Getting to know pit bulls, continued

This article appeared as a comment in a discussion of a news article and we felt it was worthy of bringing up again, since it addresses a number of points which the pit bull advocacy would rather you not think about. 

I was an upper middle-class pit bull owner just like you. My husband is a doctor and I am a stay-at-home soccer mom and we live in a lovely suburban neighbourhood. We got our dog as a puppy from a reputable breeder and put her through puppy classes and basic obedience. She was spayed and properly vaccinated, stayed indoors and was very loved. I used to defend the breed to everyone I met, just like you. I used to think I knew my dog inside and out, and I was sure she would never, ever hurt my child. 

Then my dog turned 3 and, literally overnight, her dog-aggression came out. She tried to attack the neighbour's poodle through the backyard fence (she had been in a fenced yard beside this same dog literally thousands of times with no show of aggression). When my 8 year old daughter tried to pull her away from the fence, our pit bull locked onto her forearm (she only got her forearm because my daughter threw it up to protect her face, she was going for the face) and it took 8 minutes for my husband to beat her off, he eventually wound up using the weed whacker, after a baseball bat broke over the dog's back without even being noticed by her. My daughter lost partial use of her right arm and she is still relearning all of the basic skills with her left. Her life will never be the same.

We have been accused of being at fault for not "being there to call off the dog". Well, we were there, we were sitting on patio chairs watching my daughter throw a ball for our pet, who she had spent three years playing with and which had never shown so much as a lip lift to anyone or anything up to that point. We couldn't, physically, call off the dog. We couldn't physically BEAT off the dog for over 5 minutes. After the dog was off my daughter, my husband was on the ground struggling with it to keep it from going at her again as I pulled her into the house. There was so much blood that I kept sliding on it and falling down. There are still blood stains on the patio almost 2 years later. All the dog wanted was to get back on my daughter and finish the job. The dog didn't make any noise while she was attacking and her tail was wagging faster and harder than it had ever wagged before. I believed then, and I believe now, that that dog was the happiest it had ever been when it was locked onto my daughter and trying to kill her.

Let me tell you, you have no idea - none - how completely different pit bulls are from normal pet dogs. When that dog was triggered she went from being a goofy pet and companion to being a cold-blooded predator in a millisecond. You cannot imagine what it is like knowing that your dog is trying to kill your child and knowing that it might just succeed because it is stronger than you are. There is nothing like it in the world. 

There was no news coverage of my dog's attack on my daughter. None. So much for the overhyped media aspect, huh?

You are insane to own a fighting dog when you have children. Absolutely insane. I wish we had been protected from our own stupidity by legislation. What is worse is that you are also, by your own admission of a picket fence the dog could easily escape over, putting other people's children at risk. Fighting dogs are not pets and we need laws in place to protect people from them.

Many thanks to Craven Desires for their efforts towards raising public awareness of the pit bull problem. The original comment, in context, was found here

Getting to know pit bulls, continued

A US reader sent this story - and sadly, this sort of thing and worse is happening to people regularly -

Background:

I have two Boston terriers. I'd researched every breed of dog, looking for the one that best suited my life, had minimal health problems, and was, in particular, great with children, dogs and people in general. I looked everywhere for the dogs. I had health concerns about breeders and rescues, but after some months of search, I found Dixon (4 years old in October), and Helena (just turned 2). Both dogs were at the dog park on the big dog side playing with large dogs at 4 months old. Dixon even played with American Bulldogs, Pit Bulls, Boxers, Mastiffs, etc. None of us had any fear of big dogs.

Dixon

I rented a condo in December of 2011. The management told me two dogs would be allowed, so mine wouldn't be a problem. In August of 2012 my next door neighbors with a common wall brought Zulu home. Zulu is a 2 year old, 130 lb "Razor" pit bull. When they first brought him home they walked him with a muzzle and I thought it was just due to him being in a new environment or something. At times they would stop while walking, when another dog was present, and I thought it was just a training exercise. At the time, I was under the impression that dog attacks rarely if ever happened, and when they did happen, it was some fault of the owners, and being so rare, it would never happen to me.

Zulu

The Event:

My life took a change for the worse on March 15, 2013. I was getting ready to leave for work and to take the dogs out for their last morning walk. I had a temporary cast on my right hand and had just gotten back from taking the trash out. I must not have latched the gate properly and Dixon ran out. I was right behind him, when all of a sudden Zulu grabbed Dixon by the neck, less than five feet from my gate. As soon as I saw what happened, I jumped on top of Dixon and held him between my legs to stop Zulu from throwing him, while trying to pry Zulu’s mouth open with my cast. Zulu was being walked by his owner, Elaina Maxwell, on a leash. Elaine is a professional MMA fighter and a purple belt; she was punching the dog in the face the whole time trying to get it to release us. I don't know how long the attacked happened, but my screams still echo in my mind. Somehow we all ended about 20 feet up a grass hill. Zulu still had Dixon by the neck, Dixon was still between my legs and the dog was pulling us up a hill! Finally Zulu released and I immediately pulled Dixon to my stomach; as soon as Zulu released Dixon it went for my face. Fortunately, Elaina was able to pull Zulu away at that moment, and took him into her house. I ran into the bathroom with the dogs and locked the door until I could catch my breath and my head stopped swimming.

After a close call

I went to the ER and Dixon went to the vet. He had numerous punctures around his mouth, and a gash in his neck. I had punctures (one if it was any closer to my eye would have made me lose my eye) a broken nose (broken in two places), and broken teeth. The dog pretty much bit into my mouth, covering my nose and getting the right side of my face. The ER filed a report with animals services. Animal Control came out on Sunday, the attack happened Friday! After meeting with me, seeing everything the dog did, and then talking to Elaina and her husband, THEY LET THE DOG STAY NEXT DOOR! The officer’s reason was that “it saves the owners money.” I told the officer that I didn't feel safe with that and he still let the dog stay.

They City of Milpitas deemed the dog a level four danger and the owners appealed it. They lied in court, swearing that Dixon started the attack, but the appeal judge didn't fall for their story. The best thing of all was seeing the letter sent to Elaina declaring in bold letters that her pit bull is deemed a level 4 danger. In a way, though, I feel violated by the city for allowing the dog to remain there. The only thing that we had separating us from a dog that wanted to kill us was a wall. I had to sit and listen to that dog barking every freaking day! Two weeks after it attacked me, Zulu broke out of its muzzle and went after another dog, and I have statements from that dogs owner.

In the aftermath of the attack, I was officially diagnosed with PTSD. I was in a support group and counseling, and it's been a struggle, but I graduated last week. Now I'm just dealing with the flashbacks, anxiety, being paranoid 24/7. I have only let the dogs be around one dog. I can't let my dogs out of my sight. So, I'm basically a mess. Both of my dogs are on anti/depressants and anti-anxiety medication. Dixon broke down at the vets when he heard a big dog barking, it was so bad he peed himself in the middle of the room. It saddens me to know that I've tried hard to do things correctly but this one day has altered these poor dogs for the worse.

When I finally hired an attorney, he showed me the the CCCR for the condo. The owner of the place had never shown them to me. Two items of interest are that (1) you can only have one dog, and (2) pit bulls are strictly verboten. The condo owner didn't have insurance, and of course Elaina didn't have insurance, and had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy the year prior. So now we have to try to go after the HOA and the security company (the security guard knew about the pit bull and never notified the HOA). Kaiser won't fix my nose, even though they said I needed it (gotta love HMOs). Elaina Maxwell and her husband had to pay a mere $500 for what their dog did to me. It's almost always the case that the victims of pit bull attacks get nothing.

The end of April I moved to house 65 miles away from the attack, built on a hill, on a corner, with a fenced yard, and only one neighbor on one side, who has no dogs. I don't know how things will get better; I just know they will. I don't know why this happened to us; I just pray that it all happened for a reason.

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger; I would have gladly gone my whole life without getting this particular dose of strength. Me and my dogs are very lucky. We walked away with minimal damage, things could have been much worse. I'm grateful but I ask why: Why do people show so little care; why do they make excuses for these dogs; why don't we start protecting people instead of protecting an animal? 

Getting to know pit bulls, continued

Julia, another UK reader, shares her experience with us:  

I'm in SW London within a short drive of Wimbledon Common, where I walk my dogs (1,100 acres of grass and woodland, all off leash - bliss!). 

I used to love Staffs. My best friend got her first one in the 60s, when they were very rare, and I loved it. I even thought one day I'd get a Staff but over the years I began to go off them. I thought it odd the way my friend's dogs swung from the branches of trees and once when I put my face too close to one there was a sound of teeth clacking together as it lunged at me and just missed my nose

Years later, in the late 90s, I finally I got my own dog, a Sussex spaniel. By then Staffs were everywhere and I became concerned about my dog's safety after he was nearly ripped apart by two of them. It was the way they ran up and jumped on him, like two lions bringing down a deer, that made me realise there was something really sinister about this breed. My dog hadn't even seen them coming. He was ambling along in the evening sun, with my partner and I strolling behind him. He only survived because the two owners ran over and eventually managed to detach them both, even the one that had "locked on".

I was working as a reporter on a South London local paper and taking phone calls from people who had been attacked and writing up the stories. But whenever I wanted a quote from somewhere like Battersea Dogs Home or a behaviourist I came up against the prevailing political correctness (blame the deed, not the breed, etc). At first, I was amazed none of them agreed with me that these dogs were dangerous and nor that they were different from other dogs then I decided they were as good as brainwashed.

The more I looked into it, the angrier I got, especially when people started telling me that it was the media's fault for "demonising" the Staff. Yes, even our Kennel Club says that. 

We have nothing like the amount of pitbull-type dogs that you have in the US - I'm including our souped up Staffs, which are virtually the same dogs - and nothing like the number of fatalities but we do have a lot of maulings and endless killings of other dogs and attacks on animals like horses and cows.

One of the worst attacks I wrote about, which made the front page of our paper, was when two Staffs tore up to a woman who was wheeling her toddler up her own garden path and wrestled her to the ground. The child was thrown clear but the mother so badly injured she had to spend weeks in hospital having plastic surgery. She was a concert pianist and had to cancel all her bookings at the Royal Festival Hall.

Then there was the poor policeman who went to arrest a criminal in our area and was attacked by his Staffs . He was rushed to hospital with 14 ghastly wounds and would have died if his colleague had not managed to rescue him and call for a marksman to shoot them. (Our PCs don't have guns!)

So many heart-rending stories of small dogs being killed by Staffs when out on a walk near their home and some low-life character running off with the killer dog. So much sadness. 

The best thing about being nearly 70, from the point of view of talking to nutters, is that I can tell them that when I was young no-one ever heard of anyone being killed by a dog, let alone mauled by one. Most of us didn't even know what a Staff was. And we children played with dogs unsupervised, because we had ordinary, friendly dogs, not ones that would savage us.

I'm so glad that more people are beginning to resist to all the nonsense spouted by the nutters and the welfare organisations. I didn't know all this was happening until relatively recently and it's so cheering.

Well done Alexandra, Merritt Clifton and Colleen at Dogsbite and other brave people for standing up to the bullies.

Getting to know pit bulls

Insightful comments from a UK reader on her own pit bull experience:

Here in the UK, we have enjoyed a Dangerous Dogs Act with several breeds of dog that are not permitted to be kept at ALL, Pit Bulls and Pit Types being one of them. We had a Pit Bull in our family, her name was Bully. My brother and father picked her up from a building site, straying. She was friendly. They tried to find out who she belonged to but no-one claimed her. The Police said they could bring her home. When I first met her, my daughter was very small. I took a long long time just looking at that dog. I like to look at things, weigh them up, wait for the tumblers to fall into place. Bully moved like no other dog. She had an aura and a presence that I didn't recognise. She was so still, so quiet, so placid; a gingery ghost with cool cool eyes. Her body, her head, that chest - you could feel the power beneath the skin. I didn't dislike her, but I didn't love her. I set some rules out straight away to my family that Bully was never EVER to be around my little girl alone or without strict supervision. I didn't know what a Pit Bull was, I didn't know their history, but something about that dog rattled me. Something primeval. I knew that dog. She didn't do a thing to set my teeth on edge but they set all the same. 

Some of my family were upset about the Dangerous Dogs and Banned Breeds Act; they knew what Bully WAS, but they didn't want her to be called a Pit Bull. They took her to our Vet. Our Vet wasn't having ANY of it. She said 'that is a Pit Bull'. My family tried to say that she was a Rhodesian Ridgeback Mix, but the Vet said no. Bully had to comply with the Law, or be exterminated. She was duly sterilised, chipped, logged at the Police station, had to be muzzled and short-leashed in public at all times. She was given an Exemption Certificate to stop her being PTS. Several years passed; Bully remained as she had always been; quiet, unruffled, never barked, never growled, just quietly moving among us, the gingery ghost. 

She finally went 'Pit Bull' when my family had left her for a simple short shopping trip. A normal day, no catalyst, no reason for it. Something snapped. The family kitchen paid the price. It looked like a Tiger had tore it up. Massive worktops pulled to the floor; a freezer door completely removed (food intact); a solid hardwood teak door eaten and clawed through as though it was cardboard; another interior door broken through; large heavy ceramic floor tiles torn up; a UPVC double glazed window smashed through. Bully was covered in blood. Some nails were torn out. Her lips and gums had splinters in them. The cool cool eyes had gone, replaced with red-lit, darting, nervous glancing. She panted as though a thousand demons had settled in her skin. 

The Vet said she was done for. She never recovered. She would not settle, agitated and skittish, fear and aggression in her eyes. Bully was put to sleep and buried in a bank full of flowers, along with out other pets. I tried to feel sad but I couldn't. She never harmed anyone in our family, but I couldn't love her. Years later, and recently too, I was having a 'gruesome' session on the computer. I Googled 'dog bite' Images. A horrific Page came up, people with torn faces and worse. I truly believed that Google had mixed up Shark attacks with Dog bites. They were Pit Bull victims. All the tumblers fell into place again. I've spent 6 months now, studying the subject, drawn irresistibly to it all. My daughter has now grown up and moved into a cottage with her partner. Cruel fate has placed a Pit Bull and what looks like a very overweight Staffordshire next door to her. She is concerned about them. The dividing fence is rotten and low. :( 

Our Dangerous Dogs Act and Banned Breeds Acts worked when it first came out, but it is not enforced. Pits are appearing back in our communities. They are posing as little British Staffordshires, but they are not. They are Pit crosses. Attacks are on the increase. Two child deaths since January. John-Paul Massey was killed by family Pit Bulls. Jade Anderson was killed by a variety of savage dogs, including one that was passed off as a Mastiff but which looks very much like an American Bulldog which is not a banned breed. Two 'Staffies' were amongst the dogs that killed her. Neighbours described the 'Staffies' as being being very big and very fierce. Almost certainly Pit Bulls. 

Some people have said that my being British means that I have no voice when it comes to American Pit Bull problems. My reply is simple; I am not so inhuman, nor has the world become so large and cold, that I cannot hurt for the dead and the maimed in ANY country in this world. With our own failing BSL, we have much in common. You are us, and we are you. A Bull breed that kills and maims is ever present in both our Countries. Innocent children have died. That's reason enough for me. :)

Is it time for a pit bull recall?

A Beverly Hills law office has put out a very insightful press release. While the premise of the press release could conceivably be misconstrued by some low information types, I think most people will be able to see his point as they read it. It's a way to look at a problem from a different perspective through a clever analogy.

By way of introduction, I'd like to talk about the Ford Pinto - those who've been around the block may remember the Pinto, manufactured for a decade between 1971 and 1980. I confess to having a pinto back in the day, and I am none the worse off. But for a number of pinto drivers, a design flaw that, in the event of an accident, facilitated the explosion of the gas tank, proved fatal. It's estimated that 27 people were killed from pinto gas tank explosions. Ultimately Ford recalled the pinto, and the rest is history. 

Imagine if you will, that after every fiery pinto crash, a rowdy mob of pinto fans attacked anyone who mentioned that it was a pinto, screaming "racist!". This mob would assert that "any car could have done the same thing", and they would post pictures of pintos filled with happy families, and helpfully reminding us that "all cars crash", "not all pintos are defective", and "it's the driver, not the pinto".

Now, let us further imagine that it was impossible to recall the pinto, due to a law that prevented singling out any specific type of car, because that would amount to "unfair discrimination".

The resulting nightmare scenario would result in additional unnecessary deaths, because it would be strictly verboten to speak clearly about the problem, and legally impossible to rectify it. Who would stand for such a state of affairs?

Welcome to the world of pit bull advocacy. 

Here's the bottom line: Ford was forced to recall the Pinto because of 27 deaths over 10 years. However, there have been 185 people violently mauled to death by pit bulls over the past 10 years, with no action from lawmakers, only thinly veiled threats and raucous protests from the pit bull lobby any time there is a hint of relief for potential victims. If the pinto problem was so potentially deadly that it had to be addressed, isn't it high time to address the pit bull problem?

If this makes sense to you, then you'll have no problem understanding and appreciating the significance of the press release from the law offices of Kenneth M Phillips. 

See the press release here: PressRelease-ItsTimeforthePitBullRecallToo.pdf

References - 

http://www.fatalpitbullattacks.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto

Dog attack report by breed - June 2013

Linda Henry, severely maimed by her own pit bulls

It's time for a mid-year update of the statistics on serious and fatal dog attack in the US, and it comes as no surprise that pit bulls have further widened their lead over all other breeds as the most dangerous type of dog, as this has been a violent year so far. In the first 141 days of 2013, 14 people were fatally mauled by dogs, and 13 of the 14 cases involved pit bulls.

High risk: Pit bull

Some relevant insights can be gleaned from the report. Pit bulls (variously referred to as staffy, amstaff, apbt) now make up approximately 6% of the dog population in the US, while, over the past 5 years they have been responsible for well over 70% of the fatal attacks, a disproportionate representation.

Toddler Beau Rutledge mauled to death by family pit bull

In contrast, large retrievers (labrador, golden etc) make up over 8% of the dog population, but serious attacks by large retrievers are rare in comparison.

Labrador retriever, the most popular dog in the USA

A good example of a safe breed would be the Irish Setter - with no fatal or disfiguring attacks recorded in the 31 year study period. Other relatively safe breeds include the Greyhound, Standard Poodle and Dalmatian, none of which accounted for a single fatal attack, and the Weimaraner, St Bernard, Great Pyrenees and Collie, each with only a single recorded death over the same 31 year period.

Safe breeds: Weimaraner, Collie, St Bernard

Interestingly, data indicates that the actual number of pit bulls in the US has not materially changed in 10 years. Nonetheless, the number of violent and fatal attacks committed by pit bulls continues to rise, most likely due to well financed PR campaigns aimed at convincing prospective dog adopters and others that pit bulls are not dangerous if treated well, that they have a good temperament, and were once known as "nanny dogs", a particularly insidious myth which sprung from the imagination of pit bull promoters in the latter part of the 20th century.

Human death toll, showing all breeds with over 10 fatalities

You can download a full copy of the June 9th report here

References for further reading -
The nanny dog myth revealed
The pit bull hoax: The ATTS
Fatal pit bull attacks: the archival record

Zelda's story

We are telling Zelda's story here to help raise awareness of the slaughter of the innocents that is happening every day in America. Zelda and her human family were victims of pit bull advocacy. Such attacks almost never make news, but Zelda and others like her deserve to be remembered. Mr Jones shares his loss, and the story of a beloved animal companion:

An account of what happened the day I lost my baby Zelda. I wrote this some weeks after her passing....

I had just finished teaching my Saturday morning class, and the weekend had officially begun. I was so excited for the day, I had so many fun errands to run and just wanted to take a quick nap before heading out for the day. As I lie there, with Tiffany and Link (my lab) in bed with me, I heard some strange barking. I knew it was different due to Link's reaction. The hairs on his back stood up, and he was barking louder than normal. What felt like forever, was only mere seconds that it really took me to recognize that it was Zelda's bark I had heard. I raced outside and was shocked to find two dogs in my front yard, pouncing on top of my poor, innocent Zelda....

Before I continue though, let me take a second to go back. To go back twelve and a half years to be exact. I was merely thirteen years old when I started to really beg my parents for a dog. See, my parents went out a lot on the weekends. I was old enough to stay at home, and I just stayed in my room and played video games all night. Deep down though, I was lonely. I had no siblings my age to stay with me, and I couldn't have friends over most of the time.

So for the most part, I was just very lonely and yearned for some company. I don't want to make my parents out to sound bad, I just also really wanted a dog so bad. I love animals, especially dogs, and always wanted my own. My parents did not share my same enthusiasm about getting a pet though.

Well, once I got my mom on board that was all it took. She wanted to get a Schnauzer, because our family has always gotten that breed of dog, and it also had to be female, because according to my mother, male dogs pee everywhere. Anyway, once I agreed to her terms, we searched for mini-Schnauzers and once we found someone breeding them, we met to choose our dog. I can remember the night we rode to these people's house, and the joy I had picking her out. She was so tiny, and so cute, and she just made me feel so happy. On the ride home, I can remember dancing in the car, I was just ecstatic.

I will spare you all the countless and hundreds of Zelda stories and moments that I could recall through her twelve year run on this Earth. All I can say is that in every sense of the word, she was my companion. She was very human-like, and very frustrating at times, and she had a mind of her own! But she loved me, and she respected me, and I loved her more than a human should probably love his dog.

It's not just her funny quirks that I remember the most. It's the things she did for me. It's when I was a kid, or even through most of my young adulthood, if things were hard, or overwhelming, she would sit right up by me and start licking my face. She could tell when I was sad, and at times I felt like she was taking care of me. She warmed me over with her unconditional love. The kind of unconditional love that only a faithful dog can give. I loved it, and I miss it so much.

I cannot sum up my twelve year relationship with Zelda in words. There is no way I could do it justice to how much she meant to me, and my Mom both. I always knew that she'd die, and I had come to grips with it several years ago when we thought she had cancer. I prepared myself for the day she would grow old and die. But you can never prepare yourself for what I saw. 

They were on top of her, biting her, shaking her, it was vicious. When I ran out there, I didn't even know they were pit bulls. Honest to God, my vision blurred and I lost all sense of safety as I ran into the dog fight and immediately kicked one of them off of her. In the process, Zelda bit me by accident, and finally my neighbor who owned them came in and helped me separate the dogs. Once the smoke cleared, I was about five feet away from Zelda, I had walked off, holding my bleeding thumb. I started to regain some awareness, and started calling out for Zelda. I couldn't find her in the grass. She sat up. Fractured ribs, a hernia, and multiple bite wounds, she sat up for me. I saw her, clearly in pain, as she collapsed back down to the ground, and I lost it. Tiffany rushed her to the vet while I stayed to see the ambulance and then I drove to meet her there.

All day Zelda was in critical condition, and later that night, as they performed surgery on her, it was not enough. Her old heart couldn't handle it. I choke up, as I write this to you all. It honestly hurts to even think about what I saw. It's just never something in a million years I thought that I'd picture seeing Zelda in. She was old, and she deserved much better than how she had to leave. She still had years left. And had I not been careless letting her out of the house, she would still be here today.

I was talking to someone the other day, and they said something that really hit home with me. Zelda has been in my life for over a decade. She has been with me through my entire teenage life, and all the way up to manhood. She was in my life every day, and I have never experienced losing someone to death that has been a part of my life that much or that valuable before. I've never felt this kind of pain before. And honestly, I'm sad that it had to be her. I could think of much more deserving people of a pit bull attack. I am still coping and dealing with this. It may seem to be "too much" for some people. Well, that's just how much she meant to me. I will not just be "over this" any direct time soon. But I must learn to live with it. I have no more tears left to cry, so all I can do now is keep standing and moving forward. 

Goodbye Princess Zelda, I will love you forever. And I will never forget you. I will miss you more every day you are gone.