiney neighbor. There is no part of me that understands how a person – no matter how frustrated – could stab an innocent puppy because it barked too much.
Hello people – puppies bark. They whine. If they’re like Audie they also moan, groan, chirp and sometimes speak in entire rambling paragraphs. German shepherd puppies are prone to whining. Especially when they’re kept cooped up in apartment buildings and not given enough supervision, training and EXERCISE.
The puppy is expected to recover. Hopefully he’ll be rehomed with someone who understands that a knife isn’t the right tool to deal with excess barking.
Entry filed under: dog training, dogs, pets, puppies. Tags: proof that the world is going crazy.
Smartdogs' Weblog 
1.
Smaki | June 25, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Jesus, what kind of person stabs a puppy?! I can understand how an argument with a neighbor can escalate out of hand, but a 3 month old PUPPY?
2.
Dorene | June 26, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Heck, what type of person shakes a baby because it’s crying? “Low frustration tolerance” and preemptive education about how whiney the young of any species can be and how to deal with it seem to be a no-brainer, but unfortunately, seems to be “not in the brain at all” all too often! 😦
3.
Dog training fan | July 4, 2009 at 4:04 am
I don’t understand why some people get dogs then don;t bother to do adequate training them, resulting in a nuisance to the community? I too have experienced numerous problems with neighbour’s dogs, and have also incurred the ‘wrath’ of the offending neighbour after politely asking if something could be done to stop the offending dog from continuing (eg barking all hours, etc).