Whether owners want to admit it or not, owning a pitbull is a greater responsibility than your common pup. While they can be loyal, friendly, and protective animals, their power makes them dangerous for those very same reasons. So when Scrappy was wandering the side yard at my Mom's house on Sunday night looking for a place to do his business, it was a total surprise to see a fully grown pitbull hop a 4' fence and attack. Maybe the pit felt my dog was wandering too close to his yard, but the possibility of such an event is something that pitbull owners need to factor in when preparing their yard for ownership. Instead, the scumbags next to my mom's house felt that a thin cable tied off to a rusted old railing and a 4' post & rail fence that my mom installed herself to keep the riff raff neighborhood kids out of her yard would be enough to stop "Diva" the pitbull.
I punched the pitbull in the side to separate the two and the site of 5 adults charging at him was enough to separate the two, but hearing my adopted pup scream in pain and seeing the blood oozing out of a half dozen puncture wounds will haunt me for the rest of my life. Scrappy required surgery on both the inside and outside of his right rear leg and some stitching on a couple of other bite marks. It could be quite a while, if ever, before my 11 year old pup is back to normal. No dog deserves that, especially not one who has already had such a tough life and finally got the family he deserved. When he looks me in the eye I can feel him saying "Why did this happen to me?" And the answer lies with the careless and irresponsible owners of the pitbull. I don't wish any ill on the dog, but I hope the army of vagrants that live at that house get what's coming to them. You can rest assured that I'll be taking my "pound of flesh" in the form of compensation for Vet Bills, missed time at work, and travel expenses. Let's hope the next time the pitbull decides to attack that it's not one of the owner's latchkey kids on the other side of those jaws. It's taken every bit of energy I have for me to hold down the rage and anger I have for this owner.
I have a 14 year old Schnauzer who was attacked on March 1, 2010, our son's 11th birthday. The Ridgeback/Shephard Mix dog next door had broken through his electric fence the prior two days and we told the owner. He said he came out and checked the batteries, yet he broke through and chewed our 14 year old schnauzer all the way up to his colon even though my husband was standing right next to the dog. Our old schnauzer is now terrified to go outside and shakes when he hears another dog bark and has even gotten so scared that he peed himself on the deck before getting out to the yard. I called the police because this dog had attacked several other people, but only 1 reported it to the police so he could not be put down unless I requested it. I made the mistake of not doing so because I love the two boys. That has literally come back to bite me in the butt because my neighbor went out of his way to torture me, yell obsenities at my husband and run his riding mower up and down the fence by our window while yelling "Yee Haw" up and down his privacy fence the Judge forced him to install. I have been reporting it but if I press charges for harrassment I will have to take off more time from work. We had 3 municial court hearing dates with a judgment in our favor, and I had to sue him to get the vet bill paid and he had the nerve to counter sue me. The Judge all but laughed out loud at his testimony. Bottom line is I only wanted an apology and the vet bill paid, yet he gave me a bad check and I had to levy on his bank account. Do yourself a favor and don't be a nice guy and have that dog put down and request a Potentially Dangerous Dog trial at the Municipal Court. Imagine if that was a child's face. I will pray for your poor little schnauzer. No dog should have to go through what our schauzers went through! Put him down because statistics have proven he won't be the last one who is bitten!
ReplyDeleteLet me preface my comment by saying that I do not like dogs. That said, it is refreshing to hear of a conscientious dog owner sharing my feelings about the majority of dog owners. It is sad what your dog was subjected to at the uncaring hands of an uncaring owner, but it is my experience that you are in the minority.
ReplyDeleteThough not nearly as bad a situation, I had an encounter with an elitist dog owner recently as related HERE.
I hope your dog makes a full recovery and I hope the pitbull bites his owner in the ass.
The Animal Control Warden was out yesterday to get my statements and some pictures and I just couldn't believe some of the stories he was telling me. It also sounds like this lady is going to get hit with a bunch of fines and the County Animal Control is going to help mediate the reimbursement of Vet Bills between me and her so we don't have to go to Civil Court (and by mediate, I mean she pays them in full).
ReplyDeleteI look at it this way... I bought a house. I wanted a dog. Dogs require fences. So my $75 adopted dog cost me another $1700 in fence work.
You can't treat a dog as just a decoration or your private security guard and be a good owner. They're a high maintenance pet.