OMG 2 pit bull just terrorized my development. Updated 7/24

[4nana]

OMG, so sorry sweetie, how very sad and devastating for your friend, her pet Yorkie, and also the those who witnessed it.

I have my own thoughts and won't bother getting in a controversy over Pitbulls.

 

[luvsJack]

My sil had a small house dog that was killed by her brother's pit bulls. His pits were trained to be "chase" dogs. They used them to hunt wild hogs. The pits were doing what they knew. They chased the little dog and attacked. It was horrible to see; so OP I feel for you and hate that anyone had to see and experience that.

OTOH, my son has two pits and I have no doubt in my mind that these two would never do any thing like this. They have been around smaller animals of all kinds and, other than wanting to play, have never bothered any of them.

Maybe its not necessarily the training TO be mean or to fight or chase that makes the difference but the training NOT TO be mean that makes a difference. Aggressiveness is bred into the dog, maybe the difference in pits is that some owners spend a lot of time trying to train aggressiveness out of the dog.?

DS has spent hours a day with his dogs and they will follow his command at the drop of a hat. He does not allow them to ever act aggressive toward anyone or anything. These dogs will do whatever he or his wife says the instant they say it. Maybe what everyone that has these dogs is missing is that it takes an extreme amount of time and effort to have this kind of dog and it not be aggressive toward people or other animals. Not everyone has the time and patience or the want to put into training a dog like this.

 

[okeydokey]

I can imagine how upsetting it must have been to witness a small dog being attacked by two powerful, bigger dogs. Maybe the dogs and its owners are new to the neighborhood. Maybe they're watching them for someone else.

I don't understand why anyone would want to take on the responsibility of owning this breed. It's an unpredictable and powerful breed.

The neighbors on my right have a pitbull. I don't know these neighbors because they totally keep to themselves. Their house faces the other street; their backyard faces one side of my house. After many problems with their pitbull, they finally had a wooden fence installed around their backyard. Before that, the dog attacked 3 neighborhood dogs, which were on leashes when the attacks occurred. The dog liked to corner people in their cars. It was really creepy. The dog would come running out of their unfenced yard and would follow the cars. I remember pulling into my driveway and the dog would stand next to my door waiting for me to get out. There were many calls to Animal Control (very responsive in our city) by various neighbors and some to the cops, who had zero success in getting through to the owners. Every time AC would respond to complaints, the dog couldn't be found by the time they arrived. The owners of the pit promised to pay for the vet bills of one of the dogs that it attacked. They never did and the owner of said dog had to hire an attorney to handle the case. After that, the pit's owners installed the wooden fence.

Those dogs should have been destroyed. Once a dog attacks for the third time, too late.

 

[C.Ann]

What a horrible thing to witness!! I would be terrified to leave the house.. Will the police inform everyone when and if these dogs are found - and what they have done with them?

No matter how sweet these dogs may seem to their owners - and no matter how well they have been trained and treated - there are far too many incidents of these sweet, innocent dogs suddenly snapping and going on the attack for me to ever trust them..

 

[RitaZ.]

Those dogs should have been destroyed. Once a dog attacks for the third time, too late.

It was one dog and it wasn't destroyed or removed from their home.

I was bitten by a German Shepherd and was told by the humane officer that if the dog had a second reported attack, it would be removed from its owners. I don't know why the pit wasn't removed. Incidentally, the shepherd that bit me was shot by a police officer. Its owners were total idiots.

 

[luvmy3]

Man meaning mankind not a single person. I responded to your post because I questioned your words not someone else's. It was a valid question and your reply was snarky, but I'm sure you knew that.

I don't feel comfortable debating this on this particular thread so I won't.

I'm sorry that you feel my response is snark, I assure it was not intended that way. I was just pointing out to you since you felt the need to question it, that my reply to the pp was a valid response to her accusation that a single person made those two dogs mean.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

That is terrible. My dog never got loose in ten years, so I never understand how all these other dogs seem to be continually running around on the loose.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Not ALL pit bulls are mean. My grandparents have a girl half-pit bull. She is another half dalmation.
She is the sweetest. She has been trained and she is wonderful.

Yes, she could snap, but it has been many years and she has not. She stays, sits, etc.. and then what I don't get is that most of the pit bull attacks are in neighborhoods made by people walking down the street. Where the crap are the owners and why aren't they on a leash [the dogs, not the owners] or in a TALL fenced in yard?
Because it comes down to the owner AND the instincts. They must be the same level. YOU must show you are the master.

..Wow, I watch "its me or the dog" too much ..

(Not all pit bulls are mean to other dogs. I have a cairn terrior and when the pit bull comes around her, she is afraid of the cairin only because the cairin growls because she is the dominant female. But, the dauschund she plays with is feisty. The only time she has ever hurt him is when she stepped on him when they were playing because she is so tall and his little legs are so short

Edit: The only time she would ever growl is if you would try and take her squeaky toy away. Then again, almost every dog does that..

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

any update on how they dog is doing and if they caught the 2 pits?

 

[aristocatz]

WE DID NOT MAKE THE CHOW MEAN. She just snapped like a rubber band and attacked our baby that she had been raised with. A bullet to the head cured that.

Did you really shoot the dog?

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Did you really shoot the dog?

Geez, Can't people just give the dog to a shelter or put it to sleep?

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

My sil had a small house dog that was killed by her brother's pit bulls. His pits were trained to be "chase" dogs. They used them to hunt wild hogs. The pits were doing what they knew. They chased the little dog and attacked. It was horrible to see; so OP I feel for you and hate that anyone had to see and experience that.

OTOH, my son has two pits and I have no doubt in my mind that these two would never do any thing like this. They have been around smaller animals of all kinds and, other than wanting to play, have never bothered any of them.

Maybe its not necessarily the training TO be mean or to fight or chase that makes the difference but the training NOT TO be mean that makes a difference. Aggressiveness is bred into the dog, maybe the difference in pits is that some owners spend a lot of time trying to train aggressiveness out of the dog.?

DS has spent hours a day with his dogs and they will follow his command at the drop of a hat. He does not allow them to ever act aggressive toward anyone or anything. These dogs will do whatever he or his wife says the instant they say it. Maybe what everyone that has these dogs is missing is that it takes an extreme amount of time and effort to have this kind of dog and it not be aggressive toward people or other animals. Not everyone has the time and patience or the want to put into training a dog like this.

I agree, 100%

 

[CathrynRose]

That is terrible. My dog never got loose in ten years, so I never understand how all these other dogs seem to be continually running around on the loose.

No kidding. I think it says a lot about owners, no matter how sweet and wonderful they say they are, when not one, but two of them are loose, running free. Where in the heck are the owners?

We would know Charley was missing in literally seconds of his disappearance.

Makes no sense.

 

[SpecialK]

Geez, Can't people just give the dog to a shelter or put it to sleep?

If a dog was attacking my child, I don't think I'd take the time to get it to a shelter or a vet.

 

[horseshowmom]

If a dog was attacking my child, I don't think I'd take the time to get it to a shelter or a vet.

I doubt that they shot it while it was attacking the child (too much danger to the child).

While I don't personally like the tone of "a bullet to the head", I would have definitely had the dog put down after it attacked a child. Although I would have taken it to the vet to do so, honestly, the dog would not have felt any pain with a single shot to the brain. Yes, that's very distasteful to me, but the truth is that death would have been immediate.

 

[cinmell]

If a dog was attacking my child, I don't think I'd take the time to get it to a shelter or a vet.

ditto

 

[The Orchid]

Geez, Can't people just give the dog to a shelter or put it to sleep?

My daughter was mauled by a neighbor's Pit Bull (which was previously one of the many big lovable babies who could not harm you unless you consider its tendency to lick you to death... ...until it snapped that is) a few summers ago. Frankly, I would have been happy to put a bullet through its head. Instead I had to take my daughter to the ER and watch her go through months and months of pain to recover from the deep infections and the chipped bones and the damaged nerve endings. Ever hear your sweet innocent 14 year old crying in pain at night months after she was attacked? No? Well, when you know what that feels like, get back with me and let me know how you feel about giving a bullet to the dog that did it to your child. You just may change your mind.

Oh, and for those who are waiting to throw the "it must have been a bad owner" theory at me, this guy had his dog professionally trained when it was a puppy and he adored his dog, treated it like he would a member of his family. He was playing frisbee with the dog and it saw my daugher and rushed away from its owner to attack my kid....and no, she didn't provoke him. In fact, the dog knew her quite well.

And by the way, there are non-vindictive reasons for shooting a violent dog on the spot. Frankly, if an animal just mauled somebody, do you really want to handle it long enough to take it to the vet? About two years before my daughter was attacked, another Pit Bull attacked the girl who lived next door to me. That dog was also a big lovable baby, by the way. That woman laid in the driveway bleeding, meanwhile the dog ran off and bit two pre-teen boys. I'm thinking the mother of those boys would have preferred it if somebody had given that dog a bullet or two before it made a second and third victim of her children.

 

[eliza61]

Thanks guys for the support. Man, last night was horrible. of course my dh had to work the night shift, so all night long I'm dreaming of "dogs gone wild"

Anyway,
My neighbor was at the vet all night. I didn't get a chance to talk to her but she stuck a message in my mailbox simply thanking the neighbors for the help. Police called animal control and found the owners of the dogs. I don't know why the dogs were loose. Cheri (her yorkie) is at the University of Pennsylvania's vet clinic. He was hurt pretty badly so our local vet sent her there, we live in South Jersey maybe 20 minutes from Center city, Philadelphia.
Cops did leave a card in her door and she will be talking with them today.

I really appreciate the good thoughts.

P.S. Police officer also gave us a gentle reprimand, on how running after 2 pitbulls even with bats and shovels may not have been the smartest thing to do. point taken.

 

[OceanAnnie]

OP, I hope the dog that was attacked is okay.

My daughter was mauled by a neighbor's Pit Bull (which was previously one of the many big lovable babies who could not harm you unless you consider its tendency to lick you to death... ...until it snapped that is) a few summers ago. Frankly, I would have been happy to put a bullet through its head. Instead I had to take my daughter to the ER and watch her go through months and months of pain to recover from the deep infections and the chipped bones and the damaged nerve endings. Ever hear your sweet innocent 14 year old crying in pain at night months after she was attacked? No? Well, when you know what that feels like, get back with me and let me know how you feel about giving a bullet to the dog that did it to your child. You just may change your mind.

Oh, and for those who are waiting to throw the "it must have been a bad owner" theory at me, this guy had his dog professionally trained when it was a puppy and he adored his dog, treated it like he would a member of his family. He was playing frisbee with the dog and it saw my daugher and rushed away from its owner to attack my kid....and no, she didn't provoke him. In fact, the dog knew her quite well.

And by the way, there are non-vindictive reasons for shooting a violent dog on the spot. Frankly, if an animal just mauled somebody, do you really want to handle it long enough to take it to the vet? About two years before my daughter was attacked, another Pit Bull attacked the girl who lived next door to me. That dog was also a big lovable baby, by the way. That woman laid in the driveway bleeding, meanwhile the dog ran off and bit two pre-teen boys. I'm thinking the mother of those boys would have preferred it if somebody had given that dog a bullet or two before it made a second and third victim of her children.

I'm sorry to read about these accounts and others. I'm not a fan of pit bulls. I steer clear of them. Too many reports on this breed for me to feel comfortable around them. I can't ignore the reports.

I know lots of people love them. They are underdogs of sorts, with such a bad reputation. I think sometimes it's human nature to try to prove people wrong (such as the reputation of these dogs). But the dogs have a reputation for a reason. The root cause is an interesting debate. The aggressive reports are numerous.

 

[maggs]

What a terrible thing to happen. Thank goodness for the 1991 Dangerous dogs Act here in the UK. The act bans the breeding and sale or exchange of four kinds of dog, one of them being the American pit bull terrier. Under the act, a dog classed as being "dangerously out of control in a public place" can be destroyed. and the owner can be fined and imprisoned for up to six months. :

Maggs