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Mark-- Eric -- Dan..

Exactly where in the article does it say the Shepard was attacking the smaller dog?? Please point that out to me. Unless I am reading the article wrong, the "therapist" attacked the dog. Your self-righteous hypocrisy is disgusting. And I hope neither of you own dogs now. People like you shouldn't be allowed to own a goldfish.
I shudder to think what this "therapist" was telling his patients. Oh just kick them... they should revoke his license after they get done prosecuting him for murdering this dog...

-- Posted by M S on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 1:57 pm EST

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mark,
way to focus in on the facts instead of the violin music...
loose dog...repeatedly kicked...
that is a dog not where it should be in attack mode!

last point...what a terrible headline...killed is enough right?
...killed, kicked?
This paper is bad!

-- Posted by Eric Stanson on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 12:06 pm EST

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VERY well put Mark!!

I have a small dog myself. If I saw a loose German Shepard charging at us you bet your a$$ I would kick first and ask questions later.

Additionally Mrs Smallheer and the Herald editors should are out of their minds. What a deliberate spin they put on this article with that first paragraph. Shame on them for exploiting a Marine this way. They should both be fired.

-- Posted by Dan Anderson on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 11:49 am EST

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i am very sorry to the family who lost this dog. i am going thru a similar situation with a family member. a neighbor shot and killed her cat while it was laying in the sun next to the house. we found out that in the state of vermont, killing an animal is not a felony! so the state thinks that it is ok to walk to someones home with a gun, kill their pet and then charge them with a misdamenor.

-- Posted by always a vermonter on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 11:40 am EST

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Also... things aren't adding up: to kick a dog "5 or 6" times, that dog would have to be in aggressive attack mode, otherwise it would run away after the first kick -- and nothing here implies that Mr Koch pursued the other dog.

-- Posted by mark on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 10:55 am EST

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Quite a rush to judgment here in the peanut gallery. How do you know he didn't save the life of one dog? Just because biased eyewitnesses claim the bigger dog wasn't attacking the smaller one doesn't make it so.

One day my dog, a very sweet and friendly setter, uncharacteristically charged at a guy walking his dog nearby my house. He turned and leveled a hell of a kick at my dog. I completely thought he did the right thing.

Dogs are unpredictable creatures. How often have dogs attacked people (or other dogs) even after owners have assured that they are harmless, etc? Owners of dogs ALWAYS think THEIR dogs a harmless, precious little angels. Yet dog attacks happen everyday in America.

My conclusion: when I hear a dog got off it's slip and came after another dog, the burden of proof isn't on the person defending his pet (aren't their leash laws in Springfield?).

Also, in a town like Springfield, with it's low quality police force, there's little question that the "military hero" aspect would be a HUGE factor. Most of us here who've experienced the Springfield police recognize that "objectivity" is not really something they do here.
.

-- Posted by mark on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 9:26 am EST

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Innumerable studies have shown that people who are violent toward animals are almost always violent towards people.
This person is a sick individual and a ticking time bomb.

-- Posted by steve Nunya on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 9:05 am EST

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This one leaves me speechless. At the risk of sounding reactionary, this creep should get the exact same treatment in return, and I'd be glad to throw the first kick.

More realistically, I'd love to see this SOB get some jail time and hundreds of hours of forced work at an animal shelter.

-- Posted by J Criss on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 9:05 am EST

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Wow- what a jerk. It doesn't matter who owned the dog- to be that obscenely cruel to any animal. Pull his licenses- he is perpetuating this type of anger and violence in his therapy.

-- Posted by Colleen Wright on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 7:59 am EST

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What a Loser Mark Koch must be! Its to bad he can't get repaid in the same fashion! He should hang his sorry a$$ head in shame!

-- Posted by Real Vermonter on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 7:00 am EST

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This is a horrific act of cruelty, as well as evidence this so called 'therapist' a sham and charlatan. Anyone who teaches 'anger management and behaves thusly is no trained professional.

Although the Family Center likely has need of the funds from the 'therapist's' rental space for the many services it provides, they should be stand proud for making a decision to distance themselves from someone who could commit such an act of utter cruelty.

I hope he does time for this, and 'anger managent' as well.

-- Posted by Sandra Coursen on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 6:25 am EST

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My thoughts and prayers also go out to you and your family. This is so heartbreaking.

-- Posted by jim mitchell on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 6:23 am EST

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Mark Koch, counselor, it sounds like he may have anger management issues himself. I'm wondering how good a counselor he is if he can't evan deal with his own problems. I hope the punishement is severe.

-- Posted by northstar62 on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 6:18 am EST

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I am so sorry for this to have happened. My thoughts and prayers are with the Dechen family.

-- Posted by Michelle Burnett on Mon, Jun 28, 2010, 6:04 am EST

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