BBM for emphasis. I completely agree-- the dog was acting on a level of pure instinct. That is, IMO, why this particular dog cannot be trusted to ever be around humans again-- particularly children.
The dog may, in fact, have been mistreated or abused. The owner may be responsible for that, and should be held accountable. The babysitter may also have been neglectful in watching the little boy. But neither of those things, IMO, mean that the dog should be returned to the owner as a pet, and not euthanized.
If the dog was mistreated to the point that he is behaving as a "wild" or feral dog, it's not a realistic goal (IMO) to try to rehabilitate it. It is a dangerous animal, not a person. It could easily attack again, and not even understand that it was doing something "wrong".
I understand that this is very sad for some dog lovers-- I'm not heartless. But the lives of children and other people simply can't be put at risk. A dog isn't the same as a person, no matter how much someone loves dogs. If this person lived in my neighborhood, I would be outraged to discover that a dog with this history was returned to the owner.
But in the case of, for example, the healthy giraffe in Copenhagen that was euthanized as a public spectacle-- that was inexcusable, IMO. The giraffe never attacked anyone, and was created as a result, IMO, of an irresponsible zoo breeding program. We should all be outraged over that.
I wanted to add that I lived in Germany for a while. Dogs are welcome almost everywhere there, in stores, and even restaurants. It was very disconcerting to me to see big dogs in restaurants at first-- even hotel buffet restaurants. The dogs are incredibly obedient-- and immediately lay down under the table next to their owners. In fact, there is such a preference for "fizzy water" that if you ask a waiter for "still water" to drink, they often look beneath the table to see if there is a dog there! Anyway, several of my German friends told me that the reason dogs are so welcome is that the police have the authority to remove or even kill a dog who misbehaves in public, or attacks someone. No debate-- no trials or complaints. So that's why the dogs are so well-behaved. The owners won't risk taking them out if the dogs aren't 100% reliable. There may be some Germans on the board here who could add more or clarify. I just wanted to contrast our American views, with those of another culture who also love dogs.
