OT: Dog Attack.

[AngryScientist]

Ugh.

My wife and kids were out walking our pup last week. We have a scottish terrier. ordinarily terriers are pretty scrappy dogs, but our girl is really sweet, and a total goofball. she's not "street smart" and wouldnt hurt a fly...

Anyway, on the walk, a neighborhood pit bull who was chained up outside the house, completely unprovoked charged it's lead, broke it's collar and was on my dog in seconds. my poor dog didnt know what to do and just dropped to the ground.

My wife freaked out and was screaming bloody murder and kicking the pit-bull to get it off my dog. thank god she or my kids didnt get bit somehow, but it seemed out for the kill on my dog and ignoring the humans. thankfully the dogs owner heard the commotion and came out and wrestled her dog off mine. apparenly her dog bit her pretty good as she was fighting it.

long story short, a trip to the emergency vet and a bunch of stitches to close puncture wounds, antibiotics, etc etc etc later, our pup is going to be OK.

The real problem now is my wife is [understandably] a little freaked out about walking the dog alone. we have young kids and if that dog instead wanted to go after one of them who knows what can happen.

i want her to feel safe walking with the dogs and kids. does anyone have a recommendation of what she might realistically carry? a gun is completely out of the question.

would pepper spray or mace be effective on a ragey pit bull? maybe a sturdy walking stick? some suggested a loud air horn?

i donno. i'm mad this happened and made me have to think about this.

[Hilltopwalters]

Dang, sorry that happened to your family.

Purely, anecdotal as I don't have a solution that doesn't involve shooting the damn thing but a dog tried to attack my brothers and I when we were little but my dad saved the day by stabbing the hell out of its face with his pocketknife.

[oldguy00]

Sure hope you called animal control and/or police.

The owner should be responsible for PROPERLY securing a dangerous dog. Owner should be charged, dog should be put down. And I don't believe in the 'there are no bad dogs' BS.

I would have gone back to visit the pit bull with a baseball bat. No, really. And yes I prob would have been arrested.

BTW - we have a yorkie. Someone in our neighbourhood now has a pit bull. He walks him with a full harness and a muzzle. I don't understand why people need to own these dogs. Whenever we cross paths while walking, we go to the other side of the street and the owner of the pit fights to control him/her. I do actually think its time to bring bear spray and/or a baseball bat while walking......

[dgauthier]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Sure hope you called animal control and/or police.

The owner should be responsible for PROPERLY securing a dangerous dog. Owner should be charged, dog should be put down.(...)

I agree with this 100%. Angry, don't wait until the next time. If the dog attacks one of your children it will do so with the intent to kill.

Take every legal recourse to end this threat to you, your family, and your community now. You should be compensated for your vet bills as well.

So sorry to hear about this.

[azrider]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

I agree with this 100%. Angry, don't wait until the next time. If the dog attacks one of your children it will do so with the intent to kill.

Take every legal recourse to end this threat to you, your family, and your community now. You should be compensated for your vet bills as well.

So sorry to hear about this.

I 1000% agree with this. On the fence about "put down" part, but it should absolutely be reported to police and animal control.

The more I think about this story Angry, the more I think of "what if's":

1. What if dog shifted focus to your wife after she started to kick

2. What if it (God forbid) went to one of your kids.

Ughh.......blood pressure starting to rise.....

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by azrider

....

Ughh.......blood pressure starting to rise.....

I know, right?!

Very few things I read online will bother me at all. Dog attacks do it.
And in addition to my personal recommendations I'd also be hiring a lawyer and suing the hell out of the owner for everything I could.

BTW - not sure what its like across the USA, but here in Canada, Ontario has banned pitbulls, and there are many cities/municipalities across Canada that have banned them.

[Peter P.]

https://www.mace.com/collections/muz...t-pepper-spray

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Sure hope you called animal control and/or police.

The owner should be responsible for PROPERLY securing a dangerous dog. Owner should be charged.

THIS. Why people don't call the police in these cases is beyond me. One of you could have stayed at the scene while the other took the dog to the vet if the wounds were that serious.

HALT! or mace is perfectly fine, and some devices come with a belt clip for instant access.

[azrider]

UGhhh......man I feel for you. Sorry your dog was attacked and sorry your wife is now fearful to even go for a walk. Nobody should have to feel that way.

I am no dog expert but I remember hearing bear spray, BEAR spray only works on Pitbulls about 50% if the time.

Hope everything works out for you guys.

[HenryA]

The pit bull has to leave the neighborhood.

That said, some places make it illegal to chain a dog outside. I would have though jersey woulda had plenty of regulations regarding keeping dogs improperly or dogs with bad manners.

[nmrt]

sorry to hear, nick. i hope your dog recovers soon.
same thing happenned in my household as well. our aussie pup was being walked by my wife. a pit bull charged out of his house via the open front door (destroying the closed screen door in the process). my pup ran like hell. but the pit bull got my wife real hard. the damn dog would not let go. makes sense. they were bred for that. the owner had to pull/drag the dog away. ER and stitches and all that.

sorry, i do not know what to tell you. all i do is keep a mental note of pit bulls and pit bull type dogs in my neighborhood. then i avoid those houses/streets.

speaking for myself, and myself only, i know many pit bulls are really sweet with their owners and even other people. but there are many pit bulls out there who are sweet with their owners BUT rage against other dogs and people!

my past neighbor had a pitbull. i was standing in my front yard when i saw the postman go to my neighbors front door to deliver the mail. out lunged the pitbull by destroying the screendoor. got the postman very hard. ambulance and police and animal control and all that.

i could go on and on with my anecdotes. they are all about aggressive pitbulls. now i do not trust any pitbull. yes, your pitbull might be sweet to you. but i am not going to take my chances finding out if it is sweet to me or not. way friendlier breeds out there to have as a pet.

[Dead Man]

i havent sprayed a pit...? i dont think. but since making the decision to carry pepper spray on the bike, i have zapped a handful of dogs, and its stopped em dead in their tracks each time. got a choco lab good enough his owner actually got in his pickup and chased us down, reportedly to find out what chemical was used and whether or not to take him to the vet. regular pepper spray, dog was fine.. but that was the last time that dog (and the pack that went with it) ever chased us again on that road

def hook her up w some pepper spray

[oldguy00]

Originally Posted by Dead Man

i havent sprayed a pit...? i dont think. but since making the decision to carry pepper spray on the bike, i have zapped a handful of dogs, and its stopped em dead in their tracks each time. got a choco lab good enough his owner actually got in his pickup and chased us down, reportedly to find out what chemical was used and whether or not to take him to the vet. regular pepper spray, dog was fine.. but that was the last time that dog (and the pack that went with it) ever chased us again on that road

def hook her up w some pepper spray

How easy is it to use that stuff? Is it a fine stream you have to aim carefully?

[rnhood]

I never saw a pit bull I didn't want to shoot.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by rnhood

I never saw a pit bull I didn't want to shoot.

You need to get out more.
This one has issues (mostly the owner), but every one I've ever seen has been sweet as can be. Let's not damn a breed because of one dog, ok?
And no, I don't have a pit.

[AngryScientist]

Thanks for the advice and well wishes so far.

I am not worried about this particular dog any longer. The strange thing is that following this incident the owners were very apologetic and almost looking for a reason to get rid of this dog. they said it had never attacked before, but were super quick to offer up that they would be giving up the dog. I dont know if that means they are putting it down, re-homing it or sending it to a shelter, but they assured me it was gone from the neighborhood. I believe they were afraid of being sued or having their homeowner's insurance notified.

I know when i signed up for homeowner's insurance they were sure to question what breed of dog i owned, and i'm sure my rates would be higher, or they would deny cover if i had one of the dogs on their list of bad actors. perhaps they fibbed to the insurance company and didnt want to be found out.

We did indeed get a police report pronto and the officer visited their house and got their credentials. they have verbally and in writing agreed to pay all medical bills.

We live in a nice quiet neighborhood and i feel the liklihood of this happening again is slim, but i want to do something to build confidence that they have some option next time. my wife is about 115# and was wearing shorts and flip flops on the walk, so so was not prepared to fight an aggressive animal.

i think halt or pepper spray is a good option now looking at choices.

i'm also considering a kimber blaster for the house just in case. i have to research the legality of those.