I don't know about 'knowing better' but I would vigorously disagree with that statement of Mrs Woodhouse's. Dogs are pack animals and as everyone kno descended from wolves. A pack animal's usual way of resolving tension is to attack if the other animal is lower down the 'pecking order', and to submit if it is higher up the order. Experiments have shown that after an animal submits it experiences less tension and is more comfortable. However, it has been frequently observed that where the tensions are extreme or where the animal is unwell it may well attack animals further up the order and even fail to acknowledge the submission of an animal lower in the order.
Even intelligent and experienced sheepdogs have been known to suddenly revert to type and kill a few sheep. And they have been bred for generations to herd, whereas terriers were bred for generations to attack larger animals, and to some extent as fighting dogs. One terrier will live it's entire life as meek as a labrador and another will suddenly attack. In retrospect the attack might make perfect sense but it may have been impossible to predict all the same.
I am happy to accept that you know whereof you speak; on the other hand most hang'em and flog'em comments are made by people who'd struggle to spend a night away from their duvet never mind one in prison...My mother had a collie, she was a smashing dog, beautiful, affectionate and very bright. But a dustman kicked her when she was a puppy, and after that, she was usually aggressive towards scruffy men (Bit of a problem for my sister's boyfriends...) and once attacked a dustman. He danced out of the way but it could have been worse for him.
My mother's way of dealing with that problem was to ensure that the dog was always inside on bin day, and careful to keep her on the leash when scruffy men were about.
The attack on the teenaged girl might well have been a warning that the owner should have taken more seriously, I'm just saying things are not always as clear cut at the time as they are in retrospect. If grandma had kept the dog outside we would never have become aware of any of it.
What's worse is the idea that little girls are in the care generally of women who are brain addled with a cocktail of alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs - never mind the dangerous dog, that's a dangerous grandparent!
No, my knowledge of criminal law comes from doing it at law school. Why - have you re-offended?
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