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5 Great Danes attack, kill owner in northwest Iowa

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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SPENCER, Iowa — Authorities say a rural Rossie, Iowa, woman died after receiving multiple bites from her five Great Danes.
According to a statement from the Clay County Sheriff's Office, Mindy Kiepe, 43, was found dead Monday in a ditch, just a short distance from her driveway.

The statement said the Clay County Communication Center received a 911 call from a man who believed he had come across a motorcycle crash. The caller stated he had found a female subject in a ditch, but couldn't get close to her because of several big dogs.
After deputies arrived at the scene, it was determined that Kiepe was deceased. She was not involved in a motorcycle crash. On Wednesday, the state medical examiner ruled that she died from multiple dog bite injuries.

Kiepe's five Great Danes were humanely euthanized, according to the statement.

 
Interesting, I’ve never heard of an aggressive Dane, let alone 5….they have always been “gentle giants”….this makes me wonder if it’s more of a nurture thing…
 
Interesting, I’ve never heard of an aggressive Dane, let alone 5….they have always been “gentle giants”….this makes me wonder if it’s more of a nurture thing…

It wasn't noted in the article and one would think it would be but is it possible they all got rabies or something?
 
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Interesting, I’ve never heard of an aggressive Dane, let alone 5….they have always been “gentle giants”….this makes me wonder if it’s more of a nurture thing…
Have one in our neighborhood that's very aggressive and a biter.
 
Here's a picture of one of the Great Danes in question.

pitbull-1024x535.jpg
 
Next door neighbors have two of them. Super nice dogs, Kind of freaky when you see them roam freely out front of the house and they walk by the window. Our neighbor across the street has one as well, when they all get together it's a little crazy to see my beagle walking around under them.
 
We have two that just turned two years old, brother and sister. The female is incredibly sweet and skittish of everything, but will just tuck and run when she's startled. The male is also very sweet, very playful, very goofy, BUT he is VERY protective and will aggressively lunge at anything he deems as a threat to us. He has never bitten anyone and i'd put him down if he did, but he is pretty scary if you are what he deems as the threat. It's to the point where it seems he's borderline autistic and instead of continuing to expose him to the outside world, he stays home, plays in the yard, and goes for walks with us only when he's had his pot treats....basically stays in his comfort zone. We spent $4k on both of them for dog school/training, which was great, but didn't solve for the problem of him freaking out.

They are both afraid of EVERYTHING, but how they handle is completely different. We can block a doorway with a shoe box and it might as well be a spinning wheel of flaming knives as far as they are concerned.

Edit: I'll also add that i cannot imagine in any world where they would ever turn on us, which is what makes this story so odd to me.
 
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That's the first time ive ever seen or heard of a great dane not being friendly.
 
I was going to post this yesterday and leave the breed out of the title and watch everyone guess wrong but I'm lazy. Lol
 
We have two that just turned two years old, brother and sister. The female is incredibly sweet and skittish of everything, but will just tuck and run when she's startled. The male is also very sweet, very playful, very goofy, BUT he is VERY protective and will aggressively lunge at anything he deems as a threat to us. He has never bitten anyone and i'd put him down if he did, but he is pretty scary if you are what he deems as the threat. It's to the point where it seems he's borderline autistic and instead of continuing to expose him to the outside world, he stays home, plays in the yard, and goes for walks with us only when he's had his pot treats....basically stays in his comfort zone. We spent $4k on both of them for dog school/training, which was great, but didn't solve for the problem of him freaking out.

They are both afraid of EVERYTHING, but how they handle is completely different. We can block a doorway with a shoe box and it might as well be a spinning wheel of flaming knives as far as they are concerned.

Edit: I'll also add that i cannot imagine in any world where they would ever turn on us, which is what makes this story so odd to me.
Sounds like you might be asking for trouble down the road.
 
It wouldn't have happened had it been a man leading the pack. The dogs didn't respect their pack leader so they took her out.
Thanks Cesar.
You know Dr. Pol has three of them. They’re usually just big old schlumps.
 
It probably has something to do with the size of the pack. Every dog has a prey drive and with a group that large things can get out of hand way faster than if it's just one or two.
 
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