Advice Re Beating A Dog

[PomsNZ]

I went to a NZ show last weekend, I had not entered any dogs, but my daughter was asked to help show, and so we went along.

Usually I stick by the toy ring, and dont pay much attention really on what is going on around me.. so unobservant i know.

Anyways, we were by the terrier ring... (my daughter was going in the working ring which was by the terrier).

I know some people in this particular breed, so decided to turn around and watch this particular terrier breed.

What i saw shocked me.

A man (who has other breeds in same group) physically hurt his dog BEFORE they got in the ring, hitting it.. this was witnessed by others.

the dog cowered etc, and he went in ring. dog obvisouly wouldnt walk, when he got back in the line up he yanked the collar up, so high and hard the dog was lifted off its feet. he smacked it again on the rear end, and was yanking it around.he grbbled the dogs muzzle so hard I doubt shed have been able to breath, and forced her head into position.

the judge ignored him. the steward ignored him.

ringside, me and about 5 others were HORRIFIED! saying OMG what!

when i asked how to make a complaint about this, i was told to go up and tell him his behaviour was noticed, but not to make if official becuase of who this guy was and how tough he could make it for me showing.

i got told by another person not to approach him, as more likely than not hed punch me for even suggesting he had been called out.

the dog he owns was imported. Should i email the breeders and tell them?

I have left the issue with someone else in that group.

what would you do... when it happened I was thinking OMG and even said OMG what is he doing to that poor dog loudly, hoping the steward would hear. the international judge ignored the guy.

I am ashamed the judge will go back and think we abuse our animals!

[angelsun]

Definately should be reported....who cares who he THINKS he is...it's things like this that will take away our sport should either RSPCA or PETA get a hold of them. People like that need to be taken to task.

[Chezy]

it is amazing that one person can have so many quaking in thier boots, I'd have reported him

[Rayvale]

I went to a NZ show last weekend, I had not entered any dogs, but my daughter was asked to help show, and so we went along.

Usually I stick by the toy ring, and dont pay much attention really on what is going on around me.. so unobservant i know.

Anyways, we were by the terrier ring... (my daughter was going in the working ring which was by the terrier).

I know some people in this particular breed, so decided to turn around and watch this particular terrier breed.

What i saw shocked me.

A man (who has other breeds in same group) physically hurt his dog BEFORE they got in the ring, hitting it.. this was witnessed by others.

the dog cowered etc, and he went in ring. dog obvisouly wouldnt walk, when he got back in the line up he yanked the collar up, so high and hard the dog was lifted off its feet. he smacked it again on the rear end, and was yanking it around.he grbbled the dogs muzzle so hard I doubt shed have been able to breath, and forced her head into position.

the judge ignored him. the steward ignored him.

ringside, me and about 5 others were HORRIFIED! saying OMG what!

when i asked how to make a complaint about this, i was told to go up and tell him his behaviour was noticed, but not to make if official becuase of who this guy was and how tough he could make it for me showing.

i got told by another person not to approach him, as more likely than not hed punch me for even suggesting he had been called out.

the dog he owns was imported. Should i email the breeders and tell them?

I have left the issue with someone else in that group.

what would you do... when it happened I was thinking OMG and even said OMG what is he doing to that poor dog loudly, hoping the steward would hear. the international judge ignored the guy.

I am ashamed the judge will go back and think we abuse our animals!

Ask yourself this - would you want to know if it was one of your dogs? Yes, I am sure he could spread gossip and rumours around the ring and try to make it hard for you - but don't we see that anyway? And maybe you saying something will start the ball rolling to have something done about his behaviour, it only takes one person to take a stand and then surprisingly there are people who then find the courage to stand behind you!

First and foremost should be the welfare of the dog being shown - and SHAME on the steward for doing NOTHING!

Good luck with whatever course of action you take!

[suezija]

I can't believe nobody did anything.

Imagine what he does at home if he does this when there are witnesses.

It just makes me physically sick to hear things like this.

I would definitely front him, and he can only hit you which gives you a case for assault.

The dog doesn't have that option.

Photos on your phone would go a long way to convince authorities to do something, irregardless of who he is.

[Animal House]

How sad that people are more interested in their show careers than for the welfare of an obviously abused dog by some shithead owner. :

Definitely front him, if he hits you, charge him. Would it be any different if you saw a guy doing that to a dog in public, instead of a show?

[minxy]

If you are afraid to confront him, then definitely report him. That sort of behaviour is just disgusting. And as others have said, if he did hit you, you would have a case for assault which would probably see him get a harsher punishment anyway...

[SkySoaringMagpie]

I think it's important to stop and think about what will help the dog.

I don't know about NZ rules and regs but if you're posting about this now my guess is the time to report is long gone, along with the evidence that he did anything wrong. It's easy to be a warrior behind the computer, but if it doesn't help the dog, it doesn't count. Will anyone be a witness for you? If not it's just your word against his.

As to fronting him - will that help the dog? My guess is no it won't, it will just create drama. Some people really do have fangs down to their knees and are much better at being A grade a***holes because they have had much more practice at it than you and I. Being strategic about it is more likely to get an outcome.

If it were me I might develop an interest in the terrier ring, and start videoing the judging to help me learn more about terriers. If that video just happened to contain some footage that was reportable, then I could put up my $100 or whatever the equivalent is in New Zealand and make a complaint. Or you could upload it to YouTube and invite the breeder of the dog to view it. Up to you, it really depends on what is in the best interests of the dog - the breeder may not be concerned and may view the treatment as you described it as "training".

[ellz]

If it were me, my money would have been on the desk at the Secretary's office and there would have been an email winging its way to the breeder of the dog as soon as I could find a computer and their email address!!!

People who are supposedly "powerful" in the dog world don't scare me any more. I've tangled with a family who like to think they can tell others what to do in the past and whilst it wasn't easy and certain things did happen which could have only been initiated by them, at the end of the day I won and I know I did the right thing and that is what it comes down to for me.

And the other thing is too....if you make a stand, then you may find others from surprising places will back you. Often it just needs one person to get the ball rolling and then the support will come as others feel more confident.

[Ceilidh]

Several years ago now I was at a show where I witnesses a man belting his dog over the head. I yelled at him as I was marching around the ring to his setup where I told him that if I witnessed anything close to this again I would report him. He apologised and said it wouldn't happen again. When I got back to my setup someone said to me 'omg, do you realise who that is? It is Mr Soandso and he is an allbreeds judge' I said 'so what I don't give a flying f*#* who he is it doesn't give him the right to bash a dog' 'fair enough' she said.

So therefore I for one cannot understand why noone said anything! grrrr

[Bullbreedlover]

Have pm'd you PomsNZ

[SkySoaringMagpie]

Several years ago now I was at a show where I witnesses a man belting his dog over the head. I yelled at him as I was marching around the ring to his setup where I told him that if I witnessed anything close to this again I would report him. He apologised and said it wouldn't happen again. When I got back to my setup someone said to me 'omg, do you realise who that is? It is Mr Soandso and he is an allbreeds judge' I said 'so what I don't give a flying f*#* who he is it doesn't give him the right to bash a dog' 'fair enough' she said.

So therefore I for one cannot understand why noone said anything! grrrr

Agree, but in the case Poms is talking about the opportunity to make an immediate response has gone. I can't imagine that going up to someone who (allegedly) has a reputation for making life difficult and saying "I saw you do X to your dog last weekend and it's not on" is likely to get anything but a denial and possibly a threat to sue for slander. And some people will genuinely believe they did nothing wrong, humans have a short memory and their recall of what they did in the ring can be really flaky.

As for why no-one said anything - either scared of getting involved in drama or the kind of person happy to wind someone else up by saying "dreadful! terrible!" but who mysteriously fades away once the pot has been stirred and witnesses are needed.

[becks]

If you call them on it at the show, the dog may well suffer more later on if that person felt embarrassed by your comments.

As for telling the breeder - if they are in another country, just what could they do to help the dog? Probably nothing.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

The breeder could refuse to sell any more dogs to the dog basher. If they knew.

I've seen a horse being beaten at an equestrian event. I was a jump judge, wasn't my jump but I was still close enough to get their number and report them and four others did the same.

Can't believe the NZ dog show community just turned and looked the other way - yuck. I'd be inviting reps from the RSPCA to the next event where this thug is likely to be showing, so they can take him away.

[PomsNZ]

Im sorry, i should have mentioned this in original post, but YES something IS being done, via the channels that I personally feel safer going down.

We do have photos/video availble to use.

As for not saying anything, I have done so in the past, when i seen a couple hitting another dog, i told them that the next time i see them doing it to thier dog Ill dish out the same treatment on them.

Please do not think I walked away with nothing being done.

As far as I know, an email has been sent to the kennel in Aus where he got it to report what we had seen.

[Kalevi]

If it were me, my money would have been on the desk at the Secretary's office and there would have been an email winging its way to the breeder of the dog as soon as I could find a computer and their email address!!!

yep, this sounds like a better approach than fronting up to him - physical abuse is just not on.

[poodlefan]

God put video cameras in mobile phones for a reason.

I'd have dialed up to about 180 decibels, yelled "What the fark do you think you're doing to that poor dog" and slapped $50 on the Secretary's desk.

I'd probably also have considered a report to the RSPCA.

what would you do... when it happened I was thinking OMG and even said OMG what is he doing to that poor dog loudly, hoping the steward would hear. the international judge ignored the guy.

I am ashamed the judge will go back and think we abuse our animals!

I'd have been more ashamed about the number of witnesses that didn't do anything.

Edited October 29, 2010 by poodlefan

[Joan of Arc]

Ceilidh I applaud your actions.

Find the whole thing disgusting and you know I tend to say what I think so I would have probably done very similar or god forbid worse.

Nevertheless if it was one of my dogs that he was doing this too I would want to know. I may not be able to rescue my baby girl but I would like to think that we would be in a position to apply pressur through other avenues such as other breeders or exhibitors in that country.

I agree with the idea of developing an interest in that group and video evidence is irrefutable.

[Bullbreedlover]

PomsNZ and anyone else involved in this case.

Never be scared of someone who abuses their animals. Especially not this person.

Stand up for those who can not speak for themselves.

I hope he is kicked out of NZKC.

The stories I could tell would have you cringing.

If I witnessed the event you can sure as heck believe I would of said something for he does not scare me in the slightest.

[LizT]

Several years ago now I was at a show where I witnesses a man belting his dog over the head. I yelled at him as I was marching around the ring to his setup where I told him that if I witnessed anything close to this again I would report him. He apologised and said it wouldn't happen again. When I got back to my setup someone said to me 'omg, do you realise who that is? It is Mr Soandso and he is an allbreeds judge' I said 'so what I don't give a flying f*#* who he is it doesn't give him the right to bash a dog' 'fair enough' she said.

So therefore I for one cannot understand why noone said anything! grrrr

Well good on you! It doesn't matter who they are (or who they think they are) people can have a bad day and if they take it out on another living creature, be it a child, animal or adult they must be held accountable for it.

I hope he was sufficiently remorseful and thinks twice before he takes it out on someone else again. Some people will learn from their mistakes and the time to act is the moment you react.