Bo Raxo wrote:
> Well, I guess if you love an animal just like it is a member of the
> family, you wouldn't euthanize a child who hit you, now would you?
>
> So she kept the dog, and eventually it killed her. Had sent her
> son-on-law to the hospital, too. Hmmm, there's a lesson in here
> somewhere...
>
> Note to Tiny: Oh, a dog dug a tunnel and dragged two geezers to
> safety! Since then, at least half a dozen people have been killed by
> 'em. But you just remember the cute tunnel story and cite it over and
> over, right? She loved the dog, but gee, doesn't look like the dog was
> experiencing quite the same emotion.
>
>
> Bo Raxo
>
>
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/5F7522C6B0C8FC7C862572660011BF29?OpenDo***ent
>
>
> A plastic surgeon spent three hours sewing up Linda Mittino's face
> after her son's dog first attacked her in November.
>
> But she insisted the 7-year-old German shepherd, called Bear, deserved
> a second chance.
>
> On Monday, the animal lover's loyalty cost her her life when the dog
> once again turned on her - this time attacking in her bedroom.
>
> "She called him her protector. She loved that dog," said her son, Joe
> Mittino, the dog's owner.
>
> "I don't know what happened. My mom isn't here to tell me and the dog
> can't talk."
>
> St. Louis County police said Joe and his father, who uses a
> wheelchair, were asleep in other rooms of the house in the 8900 block
> of Arvin Place in south St. Louis County when the dog attacked
> sometime after 1 a.m. They said they didn't hear any trouble.
>
> Joe Mittino found his mother about 10:30 a.m., lying face down next to
> her bed. She had obviously suffered a serious animal attack.
>
> "Based on the medical examiner's preliminary re****t, we believe the
> dog caused her death," said county police Officer Richard Eckhard.
>
> Linda Mittino, 69, and her husband, Joseph, had two children and three
> grandchildren. They owned and operated several Dairy Queen restaurants
> until they sold them and retired in 1999.
>
> Several years later, Joseph Mittino suffered a serious stroke, leaving
> him unable to care for himself. He lived in a skilled nursing home for
> a year, then Linda Mittino brought her husband home to look after him
> herself.
>
> The dog came to live with Linda Mittino when her son moved into his
> parents home four years ago.
>
> Bear, whose registered name is Baron von Valentine, was the seventh
> German shepherd the family had kept as a pet over the years. Linda
> Mittino also kept a greyhound and eight cats.
>
> Joe Mittino said Bear was always aggressive about protecting his owner
> and territory.
>
> "I took him to obedience school, but we didn't do too good," Joe
> Mittino said.
>
> His sister, Lisa Boenzle, said she feared the dog, especially after it
> attacked her husband, who went to the hospital with serious bite
> wounds last year.
>
> "You always had to keep an eye on him," she said. "You couldn't know
> for sure what he was thinking."
>
> In November, Joe Mittino was disciplining Bear after the animal ran
> into the front yard when the door opened. Linda Mittino attempted to
> help her son grab the dog to pull him back inside. She reached for its
> collar, and the dog leaped on her, family said.
>
> It injured her arms, back and face. Linda Mittino was hospitalized for
> days after the attack. But she did not allow authorities to kill the
> animal, family members said.
>
> "The dog needed to be put down after the first attack" Lisa Boenzle
> said. "But my mom didn't want to take the dog away from my brother."
>
> Joe Mittino said he intended to get one-on-one training for Bear after
> the attack. He scheduled an appointment to have the dog neutered Jan.
> 25. He hoped the procedure would curb his temperament.
>
> Police said they expect no criminal charges from the attack, since the
> animal killed one of its owners, the first such case in memory in St.
> Louis County.
>
> Most family members insist that the dog should be euthanized now.
>
> "He needs to be put down. He killed my mother" Lisa Boenzle said.
> "He's a threat to every human."
>
> Officials were holding the dog Tuesday at St. Louis County's animal
> control shelter. Delores Gunn, director of the St. Louis County Health
> Department, will determine if the dog should be euthanized after a
> hearing if the family does not request it to be put down.
>
> But Joe Mittino wondered about other options Tuesday. He said he
> wished the dog could live in seclusion in rural Missouri.
>
> "I bet he'd be OK there with no one around," he said. "I'd keep him in
> a pen."
--
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