Can't even walk

chelleymarie88

First off, let me start by saying I LOVE pitbulls. I foster them whenever I have the oppurtunity and I also rescue them from death row at the shelter.
However, some of these dogs are bred and raised to be aggressive, it's not the dogs fault, it's the iresponsible owners. It's heartbreaking. About 5 years ago, I was attacked by my neighbors pit bull. It was pretty bad. Shredded clothes and skin, I had to fight this dog with everything I had. I was punching this dog as hard as I could in the face and he didn't budge. I refused to let him knock me off my feet, because we all know how that would have ended. Luckily, my neighbors (not the owners of the dog) came running out so it took his attention away from me, he was about to charge my neighbor ( Someone had called the cops as well), but then the cop pulled up. As soon as the officer stepped out of his car, the dog attacked. The officer pepper sprayed the dog and the dog ran home. BUT, pepper spray can also make dogs more aggressive and make them attack even more. So that's not always a sure bet of safety. It totally sucks that you are in this situation, I know how scary it can be. Not all of them are mean, but it really is hard to tell which ones you can trust without spending time around them. FYI, when my neighbors dog attacked me, as he was running up, his tail was wagging like he was happy to see me. A common trait amongst bullies.

That is a horrifying story. I am glad you are okay......

Myndi73

Thank you, Chelley. It turned out a LOT better than it could have. I still love pitts, but never, ever loose ones.

dls06

Again, I did not tell this story to bash Pits. I am a dog lover. My sister has 2 of them. I have been a dog owner all my life, from German Shepherds, Eskimos, Schipperkes. I just lost my beloved Schipperkes, my 2nd Schipperke after 11 yrs. a couple weeks before Christmas.
I was taken my only dog for a walk. A stray dog, with no owner in site, took an attack stance 50 feet from me. I didn't run until I was out of site of the dog. I slowly turned, picked the dog up and walked the other way.
As I have said many times in this thread, I am an experienced dog owner. I know when a dog feels threatened. it is in their stance and in their eyes. I was terrified I was going to lose my dog.
It made no difference to me what breed of dog this was. All I said is "it was a Pit" and YES I know what a Pit looks like.

Myndi73

Again, I did not tell this story to bash Pits. I am a dog lover. My sister has 2 of them. I have been a dog owner all my life, from German Shepherds, Eskimos, Schipperkes. I just lost my beloved Schipperkes, my 2nd Schipperke after 11 yrs. a couple weeks before Christmas.
I was taken my only dog for a walk. A stray dog, with no owner in site, took an attack stance 50 feet from me. I didn't run until I was out of site of the dog. I slowly turned, picked the dog up and walked the other way.
As I have said many times in this thread, I am an experienced dog owner. I know when a dog feels threatened. it is in their stance and in their eyes. I was terrified I was going to lose my dog.
It made no difference to me what breed of dog this was. All I said is "it was a Pit" and YES I know what a Pit looks like.

I didn't get the feeling that you are bashing pitts at all.

ProjectTae

So you assumed the animal was vicious because he was a pitbull? I know pleanty that are off leash that would never hurt another soul... now unless this dog has attacked you or you know for a fact its vicious then thats antoher thing... hating an animal because of their breed isnt fair...

She never said she 'hated' the animal and whose going to wait around to take the chance of being attacked you said she shouldn't fear the dog unless she specifically knows it has a history of attacking.. but I say she shouldn't trust it until she knows otherwise!

Jmonz

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6286517/Road-workers-saved-bitten-boys-life

From th above article: "The dog, believed to be a 5-year-old male doberman-staffordshire bull terrier cross, belonged to members of the boy's family. "

Munque

I have a pit, shyza, she's 5 years old, never bit a human in her life, none of my pits have. I love pits, I'm very pro pit. With that said, I had to shoot a pit. We used to stud my pit with the condition that we kept mom and the puppies until they were sold, that way I was the one screening the buyers to ensure that they would be treated well and were being purchased for family pets/guard dogs. We had a female that came to breed, she would have been a beautiful, thick, tall, all muscle, perfect, with papers. But she had no fur at all on her neck, none, because they kept her on a chain, no collar all the time. She was a great dog, did fine with me, my kids, my male. Well, she had her puppies and they all sold and the owners moved, never gave us any notice all. She was a good dog though, so we kept her. Both dogs were out front with me (hooked to a zip line so they couldn't leave the yard) and a man with a collie came by and the collie wasn't on a leash. Well she came into my yard and the female attacked and killed her. Then the owner came into my yard to break the fight up and she attacked the owner. She got him pretty bad. And we put her down. Had it only been the dog she attacked, she would have lived.

I also had a blue healer shot. She attacked my 1 year old daughter. I kicked her off of my kid into a sliding glass door, apparently broke some ribs because she wasn't getting back up, called the owner (I was dog sitting) and he came over, took her out to the country and shot her. My baby had to get 8 stitches in her little face because some dog food had gotten knocked out to the dish and she went to go clean it up.

Does that sound cold? I'm sure it does, I'm not a real warm happy person when my kids face is covered in blood.

I also have a shih-tzu, she is a mean little cuss. She bites my pit every chance she gets, and my pit ignored her until she got her real good on the nose one day and broke the skin, and my pit bit back. That was a very expensive vet bill, but everyone is ok. And I didn't get mad at the pit because it was the shih-tzu's fault.

All that said, if I'm walking my dog, on a leash, and someone with a little yappy dog walks by, I will move to the other side of the street, because if your dog barks or nips at me or my dog, she will go into protection mode and she will win. If you try to get into my back yard and I'm not there, she will go into protection mode and she will win.

So do I blame you for getting scared of a hunched pit, no. I'm sure it was scary, I love pits and I would be scared, just like I would be with any large mutt. Would she have attacked if you had kept walking? Maybe, she didn't want you there, you did the right thing. Pepper spray is a good idea if this happens often. Simple. No real reason to attack the breed of dog or the original poster.

foremant86

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6286517/Road-workers-saved-bitten-boys-life

From th above article: "The dog, believed to be a 5-year-old male doberman-staffordshire bull terrier cross, belonged to members of the boy's family. "

thank god you posted that, it's so incredibly relevant to this thread...oh wait..

Jmonz

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6286517/Road-workers-saved-bitten-boys-life

From th above article: "The dog, believed to be a 5-year-old male doberman-staffordshire bull terrier cross, belonged to members of the boy's family. "

thank god you posted that, it's so incredibly relevant to this thread...oh wait..

Jmonz

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6286517/Road-workers-saved-bitten-boys-life

From th above article: "The dog, believed to be a 5-year-old male doberman-staffordshire bull terrier cross, belonged to members of the boy's family. "

thank god you posted that, it's so incredibly relevant to this thread...oh wait..

First time I have posted on here and I won't bother again. thanks for being so....whatever!

soccerella

Ok i only read the first two pages of this, but i feel the need to jump in with a personal story

My father in law likes to go for walks after lunch/ dinner whatever. In early december, something similar happened to him, but he happened to have pepperspray. He sprayed the dog, it ran off, and he turned home and proceeded to write a letter to the HOA about the dog being out loose, which was then circulated to the owner as well as the other people in the neighborhood. About a week or two later he as out walking again and ran into a neighbor. They stopped to talk for a minute and then continued their seperate ways. A few moments later he heard her yelp behind him and turned to see her facing the same dog that approached him. The woman apparently had her hands up and trying to slowly back away, but the dog jumped on her. My FIL hurried over and tried to spray the dog with pepperspray again, but it didnt respond this time. The woman was bit on her hip and thigh, and now the dog has been put to sleep.

Not saying everyone should go around carrying guns, and whoever said it does take constant training, aa certain personality, and alot of control/composure....but I know my FIL wished he had been carrying that day and does on all his walks now

hbrittingham

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6286517/Road-workers-saved-bitten-boys-life

From th above article: "The dog, believed to be a 5-year-old male doberman-staffordshire bull terrier cross, belonged to members of the boy's family. "

thank god you posted that, it's so incredibly relevant to this thread...oh wait..

First time I have posted on here and I won't bother again. thanks for being so....whatever!

Don't let this chase you off. Some folks get their panties in a wad when they infer some sort of anti-pit sentiment.

Pits can be wonderful family pets. I would seriously own one in a heartbeat if I didn't want to own multiple dogs. I have fostered dogs for 9 years now and have extensive rescue contacts who rescue pits. Most of them crate and rotate if they have multiple pits in their home, for the safety of the dogs. If a fight breaks out, the you-know-what hits the fan, so better safe than sorry.

They don't scare me and I personally love them. As long as they aren't near my dogs. I will let them kiss my face all day long without a worry. But I will not put my dogs in a situation where there is any possibility of them being attacked. All off leash dogs make me incredibly nervous when I am walking my dogs and I do carry pepper spray.

AlabasterVerve

As far as loose dogs go, i'll never understand people who straight up flip out and run fleeing when they see a loose dog. I've encountered many many loose dogs in my life and several of them weren't in the least bit friendly but I reacted calmly and collectively and defused the situation.

That couldn't have anything to do with the fact you're a young girl in your 20's living in a small town in Illinois (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorville,_Illinois) and not an older women in their 50's living in a not-so-great section of Philly?

OP, you had every right to be afraid--and rightly so--as would anyone with even the tiniest bit of sense who was in your situation. It's terrible not to feel safe in your own neighborhood.

soccerella

As far as loose dogs go, i'll never understand people who straight up flip out and run fleeing when they see a loose dog. I've encountered many many loose dogs in my life and several of them weren't in the least bit friendly but I reacted calmly and collectively and defused the situation.

That couldn't have anything to do with the fact you're a young girl in your 20's living in a small town in Illinois (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorville,_Illinois) and not an older women in their 50's living in a not-so-great section of Philly?

OP, you had every right to be afraid--and rightly so--as would anyone with even the tiniest bit of sense who was in your situation. It's terrible not to feel safe in your own neighborhood.

or a person who has never been around dogs before? My friend flips out still every time she sees a dog because shes never had one and none of her friends did growing up, so she doesnt understand how they act and gets scared by them trying to play

brittanyjeanxo

Nothing a handgun couldn't take care of. You can get a concealed carry permit. Take lessons at the local firing range to improve your aim. If you are attacked by a dog (or human, for that matter), shoot first, then ask questions.

This is probably the WORST advice I've ever heard. Please don't give all gun owners and permit holders bad names by doling out terrible advice. You have to have a legitimate fear for your life or severe bodily harm to actually shoot someone. To say "shoot first, ask questions later" is the most irresponsible thing. I hope for the sake of some future innocent dog trying to play or the innocent guy you think looks suspicious that you are not a permit holder.

sizzlinoverthefat

Ok I have to chim in on this. First of all I read that the dog (no matter what breed, in this instance a pitbull) was hunkered down, i would assume he is crouching? Anyway, a dog doing this is clearly a threat no matter what breed! I've owned dobermans and rotwillers, I have never had a problem with these breeds but there are those who have a preconcieved idea a bad breed covers all dogs, well it doesn'[t it. So on that note "hunkered down, crouching, snarling. What the dog is doing is very scary and yes mace and a blow horn well work:flowerforyou:

FYI My daughter lives in Allentown PA and I loved the neighborhood she lives in. I went walking every night I was visiting her thanksgiving week and I wouldn't mind living there

christine24t

I just have to say that I am scared of a lot of dogs, especially bigger ones. It's a sad thing that you don't feel safe in your neighborhood. Is there anywhere you can drive to and walk?