Pit Bull Rampage Ends in Dog Death

AP ^ | 8/9/o4 | MSN

[Kenny Bunk]

Pit Bull Attacks Baby, Is Thrown Off Roof

NEW YORK -- A pit bull attacked and bit a 3-month-old baby at a Brooklyn apartment building on Sunday before a man threw the dog off the roof to its death, witnesses said.

The attack, which seriously injured the baby, occurred around 5 p.m., when a woman took the baby to visit friends at an apartment in the building.

"The dog got jealous and started jumping for the baby," witness Emmanuel Santiago said. "It caught the baby in the head."

A man grabbed the baby and put it on a bed, but the dog, one of four in the apartment, kept attacking, Santiago said. The dog then chased the man to the building's roof and bit him.

"When he bit him on the arm, the kid threw the dog off the roof," Santiago said. "And the dog landed dead."

The dog fell about six stories.

The dog's owner, Reina Lopez, was arrested and was charged with reckless endangerment, police said. She was in police custody, and there was no telephone number listed for her.

The baby was in serious but stable condition at a hospital. The 23-year-old man who was bitten was stable, police said. Police removed the other dogs -- to the relief of frightened neighbors.

"It's very unsafe," building resident Naomi Campbell said. "Especially if you don't have them contained."

[libstripper]

Whe I let my dog into the house in the morning after he's been out for his business and to visit his dog friends, he runs wildly through the house, takes a 90 degree turn, and makes a flying leap onto what used, before I adopted him, to be my bed.

[gigo]

People who own them enjoy being thought of as fighters as well. What it really says about them, is that they are stupid and mean.

So I'm either stupid and mean, or you're an uniformed windbag making ignorant generalizations. hmmm, is it me or is it you?... Ok, it's you.

[luvbach1]

Why do pit bull fanciers insist that these dogs are not more vicious by nature (since they are bred to be) than other known-to-be-docile breeds? I need not name these docile breeds. And, if not abused, most of them remain docile without special training.

[Cagey]

A properly-trained Staffordshire Terrier is as well-behaved as a German Shepherd.

Couldn't you have chosen a cocker spaniel, beagle, or maybe a dachshund instead of German Shepherd? I'm getting visions of SS guards now.

[Angry Enough]

BAD dog. Stay.

[najida]

Unfortunately, it seems there is an unhealthy attraction for pit bulls by individuals of low responsibility and even lower intellect.

Exactly. In my life, I have seen dozens of these dogs owned by, erm, ah...folks with something to prove. Seems like every ignorant, cruel, mentally ill waste of skin in my neck of the woods thinks owning a 'pit' makes him more of a man. Sorta like the redneck version of a sports car. ;)

And they go out of the way to make these dogs mean. I have heard them bragging about beating them daily to 'toughin' them up. Or starving them and making them fight each other for food. Or keeping them on chains in the yard and never showing them one ounce of affection or kindness.

Don't get me started.....It ain't the dog, it is the creep that owns it...shoot them first.

[muleskinner]

Dog of Peace Ping

[Mamzelle]

Dogs are bred for type and temperment. They are successfully bred for type and temperment. It's crazy to have to keep pointing out the obvious.

"Gun dogs" like labradors, setters and springer spaniels are bred to be "people pleasers"--companions and playmates and rescuers. Think of the herding dogs with their amazing tricks with livestock--the manic and brilliant border collies. Now, terriers of all stripe are bred to hunting, whether a rat or a person. If a dog is bred to fight, its inclination will be to fight.

If that dog is also strong and large, it'll kill children and adults.

It's the owners, all right. But it's also the dogs.

[najida]

I understand. In my life I have had to have two of my dogs 'put down' (OK, shot) because they were unpredictable biters. BOTH dogs had been abused by previous owners. Both were 'family' breeds, but large, strong and therefore dangerous.

And, OTOH, the sweetest cattle dog I ever knew was an old pit female.

All I was saying, is that around here, dogs like Rotties, Pits or Dobies rarely have a prayer at decent home. Too many creeps with two legs wanting to prove something.

[Bluntpoint]

Beagles are born to hunt rabbits. Pointers are born to hunt birds. Pit bulls are born to fight and kill.

Now enough.

[monday]

"Ok, it's you."

So you are different from every other pit bull owner I have ever met or heard of? I suppose it is possible, but then you know the reputation pit bulls have and choose to own one anyway. I am guessing you probably aren't too different from the average pit bull owner. If you were you wouldn't own one.

Incidentally, if you don't want people thinking badly of you, you probably shouldn't own a pit bull. Just a hint.

[vetvetdoug]

The dog fell about six stories.

This reminds me of a study of dogs and cats that leaped from high rises. Two stories, broken legs and rarely death. Three stories, more serious injuries and 50% death rate. Four stories, 75% death rate. Anything over four stories, 99% death rate with exceptions periodically. This study was performed by Angel Hospital for Animals, New York City. I guess splat was the diagnosis for five stories and up.

[Bluntpoint]

You must be fun at parties.

Any idea about hamsters dropping from, lets say, butt height?

[gigo]

I am guessing you probably aren't too different from the average pit bull owner. If you were you wouldn't own one.

You are certainly entitled to your ignorant predjudices

Incidentally, if you don't want people thinking badly of you, you probably shouldn't own a pit bull. Just a hint

LOL! Well they're the people who already think badly of me for my gun-totin, meat-eating, white-male, chauvinist-pig ways ;) Anything I can do to further piss them off is icing on the cake!

[gigo]

[Conservative til I die]

Don't try to reason with the sheep. They're caught up in the hysteria. Next on the list is razorblades in apples on Halloween.

[Conservative til I die]

Unfortunately, it seems there is an unhealthy attraction for pit bulls by individuals of low responsibility and even lower intellect.

I would also add that the sensational reporting of this by the press a) overestimates the problem and b) plays a part in feuling the problem.

A pit bull raised well by good people is no more dangerous than a .38 in the hands of a well trained, law abiding citizen.

[Conservative til I die]

Pitt bulls are the shi'ite muslims of the pet world. One can only exult in the ending.

What a wonderful human being you are, revelling in the death of Muslims. Sick.

[Conservative til I die]

Not to sound racist (though I doubt anyone would care here, just from what I read on occasion here) but ever notice in 98% of these stories, the owner's name is something like Julio or Hector or Antoine or Tyrell? All the cholos and homeboys love these dogs, and love to treat them like shit. Then they wonder why they snap.

Also, the other side of the story you never seem to hear in a lot of dog-on-dog cases are the douchebag owners of other dogs that like to let their dogs roam free, and then cry to the authorities when another dog tears them to shreds. Many dogs are dog aggressive by nature, especially males.

[Conservative til I die]

Thanks for such an evidence- and fact-backed post. You knew of one dog that was screwy. No doubt there's a little embellishment to the story as well.

My Grandmother owns a Yorkshire Terrier that has lunged at me and bitten me dozens of times, and that is no embellishment, leaving his share of nasty, blood dripping, open wounds on my hands and legs. There are dogs that are just plain crazy, or more often, come from crummy breeding, or have been trained or beaten into aggression.