Posted on 10/21/2008 9:18:22 PM PDT by BenLurkin
PALMDALE - Two devastated dog owners, whose beloved brown poodle-Chihuahua mix Sugar was savagely attacked Thursday morning by a neighbor's pit bull, received an outpouring of support from the community and a donation of a new black-and-white puppy. Sugar, who suffered injuries to the scalp, eyes and ears after the pit bull jumped a fence, attacked and left her in critical condition, died Saturday, said Tonie Minsal, the couple's daughter.
"I think my dad took it the hardest," Minsal said. "He was devastated, refused to walk or do anything. He was just crying and crying, especially after the vet stitched Sugar back up and bandaged her, too, and gave her to my parents to hold. It was so devastating."
A number of people filled the waiting area of the High Desert Animal Care all day Friday, hoping that Sugar would survive.
"Not only did people stop by at the vet to make sure Sugar was OK, but the vet also received hundreds of calls from people," Minsal said. "Some of the people that stopped by didn't even go to work that day, because they wanted to know how Sugar was doing.
"I have never seen and experienced so much support. And it meant so much to my parents."
The family ran several red lights Thursday morning en route to the vet, due to the dog's massive blood loss. Minsal said personnel at the veterinarian's office took very good care of Sugar and her parents.
"It was just amazing," the daughter said. "They went over and beyond for Sugar. One of the nurses actually took Sugar home every night to take care of her. We are so overwhelmed and amazed. … I can hardly find words to express what we are feeling."
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
I have no problem if pit bulls maul their owners. If they harm someone else, their owners should be locked in a cage (jail) for a long time.
Very sad this couple lost their lovely little dog.
So many let their dogs just run free. I notice more of the larger dogs tend to be wandering our neighborhood - pit bulls, labs, rottweilers. Most around here have been friendly, but I always worry about small children and animals that may trigger an attack just by being there.
When I was about 3-1/2 yrs old I remember watching two collies attack my 5 yr old brother who had been helping Dad push the lawnmower to cut the grass. He had sat down on a wicker chair and these dogs just came out of no where it seemed and lunged at him, trying to drag him into the street.
My Dad kicked the living cra@p out of these dogs. I think he used the handle of a hoe on them. I remember him grabbing one by the scruff of the neck and kicking the dog’s body so hard it seemed like it flew across five feet before it landed in the gravel driveway and then yelped down the street back to the owner’s home.
I was scared to death of big dogs for years after that... love them now though.
Brings back bad memories for me—I used to have a little white 5 lb. Llasa/? mix named Prissy, and several other dogs when I lived near downtown Dallas years ago.My Hispanic neighbors were raising German Shepherd mixed dogs for fighting, and that was (still is? Don’t know)a big business back then. They barely fed them, hit them with sticks, etc. to make them mean. As a result, whenever my dogs were outside, the neighbor’s dogs would rush the fence between our yards and desperately try to reach them.
One horrible Sunday my cat had just had seizures (she had developed diabetes but I didn’t know it) and I had just gotten off the phone with the vet (she was fine after that)
when my doorbell rang. I was already severely rattled when I answered it, only to see my neighbor and his teenaged son standing on the porch. The kid was holding something in a bloody white towel, and the neighbor began to apologize profusely, over and over again, saying his dogs had dragged *my* dog under the fence and killed her!!!! I went into shock as I grabbed the towel and opened it up to see Prissy shredded, literally, all over her little body, blood everywhere, you couldn’t even tell she was white colored. :*( :*(
I grabbed her in the towel and screamed some obscenity at the neighbor and he and the kid beat a hasty retreat while I just stood there on the porch crying hysterically. I put my head down on her when suddenly I heard a whimper!! I checked for a pulse, and she had a very weak one—I immediately grabbed my keys and purse and ran to my truck (standard) with her and proceeded to drive frantically, running red lights (fortunately there wasn’t much traffic at that time of day on a Sunday) up north to where the closest emergency animal hospital was. I remember how hard it was to cradle her with my left hand and try to change gears and steer with my right hand, but God was with me and we both got to the hospital safely!
Once there I ran inside and they immediately did triage on her, taking her in the back. Awhile later the vet came out and gave me the odds that even with surgery, her chances of survival were less than 1%—I told him to do whatever he could to save her, no matter the cost! They let me see her (to tell her goodbye because they were pretty sure she wouldn’t survive) and she was in a cage that was being pumped with oxygen, covered with a blue blanket. She was motionless and that scared me for a moment until I called her name. When I did that, her little tail began wagging :*) :*) and I had faith that she would survive after all!
And she did. It cost me over $1500 in vet bills, and she had over 100 stitches. She recovered completely and had no physical problems as a result of the attack (psychological ones though)—I am still angry that the City of Dallas would do NOTHING when I called the police and reported the attack—said dogs attacking dogs didn’t count, and their hands were tied UNTIL the animals actually attacked a HUMAN!! There were all ages of little kids in that neighborhood back then who could have been killed by those dogs, and they wouldn’t do anything UNTIL someone was attacked. That still astounds me to this day, and it’s been almost 20 years ago! (1990)
People need to be more responsible about their pets—they aren’t owners, they are caretakers! Which means, take care of your pets! It’s terrible that families have to go through these kinds of attacks on their pets, a lot of time which are fatal...unfortunately the only good thing is that a human wasn’t attacked. Kudos to the vets/staff for taking such good care of Sugar, and I pray she recovers completely!
As for the people who trained the pit bull to attack, shame on them—I hope Sugar’s caretakes sue them for every penny they have to pay for all of her vet bills, and the law is enforced as much as it possibly can!
Shoot, I thought Sugar had survived, like my Prissy did. :*(
Prayers going up for her family during their grief at losing her this way. :*(
Back in the early 70’s, my 80 year old grandpa was out walking his beloved Jack Russell Terrier. A pit attacked his dog and tore his stomach out, despite my gramps trying to beat the dog off with his cane.
If you’ve ever seen your old grandpa cry, stoic as he was, these kind of stories tear my heart apart.
People, control your dogs!
That poor family.
Jailtime for the pit owner.
Isn’t it something the spirit your little dog had when she heard your voice?
That’s the best line of this story... brave little girl!
It’s been my observation that “trashy” are the people who own pit bulls.
Prepare to be "Palined" by the pit bull lovers. Or maybe "Joe the Plumbered".
Still chokes me up to this day. :*)
Gosh, I miss my little Prissy. We’ll be reunited in Heaven someday, so I have that to look forward to! :*)
Funny how you can get so attached to these little critters.
When my daughter’s little dog Tinks passed away, the dog was almost 17 yrs old and had lived a pretty long life. Still, I cried like a kid. I held her all night and the next morning. I knew she was dying. She passed at 2:00 in the afternoon. I drove down to Huntington Beach to a pet cremation/cemetery and had her cremated. Buried her ashes under a tree that is behind my office.
{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}
{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}
right back at ya!
The pitbull defenders will be along shortly to defend these monstrous killers.
My daughters Father in law had an old dog named Rambo that he loved dearly. He and Rambo were out working in a field when 3 rottwiellers came out of nowhere and went after him and Rambo. There was an old abandoned truck in the field and Rambo tore into the dogs giving his master time to jump in the old truck. Rambo gave his life to protect his master. Even after they killed Rambo. they kept trying to get at my daughters f-i-l. They kept him trapped in the truck for hours till they finally left and he got out and went home. It was so sad.
~~~~~~~TANKS~~~UPDATE~ : Down to 3 on the West Wall~~~~~~
The puppy~mill seems to have a sale on their “stock”...;0)
Oh Becky, that is just horrible. I can’t imagine how the poor man must’ve felt. Bless brave Rambo and his faithfulness and thank goodness the abandoned truck was there. I think I’ll go give my dogs a hug.
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