they're supposed to be. And if you're stupid enough to do this, you deserve to receive toothmarks.
The gardener, Giovanni Rivera, was attacked in June by a German shepherd named Congo and four other dogs at a Princeton home where he did landscaping. Charges were filed against the family who owned the dogs, and Rivera received an insurance settlement of $250,000...
James [the owner of Congo] contends the men showed up early when the dogs were eating, and disregarded his calls for them to stay in their vehicle. He said Congo attacked Rivera after the panicked gardener grabbed his wife from behind and pulled her down, causing her to scream.
I read the article, and found these little nuggets:
Much of the public discussion has centered on Rivera's immigration status. Neither Riechelson, the James family, their lawyer, or the prosecutor said they know whether Rivera is here legally, nor do they care, saying that it wasn't relevant to the case. (bold mine)
Otis described some of the comments directed at Rivera as "very disturbing" and questioned whether public opinion would be different if the victim had been a child or a non-immigrant.
That thought was echoed by some Hispanic immigrants in Princeton.
"Maybe they would have killed the dog already," said Oscar, a Guatemalan immigrant who didn't want to give his full name because he's in the country illegally. "This country values Americans."
Why, yes, jackass, we DO value Americans. More than illegal aliens, most of us. Deal with it. As to the rest, gee, I wonder if, possibly being here illegally and- like many such- not being too good with English, maybe Mr. Rivera didn't understand when the homeowner said "Stay in the truck"? Hmmm, it is to ponder...
Years ago when Wife #1 and I bought our first house, we got a dog. Near as we could tell was half either Lab or Weimeraner and half (probably) Springer Spaniel. Solid black, long fur like a Springer, smart and very protective. One day we were working on lunch when the dog started barking. First it was "One of those people is here" barking, which meant meter reader. Then it changed to "YOU are not supposed to be here!" barking. Serious barking. Wife went out to see as I had my hands full and about five seconds after she went out I heard her say "Just read it and get out!"
And then the dog went nuts. This wasn't just warning barking anymore, it was "You're dead meat!" snarling. I hit the door at a run and discovered an interesting little tableau:
Wife holding dog by collar.
Meter reader holding a piece of 2x4 about two feet long, waving it at the dog.
Dog dragging wife forward.
I found out later this idiot, instead of reading the meter and walking out when the dog barked at him- like every other reader did- picked up the 2x4 and shook it at him. That violated Rule #1 of dog/meter reader etiquette, causing the 'get out' barking. And then, when wife grabbed the collar and told the idiot to finish up and leave, he actually took a step toward them and shook the board again. Dog took this to mean "Normal rules do not apply to this two-leg, he's threatening the alpha female!" and he went into full defend-the-pack mode.
This dog weighed about 40 pounds as I recall and, as I say, was dragging my 110lb. wife forward as he tried to reach the idiot. I tackled the dog, wrapped both arms around him and held on. After a few moments he stopped trying to get loose as he realized the boss didn't want him to chew up the intruder(I didn't want to add any more yelling to the situation), and alpha female was running the intruder out. With loud and abusive words.
Idiot left, wife went in to call the electric company, and I sat there telling the dog he'd done good protecting her, but it was time to calm down now. Which he did.
Bad thing about the aftermath was that forevermore he would not let anybody he didn't know in without challenge; idiot had broken all the rules and all meter readers were now considered suspect.
But nobody, nobody, ever tried to get into our yard without permission.
Oh, later found out they'd had several complaints about this idiot and he wound up being fired. Do not be a meter reader if you can't deal with dogs: they're supposed to protect their territory.
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