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Vicious dog attack

In order, Dachshunds, Chihuahuas, and Jack Russell Terriers are the dog breeds most likely to bite you. The difference is, a bite from a Pitty or Bully will be much more severe. Nonetheless, an attack is an attack. It isn't just the damage, it's the attack itself that leads to a dog being put down. Legally, a Pitt Bull should no more be put down than a Chihuahua in the case of an attack. Any case against the owner is a trickier question. I've had a Doxen, a Parson Jack, and a Pitt as pets. What do you think?

Pits make up 6% of the population yet appropriately 70% of the fatal attacks.

Hmmmmmmm

Decisions, decisions.
 
I'm against breed-specific laws but stories like this just piss me off.

‘Dog hunt’ underway in Surrey for pit bull that attacked woman | Vancouver Sun

Basically, a 60-something woman was passing by the Macs store when a pit bull leaped on her, hauled her down, mauled her arm so bad that a witness saw the bone ends poking through. The dog's owner comes out of the store, grabs the dog and hustles off.
Now, obviously the dog needs to be put down (and it will be found). But I'm starting to think that the owner needs to be charged as if he committed the assault. Aggravated assault causing bodily harm or whatever the legality is. Major jail time. Make an example of the lowlife bastard.



Most Pitts are good dogs. The problem is that when they "go bad", they are remarkably strong, fast, tough and determined, and can do a tremendous amount of damage especially to a vulnerable person.


I'm not in favor of a breed ban... but people need to be careful with Pitts and other large, strong breeds with a history of lethal attacks. A family in my town found out the hard way when they lost a small child to a pair of Pitts they thought were harmless.
 
Most Pitts are good dogs. The problem is that when they "go bad", they are remarkably strong, fast, tough and determined, and can do a tremendous amount of damage especially to a vulnerable person.


I'm not in favor of a breed ban... but people need to be careful with Pitts and other large, strong breeds with a history of lethal attacks. A family in my town found out the hard way when they lost a small child to a pair of Pitts they thought were harmless.

I agree. Some breeds require experienced owners. I've had some to do with the bully breeds and they can be wonderful dogs. Family oriented, athletic, loyal, but in my experience the best of them can't be trusted to ignore a show of dominance from another dog, and the worst of them can't be safely trusted at all. It's all on the owner.
In this case the woman described the dog bearing down with her arm in it's mouth and shaking. That's a dog trying to kill. I've broken up dog fights where they're snarling and snapping and grabbing but that dog was trying to kill that woman.
The owner brought the dog in to be put down, by the way, and expressed extreme remorse. No charges have been brought against him. I'm not satisfied by that (not that it matters) and I hope the victim sues his ass off. Nobody can convince me that the dog never displayed dangerous behavior before.
 
I have a neighbor who is a "dog person" (she manages a kennel, been a vets assistant, etc.) and her take is that any breed can turn and the breeds that people think of as "pit bulls" are no more likely to turn than any other breed. The breeds she's had problems with "turning" are Cocker Spaniels (they can be really mean little things), German/Austrian Shepherds (single person focus that can cause them to defend that one person they are bonded to against a mistaken threat), St. Bernards (in her opinion, they are almost the worst there is) and Dalmatians (the worst there is).

Many dog lovers hide their heads in the sand like that. It's true that some other breeds are more likely to bite, but there's more to it than just biting. Pits are much more likely to maim and/or kill.
 
I agree. Some breeds require experienced owners. I've had some to do with the bully breeds and they can be wonderful dogs. Family oriented, athletic, loyal, but in my experience the best of them can't be trusted to ignore a show of dominance from another dog, and the worst of them can't be safely trusted at all. It's all on the owner.
In this case the woman described the dog bearing down with her arm in it's mouth and shaking. That's a dog trying to kill. I've broken up dog fights where they're snarling and snapping and grabbing but that dog was trying to kill that woman.
The owner brought the dog in to be put down, by the way, and expressed extreme remorse. No charges have been brought against him. I'm not satisfied by that (not that it matters) and I hope the victim sues his ass off. Nobody can convince me that the dog never displayed dangerous behavior before.


Yup. You've got to know your dog, and use care with breeds or individual dogs that exhibit aggression combined with capability to do great harm.


Dogs aren't people, however much we might like to pretend they are. They have their own drives and motivators and triggers, which are not always obvious to humans. Some dogs need to be kept carefully confined... but some can't safely be kept at all, and the owner needs to be able to recognize that and make a hard choice if necessary. Hopefully BEFORE one of his neighbors ends up in the hospital, or some kid gets mauled to death.
 
Yup. You've got to know your dog, and use care with breeds or individual dogs that exhibit aggression combined with capability to do great harm.


Dogs aren't people, however much we might like to pretend they are. They have their own drives and motivators and triggers, which are not always obvious to humans. Some dogs need to be kept carefully confined... but some can't safely be kept at all, and the owner needs to be able to recognize that and make a hard choice if necessary. Hopefully BEFORE one of his neighbors ends up in the hospital, or some kid gets mauled to death.

The reason i don't like breed-specific laws is that they seem to imbue a false confidence in unlisted breeds.

Little children often want to greet and pet dogs, and may lack the restraint of an adult. Even the smallest of dogs can cause considerable, life-long damage to a young child's face.

Further, dogs behaviors can change over time. Older dogs may become increasingly violent.

It is important for all pet owners to remain ever vigilant of their pet whenever their pet is in public. Dogs are absolutely not people, we should understand that there are cases where an owner is incapable of handling the responsibility of pet ownership. It is the owners responsibility to identify and manage any behavioral issues that arise in their pet.
 
I have had dalmatians. One was a psychotic (Raised in an apartment and went crazy) bitch that would back bite anyone but family. She was the one we had to take special precautions with. There other two were runt rescues. They were never a problem.

I agree other breeds may be more likely to turn. The problem is thet are less likely to kill or seriously maim than the breeds noted in my links.
absolutely

I agree. Some breeds require experienced owners. I've had some to do with the bully breeds and they can be wonderful dogs. Family oriented, athletic, loyal, but in my experience the best of them can't be trusted to ignore a show of dominance from another dog, and the worst of them can't be safely trusted at all. It's all on the owner.
In this case the woman described the dog bearing down with her arm in it's mouth and shaking. That's a dog trying to kill. I've broken up dog fights where they're snarling and snapping and grabbing but that dog was trying to kill that woman.
The owner brought the dog in to be put down, by the way, and expressed extreme remorse. No charges have been brought against him. I'm not satisfied by that (not that it matters) and I hope the victim sues his ass off. Nobody can convince me that the dog never displayed dangerous behavior before.
actually there's always a first time and the first time may be the last time for the victim as displayed recently by the woman who came home to find her husband mauled to death by the family pits...those family pets had slept with their children and never shown aggression

there is a woman who walks in my neighbourhood occasionally with two pits

I am not comfortable going near them and certainly not comfortable that should they go rogue that she could control them

I do believe the onus is upon her to do so

some pits have been known to continue attacking and running with bullets in them

I am a pro animal person but I do not believe that woman should have two pits on a lead in a family neighbourhood I know that belief is controversial but I do not feel safe when she walks around
 
The reason i don't like breed-specific laws is that they seem to imbue a false confidence in unlisted breeds.

Little children often want to greet and pet dogs, and may lack the restraint of an adult. Even the smallest of dogs can cause considerable, life-long damage to a young child's face.

Further, dogs behaviors can change over time. Older dogs may become increasingly violent.

It is important for all pet owners to remain ever vigilant of their pet whenever their pet is in public. Dogs are absolutely not people, we should understand that there are cases where an owner is incapable of handling the responsibility of pet ownership. It is the owners responsibility to identify and manage any behavioral issues that arise in their pet.
that sums up responsible ownership nicely
 
absolutely

actually there's always a first time and the first time may be the last time for the victim as displayed recently by the woman who came home to find her husband mauled to death by the family pits...those family pets had slept with their children and never shown aggression

there is a woman who walks in my neighbourhood occasionally with two pits

I am not comfortable going near them and certainly not comfortable that should they go rogue that she could control them

I do believe the onus is upon her to do so

some pits have been known to continue attacking and running with bullets in them

I am a pro animal person but I do not believe that woman should have two pits on a lead in a family neighbourhood I know that belief is controversial but I do not feel safe when she walks around



Many years ago we had a half-pit, half-boxer. I'd gotten the pooch as a puppy; he was my son's dog when he was 4-7yo.

He was raised as a family pet, taught to chase a ball, fetch a stick and come when called. He adored me, adored my son, never showed the slightest hint of aggression.

But all the sudden one day, when he was around two years old, he attacked my brother-in-law for patting my son on the shoulder. He climbed up the man and tried to bite his throat, BIL managed to get his forearm under the dog's neck to stop him before I could grab him and pull him off.

I was astonished. The dog had never shown any smallest sign of aggression before; frankly I thought the dog was a coward and a wimp, and discounted him as a protector in any way. We put it down to the dog failing to recognize the BIL as friend and misunderstanding his pat on the shoulder as an attack.

That was the first time, and it came out of the blue and was very surprising. Fortunately it didn't result in serious injury to anyone, but it could have.



I ended up having to keep the dog closely confined, as over the next year he came to view all humans other than myself and my son as enemies to be killed on sight, even though I never did anything to foster this view and never tried to train him as a guard dog of any kind. It's a pity, since with just me and the boy he was playful lapdog... to everyone else he was a furry Terminator.



I've never had another pitt or pit-mix and never will.
 
Many years ago we had a half-pit, half-boxer. I'd gotten the pooch as a puppy; he was my son's dog when he was 4-7yo.

He was raised as a family pet, taught to chase a ball, fetch a stick and come when called. He adored me, adored my son, never showed the slightest hint of aggression.

But all the sudden one day, when he was around two years old, he attacked my brother-in-law for patting my son on the shoulder. He climbed up the man and tried to bite his throat, BIL managed to get his forearm under the dog's neck to stop him before I could grab him and pull him off.

I was astonished. The dog had never shown any smallest sign of aggression before; frankly I thought the dog was a coward and a wimp, and discounted him as a protector in any way. We put it down to the dog failing to recognize the BIL as friend and misunderstanding his pat on the shoulder as an attack.

That was the first time, and it came out of the blue and was very surprising. Fortunately it didn't result in serious injury to anyone, but it could have.



I ended up having to keep the dog closely confined, as over the next year he came to view all humans other than myself and my son as enemies to be killed on sight, even though I never did anything to foster this view and never tried to train him as a guard dog of any kind. It's a pity, since with just me and the boy he was playful lapdog... to everyone else he was a furry Terminator.



I've never had another pitt or pit-mix and never will.
wow...I am so glad for your BIL that he was strong enough to repel the dog

a dog is a pack animal and view others in terms of pack...you are pack or not...no in between

you and your son were pack and to the dog pack equals its survival....it's instinctive and quite logical really when you think about it

when they train army dogs (sniffers) they have one handler only and that handler is pack...period...it will die for the pack without question but it will kill for the pack too

my cat who is an attention whore and has all of her claws literally ran right up the cable guy because he was ignoring her while speaking to me

I had no idea she would pull a stunt like that...he had a thick winter climbing suit on and was an animal lover so he grabbed her and held her and pet her while continuing our conversation

had that been my elderly neighbour, serious damage could have occurred from an eleven pound happy cat flinging herself happily at him

if you own it, you are responsible for it...nothing less is acceptable
 
The reason i don't like breed-specific laws is that they seem to imbue a false confidence in unlisted breeds.

Little children often want to greet and pet dogs, and may lack the restraint of an adult. Even the smallest of dogs can cause considerable, life-long damage to a young child's face.

Further, dogs behaviors can change over time. Older dogs may become increasingly violent.

It is important for all pet owners to remain ever vigilant of their pet whenever their pet is in public. Dogs are absolutely not people, we should understand that there are cases where an owner is incapable of handling the responsibility of pet ownership. It is the owners responsibility to identify and manage any behavioral issues that arise in their pet.

100X Like...
 
To me it is and should remain a civil issue, not a criminal one. The victim can and should sue the dog owner. The only time I was attacked by a dog (german shepherd) was while walking to high school one morning. I was chewed up a bit but I killed the dog and delivered the body to the owner's front door. The bites healed. Nothing more required. I suspect the dog had some security training. Too bad for the dog and unfair to him. A real shame.
 
Pits make up 6% of the population yet appropriately 70% of the fatal attacks.

Hmmmmmmm

Decisions, decisions.

They make up 64% of fatal attacks. Add Rotties to that, and it's 76%. The vast majority are unrestrained pets, mostly on the owner's property. A Chihuahua will more likely go off on you than a Pit Bull. It's just that Pitties have a habit of finishing what they start:

Breeds of Dogs Involved in Fatal Human Attacks in the United States Between 1979 and 1998 - DogsBite.org
 
They make up 64% of fatal attacks. Add Rotties to that, and it's 76%. The vast majority are unrestrained pets, mostly on the owner's property. A Chihuahua will more likely go off on you than a Pit Bull. It's just that Pitties have a habit of finishing what they start:

Breeds of Dogs Involved in Fatal Human Attacks in the United States Between 1979 and 1998 - DogsBite.org

Given the choice, I would rather be attacked by a Chihuahua than a Pit Bull...and I HAVE been attacked by a Pit Bull.

My opinion...the only good Pit Bull is the one with a bullet in its head.
 
Given the choice, I would rather be attacked by a Chihuahua than a Pit Bull...and I HAVE been attacked by a Pit Bull.

My opinion...the only good Pit Bull is the one with a bullet in its head.

I get it. I'm friendly with but wary of them. I understand people avoiding them. Even crossing the street when seen coming the other way. That's just wrong to be walking your child down a street and have to be afraid of the worst event for crossing paths with a Pit Bull and owner. Walking around a corner and "surprising" a Pit Bull. No bueno.
 
I don't know what it is but I've never been seriously bitten by a dog. A couple of snaps, not always without provocation, but nothing that would draw blood or even bruise. But, when I was a police officer I worked with a guy who was much nicer than I am and every dog he met bit him. I never figured out why.

My other observation is that when you meet a bad dog, you can usually bet it belongs to a bad person. I've known sweet Pit Bulls and nasty toy Poodles but a block from my apartment was a family of thieves, brawlers, and their pack of dogs. The dogs were horrible. They'd run up behind people and bite them. The neighbors finally forced the family to move. Bad dogs go with bad people.
 
I don't know what it is but I've never been seriously bitten by a dog. A couple of snaps, not always without provocation, but nothing that would draw blood or even bruise. But, when I was a police officer I worked with a guy who was much nicer than I am and every dog he met bit him. I never figured out why.

My other observation is that when you meet a bad dog, you can usually bet it belongs to a bad person. I've known sweet Pit Bulls and nasty toy Poodles but a block from my apartment was a family of thieves, brawlers, and their pack of dogs. The dogs were horrible. They'd run up behind people and bite them. The neighbors finally forced the family to move. Bad dogs go with bad people.
Oh, no doubt. But... said bad people consciously choose specific breeds that are more likely to be their desired bad dogs.
 
Oh, no doubt. But... said bad people consciously choose specific breeds that are more likely to be their desired bad dogs.

And, they can have Poodles, German Shepherds, and plain old mutts that are vicious.
 
Many years ago we had a half-pit, half-boxer. I'd gotten the pooch as a puppy; he was my son's dog when he was 4-7yo.

He was raised as a family pet, taught to chase a ball, fetch a stick and come when called. He adored me, adored my son, never showed the slightest hint of aggression.

But all the sudden one day, when he was around two years old, he attacked my brother-in-law for patting my son on the shoulder. He climbed up the man and tried to bite his throat, BIL managed to get his forearm under the dog's neck to stop him before I could grab him and pull him off.

I was astonished. The dog had never shown any smallest sign of aggression before; frankly I thought the dog was a coward and a wimp, and discounted him as a protector in any way. We put it down to the dog failing to recognize the BIL as friend and misunderstanding his pat on the shoulder as an attack.

That was the first time, and it came out of the blue and was very surprising. Fortunately it didn't result in serious injury to anyone, but it could have.



I ended up having to keep the dog closely confined, as over the next year he came to view all humans other than myself and my son as enemies to be killed on sight, even though I never did anything to foster this view and never tried to train him as a guard dog of any kind. It's a pity, since with just me and the boy he was playful lapdog... to everyone else he was a furry Terminator.



I've never had another pitt or pit-mix and never will.

That is why I will never trust a pit bull and think they should all be put down... their absolute unpredictability. Nice nice nice and then BOOM. An attack. More than any other dog breed to.
 
I'm against breed-specific laws but stories like this just piss me off.

‘Dog hunt’ underway in Surrey for pit bull that attacked woman | Vancouver Sun

Basically, a 60-something woman was passing by the Macs store when a pit bull leaped on her, hauled her down, mauled her arm so bad that a witness saw the bone ends poking through. The dog's owner comes out of the store, grabs the dog and hustles off.
Now, obviously the dog needs to be put down (and it will be found). But I'm starting to think that the owner needs to be charged as if he committed the assault. Aggravated assault causing bodily harm or whatever the legality is. Major jail time. Make an example of the lowlife bastard.

Dog attacks have always pissed me off too and dumb --s owner of a vicious dog that bites or kills someone should be prosecuted as if they did it themselves.
 
I'm against breed-specific laws but stories like this just piss me off.

‘Dog hunt’ underway in Surrey for pit bull that attacked woman | Vancouver Sun

Basically, a 60-something woman was passing by the Macs store when a pit bull leaped on her, hauled her down, mauled her arm so bad that a witness saw the bone ends poking through. The dog's owner comes out of the store, grabs the dog and hustles off.
Now, obviously the dog needs to be put down (and it will be found). But I'm starting to think that the owner needs to be charged as if he committed the assault. Aggravated assault causing bodily harm or whatever the legality is. Major jail time. Make an example of the lowlife bastard.

He probably can be charged with failure to report.

Unless he knew of the dog's tendencies, I don't see grounds for an assault charge.

Criminal negligence is criminal.

Usually only if someone dies.
 
That is why I will never trust a pit bull and think they should all be put down... their absolute unpredictability. Nice nice nice and then BOOM. An attack. More than any other dog breed to.

Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer, doesn't think that dogs have significant, innate personality differences. He doesn't believe that there are "bad" dogs, or "bad" breeds, he thinks dogs respond with the reflexes that have been conditioned into them.

Part of the reason that pit bulls have a bad reputation is how they are treated. Some people use them as fighting dogs, yes, but more than that, people are fundamentally scared of them. That becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, the dog can sense the emotional energy and interpret that as reason to lack confidence in the owners leadership.

Ever see the person walking their dog, the dog is pulling the leash, the person is basically being dragged ?

b941482d91d035fdb815c5ac2279904e.jpg


Dog is going crazy ? This is a dog that thinks it needs to be the leader. If a pit bull gets excited, as dogs ordinarily get stimulated by seeing one another, the owner might tug on the leash. If the owner yanks on the base of the dogs neck with the leash, the dog can interpret that as aggression, and it can infer the owner's emotional response as weakness, as reason to lose confidence in leadership.

On the other hand, i bet this guy doesn't even need a leash to walk his dog :

de02efafcf3d0a68107dc194471c652b.jpg


Cesar says that the happiest dogs in this country are homeless people's dogs. Treating a dog like a "bad" dog that needs to be physically restrained is not necessarily going to make a happy, well-balanced dog. What an owner needs to do is control the mind of the dog, not the body of the dog. The attempts to control the body can make things worse.

Frankly, i'm not an expert on dogs, so i simply take Cesar at his word that he can rehabilitate almost every dog (i believe he has found two that he cannot fully rehabilitate), and that includes a huge number of pit bulls. Actually, his pit bull, Daddy, is often used to help train aggressive dogs in how to appropriately socialize.

https://www.cesarsway.com/cesar-millan/cesars-blog/why-i-love-pit-bulls

That said, if an owner is unable or unwilling to put the time into their pet, especially with respect to proper daily exercise, it doesn't matter if it's a pit bull, a german shepherd, or a chihuahua- it's unfair to the pet, and it can make the pet a serious danger to those around it.
 
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