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32 thoughts on “2014 Dog Bite Fatality: 7-Year Old Boy Killed by Trained Protection Dog in Dodge County, Wisconsin

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  1. I think we should comment on the sheriffs depts page. The public has a right to know the breed. We shouldn't have to jump through freedom of information act hoops.

  2. Why doesn't the family want to confirm ownership or breed? I guess protecting the effing mutt means more to them than the life of their child.

  3. This definitely appears to be the kennel company first named by Fox 6. Still not calling it by name.

    Michelle says the couple who ran the kennel were always kind and friendly to her and her husband Matt. "We’ve never had an incident there,” recalls Krahn. “They're great. We've always heard such great things about them. My heart goes out to the family of the child and the owners of the kennel.”

    http://www.jrn.com/tmj4/news/Neighbors-react-to-deadly-dog-attack-280422902.html

    • when I made these comments, we did not know that the facility had changed hands. I was still under the impression that Jackie and Greg still owned the kennel. We did not know the kennel was planning to train security dogs.

  4. Maybe the kennel was training dogs for those sheriffs?

    I am tired of seeing all the hate thrown towards those that guessed it was a pit bull. Maybe it wasn't in this case, but its a pretty safe bet in general.

    Question- if this was an attack trained dog, does this mean it will not go into the dogs bite stats? Or is that designation for events like a police K( attacking a criminal on command?

  5. They did have other dogs there getting trained, not just GSDs, Malinois, or Rotties. I do find it doubtful there were any pits though, at this type of place. I would think they would know better than to have pits there. It looks like they are shepherd people.

    GSDs and their relatives have been pretty quiet lately, especially compared to the bulldogs, but that doesn't make them safe for small kids.

    What a tragedy; that poor kid, and his family must be devastated! IF the owners weren't negligent, it sucks for them too, imagine having a DBRF in your first 2 weeks open? Of course, If they were negligent, well, then they deserve to lose everything.

  6. Whoops, killing 10 dogs in transit sounds pretty bad. I could take this as an accident, but with this death a year later? They either have really bad luck (not as bad as that kid), or they are negligent in a some way.

    I wonder how many of their dogs that sheriff has?

    I also wonder if this will tank them, or if they will just change their name and location once again. They already had a few for training, one was a lab the other a GSD (plus their own dogs). I am betting on the rottie as the killer.

    I think it's totally reasonable to train dogs for police and military work. But to expect them to be perfect family dogs, able to attack on command? Maybe as a guard dog, but as a house pet? Yikes.

  7. There is a transcript of Jessie online 4/29/2013 (http://bit.ly/1t7Jlsz)
    —–
    Yong: What specific breeds of dogs do you work with?

    Jessie: We used a wide, wide range of dogs, our top three are obviously the German Shepherd the Belgian Malinois and the Dutch Shepherd but we have specific contracts that let us use labs, golden retrievers, Brittany spaniels, cocker spaniels and some pit mixes in some cases. Any type of sporting dog, the bird dog type we can use, especially for our military contracts that are off leash, because there they have that capability anyways. We are just hawing the skew towards a specific task.

    Yong: Are there certain breeds that are better suited for certain tasks?

    Jessie: Yes, obviously when we were talking about a dog that is going to be a bite dog, it’s going to have aggression issues or be aggressive towards humans. We are not going to convince a lab or a cocker spaniel that it can fight a man. Those are specifically wind up being regulated to the German shepherd, the malinois and the Dutch shepherd. Any of the dual purpose police dogs that is normally the three categories it falls in. Every once in a while we will see a Rottweiler mix or a Great Dane mix of some sort. 99.5 % are going to be from those three breeds.

  8. as I indicated in a previous comment, we were unaware that the kennel had changed hands. I was still under the understanding that Jackie and Greg still on the kennel. We were not aware that security dog training was occurring.

  9. CLASSIC videos of the "social" rottweiler that "switched" from the owner's YouTube channel.

    Ozzy on the floor (March 2014)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BBSJ–KsQI

    Ozzy meeting people (March 2014)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9o89MyG6O8

    Person petting: Where's he from?
    Owner: Holland.
    Person petting: Is he nice and heavy on the bite?
    Owner: Yeah, he's three bites … [can't decipher language] … Making a little short video about how social he is and just real friendly. There is a doctor in Arizona that is looking at him and he's got three small kids. Wants to make sure it is going to be a good fit for his family.
    ———-
    The doctor made the right choice. Ozzy is the believed killer in this case.

  10. I would like to state an observation about this dog mauling in Wisconsin. From the beginning when it was reported that they spent hours (2,3 or 4 hours???)trying to stabilize this child before they could med-flight him to a hospital, I immediately thought of Zainabou. I have just watched the videos and read all the coverage of little Zainabou Drame's incredible and horrific pit bull attack once again. We all watched the video as the officers arrived and began working on her. One officer held on to her neck with his hand to stop the bleeding all the way to the hospital we were told. Of all the attacks that have been recorded on dogsbite.org, I don't remember seeing one incident where first responders waited around for hours. Stabilization starts occurring the moment the first responders arrive..as they are getting the victim on a stretcher and moving them to the ambulance or helicopter. These medical vehicles have live-saving devices on board. There is communication between the vehicle and the doctors at the hospital…..unless the child is already dead… I have a scenario in my mind as to what I think really happened to this little boy.

  11. I"m gonna be sick. The newest report out says the dog was being trained as a service dog! If the dog is indeed Ozzie, then it was trained for protection! And i believe the dog is from Dutch working lines – meaning bred to be good for protection work! That's not service dog material

    http://fox6now.com/2014/10/27/seven-year-old-boy-dies-after-being-attacked-by-rottweiler/

    Also, so glad Branwyne Finch brought that up! It is very important to note. I saw that video before it was taken down and that dog would have passed any and all temperament tests – but they discussed it also having a great bite!

  12. There is a saying, I believe it was coined by Sue Sternberg…that a dangerous dog can be perfectly fine 95% of the time. The public imagines a dangerous dog to be an out of control, raging, lunging, snarling animal. That's most often not the case. Dogs that have killed people may have been perfectly calm and docile and tolerated petting even moments before they attacked. There are numerous accounts of dogs that "slept in the bed" with their owners, cuddled with people, etc., who then have gone on to maul someone else to death.

    People should be very skeptical of supposed "dog experts" who deal with power breeds and are involved in protection work when they claim that these dogs will make great pets for families with kids. The genetics and the type of training that most of these dogs go through represent the antithesis of what you should look for in a family pet.

  13. Am I the only one who's questioning the morality, need, propriety of the gofundme thing? I really don't know which word is right, but to ask people for money to bury a child that was killed by your own negligence (stupidity)just seems wrong. Especially since these people don't look like they are in any pain financially. Though maybe they will be, or not. People who will pay for killer dogs might pay more to get one from a place where a person was killed. I guess they have as much right as the next person to beg for money, and I have as much right to judge them.
    They were in the business of putting these dogs out into the general public. Now they have the audacity to ask for money. THAT'S what bothers me.

  14. Another brilliant article by Alexandra Semyonova.

    She seems to be the only "behaviorist" with any sense.

    These Personal Protection dogs are chosen for training because of their breeding and drive to attack. How could anyone with half a brain think this kind of dog could be a suitable family pet.

    I wonder if the "Dr in Arizona" who was interested in Ozzy has any idea how his family dodged a tragedy.

    In watching the "Ozzy being friendly" video that was made to show the Dr that the dog would be suitable to have around small children (though I saw no children in the video) I wondered if the woman "Tiffany" who is shown at the end of the clip is the same Tiffany that is Logans mother. I presume it is.

    The Facebook page bothers me because it seems like its business as usual with pictures of their "dogs with a switch" being shown, as well as all those positive reviews. How could anyone give a positive review to a trainer who not only trained this dog but allowed it to live like a family pet and cause the death of a child.

    Farmer Jane the Go Fund Me page also disturbs me. I see that the fundraising goal has been raised-
    "I have raised the goal because I have recently come across the news that because they were starting up the new business and moving they were in between insurance… Please Help my Family!!!". Wow. Some way to build a business.

  15. This entire incident is terrible and unfortunately no words or details that I could give will change that. Hopefully someday people will allow me to discuss this incident without throwing around more hate. Our family is already dealing with alot right now. As far as your personal pet and the operation of the boarding business had nothing to do with the incident. I hope that you can come visit or call and we can discuss further

  16. All my comments will be used against me I'm sure. This entire incident has torn our family to shreds. We are heart broken and the only thing that we read is hate. I hope someday that someone will reach out to me and allow us to have an open conversation without the hate my wife has to read. As sad as this incident is it has nothing to do with the quality of care for the personal pets or the security measures we have taken to ensure this never happens again.

  17. Jessie, when I first read about this, I hoped that this would be a wake up call for you and your wife. Someone or some people have led you down the wrong path, and no matter what they keep telling you, wrong is wrong.

    This wasn't an accident. It was inevitable, because you are playing with fire. I know that the rewards seem tempting, but there's a right and there's a wrong, and this is wrong.

    I hear you complaining about you and your wife, but I don't hear one word about that boy, and what you both were doing did this to him. If you keep doing this, it will happen again to another child.

    Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

  18. There are a lot of us out here who — rightfully — get angry when yet another child becomes the victim of parental vanity and hubris involving the keeping of aggressive bred and/or aggression-trained dogs. Some are fools who simply believe the propaganda put out by people who claim to be expert. Others are, as in this case, claiming to be the 'experts' themselves.

    If this really is Jesse Smith commenting here, I say this: You aren't the first who failed to exercise due diligence and invest the effort to really understand what you were doing. You aren't the first to get caught up in a culture of vanity and hubris, or in the pompously macho culture of both inherently aggressive and attack-trained dogs.

    I don't know whether people deserve contempt for making honest mistakes — for believing others who presented themselves as 'experts' at a time when they were too unknowing to discern who was and wasn't really an 'expert'. I understand that it's not always easy to exercise due diligence in a culture where the chest-thumping publication of self-serving nonsense dominates, and real information is not easy to find. Whether they deserve contempt depends, in my opinion, on how they react when their ignorance proves – incontrovertibly – to be harmful.

    Jess Smith (if it's really you), maybe you did honestly believe that you had become an expert. But in that case, I wonder why you never took the trouble to learn basic behavioral science, in this case the correct sequence in training behavior chains, the effects of harsh punishment on behavior, the impossibility of limiting where conditioned responses will occur if the cues are presented. I wonder why you were never puzzled about how hard it was so hard to get your dogs to instantly and reliably 'out' on the first command, nor why they so often bit their handler when a handler physically intervened. Why didn’t this make you doubt the training skills you had learned? I wonder why you never investigated the breeding and testing practices regarding the Dutch Rottweiler. I wonder many things — due diligence when playing a dangerous game.
    But that's the past. If you are now willing to consider that maybe your 'expertise' isn't as broad as you thought, to read what Semyonova has written for this site, and to consider that your whole claim to be a dog trainer needs an overhaul, then you are worthy and unusual — and if you sincerely do this, you deserve some forgiveness. Just as many bereaved parents we know who unknowingly exposed their child to a pit bull type dog find only forgiveness and support among us when they abandon all foolishness and lies and work with us to save the lives of future children.

    If, however, your wish for some conversation is only to self-justify without any real self-reflection, and to explain why it’s perfectly okay to continue as you were, then I don’t think you have a right to forgiveness or support. “Security measures” aren’t enough. You need to reconsider the whole of what you’re doing. If you don’t, despite the death of a child who was in your care, then I personally wouldn’t write you hate mail, but I fully understand why most of the world would stay angry at you.

    If the death of a child entrusted to you doesn't make you willing to wake up, that fact would tell us this about you: you don't deserve support and certainly won't find it in this community.

  19. It was really me. And I have never called myself an expert or referred to as an expert.
    I can also assure you that no amount of money, fame, or person could have lead me down this path had this ending known. Of course that goes for anyone or any situation.

    My wife and I are living our lives with the rest of our kids one hour at a time. I didn't see the point to express our feeling or remorse because I'm sure everyone on here can understand. I also didn't answer for forgiveness or understanding. Only my savior Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God can do those things.

    It is however sad that some people question my level of training without knowing the professional classes that I have taken. But honestly it doesn't matter how many classes or seminars or lectures I sat through because I'm still living this nightmare.
    I will close with this the most unbearable and undesirable thing happened to us and our son loss his life because of it……. Blame me, blame whomever you want it doesn't hurt anymore than living with it every second of every day. Without the love of our family, friends, clients, and the community that we had just moved into we would be even more lost.
    It's hard to get a real grasp of someone's feeling in a text or letter so I'm available for phone calls if you desire.

  20. How strange to be selling attack-trained dogs to families, assuring them that these dogs are safe with their children, but at the same time saying you weren't presenting yourself as an expert.

    I'm questioning your level of training — of your whole crowd's level of training — based on results. Based also on wide experience with the IPO and schutzhund crowd. As I said, I understand that it's not easy to find out who's selling dangerous nonsense in such dog trainer circles. I get it that if the types of dogs they use are the only dogs you interact with, you could come to believe that all dogs are like that. You could even start to believe that dogs that aren't like that are lesser creatures, curs rather than 'real dogs'. I get it that it's tempting to go along with that crowd's self-serving routine of blaming the results of their own mistakes and ignorance on the dogs. And I understand that questioning anything they tell you leads to ridicule and ostracism.

    Our examination of this tragedy isn't personally against you any more than our examination of the many pit bull killings are personal against those bereaved parents. It's not about blaming people who made honest mistakes, believed nicely packaged lies, and were led down the road to disaster. The point is to stop the harm that's being done.

    You'll find that most of us won't participate if (or when) Vohne Liche and the rest of the IPO crowd come out saying it was just you, that you were apparently their only incompetent trainer, or that you made mistakes the rest of them don't make. But we won't go along with it either if they try to comfort you by saying 'aw, it was just a freak accident', or 'it was just that one dog'. The problem is the entire IPO and schutzhund scene, and even more so their recent attempts to expand their market to civilian families.

    The information published here will be crucial to preventing another tragedy like yours and the loss of more children's lives. I respect your grief, but I'm frankly less concerned with honoring that than with protecting future children from the lies we adults tell and our vanities and failures. That seems to me the best way to honor all children's lives, including your boy's.

    I hope that at some point you'll be able to see our activities not as a personal attack (though it may feel that way right now), but as a invitation to become, in time, a force for positive change within the IPO and schutzhund scene. That will take real courage, it would be putting your grief to good use, and it would be the biggest honor you could possibly pay to all children. A lot of us have found that that is the greatest comfort after a devastating loss for which there is no other real comfort.

  21. I've seen people recently get dogs which are obviously (in their mind) for protection and I'm not a fan of this. Dogs can and DO go off on their own; unlike a gun. I saw a older couple, obviously nearing their senior years, in Petsmaul with two large Cane Corso puppies. Neither one of them is going to be able to hold ONE of those dogs back if it decides to kill someone or something.

  22. Wow. Jessie Smith and his wife Tiffany Smith simply renamed their protection dog training business to "Jessiffany" and continue down the same path, like nothing ever happened. Like a dog they trained never even killed one of their own children. Jessie even writes a review "of his own business" on the Facebook page and gives himself a 5 star rating.

    Jessie Smith — 5 star
    Tiffany and I have been blessed to further our skills and training at our own kennel located here in Iron Ridge Wisconsin. This boarding facility is top notch and honestly the cleanest, superior built kennel I have ever been inside. The 32 run kennel will give us the ability to maintain the top notch pet boarding, to continue to provide both facility and services dogs to the organizations that we have partnered with, and continue training the finest protection dog available.
    January 13, 2015 · 8 Reviews

    They launched the "rebranded" business just 2 months after Logan was buried.

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