This woman is my hero---a REAL dog lover

[Ginny Nightingale]

Remember the anchorwoman who put her face down to the Mastiff on TV? We had the story posted here on DK. Here she is discussing the event and how glad she is the dog is home with his family--this is near and dear to my heart because my husband's family FORCED me to put my dog (a Wheaten) down 6 years ago after my sister-in-law did a similar thing with a dog I owned that she knew she shouldn't trust. In my family's eyes, I was the bad guy and the dog was evil for biting her--NOT SO! But we paid the price. Long story, but I really had no choice--the house insurance company and the police were all involved--ugh--that is why I LOVE this lady and wish her well.

On the other hand, that incident did lead me to doodles and the wonderful friends I have made here on DK and in the doodle world--so I am grateful for that.

[Ginny Nightingale]

OOOPS!! Got carried away and forgot the link!

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/24/tv-anchor-gives-interview-afte...

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

A really brave and remarkable woman.  

[Chelsea and Bailey]

Wow! I had no idea it really was that bad. The fact that she is able to move on this quickly and not have any hard feelings is amazing.

[F, Calla & Luca]

This woman really did have a serious bite! She had behaved inappropriately with the dog and paid a high price. The dog's reaction is, however, a scary one too, and I hope it is never allowed to be in a position to do this again. As my own dogs demonstrated just today with a woodchuck, dogs have certain instinctual behaviors, which we can modify but not eradicate. I am sorry about your Wheaten.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Yes and if you remember the story, this dog had had a traumatic event the day before and was now on a stage in front of lights and cameras--very stressful situation. But in any case, putting your face in the face of a strange dog is so dangerous! My sister-in-law had 45 TINY stitches above her eye--it is only a miracle that her eye was missed--I do not blame her, but for months and months it was all she would talk about and they ended up getting a liability settlement from my insurance company too. I was extremely apologetic and helped them collect the $ as much as I could, but no one ever considered my feelings (we had the dog almost 12 years!) or ever apologized to us for putting the dog in that situation which ended up causing us all a lot of grief. 

It has been 6 years now, as I said, and she still comes up to our area to see the plastic surgeon who was on call that day (Thank goodness-he was excellent) --they tell her that it is all healed and really, it is barely noticeable, but she seems to need to keep re-visiting it. When she comes to see him, they stay here--so that opens it all up again. Here is the really IRONIC part--she decided to get a dog a year after this incident and they got a Havanese--a small dog. The dog is very dog and people aggressive and will growl at all of us and the dogs to protect her owner. One time, when she was guarding her, my sister-in-law said to her "Thank you for protecting me" and hugged her--OY! I just quietly said "you may not want to encourage that behavior" and let it go.....

Sorry--too much venting--let's just enjoy the good story!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Oh boy, I can imagine how hard that is for you. Needing to see the plastic surgeon six years later is really weird.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I too didn't realize it was as bad as it was.  That being said though I too was happy to hear her say that she was glad the dog was back with its family.  What I thought was missing from the story though was the opportunity to teach others that what she did was wrong and to explain that she never should have done what she did.  A real missed opportunity in my book.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Yikes.  I feel terrible for ever thinking it was a minor thing.  It really does look horrible.  I feel so sorry for the woman, and she amazes me with how forgiving she is.  Wow.  I am worried about the dog though, because that owner really does need to do some work with it and be a more responsible pet owner.  I am worried it may happen again.  Hopefully not.

Ginny - I am so sorry to hear about your beloved dog.  How very traumatic that had to be for you to have your entire family be so against something you loved so much.  How hurtful.  A very awkward situation for sure.  I am so glad you found doodles and DK!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Wow, she seems to have a really great attitude about what happened.

[Ginny Nightingale]

If you are interested, I just ran across another article about her and she does add something about petting the dog "the wrong way"--this one has different info, but she is still great!

http://gma.yahoo.com/denver-news-anchor-bitten-dog-having-baby-hurt...

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Wow-Yes she is amazing. I also did not know she lost her lip. I hope the dog never does this again, that would be very bad for him. Lucky she is forgiving and says it's an accident. Glad she is doing well!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Ginny, First of all, I am so sorry about your dog.  I am sure it was a very hard event to get over, especially since you lost your beloved dog. I did not know this woman was so severely injured and glad she is recovering. She seems like a very nice and forgiving woman. I hope the dog owner's learned something too that day and do not put their dog in this situation ever again.