Personal Protection – Part Two
The following narrative is from information supplied by the participants including the intruder (statement given), the police officer and Mandy.
As in part one details have been changed to protect anonymity
It was a Tuesday, market day and Mandy arrived home laden with shopping.
She was shocked to find a broken window, rushed inside and was even more shocked at the sight that greeted her.
In her living room was a total stranger his back firmly pressed against the wall. His right hand was bloodied and obviously swollen. The man was without doubt terrified as was evident from the dark stain that had appeared on the front of his trousers, and finally there was Ruby sitting quietly.
Imagine the scene; the intruder was frozen in fear, sitting patiently in front of him was Ruby, sniffing the stain on the man’s trousers, her teeth no more than an inch away from his genitals. Hardly surprising that the intruder was scared witless!!
Mandy immediately rang the police and within minutes officers arrived and the intruder was taken away and then and only then Mandy was able to hug Ruby. Mandy admitted she cried like a baby and didn’t want to let go of Ruby. Shock had understandably taken over.
Unfortunately it was not long before a police officer knocked on her door and informed Mandy that the intruder had made a complaint that he had been seriously injured and wanted the householder charged with keeping a dangerous animal!!
The intruder had been taken to hospital where the duty doctor had treated his injury, had stated that the injury was without doubt the result of a dog bite, the damage whilst painful was not serious and having dressed the wound, administered pain relief and antibiotics he discharged the man.
After interviews and statements the sequence of events were as follows.
The intruder had entered the house having broken a window which allowed him to reach in and lift the latch.
The man, intent on stealing anything of value finally met Ruby when he entered the lounge and then did the one thing he should not have done. He reached for the first thing that came to hand which was an ornament threw it at Ruby, missed and shouted, hoping to frighten her.
Unfortunately for him Ruby was trained to respond to threatening behaviour by grabbing the assailants arm.
It transpired that Ruby had indeed attacked but due to the lack of space she had not been able run at the intruder and had in fact only been able to reach his hand on which she had inflicted the painful bite. The intruder then made his only sensible decision of the day. He froze. He stayed frozen until Mandy returned, knowing that he had lost control of his bladder and terrified that Ruby would attack without warning.
At the police station he gave a written statement admitting breaking and entering plus criminal damage but demanded that Mandy be charged with keeping a dangerous dog. Well these days that might just be a possibility although with little chance of success.
30 years ago that was never going to happen. It was a different world then and policemen did things a little differently as well.
What did happen was that the officer in charge of the case told the intruder that when he appeared in court the police officer would inform the assembled press that the intruder had wet himself and as a result his photo would appear in virtually every newspaper in the land and he would be the laughing stock of the criminal fraternity.
Surprise, surprise the intruder withdrew his complaint.
I was asked later why Ruby had behaved the way she did. Why did she sit in front of the intruder? Why didn’t she continue to bite having cornered him?
Well Ruby had done her job as far as she was so concerned. She had dealt with the threat.
Ironically if the man had not been so confrontational and not shown aggressive intent he might have been able to escape by just ignoring Ruby and departing the scene. After all she was not a guard dog, She was not trained to protect the property only to respond to aggressive behaviour.
Was I pleased with Ruby’s performance? To be honest I was delighted.
She was a personal protection dog and she had interpreted the intruders behaviour as threatening despite Mandy not being there and she had responded to the threat with restraint.
We need to remember that in the UK and other countries if a police officer or any member of the emergency services ie. the fire brigade has to enter the house as a reaction to an emergency then it must be understood that the householder is then liable for injury to that person and before anyone says they can’t effect entry in your absence, see a lawyer!!
Did it change the way that I trained personal protection, no it didn’t.
I had insisted that Mandy inform her insurance company that Ruby was a protection dog which she had done. After the incident she rang them, related the circumstances and the company paid for the damage and were delighted to have got away so lightly.
I don’t know what the policy of insurance companies and crime prevention officers is now but in those days they all reckoned the best deterrent to burglars was a dog!!
This all occurred well before 13th May 2014 when the Dangerous Dogs Act section 3 was changed. All UK dog owners should be aware as they are now responsible for ALL aspects their dogs behaviour EVERYWHERE, including the garden and the interior of the house.
Whilst judges, juries and magistrates tend not to be very sympathetic to injured intruders working on the principle that they shouldn’t have been on the premises uninvited in the first place and the same applies to canines protecting their owners, we all need to be aware of the relevant laws concerning our dogs.
It is a very fine line we walk. We all want to be able to protect ourselves and our property but at the same time we have to ensure that our canine companions comply with the law.
If we get it wrong then the consequences can be catastrophic. Badly trained and Ill disciplined dogs plus poorly worded legislation will result in people including children being killed or seriously injured.
Only today I see a person has received life changing injuries from her own dog whilst protecting a child.
Conversely you can see the day coming that police dog handlers will be instructed to inform their canine colleagues that in the future they should only bite gently and where possible just give the villain a soothing lick!!
“The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend.”
Lord Byron