A Friend Or an Enemy?

Dogs often become a serious obstacle for ER doctors to help patients at their homes

The tragedy happened on Sunday in one of the buildings in Metallurgist highway in the city of Chelyabinsk. A 54-year-old man had a hypertension stroke, ER doctors arrived to save the man, but they failed to help him. A local police department informed, doctors could not approach the man because of the very aggressive and uncontrolled dog - a Staffordshire terrier. Police officers had to shoot the dog, but only after the owner (apparently, the patient's wife) gave her written agreement to kill the animal. Unfortunately, too much time was wasted, and the doctors could not save the man.

A middle-aged woman opened the door to a correspondent of the Chelyabinsk Worker newspaper. She refused to talk, and just said: "There is nothing to talk about. The man died, the dog was killed, I buried it yesterday." Old ladies in the street were more sociable, though. Nodding their heads very sadly, elderly neighbors said that the deceased man's name was Yury. Then they pointed to the girl passing us by and said that she was Julia, Yury's younger daughter. The girl refused to talk to the reporter.

A young man, who was accompanying Julia, suddenly helped the journalist. He said that the dog's name was Oscar, he was about 9 months old. The 54-year-old man worked at the enterprise Mechel. That day the man did not feel very well. He took an aspirin and lied down on a couch to have a rest. Then they called an ambulance. The young man said something harsh about ER doctors. He said that the dog had been on a leash, and the doctors could have walked it around and help the man.

The Staffordshire terrier breed first appeared in the English country Staffordshire. In the 19th century, the local population was very fond of bloody sports, when dogs would be set on bulls. Britons also liked dog fights. Selectionists interbred various breeds to amend fighting qualities.

The brutal entertainment was extremely popular in the States as well, so Staffordshire terriers were bred there too. They were bringing dogs from different countries, that is why Staffordshire terriers have the blood of all fighting dogs of the world.

Acting chief of the ER station of the Metallurgist district of Chelyabinsk, Rudolf Matsak: "No one knows, whether it would have been possible to save the man if the dog had not been an obstacle for the doctors. The autopsy will determine the reason of the man's death. In general, it often happens that ER doctors can not make their way into apartments because of the dogs. If an aggressive animal does not let doctors walk in, they have to ask for help themselves. Fortunately, doctors have never suffered from dog bites in our area."

Veterinary surgeon Raisa Mikhailovna, an owner of a Stafford dog: "The character of a dog is based genetically. A Stafford is a balanced breed. Spontaneous aggression is very rare for this dog, if the animal was not trained to attack people, of course. However, no one discards aggressive dogs, but continues breeding them here. In general, any dog is dangerous for a human being. As a veterinary, I know that even small dogs can cause serious injuries to a person. Staffordshire terriers were bred from bulldogs, so their jaws are developed a lot better than other dogs'. They do not bite - they press their teeth with the strength of one or two tons per one square centimeter."

A Staffordshire terrier killed a four-year-old child in the town of Brovary, the Kiyev region. According to the information from central media outlets, parents left the little boy alone in the street just for a minute, when an aggressive dog attacked him. The owner of the dog did not want to give his permission to put the killer-dog down for a long time.

Aleksey Potapov
Elena Makurina