Pit bull attack

[vickie gee]

My husband came home from work this afternoon telling me about this. He was at the feed store and a couple of guys pulled up with a 91 pound little mini in the back of their pickup. He said the little horse had been attacked by a pit bull and the people had just left the vet's office after getting treatment for it. He said the little horse's face, especially around the mouth was so cut up and that the legs had horrible cuts and puncture wounds. He said the people said it was a neighbor's dog. The horse owner killed the dog. I am so thankful I have anatolian shepherds here. I have thought about leasing pasture land for my horses to have more room but situations like this make me reconsider. Dogs, coyotes, and wolves are just too much of a threat. I will be praying this little horse pulls through. I don't even know who the people were but my husband asked them how many minis they had and they said "too many." Just wanted to share...I am on the verge of tears thinking about that poor little horse.

 

[Jill]

Oh that poor horse

I hope he heals as quickly as possible!

 

[Lizzie]

I become more infuriated, each time I hear something like this. SO many macho idiots around, buying, breeding and selling PBs to those who just do not understand that this is a high-prey breed. All high-prey breeds need extremely careful training and socializing. This and very solid fencing and (always) locked gates.

I have stated before, that my neighbour was very badly attacked by two PBs, when out walking his own Poodle and Corgi. The little Poodle was killed and my neighbour had his arm torn up badly. And these two PBs were being walked by the owner! They were on opposite sides of the street. The idiot owner couldn't control his dogs (just adopted from a PB rescue) and when they started barking and lunging - he let them go!

Does he still have the dogs? Yes. Since this was their first attack, they were not put down.

In S. California, we are inundated with PBs. Rescues are full. One rescue actually renames them 'St. Frances Terriers' because few would adopt if they called them PBs. What a hoax to play on the public. Disgusting.

GRRRRRR!

Lizzie

 

[lucky seven]

In the Albany NY area during the summer a woman was walking down the street and was attacked by 3 pb, her hair was pulled out, her face cut up and one ear torn off. The pb's were put down and the owner fined. Glad the mini owner took the law into his own hands.

 

[Matt73]

Pit Bulls were bred by people and thankfully, in Ontario, are being "phased-out". People think it's so cruel and there is a huge contingent against Breed-Specific Legislation. Our goverment is not calling for a cull; it's calling for a stop to breeding this specific breed. There is nothing wrong with that in my very humble opinion. I love German Shepherds. If the breed became dangerous, through stupid BYB, then "phase" them out, too. There will always be dogs. I'm the biggest animal lover on the planet and I can't understand why people are so attached to a specific breed. I just don't get it.

 

[shorthorsemom]

My friend lost a horse and foal to a PB attack and was mauled badly herself. The dog latched onto the foal's nose and killed it then went after the mare... The owner of the horse and foal tried to get the mare out so she could get away and the dog latched on the owner's arm. He mauled her pretty badly, she told me she thought she was going to lose her arm. She was out of work 8 weeks while her arms healed. During the attack her husband went to the house and got a gun and started shooting the dog. The owner of the dog couldn't get the dog to stop for anything. The dog had 5 bullets in it and still wouldn't stop. The husband had a heart attack after it was all over due to the stress of killing the dog of a friend and watching his beloved horses mauled. The mare had to be euthanized due to her injuries.

I will remember this story forever. Especially since I also knew the owner of the dog as well as the owner of the horses. The dog was a well bred dog, obedience trained and lovingly raised. Not sure what went wrong, dog was neutered and prior to the attack had never shown any tendency to be aggressive.

I will never underestimate the breed and I treat them with both caution and respect. I have met quite a few dogs that have great personalities, but this attack combined with another friend of mine who's son was mauled badly by a friends PB he knew from a puppy, again, nice family ,well socialized sweet dog, just something clicked in the dog and it went off and chomped her son's leg. The dog was familiar with the boy, this was his best friends dog and they played together for years. The state trooper told my friend that if he hadn't had heavy denim jeans on, her son would have probably lost his leg.

Things like this and that miniature horse mauling you described just stick in your brain as to the power this breed can have.

Please don't flame me, I am sure there are many forum members that have and love PB's. I tell these stories not to flame a specific breed, but to give examples of the power, strength and how easily something can get out of hand. The dog that mauled the horses, should have been on a leash. That was mistake number one. It should not have been allowed near the horses... mistake number two. The dog was not socialized with horses and was running lose on the farm.

My niece has one, very sweet dog. The SPCA told her it was a bull terrier. I am sure it is mostly pit probably crossed with a blue heeler ( a peeler they call them).... I babysat her dog for two weeks while she was on vacation. Dog was on a leash, I was very careful. I am sure given the body language if her dog was running lose it would have liked to eat my little dogs. By itself, in direct leash control, dog was well mannered and had a great temperament. Little scruffy hyper dogs, they looked like snack to this dog.

Another friend of mine adopted a "lab rottie cross" from the SPCA and it looked pure pit to me. Brindle muscled...big headed typical pit. I didn't see the lab or the rottie anywhere. I do think the rescue agencies should tell the truth about dogs they suspect are pit, rather than make up a breed and mis-lead people into thinking they have something else. Dog was way too much for them to handle so it was returned.

Anyway,... I don't agree with breed specific laws, I had dobermans for many years and used to laugh at the "dobie attack stories" people told me. I do think there are many people that have no dog sense and should not be allowed to certain breeds. Like owning a gun... some people just shouldn't be allowed to have one.

Poor little mini horse.. very sad, hope it recovers.

 

[Sandy B]

I had a pit bull attack my pony when I was a child. Dumb people were walking their PB in the desert letting it run off leash and it came onto our property and went into the stall and attacked the pony. My parents were getting ready for a New Years Eve party and some of their friends were already there and it became chaos quickly. The pony put on a huge fight, squeezing the PB between his front legs and rearing and kicking. The dog latched on to his muzzle and then to his jaw. People kept trying to grab the dog and they were screaming. My dad was not home at the moment and my mom grabbed a big shovel and climbed in the stall and started beating the dogs back. It finally let go and at that point the owner grabbed the dog and dragged it out. The dog did not have one mark on it but my pony had gashes and notes and torn skin. He required hours of stitching and a week of antibiotic shots 2 times a day. He healed fine but the emotional scars made me weary of PB. This was 35 years ago and as dog crazy as I am and in to rescues and rehabs of shelter dogs I still can not bring myself to adopt a PB to rehab one.

 

[Eagle]

I pray that the pony in question heals fast.

 

[lucky seven]

Our dog is a german shepard, lab and pb mix, he is great around family he sees often, but he is kept on a leash, has a pen to go out into. Anyone who wants to reach in my car or truck to pet the "cute" dog are worned that he isn't friendly. We know he can turn in an instant and protect him and anyone that comes in contact with him. He is getting older and when he dies, no more dogs.

 

[MindyLee]

i have a 5 yr old pb/lab mix which is my hubbys baby girl and loves her to death. shes a great dog around all my animals except the chickens, and loves the neices/nephews. shes a great gaurd dog and can hear a mouse fart on the other side of the property in her dead sleep. she dose however show some aggerssion towords cars that drive by, pull in driveway, squirrels, and people who walk by or walking their pets.

because of this, i take no chances and when she goes outside, she wears a mussle, a shock coller, and is always on a leash. she is a good dog and has never offered to bite or hurt anyone, but because she dose bark and growl at the above, i take no chances. the last thing i want is for someone to get hurt cause i didnt take any action towords these signs i see now. my dog may never ever hurt anyone but taking these percautions assures a accident wont slip through the cracks just in case. thats what being a responsable pet owner dose.

 

[Sandee]

i have a 5 yr old pb/lab mix which is my hubbys baby girl and loves her to death. shes a great dog around all my animals except the chickens, and loves the neices/nephews. shes a great gaurd dog and can hear a mouse fart on the other side of the property in her dead sleep. she dose however show aggerssion towords cars that drive by, pull in driveway, squirrels, and people who walk by or walking their pets.

because of this, i take no chances and when she goes outside, she wears a mussle, a shock coller, and is always on a leash. she is a good dog and has never offered to bite or hurt anyone, but because she dose bark and growl at the above, i take no chances. the last thing i want is for someone to get hurt cause i didnt take any action towords these signs i see now. my dog may never ever hurt anyone but taking these percautions assures a accident wont slip through the cracks just in case. thats what being a responsable pet owner dose.

Bravo for you. You are a good dog owner. Responsible and caring. I fear however that you are in the minority. Too many just send lovey little cute dog outside to run and "play" whever. The pitbull mix in our neighborhood had chased and grabbed kids pantlegs many times before he walked by our place (with the owner but off the leash) and grabbed our 31" stallion by the jaw. Hubby and the owner got them apart and we treated our horse for puncture wounds and scratches. He is fine but wary of all dogs now.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Well, England banned PBs over ten years ago and really it has made things ten times worse! Making the law dog breed specific has meant that the police now have virtually NO powers to pick up obviously dangerous but non PB dogs. The law is currently being amended, hopefully the breed will come off the law and it will merely be the responsibility of the owner of any dog of any breed, to keep it under control. There is nowhere in the country where you are allowed to let any dog run free without supervision, and there is nowhere in the country where you are allowed to walk dogs off lead on walkways beside roads- nor are you allowed to let the dog foul the path- yet, of course, there are people- many, many people, who think they are just above the law, Then there are those flaming extending leads- now I use then in winter when I have to walk half a mile to my horses (as opposed to driving it) and off road, on a field or footpath they are useful, especially for small, untrained dogs. BUT there is absolutely NO way anyone walking a bull breed dog of any type, on an extending lead, would be able to control it if it was out on the end of the lead, it could run under a car or eat someones Yorkie- no way to stop it at all- my Dobes all have foal halters on, not only can I control them fairly easily bit I can do the nose buckle on the dog's halter up a little tighter and he is then not able to get his mouth open wide enough to eat someones fluffy thing (He was six when he came to me and totally unsocialised- not even house trained, a real junkyard dog! He has done very well and is never aggressive to my little fluffy dog, but.......)

So, I don't know what to suggest, Banning the breed will not work, you need to take action against the deed not the breed- these sort of attacks need to be taken seriously no matter what breed- a pack of Jack Russell's killed and ate their owner in California some years back!!- and the owners need to be made financially responsible for their pets.

I know how Americans react when legislation is suggested but, honestly, the time has come for ALL dogs to be microchipped, like cars have log books, and the name of the person on the microchip is the person responsible under law- so if you have not updated the microchip when the dog was sold you ave a HUGE problem.

Hit them, all bad dog owners, in the wallet, that is the only thing that will, long term, really work,

 

[Forever Farm]

Sorry if these are graphic- is was my 27 inch dwarf mare after an attack by a Great Pyrenees, a dog that is supposed to PROTECT livestock, not attack it. Luckily, we caught the dog and were able to recover our vet expenses from the owner of the dog, but we were advised by the sheriff to envoke the 3 S's the next time we caught a dog on our property- Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up. We bought a mule to guard the little ones now, and she has been worth her weight in gold against random dogs & coyotes, but it hasn't made our neighbors too happy when one of their dogs was one of the first run out of the pasture somewhat banged up, but at least still alive.

 

[bevann]

I am an avid dog lover, but certain breeds were bred for specific things especially bull baiting or controling bulls.IMO there are the majority of people owing these dogs should not have them,but "YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID"!!!!If there is a stray dog on my property we try to catch it-then call animal control.Owner has to pay fine to get it back.If it is a threat -it is DEAD.I am so sorry about all the animals who have been maimed and killed by Pit Bulls.It is one breed IMO we could do without.There are so many other breeds who offer protection without having such short fuses.

 

[lucky seven]

There is a problem with the back yard breeders who will breed a pb to another mixed breed and then we pay the price. We love our mixed breed, but there have been times when we wished we had left him behind at the home where we found him as a young puppy because of his short fuse. No, he is not around the horses at all because we know that he will attack. We have never trained him to attack, we would love it if he was friendlier to family members we don't see often. What do you do? We will care for him and keep everyone safe until the end and put his to sleep when his time comes. Until then he is my hubby's companion when I am at work. The dog loves to ride and goes everywhere with my hubby. Prince is 8 yo.

 

[jegray21]

there was a full sized horse killed by two pit bull this week in our area

they are such high risk if not managed right.

 

[Riverrose28]

dogs are pack animals, and it's not only PB's that will attack livestock. We have a family commune just a quarter of a mile away. This family consists of grand parents, kids, grandkids, and boyfriends, you get the picture. They also have many dogs, no yard, no kennels, just running dogs. There are two rott crosses, two lab crosses, one husky mix, one jack mix. They say they love their dogs, but when even I call they just ignore me. They are always sending puppies to the pound, also kittens, as not a one is spayed or nutered. Two years ago this pack kept coming around chasing the horses. I called them three separate times and told them, asked them to kennel the dogs or yard them. Well they don't have a yard, and they think the leash law doesn't apply to them. So even in the middle of winter I have to sleep wioth my window open so I can hear them barking when they harrass my horse. So one night I went out and chased them away and fell in the mud, hurt myself pretty bad. The next night hubby wnet out when they were chasing mares and shot one. This was after I called yet again. Then he felt bad cause it wasn't the dogs fault, it was the owners. The dog was only winged and he went over to make sure they took the dog to the vet. Well they called the police and wanted hubby arrested for shooting the dog, and to pay vet bill. Police said if dog was on our property they couldn't. Anyway the owners shot the dog. So know when dogs are chasing our horses we will shot to kill, and bury the dog, and say nothing. Such a shame as we are both dog lovers, but must protect our horses.