nasty pit bull

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

My elderly neighbor was walking a sweet-tempered black lab, on a leash, in the Summer/Burnside area when a guy walking his pit bull (also on a leash) approached. They passed without incident, then the pit bull jerked away and attacked the lab, biting its neck. My neighbor kept hitting the dog with her cane, screaming for help, while the owner just stood by. Finally, he pulled the pit bull away, but the lab was hurt. (He's okay, but had to go to the vet. My neighbor reported the incident to animal control.) The guy has been seen since, walking his dog as usual. Has anyone else had a bad encounter with them? The pit bull, I'm told, is young, about 5 months old.

Comments

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

i haven't seen them but that makes me sad. Pit bulls can be so sweet if they're trained well... something like this is gonna result in an innocent dog being put down for aggression because his idiot owner couldn't be bothered to train him properly. sigh.

[lunarcamel.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I was just going to post this. Good dogs owned by bad people.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Pit bulls are notorious. Not because they are inherently mean dogs (in fact, as busylilbear points out, they can be very sweet if well trained), but because their relatively energetic nature and muscular frame makes them a common choice for people participating in dog fighting and, by association it seems, the kinds of people who want their dog to LOOK like it would win in a dog fight.

[mikepd.livejournal.com]

ARGH. "Pit bulls" have a notorious reputation because, circularly, any vicious dog is labeled a "pit bull" by victims/witnesses/press/cops. People are *not* good at identifying the breed(s) of mutts.

See, for example: http://animals.change.org/blog/view/the_need_for_a_canine_innocence_project

And, from http://reason.com/blog/2009/07/01/city-councilman-learns-the-fol

Moreover, the term pit bull isn't really a breed at all. It's a generic term that can and has been applied to just about any dog with bulldog and/or terrier traits (take the pit bull test here). The American Kennel Club-recognized breed that's generally associated with the term is the American Staffordshire Terrier. And the vast, vast majority of staffies are harmless (they're actually considered a child-friendly breed).

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Indeed, actual american pit bull terriers are generally considered good for kids. And I totally agree that breed-specific laws are an extremely poor and ineffective way to combat this problem. We should be going after the owners training their dogs to fight, not specific breeds considered "likely" to fight.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

To express the (apparently) minority opinion...

I've never heard of anyone getting mauled by golden retriever.

I'm sure pit bulls (or dogs that are commonly called pit bulls) can be breed into very nice dogs, but the vast majority of maulings are by aggressive breeds and its not realistic to expect all owners to be responsible.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

The point is that the breed is inherently aggressive, it's that people who want to teach their dogs to be aggressive tend to seek out pit bulls and similarly large dogs. And as for golden retrievers, the link posted by mikepd includes a story about a labrador retriever belonging to a city councilman who had favored breed-based dog bans that was about to be euthanized because it had bitten a neighbor.

Here you go.

[yagagriswold.livejournal.com]

Now you've heard of a child getting mauled by a Golden Retriever.

http://www.justicenewsflash.com/2010/04/05/virginia-dog-bite-injury-attorney-news-child-lost-ear-dog-attack_201004053906.html

Re: Here you go.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Yes, though the fact that it was in the news shows how rare it is. I know several people who have either personally been attacked by pit bulls or witnessed such attacks and the papers never picked up their stories. It could just be bad owners, I don't know what truth there is to the claim that it's just their reputation attracting the irresponsible. But either way its significantly more common to hear these sorts of stories about about aggressive breeds than docile ones.

Re: Here you go.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Yes, though the fact that it was in the news shows how rare it is.

Oh, what the fuck. I was bitten by a labrador and by a Pekingese, and have never been bitten by any of the breeds called "pit bull." There, now you have two datapoints to dismiss.

I know several people who have either personally been attacked by pit bulls or witnessed such attack

It has frequently been observed that people who are bitten by dogs tend to misreport the dog breed based on their preconceptions of how different breeds behave.

Re: Here you go.

[daviscubed.livejournal.com]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24436191/Dog-attack-deaths-and-maimings-U-S-Canada-September-1982-to-December-22-2009
Pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios, and their mixes account for 80% of attacks resulting in bodily harm, 69% of attacks on children, 83% of attacks on adults, 68% of deaths, and 74% of maimings. And now you have 6,709 datapoints to dismiss.

Bite Stats

[schmeckie.livejournal.com]

Has anyone pointed out that the center that releases dog attack stats, the Center for Disease Control, also notes that bite stats, incl. theirs, can be flawed:

"the numerator of a dog breed-specific human DBRF rate requires a complete accounting of human DBRF as well as an accurate determination of the breeds involved. Numerator data may be biased for 4 reasons."

And that BSL does not address the real problem:

"Another concern is that a ban on a specific breed might cause people who want a dangerous dog to simply turn to another breed for the same qualities they sought in the original dog (eg, large size, aggression easily fostered). Breed-specific legislation does not address the fact that a dog of any breed can become dangerous when bred or trained to be aggressive. From a scientific point of view, we are unaware of any formal
840 Vet Med Today: Special Report JAVMA, Vol 217, No. 6, September 15, 2000
evaluation of the effectiveness of breed-specific legislation in preventing fatal or nonfatal dog bites."

Rest of info here: http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/images/dogbreeds-a.pdf

Re: Here you go.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I've been charged by a pit bull that was kept in a terrible house, had no training, was never walked, was usually handled by an 8 year old boy and was just generally a wretched creature. I felt bad for it.

She attacked others, but I managed to slam the door in her face.

I've also been bitten by a collie mix and chased by some sort of ankle biter.

The CDC did a long term study (1979 - 1998) and listed Pit bull-Types as the dog involved in the most fatal attacks in that time period. http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/images/dogbreeds-a.pdf

But all that is kind of moot anyway. If the dog owner in question in the OP just stood by and did nothing and is continuing to walk the animal, why wasn't the attack reported to the police?

[elusiveat.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of anyone getting mauled by golden retriever.

I have. Granted, it was attributed to excessive inbreeding, or breeding exclusively for show-dog appearance, but I've still heard of it.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

there's a lot of them at the mspca in methuen, where i volunteer. they are *awesome* dogs but a lot of them are too active to cope with city life as is typical in somerville imho. otoh a five-month-old puppy of any breed is just a baby. i hope the owner gets some training soon, maybe this unfortunate incident will put some sense in the owner's head.

Being Even-Handed About Pits

[schmeckie.livejournal.com]

The CDC info I posted is interesting but it doesn't address the issue that usually arises surrounding pit bull attacks. I can think of dozens of reasons why pit bulls should not be banned from the fact that their aggression, if there is any, tends to be toward other dogs, not humans, because of their background (handlers had to be able to break up fights) to the many services they can perform for our society, such as search and rescue and, yes, therapy, to the fact that they, like everyone in this country, should be innocent until proven guilty. But what about the fact that in recent years (and it is only in recent years - check out the data at CDC; and the Pit Bull was called the Nanny at the turn of the century b/c of their care for children) this breed (The American Pit Bull Ierrier IS a breed, recognized by the UKC), and any mix that happens to look like a Pit, has been shown by, perhaps flawed, stats to inflict more serious injury than other breeds.

Now the Pit is a tenacious creature because of his dog fighting background. Remember, he also has Terrier in him and we know how game they are. It is understandable that because of this, when some Pit Bulls attack, they try to finish the job. Does this make them dangerous? Yes, some of them are. In any breed, you'll find some bad apples. Yikes, does this mean the owner can't always prevent problems? Yes, it does. But a Pit Bull owner should be trained in how to deal with that breed, regardless, because if they understand their dog's body language and signs, attacks will be prevented. Of course, this goes for every dog breed.

There are many other solutions to the problem besides going door-to-door and forcing Pit Bull owners to take a training test. Locals can insist on neutering Pits, having Pits muzzled in public and keeping Pits out of dog parks. Only registered, responsible owners should be allowed to breed Pits. And, until we can gather flawless stats, the breed (and other breeds associated with it) should not be unjustly hunted because of something their brethren did. Remember how Dobies were maligned in the 80s. This, too, will pass for the Pit Bull and folks will be sorry when the breed is replaced by something like the Cane Presario by those who are aggressive dog owners. There will always be some breed that is considered deadly. Owning three pits, I can only say that this dog is someone we can easily work into society, easing public fears and, hopefully, making converts one lick at a time.

(Sorry so long and convoluted).