A rare hunting dog from the Netherlands is under home quarantine through Tuesday after biting its walker’s arm and hand when the human tried to intervene in a dog-on-dog scrap, officials say.
The Stabyhoun. Credit: Caronna/Wikimedia Commons
Police on Nov. 11 responded to a call at Lantern Ridge Road after a dog walker trying to separate two fighting Stabyhoun-breed dogs was bit “pretty seriously” on his left arm and hand, according to the department’s Animal Control unit.
It happened at about 4:55 p.m. when two Stabys that live together began fighting in their walker’s car and he tried to separate them, Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said.
“The dog is not aggressive,” she said. “They [dogs] cannot tell the difference when they have it in mind to start fighting and are dealing with whatever is in front of them, they don’t recognize a hand coming in from the other dog.”
A rare hunting and watchdog that originated about 200 years ago with small farmers of the Friesland region of the northern Netherlands, the Stabyhoun has been an AKC “foundation stock service” breed since 2006, according to the Ameri-Can Stabyhoun Association, and is described as independent and inquisitive.
Kleinschmitt called the Staby a “very unusual breed” for this area. Some estimates put the total number of Stabys in the world at fewer than 20,000, with about 200 in the United States.
No laws were broken and no tickets were issued, Kleinschmitt said. Both dogs are licensed and up-to-date on vaccinations, she said.