Poor Mabel. Barney the Guard Dog tore her head off and disemboweled her. Elvis must be spinning in his grave. But I don't think it was Barney's fault. I think his trainer/owner/whoever is an amateur and Barney wasn't trained right. I also think the guard is lieing and he left Barney off leash and left the room for the 15 min. Barney is said to have savaged the bears. 1. No trained guard dog should attack without provocation or command. I don't buy the roque scent thing. The bear wasn't moving either. 2. No trained guard dog should continue to rip anything for 15 min. while the guard/trainer/owner is calling the dog off. If the dog doesn't cease the second it's given the command....that's poor training. 3. 15 min? It took the guy 15 min. to regain control of his dog? What if it was a child and not a bear? Sorry, I don't buy this. I think the guy left the dog off leash and left the room to pee, get a smoke, have coffee, whatever. And I think when he came back and saw what happened...he's blaming the dog. 4. I've read mixed reports of the damage to Mabel. I think if they send her to Steiff she might be repaired. Maybe not as good as new, but now the attack is part of her history. 5. It's just as well Barney is being retired. Neither he nor his master should be in the guard dog business. He ain't nothing but a Guard Dog. Well, not any more.
I read about this, too. Ironically, the insurance company insisted on a guard dog. Oops. The jealousy idea (apparently the security guy gave the bear some attention) seems plausible. My brother brought home a new favourite teddy bear once, and we came home from a movie to find poor Tobermory ripped to shreds, tiny foam bits all over the house. There were tears, but it wasn't an $85,000 bear, and the dog was eventually forgiven.
