Only this wasn't a courtroom, not in the traditional sense. This hearing took place October 2014 at the Riverside County Department of Animal Services in San Jacinto, Calif. The victim was a longtime pool maintenance pro whose near-fatal run-in with the alleged perpetrator - a pit bull/Labrador mix - was a graphic reminder that man's best friend isn't always the pool man's.
 Here, PSN recounts several real-life canine encounters gone horribly wrong. Consider them cautionary tales - then take to heart the advice from an expert who trains field workers to defend themselves against four-legged threats.
Enter at your own risk
While most maintenance pros are diligent about explaining the need for homeowners to keep their pets locked up, accidents still happen. In Arouesty's experience, the homeowner usually is at fault. He's seen situations where guests, house sitting perhaps, left the backdoor open, leaving the tech vulnerable to a canine confrontation.
"It usually comes down to what the homeowner is going to do to safeguard the dog," Arouesty says.

But what can a tech do when faced with a frothing-at-the-mouth Rottweiler or ticked-off Doberman Pinscher? Expert Mitzi Robinson's advice is to listen to your instincts ...
... And then do the complete opposite.
"Most of the time people say, 'Don't stare at the dog, don't look at the dog, stay passive, turn to the side,'" Robinson says. "We say you need to maintain direct eye contact. You need to get aggressive with that animal. Someone needs to take the alpha position, and it's either going to be you or the dog."
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Prosecutors chose to charge the pair with second-degree murder - a rare prosecution in dog maulings - because the dogs had bitten at least two people leading up to the killing, and Lucaj had been warned by the family vet three months before that the dogs were dangerous and needed immediate training. And investigators say Quagliata admitted the day of the killing that the dogs routinely escaped from their kennel to run the neighborhood.

Under Michigan law, a defendant can be convicted of second-degree murder if he or she knowingly created a risk of great bodily harm or death, even if they didn't intend to kill or harm. The charge has sometimes been successfully used in prosecuting drunk drivers who killed somebody, but the use of it in a dog mauling case is unusual in Michigan.

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