November 10, 2006--Fanaticism LXXIII--Don't Fence Her In
What was it that Robert Frost said about neighbors and fences? Well, it appears that no one in Northport, Long Island ever read that poem.
In case you missed the story, here’s what’s going on. (For all the gory details, see the NY Times article linked below.) There is a dog lover, one Mitchell Stein who owned a German shepherd, poetically named Aurora. Since the town does not allow residents who have corner plots, the ideal suburban real estate situation, to erect any visible fences, in order to allow his dog to run free on his property, Mr. Stein had the Fido Fence Company build him an invisible electronic fence.
The way it kept Aurora on the Stein property is by having her wear a collar that administers an electrical shock if she crosses the buried wire fence. It worked quite well, at least in containing Aurora. But it didn’t work at all when other dogs from the neighborhood, sans collars, strayed onto the Stein lawn, agitating Aurora.
That’s when the trouble really began—in defending her territory, and shepherds are known for being very territorial (they are originally from Germany so that should not be much of a surprise), Aurora allegedly attacked two local dogs whose owners promptly called 911. The police arrived and found Mr. Stein still in his pajamas. He refused to turn his dog over to them so they arrested him, dragging him off to the pen, I mean to the local jail, where he spend four hours, still in his PJs, handcuffed to his cell, which made it difficult for him to spend his sentence in a lotus position. But he did manage to figure out a way to do that.
While he was incarcerated, the police and dog catcher got their hands on poor Aurora, who after all was only doing what any red-blooded, constitutional-minded American or German shepherd would do to protect their private property. Nonetheless, they took her away to a real pen that allows no visitors. The predictable next step was a series of court hearings designed to determine if Aurora was a “dangerous dog.” Canine “behavioral specialists” testified that Aurora was in fact a gentle pooch. They tested her, I’m not making this up, by pinching her, pulling on her tail, stepping on her paws, and inflicting a choke hold; but still, in spite of this abuse, Aurora remained gentle.
But Mr. Stein, in total frustration with the system and the harassment from his neighbors (a previous dog was killed when someone, presumably unhappy with him, poisoned him with antifreeze!), Mr. Stein arranged to have Aurora euthanized.
Stein feels that this sad affair is derived more from his conservative neighbors not liking his views and aspects of his lifestyle. He, for example, became unpopular for leading a group that successfully opposed the opening of a new bank in Northport. And in addition to his affection for the lotus position, he also sports a long pony tail.
So Aurora is now resting in peace and Mr. Stein wants out of the confines and oppression of the suburbs. He is thinking about moving to New York City, where I am available to help him find a Yoga studio and lots of folks with pony tails and who also exhibit other forms of aberrant behavior.
In case you missed the story, here’s what’s going on. (For all the gory details, see the NY Times article linked below.) There is a dog lover, one Mitchell Stein who owned a German shepherd, poetically named Aurora. Since the town does not allow residents who have corner plots, the ideal suburban real estate situation, to erect any visible fences, in order to allow his dog to run free on his property, Mr. Stein had the Fido Fence Company build him an invisible electronic fence.
The way it kept Aurora on the Stein property is by having her wear a collar that administers an electrical shock if she crosses the buried wire fence. It worked quite well, at least in containing Aurora. But it didn’t work at all when other dogs from the neighborhood, sans collars, strayed onto the Stein lawn, agitating Aurora.
That’s when the trouble really began—in defending her territory, and shepherds are known for being very territorial (they are originally from Germany so that should not be much of a surprise), Aurora allegedly attacked two local dogs whose owners promptly called 911. The police arrived and found Mr. Stein still in his pajamas. He refused to turn his dog over to them so they arrested him, dragging him off to the pen, I mean to the local jail, where he spend four hours, still in his PJs, handcuffed to his cell, which made it difficult for him to spend his sentence in a lotus position. But he did manage to figure out a way to do that.
While he was incarcerated, the police and dog catcher got their hands on poor Aurora, who after all was only doing what any red-blooded, constitutional-minded American or German shepherd would do to protect their private property. Nonetheless, they took her away to a real pen that allows no visitors. The predictable next step was a series of court hearings designed to determine if Aurora was a “dangerous dog.” Canine “behavioral specialists” testified that Aurora was in fact a gentle pooch. They tested her, I’m not making this up, by pinching her, pulling on her tail, stepping on her paws, and inflicting a choke hold; but still, in spite of this abuse, Aurora remained gentle.
But Mr. Stein, in total frustration with the system and the harassment from his neighbors (a previous dog was killed when someone, presumably unhappy with him, poisoned him with antifreeze!), Mr. Stein arranged to have Aurora euthanized.
Stein feels that this sad affair is derived more from his conservative neighbors not liking his views and aspects of his lifestyle. He, for example, became unpopular for leading a group that successfully opposed the opening of a new bank in Northport. And in addition to his affection for the lotus position, he also sports a long pony tail.
So Aurora is now resting in peace and Mr. Stein wants out of the confines and oppression of the suburbs. He is thinking about moving to New York City, where I am available to help him find a Yoga studio and lots of folks with pony tails and who also exhibit other forms of aberrant behavior.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:01 AM
1 Comments:
This story is too close to home... Our neighbor has two dogs who have the same system as the one you mentioned. One dog stays on the property and the other roams the neigborhood when his owner is at work. Obviously this system is not full proof. Also when other dogs pass these dogs they bark at each other and this is a potential problem as you don't know the behavior of other dogs. It is a sad story but it seems to me that this gentleman should have considered the pros and cons of having this invisible fence instatlled particularly knowing his neighbors and presumably loving his dog. For the dog it was a terrible way for his life to end.
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