Bad Dog / Good Dog

From the Chicago Sun-Times comes this story:

The best Chicago dog story ever
The cops had to fire so many shots to stop the lunging pit bull, the gunpowder set off an overhead smoke detector.

Still, the dog didn't die.

But she wasn't the toughest dog on the block. That title belongs to Maya, a 74-pound black Lab who took on India, the 120-pound pit bull who was mauling a sixth-grader on the Northwest Side.

Now 5-year-old Maya is being hailed as a hero -- a selfless pooch who rushed out of her home to save a stranger and has a scarred body to prove it.

She's the pride of her Albany Park neighborhood, and teachers at the injured boy's school have pooled their money to help pay her bills.

"I think it's wonderful," said Chicago Police Sgt. Magge Lameka, one of the first two cops on the scene. "She practically gave her own life for a stranger -- not even her owner. Coming to the aid of a stranger, I mean, you can't find a lot of people who would do that.

"If anyone's a hero, that black Lab was."

The pit bull had attacked a 12-year-old coming home from school. The Lab was a neighbors dog who took it upon themselves to attack the pit bull and drive it off the child. Wonderful story. A good friend of ours is in Alaska for three months working as a guide. We are having the great pleasure of taking care of his Chocolate Lab for the summer -- a great dog and we will be sorry to see her go back home. (unnnhh -- Frank? Your dog... ran away -- yeah) Also, anyone who assumes the responsibility of having a hair-trigger attack dog like a pit bull needs to be aware that something like this can happen in a moment. Training goes a long way to break this reflex behavior but unfortunately, most people don't bother to follow through with this (and test it) and they are left with the worst kind of "watch dog" -- one that will attack strangers regardless of whether they are a threat or not.