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Loose pitbull in my neighborhood!

Caraline said:
I would be very angry :swear: Irresponsible dog owners infuriate me. And people who have scary looking dogs that are really nice, but still let them wander frightening other people come under the category of "irresponsible" in my books.

I second everything you said!

I had two labs attacked Griffin when we was 7 months old.
They literally came running out of the forest out of no where.
One went for the back of his neck and the other hs hind leg.
He yelped in pain at the bite and motherly instinct took over and I kicked that dog so hard you'd think I was in the NFL try outs.
The dog looked at me and I crossed my arms over my chest at let out a loud "Bark" noise and lunged at him and they took off.
Probably not the best move as the dog could have engaged me but I was scared, needless to say.

From that day on I walk with a small wooden broom handle.

Just in case....
 
What a horrible experience Bronte and it could have turned out really ugly. Thank the gods you acted in a manner than worked, regardless of whether it was the right way or not. To be quite honest, I don't even know what the right thing to do if a dog attacks you or yours. I think I probably would have reacted much the same way you did.

I've posted up a new thread about this at http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8593
 
Irresponsible owners just really really irk me!! It's bad enough that we and our fur babies are in danger....what really really scares me is small children. How many horrible stories have you heard? That's it....my pepper spray goes back on my walking bag!! I was digging through the car today and found. Remarked to myself "so that's where it is". Haven't seen it in over a year. I believe there was a reason it came to my attention today!
 
Every time I see a stray dog, I want to try to help them and get them reunited with their owners. I remember once about 10 years ago, on the way to work I saw a dog running loose (on a leash - obviously got loose on a walk). It was a busy street so I pulled over and tied him to something (I think...) I think finally the police came by and I flagged them down to take care of the dog. I had no idea what it was at the time, but turned out it was actually a pit bull ... not a bad dog though. Still though, I guess I'm a bit naive at times! I always tend to think the best of people and dogs, and it's not always that wise!

I have seen two dogs running loose while walking Lucky since I moved to my new neighborhood. The first one was a red fluffy thing (I'd say a Pomeranian but it was bigger than Lucky), and was not friendly AT ALL. Growled at us. The other was a little yorkie, and it had a tag so I brought it back to it's owner who was so thankful - she had no idea he was out.

It's such a struggle for me, because you don't know really if the stray dogs are friendly or not, but then I think, what if Lucky got loose? I'd sure want someone to approach him to look at his tags and help get him reunited with me. Such a hard choice. I wonder if the pit bull just got loose by accident or if the owner was really irresponsible.

Still, it must have been so scary for you Renee. I was scared to walk Lucky after that dog growled at us. He wasn't big, but he wasn't friendly either. Now that I have Lucky, I can't even imagine if a pit bull were running loose in our neighborhood ...
 
Do whatever you have to do to stop the pitbulls, including shooting them, poisoning them...I don't care!!!

Here is a very long and sad story about pitbulls.

On July 7, 2006, 2 roaming pitbulls destroyed the gate on my very strong dog kennel/run and killed all 3 of my dogs!

For months prior to that, I and several other neighbors had called animal control to report the roaming pits.

AFTER my dogs were killed, I learned what those pits had done before.
They attacked a HORSE and so badly mauled its face that the horse had to be put down. They killed my next door neighbors dog, who was stupidly on the owners part, chained in an open yard. They attacked and nearly killed the across the street neighbors black lab. The vet bills to save the dog were more than a thousand dollars.

In April of 2006, Animal Control took the pits into custody, after all of the above had happened, and a stupid freaking judge ordered Animal Control to release the pits back to their owner. The judge put the owners on probation and made them sign a contract that they would control the dogs and NEVER let them roam free again. HA! HA! HA! These people did nothing to control or contain the pits.

I reported the pits on my property at least 3 times between April and July, again, knowing nothing about the court proceeding or the harm the pits had done. (It's probably important to state that we live in the woods on minimum 5 acre parcels, so we are not really close to our neighbors and don't have occasion to chat)

My concern was that I have many cats who have been dumped here and are wild, but I feed them. And I have 3 cats who I love, but they are outside cats, that's just the way it is. I was afraid the pits would kill my cats.

I never even thought about the safety of my dogs who were all inside dogs, but did have a dog run/kennel that was totally fenced in, just outside my back door. The door actually opened into the kennel, and was kept open in good weather, so the dogs could go out to the dog yard at will. I have 2 houses on my property, and the dog yard was at the other house where my daughter lived.

On July 7, I had to run some errands that kept me away from home for about 5 hours. My dogs, BJ, a German Shepherd; Otter, an Aussi/wolf/husky mix, and my baby Cedar, a long haired dash hound
were left in the house with the door open to the dog yard.

I came home to find the 2 blood streaked pitbulls in my front yard. But it really didn't click at the time, I just yelled at them to get out of my yard. And they ran. Then I walked down to the other house to get Cedar.

I went into the house, and no dogs. I went back outside and went to the outside gate of the dog yard, and the gate was all smashed and no dogs.
Still nothing was clicking in my mind....I was mildly confused.

Then the pitbulls come running back onto my property, and I realize that what looked like brown streaks on them was blood. I began yelling for my dogs. And I STILL didn't understand or ponder what had happened. So I think my dogs somehow got out of the dog yard, and I am calling and calling them.

In the meantime, I call Animal Control to report that the pits are ONCE AGAIN, running loose. Then I go out and keep calling, BJ, Otter, Cedar, calling over and over.

And the pits keep coming back over and over, so I finally threw some rocks at them and they ran away again.

Ok, now comes the really bad part.......

I finally looked in the area where the pits had kept coming back to and then I saw Otter, dead. Of course I went crazy then and kept screaming for BJ and Cedar. And sadly had to start walking around, and then I saw my baby Cedar, dead, under the very Cedar tree for which he was named. Both Otter and Cedar had their throats ripped to shreads.
In total hysteria, I kept screaming BJ, BJ, BJ....but he never came.

I called 911 and said I know that dead dogs are probably not allowed as a reason for calling 911, but ***********those ********pit bulls killed 2 of my dogs and I can't find the other one.

The Sheriffs and Animal Control actually came. My Animal Control guy, George, put my dead Otter and my Cedar into the back of his vehicle and drove over to the owners of the pit bulls and DEMANDED that the owner come and see what his dogs had done. He was so nasty to George and to the Deputy...Said, "Why the ****** should I have to look at some "bitch's dead dogs?"

It would take another several pages to tell all of what happened after. We never found BJ, but in the 98 degree temps, we knew where he was because by Sunday, we could smell his body which was so deeply in the berry bushes and undergrowth that it was not possible to get him out.

George came to see me every day for more than a week. He felt so bad. He had impounded those dogs, he knew how dangerous they were, but he had to let them go because a Judge said so.

I cried so hard that I vomited constantly for days. My sister nearly flew down from Portland because she was so worried about me.

The end of the story is that we went to court. Every authority in this county stood beside me and demanded that the pit bull be destroyed. It was ultimately the pictures that the Sheriff's Deputy took at my DEMAND, of my dead dogs that won. And all of the other documented history, and the failure of the pit owners to do anything they had agreed to.

The pit bulls were humanely destroyed. The owner was placed on probation and were ordered to not OWN, POSESS, OR BE IN CONTROL OF ANY DOG FOR 2 YEARS. Believe it or not, they actually had 2 more pits and a litter of 5 pit puppies on their property when Animal Control went to investigate. None of those dogs were destroyed, of course. They hadn't done anything wrong. They were siezed and found new homes.

I thought I would never ever heal, I really felt like I was going to go crazy.

Then, just one month later, I saw an ad in a paper I never read, in the pet section, which I certainly never read, for a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. When I think about that it still gives me chills.

For years I had dreamed of having a Cavalier, but with the 2 big dogs and with Cedar who I loved so much, I kinda forgot about it, and financially it was definately out of my reach.

That ad was for my Toby. Sometimes, especially when I am really stressed or sad, I will accidentally call him Cedar. Toby isn't Cedar, but he is the absolute love of my life.
 
It is important to me to clarify one thing. I had a pitbull for a brief time, about 6 months, who was the most gentle creature I have ever seen.

I was a renter on a property where the pit had been dumped. The first time I saw him, I was pretty scared. He was absolutely the epitomy of a Pit Bull, huge broad chest, huge head, a body that was pure power. And he was terrified. He had been dumped. He was hungry. Scars on his body showed he had been beaten severely.

I called him Bear. It took weeks to get him to just come and eat. Eventually he came into the house, and after a longer while, he came to sleep on my bed. But he was always very afraid of everything.

Ewwww, this is also really sad, sorry.

My mom died and I had to move into her house to put her affairs in order.
By that time, the owner of the property where Bear was had also developed a real affection for him. I would call and check on Bear, and the land owner was clearly very fond of him and said how well he was doing.

Life went on, my sister moved closer, we both were going to school and working, and I kinda forgot about Bear.

Maybe 2 years later, I thought about him. I had a place where I could have him. So I called my former landlord to see if I could go get Bear.

He told me that in the past 2 years, he had had to take custody of his grandchild who was about 4-5 years old and that Social Services had come to investigate his home to make sure it was safe, a good home, etc. The Social Service worker saw Bear. She said that she would not let the child come into the home, "Until the dangerous Pit Bull was removed."

So, my former landlord had no choice but to take Bear to the Animal Shelter. Where, with no one's knowledge, he was "humanely destroyed" immediately. Because he was a huge burly Pit Bull. Who was afraid of his own shadow, and who never hurt any living thing.

So, I have certainly seen both sides of this. And both sides are absolutely heartbreaking.
 
OMG goldcountryrose. I am so sorry that happened to you. That is just horrible. I haven't seen that dog back here again, altho every time I take my 2 dogs out to go potty I look around and act as if that loose dog could be lurking around the next corner. If another dog attacked my two dogs I would kill that aggressive dog with my own bare hands if I had to, altho I know that pitbulls are unbelievably strong and vicious. But I would try anything and not back down. It's sad to think that there are so many bad dog owners out there who own these dogs and mistreat them and let them run loose. I am sure there are a lot of very fine and gentle pitbulls (I know of one), but unfortuantely where I live, more often than not when you see a pitbull it also has a very young (maybe 20 years old) male owner who is either a member of a gang or just ignorant and wants a "mean" dog. I am going to buy some pepper spray. If I had a gun, believe me, if we were attacked, as much as I love all dogs, I would use it.

Thank you for sharing your story, it made my eyes fill up with tears. God bless you and your dogs.
 
im sorry country rose :( that is such a sad story.
I remember in highschool..we walked to hte mall at lunch and there was this huge..Rotwiller X, she was absolutly beautiful with the saddest eyes anyone can immagine.
we wanted her soooob ad. but none of us could..

we heard that someone ended up buying her...two teenagers..and takeing her home..without asking mom and dad.
They were then forced to bring hte poor thing back to the store where she sat behidn a bard cage.
I dont know what happend to her after that.


(yet another)off leash story ...was this pupppy(i dont know what breed he was...it was a larger breed so a puppy to me but to oliver...) was off its leash, and started following oliver and i, he wasnt trying to hurt oliver in anways..heck he wanted to play..

unfortuantly olvier has had a few bad experiances with big dogs and gets really nervous around them..
i told the puppy to go home.. he didnt..
so i ended up having to pickoliver (which as ive told you is overweight and HEAVY!) up and carrying him the rest of the way to my grandmas..lol
my neighbour passed by giving us the weirdest look, as this other dogs dancing at my feet.
 
That is a shocking story Rose. Here in Australia our unleashed dog laws are very strict and if a roaming dog attacks & injures another human or another dog, it is seized & put down. It must have been shattering & infuriating to know that these dogs had caused so much destruction and that the law was pretty useless at stopping it.
 
I found out tonight where that pitbull lives, so I am going to be on the look-out for it now, and if I ever see it loose again anywhere I am calling Animal Control ASAP. My neighbor had a run-in with the same pitbull (I talked to her today), when she was walking her Poodle-mix, and she said the pitbull approached them with its hair standing up on the back of it's neck and back....not a good sign. So, I am going to do my best to make sure that the owners of that pitbull are turned in to the police/Animal Control if they let it roam again.
 
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