I haven't even read the news article yet(and may not--it sounds horrific...), but I want to comment on what mininik pointed out. I am in complete agreement...although I have always allowed my tiny dogs to sleep with me, I would NEVER allow any dog any larger than them to sleep on/in my bed! Dogs DO become possessive about something like that, and as a result, can be dangerous, even to the owner who believes that the dog 'would NEVER'.....
I have a cousin who feels she is a SUPREME dog lover. She has ALWAYS chosen dogs unsuited to city life, always having two or three sizable and energetic dogs when she has a small house and almost NO yard, and then, she expects NOTHING of them in the way of manners. Example--they lie in the doorway of her small kitchen when people are there at holiday time, literally creating a danger to those trying to come and go-like my cousin's very elderly in-laws-yet NO WAY would they be 'asked' to move. She has had a number of dogs in the years she's lived in the city; finally, with the most recent two, who are crosses of high energy breeds, she DID start actually taking them out to a park to exercise--before them, never. Her last dog was a pit cross, and IMO, a dangerous dog, who clearly exhibited an unstable temperment. My cousin, a single woman for years, has always allowed all of those sizable dogs to sleep in her bed, and once told me that that particular dog would growl at her if she attempted to get the dog to get off the bed...a definitely dangerous signal, but my cousin is TOTALLY indulgent of the dogs, and actually refuses to recognize such a sign. Sure enough, one day, that dog VICIOUSLY attacked a new puppy they'd gotten, with no provocation, injurying my cousin's adult daughter(who after a brief marriage, moved back in w/ mommy and is still there, along with her now teenaged child, at age 34...
). They had the pit cross euthanized. Now, the dog that was attacked that day is an adult, and is exhibiting the same kind of behavior! I believe it is partly because the dog is poorly socialized, along with being 'spoiled' and never disciplined in ANY manner. He is a husky cross; over the holidays, while my daughter and I were there, this dog tried to bite me, with NO provocation; scared the s**t out of me--she did not in any way reprimand nor limit the dog! She doesn't believe in taking them to obedience classes; feels that because she "loves" them so much, all will be well....her dogs are shy and act fearful of people they don't know; even the other dog now there is that way to begin with, though her basic temperment is more sound, and she soon 'warms up' to a newcomer.
Bottom line is, dogs NEED proper training and discipline, and owners need some good common sense about same--and about the characteristics and traits of the kind of dog they choose! There is no reason why we should ever be reading such horror stories!
Margo
