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10 pounds down 32 pounds to go!

Monday, August 23, 2010

"it's like dog racism"

My sister goes back to Prague this week so this weekend was my last cross New England drive to sit and watch reality tv and eat too much at the family homestead.  There is a certain relief although I'll miss all the fun we have together doing nothing.  This weekend was kind of not the best because I've had to pick up extra hours at work and I have some kind of terrible summer cold and my other sister's kids are on crack oh and also my baby got attacked by a pit bull.

I suppose technically if he was really attacked he'd be dead but I don't have a better adjective.  And I don't want to be the person that says all the pit bulls in the world are evil because this one owner is a moron but holy shit it was scary.  We always walk our dogs on leash away from home because I could not deal if something happened and my woofs got lost.  Not at all.  So we're very diligent about being on leash and screaming at the children to CLOSE THE DOOR, NOW!  NO, NOW!

We were walking on leash behind my dads house where we always walk and we never see anyone, not even the very often off leash cocker spaniel who lives next door and frequents the same path.  We turned up toward the college and we saw a guy walking one dog off leash...so we went the other way.  Why ask for trouble?  So we're on the path and begging the dogs to transact their business and all of a sudden thunder paws from down the dirt road and whooze and yelp and there is a very large pit bull with his very large mouth on Knox's neck.  Knox's instinct must be to play dead because he threw himself to the ground in the face of this scary ass dog.  Matt was able to grab that dog by it's collar and pull it off but then he had that dog and knox's leash all tied up, when the other two smaller pit bulls arrived.  And they were fine, they didn't growl or bark or even get close to us before their owner arrived but we didn't know that situation would continue.  The owner comes pounding after them and is obviously terrified that our dog is hurt and I don't know if that's because this has happened before or because it hasn't, but he did say that the big one is the only that's "like that" so it strikes me he knows there's a problem there and still had him off leash.  I feel for the guy because those were strong dogs that need a good run in the woods and the smaller two were fine.  He's clearly not an altogether bad owner but if my dad's wasp neighborhood ever hear there were three unleashed pits back there they will have a collective wasp style cow.

The two smaller pit bulls were fine and even Jolie said hello to them while he got them all on leash.  And the big one submitted to the owner immediately but whoa, it was altogether unpleasant.  I don't want to be one of those people who blames a breed because it could have been any kind of dog with (let's assume) a history of that behavior but the dude should have had that particular dog on a leash.  I didn't tell my dad because damn, he hates pit bulls for no other reason than he heard he was supposed to on the news one time.  My sister reacted similarly but she's only been bitten once and it was by a pomeranian (to no one's surprise).

It was something I knew could happen, either with an off leash dog or at a dog park but I was completely unprepared for actually happening.  We've watched enough dog whisperer to not freak out and start screaming and escalate things and hopefully that helped.  And hopefully we'll be more prepared for the unexpected next time.

7 comments:

The Merry said...

Scary indeed! I hate it when people let a dog off leash when they know better. But then, my poor dog was bitten a couple times so I'm a bit cranky on the subject.
Pit Bulls... I blame the humans.

CC said...

oh my gosh!! that is freakin' scary! it is beyond me that the owner didn't have the big guy on a leash. what's with that? it's people like that that make life hard for the good-hearted, hard-working people out there trying to make a difference in the breed... i'd like to meet him and say... way to go idiot! set back the cause for another five or ten years.

so glad to know that your baby wasn't hurt!

You've come a long way baby! said...

I adopted a puppy from the local humane society and freaked out when my lab mix started to look like a pit bull in the face. I did a lot of research and the one thing all the rescue sites say is to keep the dogs on lead when walking and to not leave them tied out by themselves. It is for their own safety as pit bulls are like Houdini and can get out of just about any yard and people will steal them for dog fighting. Pit bulls are normally not aggressive towards humans, but may be aggressive towards other dogs, especially if they are not well socialized. I love my dog, but also know how important it is to be responsible, especially because he is part pit bull. It is important to have my dog be an ambassador for the breed by keeping him on a lead so that he can't approach other dogs without me being there. I'm glad to hear that your dog is okay. I agree with the comment above...sounds like the owner needs some training!

Amy said...

Indeed it's the humans that screw everything up. And it's so sad because it could have been any kind of dog, the breed wasn't the point at all but because it was a pitbull it seems like talking about it is even worse.

People look at me like I'm a horrible pet owner when Jolie strains at the leash you know, it must be so much harder having a pit.

Sophia Chang said...

eek! I've fostered many pitties for rescues; it's definitely irresponsible to go off leash!!

Nice to "meet" you through BlogHer ad network :)

Erin R. said...

I've never had a problem with pitbulls but they are a strong breed and they often need a very good owner. About a month ago my 8 year old chihuahua was attacked my my neighbors two pitbulls. He didn't make it and although I know that it was the fault of the owners I havn't been able to be comfortable around pitbulls since.

Amy said...

The more I think about it the more i think it was just dominant play but still yeah, i don't know what would have happened if we had freaked out and escalated the situation. if that dog had wanted to hurt any of us it would have, I think he just dealt with a large male dog the best way he knew how...unfortunately. NIce to meet you too!


I'm sorry you lost your baby. I understand feeling uncomfortable around pits. I try really hard to keep an even keel when we're around new dogs of any kind but it's not easy.