# Child's service dog found shot, killed in driveway



## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

Child's service dog found shot, killed in driveway - WNEM TV 5



> A reward is being offered after a service dog was found shot to death outside her home.
> 
> 
> Brooke Wilbanks had returned home from a funeral and let her service dog, Sensi, outside for a bathroom break.
> ...




I don't know where to start with this one. I think it's an awful and terrible thing that happened here, but that it could have been very easily avoided had someone been outside with the dog. Apparently, they just opened the door and let the dog out ... into an unfenced (from what I can tell) yard.


On a side note, the article talks about the dog being a "service dog" but then says further down that the dog was the child's "emotional support animal" (which is not a Service Dog). They also talk about the tag the dog was wearing, which is shown in some of the images, and is one of the ones you can order from here --> Service Dog ID - Custom Service Dog Badges


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

The owners will not take responsibility for this. I cannot feel very sorry for them. They have a dog that looks like a pit bull dog. It does not matter if it is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier or a German Shepherd Dog, people are afraid of these dogs. 

People, if you have a German Shepherd, an Akita, a bully breed -- any variety, a Rotteweiler, don't just open the front door and let them out for half an hour or an hour. Use your brains. Go outside with the dog. Keep them safe. 

If a dog is rushing toward someone, I can guarantee they are not looking for tags on the collar. 

Stupid owners. Now their kid doesn't have their dog. And they aren't going to learn anything from this, because they are 100% blaming the shooter.


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## WarrantsWifey (Dec 18, 2010)

selzer said:


> The owners will not take responsibility for this. I cannot feel very sorry for them. They have a dog that looks like a pit bull dog. It does not matter if it is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier or a German Shepherd Dog, people are afraid of these dogs.
> 
> *People, if you have a German Shepherd, an Akita, a bully breed -- any variety, a Rotteweiler, don't just open the front door and let them out for half an hour or an hour. Use your brains. Go outside with the dog. Keep them safe. *
> 
> ...


I was thinking, if it's a SD, why in the heck did they let the dog roam free in the front yard for half an hour??


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

If you read the comments the grandmother said the dog was behind a locked gate. Not sure there is enough info in the story to know the whole thing


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

That would make things different. What I saw was a country type driveway with trees around, no fence. But could be...


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## dazedtrucker (May 2, 2011)

This was down in the comment section:


10 hours ago+9 
Share | Flag
I am the owner of the property that this incident occured on and grandmother to the child that sensi belonged to. Some people are totally missing the point here, this has nothing to do with her BREED! She was a Basset hound/pit bull and was a gentle, obedient dog. When this occured she was well within the border of our 40 acre fenced in compound. Our front yard is large and wooded and she was found inside the gate! I heard two rounds of gunshots and by the time the police arrived she was already dead. Our family was gathered there grieving the loss of my mother in law whose funeral was the next day. We were all outside in the hot tub and the shots were fired directly toward our house. We thank God none of us were injured. Someone was out driving around with a loaded gun, this is about public safety, not Pit Bulls!!!! Everyone BEWARE!!


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## fkeeley (Aug 31, 2006)

Well I have to say that if the dog was within their property then it doesn't matter if the dog was loose. Someone should have not shot it unless the dog was a threat and was trying to bite them. It means to me that maybe someone didn't like the family or the dog or tried to enter the yard and the dog reacted to protect the property. Now if the dig was out on the road then that would b another story. I have invisible fence and yes I let my dog loose on my yard. Yes I keep an eye out to make sure she's ok but she likes to b out and so I want to give her that freedom_Especially when I'm vacumming


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## ILGHAUS (Nov 25, 2002)

> On a side note, the article talks about the dog being a "service dog" but then says further down that the dog was the child's "emotional support animal" (which is not a Service Dog). They also talk about the tag the dog was wearing, which is shown in some of the images, and is one of the ones you can order from here --> Service Dog ID - Custom Service Dog Badges


I've seen that same badge sold elsewhere. You pull up the site and click on the design, add a picture and info (with a basic template) and pay for it. No dealing with a person at all. Last time I checked the cost along with S&H was under $15.

In any case it is very sad whenever someone's beloved pet is shot inside of their own yard.


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## robinhuerta (Apr 21, 2007)

Why have that much acreage fenced...if you *can't* allow you dogs to run..?
SD or family pet...it shouldn't matter. That much fenced property *should* allow an owner to enjoy it *and *their family companions.....
JMO


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

with an E-Fence i think you need to keep
an extra eye on her. some dogs will run
through an E-Fence.



fkeeley said:


> I have invisible fence and yes I let my dog loose on my yard.
> 
> Yes >>>>I keep an eye out to make sure she's ok<<<<
> 
> but she likes to b out and so I want to give her that freedom_Especially when I'm vacumming


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i wouldn't allow my dog to run freely on 40 acres fenced in.
i would worry that he might dig out.



robinhuerta said:


> Why have that much acreage fenced...if you *can't* allow you dogs to run..?
> SD or family pet...it shouldn't matter. That much fenced property *should* allow an owner to enjoy it *and *their family companions.....
> JMO


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> I have invisible fence and yes I let my dog loose on my yard. Yes I keep an eye out to make sure she's ok but she likes to b out and so I want to give her that freedom_Especially when I'm vacumming


I wouldn't leave my dog outside without me being outside if all I had was an e-fence since the fence doesn't keep anything (dogs, people, other animals) out and most passers-by can't tell you have an e-fence and may feel threatened by a large dog running loose in an unfenced(-looking) yard.

JMHO.

As far as the property in question goes ... well, I don't know what it looks like beyond what we've all seen in the video. It looks to be a wooded lot with a dirt road going up to the house. I wonder if they have a horse-paddock type gate at the bottom of the driveway like many of the places where I live? And what kind of fence? Our last place had fenced horse paddocks ... but those weren't "dog safe" fences by any stretch of the imagination.

Since nobody saw the dog getting shot, I wonder whether the dog was shot much further down the driveway or on the road (outside the fence) and made her way up to the house where she was found in the driveway?


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## e.rigby (May 28, 2011)

That dog looked like a pit bull, whether it was or not, it looked like it and that's all that is needed to make people fearful. (even though most of the time the fear is unwarranted).

That said, I wouldn't even let a dog seen by the public to be a 'friendly breed' outside in an unfenced area unsupervised! To think these people had this dog as a service animal (which technically, it wasn't even that) is disgraceful because people who have SD should abide by very high standards of dog ownership. Letting your dog run free for 30 minutes until you figured you might as well go outside to check on him/her is absurd!

I don't feel sorry for the owners, I feel bad for the kid and the dog. The owners should be fined.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

If their yard had a solid fence, a fence where passers by would not feel afraid, that there was no fence (e-fence), or that the fence could not stop the dog, ie crappy picket, broken, four foot, than I think they have a legitimate grievance. 

If someone was driving around in a car with a gun shooting people's dogs in their yard, that would tick me off. 

But this sounds like everyone is hanging out in the hot tub, after the funeral, kind of weird, but they heard the shots and ran out front. The article states they did not notice until half an hour later when they called the dog. The newscaster said an hour. 

So, as usual, many different stories.


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