Pit Bull Attack Could Have Been Much Worse

Walking outside to take my daily walk with my five year old twin daughters, I opened the front door instead to screams. Right out in the front of my house one of my neighbors was walking backwards down the street with a big stick and yelling at something in front of her.

She was obviously terrified, and when I came running into the yard to check on her I saw why. A huge pit bull was slowly walking towards her and growling. He was a large pit bull, with a look that showed his intentions clearly. A snarling dog is scary to see right in front of you, but a snarling pit bull is even worse.

I yelled to draw the pit bull's attention to me, and then directed her to come around the other side of my car and go into the house. Without even realizing it, I had picked up a hoe that was sitting by my door from some earlier yard work.

At this point the pit bull charged at her in a mock charge as she scampered around the car. Her running nearly set the pit bull off, as it seemed to trigger the dog's chase instinct. Fortunately, it stopped short of my property line, and instead slowly paced back and forth in front of it.

Having the pit bull's full attention on me, it was clear that I needed to back away. I slowly worked my way back onto my porch so that I could get inside at a moment's notice. The pit bull never stopped growling, and was not showing any signs of leaving the front of my house.

After recovering from the shock of the situation, I began to realize that the pit bull was our next door neighbor's dog. They had left for the beach, and now the dog had gotten loose. If anyone were to walk up on this dog, they would be dead.

Ultimately, we got in touch with the people that were supposed to be looking after the dog, and they put him up. The question that lingers in my mind, however, was what if I had not been home? This woman would have likely been ripped apart by this huge, menacing pit bull. He is known in the neighborhood as a biter, anyway.

Having never been actually faced with this situation, I can not help but to consider the absolute disaster that could have come of this. Kids play throughout this neighborhood, including my own children. It is not unusual for a child to be out on the street playing or walking to a friend's house. My kids are to young to be outside without me, but there are others that do.

What if a child had happened by alone?

The thought haunts me still.

By: Rodney Southern
Published: 07/29/08

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7 Posted Comments:

pitbuls

@ 7:04 am 07/31/08 by yourstrulyisabel

You know, I am an amimal lover. I have 2 dogs for 7 years, they're shih-tzus. I am also a member of a kennel club in my country. A lot of my co-members have pitbulls and I think they are not really that bad. They are really big and scary and you really have to be very very careful and the owners must be very responsible in training them. Pitbulls are fighting dogs so the more you run the more they will go after you. I don't know they are somehow triggered by that. We have also incidents here in our country being killed by a pitbull. My co-members say usually they kill cats. They are really dangerous pets but they are also sweet as they can be. I have come close to a pitbull so I can tell but I'm still careful in petting them. Cause they can rip your arm off. They're jaws lock if they bite and the only way to make erealease is to pour cold water on the pitbull.

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Dogs

@ 8:04 pm 07/31/08 by Ashlee Simmons

It is quite scary to be on the receiving end of an angry dog. Sounds like you did the right thing. Never run away from a hostile dog as it will prompt him to chase and attack you. I'm glad this situation turned out no worse than your report!

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dog attack

@ 8:11 am 08/04/08 by Hilda Rivera

My daughter was attacked by a pit mix when she was 4 years old. They are some bad dogs. I just lost my little dog a few days ago to one in my yard. So I know how scary they can be. I wish they would outlaw them in every state. The animals are unpredictable. The local animal control when they get them here in NC kill them right off. They wont even keep them for the night. Our neighbors have 5 of them and I have been attacked and driven inside of my own home by them. My dogs have been killed by them and I am tired of it. AC wont do anything because by the time they get here the dogs are back in the pen.

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pitbull

@ 2:57 am 08/05/08 by princessjoy25

I hate pitbulls because they look ugly and menacing at the same time. I really find it hard to imagine why a lot of people love them.

I am glad that nothing serious happened to anyone in your vicinity. I heard that pitbulls are very very territorial and really crazy. They could easily rip a grown man apart with their massive jaws!

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I hate them

@ 6:03 am 08/27/08 by littlepinoy

aargh! I hate pitbulls. They look ugly and worse, they're like a snake. Slithering around their target innocently and bang! You are bitten.

I'm speaking from experience.

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your really misinformed

@ 9:15 pm 09/02/08 by mpcivicfb88

have you ever tried to pet someones pitbull that they were walking or even payed attention to a dog that wasnt acting out. its your choice not to like a certain kind of dog but theres no need to discriminate. non abused bulls have a better temperment than most any other dog that is out there. http://www.atts.org/stats1.html . before you go all hatefull because of an experience you had with a rouge dog. please take at all dogs in those bad situations. please dont hate on the breed hate the person responsible. all they want to do is please, thats why there so susceptible to being ill tempered. thank you and please do some research before you just decide to hate.

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@ 10:32 am 11/13/08 by Topper

"your really misinformed" - a major problem with your reply is that you cannot tell by looking at a pit bull if it is friendly or one that will turn on you. They don't wear little signs saying "I will bite your head off". Yes, we all have the right to not like a particular breed. Check with the American Kennel Club and ask them about what dogs have the best temperament - I don't think pit bulls are anywhere near the top of that list!

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