Dakota and I survived a pitbull attack - heartbreaking story.

[Amy & Evan]

I am so so sorry to hear about the attack. Glad you and a Dakota are ok. And kudos to Dakota who has no lingering fear issues from it! Pit bulls and pit bull mixes have become unbelievably popular in NJ. I stopped taking Beau to the dog park because one "friendly" pit bull kept chasing him and pinning him to the ground and he was obviously trying to get away. He was only about 5 months old and we stopped going after that. The owner was nowhere to be seen. The other problem we have around here is EVERYWHERE, and I do mean everywhere, are unleashed dogs. There are leash laws in all the towns around me, in all the parks, etc but somehow many, many dog owners think it is better for their "friendly" dogs to be unleashed. Well, Beau is not 100% on recall and even if I wanted to walk him unleashed I wouldn't. So we have a leashed dog being constantly confronted by loose unleashed dogs. Some have attentive owners, others do not. Luckily Beau seems to have very, very good dog language and he has been ok with all the dogs that just run up to him, but it still worries me.

Pit bulls are by far the largest group in rescue centers. With the current trend to want to adopt the homeless dog, many people end up with pit bull mixes and have no idea what they are getting themselves into. Further pit bulls are extremely sweet at home, with their owners, and without other dogs or potential prey. So they are deceiving. That cuddly, docile at home on the coach dog is not expected by its owner to suddenly see a small furry dog and attack. Really no one should be allowed to adopt a pit bull without mandatory training classes and lots of education on the breed.

Ok rant over.

Thank you Pam
I am so sorry to hear that happened to your Beau. I can't stand people that KNOW their dog is not friendly, yet they let them in an off leash park, or off leash anywhere for that matter. It's so irresponsible, you are putting so many things at risk - other people, even the dog which could get beat of killed in a fight. I agree - pitbull owners should have to be educated and trained how to handle them too... there are so many in the area I live because the surrounding cities/provinces have banned them so they have all showed up here in shelters.

 

[Daisy1015]

I am so sorry . That is terrifying. I actually needed a couple days to be able to reply.

In california there are lots of pits. I recently rescued a puppy being hit in a parking lot with a hurt leg. She had a wonderful temperament at 3/4 months it appeared and alot of people tried to tell me I should foster/keep it. Um no not possible for many reasons but especially with a sheltie. Any trainer i have ever had has said shelties trigger the prey drive in pits or some other dogs. The yapping. Fluffy and herding chase me play style is just too different. Even the spca rep tried telling me her two pits do great with her maltese mix (probably a terrier mix) but she didnt grasp the play style of sheltie would be different from maltese mixes. I did some research at that time out of curiousity and to affirm my decision not to foster, and even the villalobos web site from tv warns very honestly about pitbull temperament and potential for dog aggression even if great with their people and even if ok for years together. They blamed instinct just like herding is to shelties (ues they mentioned shelties) . They also said this trait is often not evident before one year and can be hard to predict. I actually respect the show for their honesty. Throw in reckless breeding for wrong traits and there is a recipe for disaster.

During my puppy kinder they were very careful with socialization time in monitoring dog interaction especially with a sheltie in the mix because they can rile up other dogs and trigger play drive. All puppies were under six months old.

The trainer recommended bring an umbrella. One that will pop open and startle an approaching aggressive dog or at least help hide the sheltie from view and sometimes this can break up the reaction or give time ti get control of other dog if owner present.

 

[Daisy1015]

One more thing, their play growl / bark sounds so ferocious even in a play bow. And they are soooo loud. I had her crayed in an xpen probably for first time in her life and she was way louder than a sheltie. I no longer "fear" getting a second sheltie because of barking!

 

[JacqueZ]

I'm so sorry to hear that happened, but glad to hear that the worst of the physical injuries are healing. I hope the counseling can help you recover from the attack mentally as well. The type of disregard for another living thing that the owners "friends" showed is abhorrent, and I'm glad at least the owner is acting responsibly.

I couldn't agree more! I absolutely love shelties for that same reason, they are so gentle and loving.

I really can't stand any of the bully breeds, and the people that own them just make me sick. I know that not all of them are bad but it's in their nature to attack. There should really be some restrictions or rules to owning them, like you HAVE to register them, take a course to be educated about them and write a test, or have a permit or something. It should be the same as owning a gun.

I just met a lady at a party who rescued a dog at a shelter, and the shelter people told her it was a mix of several breeds....but once she got home and was researching she realized it was mostly pit. Criminal of the shelter to send someone unsuspecting home with a breed they might not be prepared for. She has young kids too... I would love love love to see strict laws about neutering and breeding these dogs. With how much their line has been messed with I feel like only a few purebred lines, tested extensively for temperament should be allowed. You should have to have a license to breed them. I feel like the fact that it's a "mans" dog is part of the problem...I know of so many who have no intention of breeding the dog, but balk at immasculating them, so you end up with so many unintentional litters.

 

[Jess041]

Wow this whole thread makes me so sad. I'm not the type of person who would own a bully breed or mix, but I certainly don't hate them or think they're all monsters. There are some dogs out there that are aggressive and should never be around other dogs or children. I was attacked by my family's dog when I was 8 years old. The breed? Labrador Retriever, AKC's most popular dog breed for the last several years. There are a lot of misconceptions about bully breeds. I wish people didn't have so much hate towards them. I know so many who play flyball and are the friendliest dogs towards people and other dogs. My sheltie actually makes them look like saints because she can get a little snippy at times.

I'm sorry you and Dakota were attacked. I'm happy to hear Dakota has recovered. I know you will eventually.

 

[RikyR]

Wow this whole thread makes me so sad. I'm not the type of person who would own a bully breed or mix, but I certainly don't hate them or think they're all monsters. There are some dogs out there that are aggressive and should never be around other dogs or children. I was attacked by my family's dog when I was 8 years old. The breed? Labrador Retriever, AKC's most popular dog breed for the last several years. There are a lot of misconceptions about bully breeds. I wish people didn't have so much hate towards them. I know so many who play flyball and are the friendliest dogs towards people and other dogs. My sheltie actually makes them look like saints because she can get a little snippy at times.

I'm sorry you and Dakota were attacked. I'm happy to hear Dakota has recovered. I know you will eventually.

Well said Jess. But unfortunately, it is human nature. Look at what is going on in the world today. Sad indeed.

 

[labgirl]

I am so sad and shocked to read this and feel for you. I am also appalled at the way the doctors treated your wounds.

Sadly, pitbulls have been badly bred and badly treated. They are banned over here, but I don't believe that solves the problem, it only makes them more desirable to the wrong sort of person, the person who 'wants to look hard because I own a banned dangerous dog'. We do have a lot of staffies in this country and my friend has owned and showed bull terriers all her life. When you see a well-raised bull terrier they are such grand dogs. My friend does obedience and agility with her bullies. She is acutely aware of the bad image they have and makes the effort to have her dogs under control all the time. Her bullie Magnus has such a lovely nature that he was recently severely attacked by a labrador that tore a chunk out of him and he never even reacted.

The real problem is that these breeds can do such damage when they attack. Also many come from appalling backgrounds.

I am stunned at the leniency of the judgement placed on those dog owners. The severity of the attack on you and your dog, if it had been in the UK, would have caused a court to rule the dog should be PTS under the new dangerous dogs act. In fact, the law here now allows for the owner to be sent to prison for owning an out-of-control dog that was deemed a danger to the public.

I am glad you are doing ok and can only say please try not to be afraid. Dog attacks are very, very rare, even with pitbulls.

 

[Isabella]

One month ago, Dakota (who was only 5 months old at the time) and I (Amy) were on the walking trail behind our place, which is an 'on-leash' area with signs everywhere along the trail. I have walked Dakota on this trail every single day and it is a very high traffic and popular walking path with a lot of people and dogs, and I have always felt very safe on it - as I have never encountered someone who let their dog off leash before on the trail. We were just walking when I turned around a blind corner, and I noticed a couple of people had a dog swimming down by the lake, which is just about fifty feet away down a hill from the path. I did not realize that it was a pitbull at this time, or that they had the pitbull off leash. Either way, I only had mere seconds to react. Out of nowhere, the pitbull came charging towards us up the hill. I reacted very fast and my first instinct was to pick up Dakota. The pitbull ripped Dakota from my arms, while I was holding him. This happened several times. I kept picking Dakota up everytime the pitbull let go of him, in my efforts to save his life, because I knew what pitbulls were capable of doing - that they are bred to be fight and kill other dogs. I did everything I could to protect Dakota.. Near the end of the attack when I picked up Dakota again, the pitbull trampled me to the the ground from behind, knocking Dakota out of my arms. It was a horrible and violent attack, I was kicking and hitting the pitbull while screaming for help, while also trying to get in its way, which is how I got injured with multiple bites on my hands and a deep scrape on my knee. Dakota suffered three puncture wounds on his back. His skin and muscle got torn and separated from when the pitbull shook him while biting him. I believe that Dakota went into shock during the attack, as he became completely limp. Eventually the people walking the dog slowly came up the hill and shortly after the pitbull stopped - however I do not remember how the pitbull was stopped. I ran home as fast as I could and drove Dakota to the animal hospital immediately.

Words cannot even describe the violence of this attack, there is no way to understand how horrific this was without being there to witness it. I thought my puppy was going to be killed in front of me. We are extremely lucky that we were both able to walk away from this incident with no loss of life.

They had to to emergency surgery to make sure his organs were not punctured - which thankfully they were not. They also had to put drains on both sides of him to help drain the excess fluid and to promote healing of the skin and muscle tissue. Less than a week later the holes from the drains healed up and he was bandage free - as puppies heal very fast. He did have stitches in for two weeks, and was on multiple medications as well. Within three weeks he was fully recovered from the punctures and drain holes.

My injuries are healed now, I waited in the emergency room for 7 hours on the day of the attack while Dakota had his surgery. The doctor that saw me at the hospital did not give me any antibiotics, because at the time the bites did not look too severe. It was a couple days later that they became severely infected and I had to have a tetanus shot as well as antibiotics. The psychological trauma of this experience is what I am suffering from the most still... This has affected my daily life so much because I am terrified to even leave my yard because there are several pitbulls that live on my street.

I am just so thankful that we are both okay and Dakota has fully recovered. He is back to his normal self, playing with our cat and playing with toys, being very happy and running around. He still loves dogs, even big dogs. He also is still friendly to strangers. I think that maybe he doesn't even remember what happened..

I hope this post will be helpful at least to raise awareness of how dangerous pitbulls are. This was an unprovoked attack by a pitbull that never attacked anyone or any dog before. I am not saying that all pitbulls are bad. However, there is no denying what this breed is capable of doing.




Here are some pictures of Dakota's injuries and the healing process.
http://imgur.com/a/B4EY6
http://imgur.com/a/QDemX
http://imgur.com/a/Vg9RB

I’m so sorry to hear this. I really do not believe that pitbulls are bad dogs, but some of them have terrible owners. They need constant attention and to be kept inside the yard when they are not with people. I think the show “pit bulls and parolees quote shows very well how they need to be cared for. If you could find the dogs owner perhaps you could press charges or ask for some financial compensation. The pitbull would probably be put down. This is a terrible thing to have happen, and yet I would be sad to see the other dog die. But he should not be able to run around to hurt people.

 

[Henrythesheltie]

That would have been a very morbidly injured if not dead pitbull if it had a go at my boys. Hate to say it, but I always have a pocket knife with me on walks for this very reason. I never want to hurt a dog but if it's my dog or their dog, it's going to be my dog. Sorry this happened to you, glad you both came out of it still barking.