1) Classic! I love working with the community.

2) That's awesome!! I love Springpatchians.

3) Ahhh...stupidity at its finest.

4) Maybe she just got new glasses and can see more than 5-10 ft. now.

5) I would think a story like that would be confirmed by the CWLP first??? OR maybe Ashley could have done her homework and confirmed it before sending you??? Resources people, seriously. I can't stand having my time wasted nor anyone else's.

6) haha...i hear you SA....but this is TV.....we need images. No time to wait if it was in fact a break. While I raced out the door Ashley did call both CWLP and dispatch....who both said they heard nothing. By the time Ashley reached me i was wandering around UIS.

7) Funny that the woman thought to contact you guys instead of the police or CWLP herself. Did you go back to tell her she should start packing her things since the flooding from the broken water main would probably reach her house within the hour?

8) Overtime...sweet!

9) That is way too funny! What was the reaction of the woman once you told her what it was?

10) Maybe it was a senior prank?!?!?

11) That is a hilarious story. Reminds me of the people in Daytona Beach who used to call the local news when they smelled smoke from wildfires in Georgia.

12) Hey, Ben. Just saw you on the news about the dog-bite story. Read about it in the paper this morning...couldn't believe it. Such a sad story for the postman and the dogs.

13) What happened with the dog bite and the postman?

14) A young girl was home with her babysitter. Apparently the young girl opened the front door, and the babysitter didn't notice. As the postman was walking down the sidewalk (not even up to the house to deliver mail), the family's two pitbulls ran out the open door and attacked the postman. They dislocated his shoulder and left some nasty flesh wounds.
Here's a link to the article. I would recommend reading the comments. This one really brought the nutters out of the woodwork. Again, we've got the concealed carry extremists insisting this is the reason we need concealed carry.
http://www.sj-r.com/news/x33220757/Mailman-attacked-by-...

15) I like the comments from the "behaviorist". Now that's an interesting job! I want to call him about my Jack Russell who keeps biting his nails.

16) His were the comments I was most interested in. At first he sounded intelligent and reasonable...then he just got jerky.

17) Mrs. Shoo, I totally agree. I was a dog trainer/behavorist trainer for over 10 years and I totally disagree with this guy. I can't wait to hear the comments from my friend, Paula, who still works with dogs and behavior training. Can't wait to hear it! :) I really loved the part where he said he owns a German Shepherd but doesn't know how to spell the name of the breed correctly (I think it was Shepard). Sounds like the kind of jerk who goes around saying pit bulls aren't bad dogs--they just have bad trainers. I trained several in TN and agree that they are not driven to be agressive from birth but their natural tendencies to agressive behavior makes them very dangerous and unfortunately the type of person who tends to be attracted to this breed is not the best at managing a dog with this tendency. URRGGHH!

18) Is a behaviorist another word for trainer?

19) Not necessarily. You can train dogs and not really be into the behavior part that deeply. Training is learning to work with behavior but a lot of people do training and never really get into the deeper aspects of behavior and resolving behavioral problems. Calling himself (maybe it isn't a he--he just sounds like one) a behavorist adds a different layer to his training that means he works more on dealing with the behavioral issues with dogs, not just heel,sit,stay,down,come.

20) But, LGrant, wouldn't you say that while pitbulls do have aggressive tendencies, with the proper owner and training, they can be good dogs? I only ask because my cousins have had pitbulls since I was a child, and I've done everything a child can do to a dog and they were such lovely animals. I've always been under the impression that pitbulls get a bad rap because typically the people who own pitbulls are interested in and encourage their aggressive behavior, whether for protection or illegal reasons.

21) I'm not arguing there are some good pitbulls and the owners have a lot to do with that. That doesn't change my opinion of the breed in general. I'm not saying eliminate the breed (though the damage the ones cause tempt me at times!) but I think there needs to be a lot more awareness with would-be owners. I love German Shepherds and consider most of them great with kids and good pets but I know bad breeding and poor training makes for some scary Shepherds for the public to deal with. It sounds like your cousins are responsible owners and do all the right things. As I said, I dealt with several in TN and they were sweet-tempered dogs for the most part but one accidentally bit a neighbor because of a misunderstanding and another was encouraged too young to be assertive. Another was great with her family but agressive toward a "non-pack" member if there was a misunderstanding. She even tried to bite her owner when she was clipping her nails. More as a "I don't like that than a attack but still was being assertive". Her owner was a long-time pit-bull owner and put the dog in her place and resolved the issue.

It's pretty much like giving a gun to a 10-year-old. A few 10-year-olds will be responsible enough to know they have a dangerous weapon and not play with it and potentially shoot someone. The rest, either because of upbringing or less maturity--make a mistake and a friend is shot and killed. Whether an accident or deliberately done, the friend is still dead. I feel as strong about Chows and won't have anything to do with the breed but lots of people have great Chows. The problem ones are usually poor training or poor breeding but the child that is injured or the friend mistaken for a threat is still hurt. Some people feel that way about all German Shepherds and I agree the potential is there and needs to be dealt with in training. Your cousins sound like they know the breed and work to make sure all the good tendencies are developed and the bad ones resolved. I just hope it always is that way with all the dogs they own and no one ever has to have a problem. Sounds like that has been the case so far.

22) LGrant, I was actually just asking if you agreed with that. I know there are those who do and those who don't. I couldn't agree more with the gun analogy. I just seems like the people who choose to own pitbulls are the irresponsible ones. Also, my dogs could bite someone, but it isn't going to dislocate his or her shoulder...pitbulls are just such a strong breed (same with German Shepherds).
It's just so sad to me that these dogs will have to be put down (hopefully, as I wouldn't want to walk near their house) just because of a bad pet owner and an irresponsible baby sitter.

23) Actually pitbulls are worse. There jaw power is higher than most breeds. I don't remember the actual numbers but it is something like 1000 PSI for a Shepherd and 1200PSI for a pitbull. Their jaws are very strong and they are similar to a lot of bull-dog type breeds in that they lock their jaws on the target and hang on or worse shake roughly to create even more damage. Obviously I'm passionate about the subject and I agree all aren't bad but the majority of people I have met who own pit-bulls tend to have a slightly agressive nature of their own or lack of responsibility about what their dog can potentially do. It's good people like your cousins can show there is the potential for a good dog if the owner works at it.

24) LGRANT and Mrs. Shoo....couldn't agree more with both of your comments. I did a story a few months ago when there was a string of dog VS people attacks in one week (it is starting to become my beat haha). I interviewed a trainer who owned what would be considered a pit bull (there are several kinds of dogs that fit that description). He had a very young kid who just learned to crawl and was completely comfortable with his pooch hanging with his child. BUT...they do seem like very scary dogs when they are aggressive....and those that tend to make the news always seem to have irresponsible owners.

25) Ben, Do you know how the postman is doing? He seemed so kind on the news, saying he was glad it was him and not a child. I don't know if I could be that noble after being attacked by two dogs.

26) He is actually doing great...under the circumstances. Because he had a bite of sandwich prior to the attack...the doctor's couldn't give him medicine to knock him out. So the poor guy had to sit in the hospital eight hours with a dislocated shoulder. So that shoulder is still hurting. He said he now knows the pain of giving birth. Besides that his stitches will be out in seven days. And he said worked called him yesterday asking him if he could come in and answer phones. He said.....ummmm...no. haha. He was walking around and watching his grandson. So I think he'll make a full recovery pretty quick although it looks really painful right now. I did not show his worst wound which was on his upper thigh...and still oozing. I thought the best part of the interview which i couldn't find a place to fit it in.....while he was being attacked a little old lady went to her garage....grabbed a baseball bat and said "no dogs are going to attack MY mailman!" By the time she walked out Calvin had fended off his attackers.

27) That's a great part of the story, Ben. I don't recommend people going after a dog in attack mode but what a tough woman to be willing to take care of her mailman! I'll bet that guy would even find a PO box for a non-mail-drop business address and deliver the package. :)

Seriously great story and both the postman and the woman willing to assist sound like great people. I hate to sound so negative about a group of dogs--there are others who get bad press like Shepherds but the worse culprits (at least in the news!) seem to be the pit bulls.