Posted on 06/23/2009 11:30:56 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Sheriff's deputies said it's the first case of its kind they can remember in King County -- one in which a pit bull was used as a weapon in brutal attacks on women.
About 6:30 p.m., a 63-year-old woman stopped her car in SeaTac when she saw four kids kicking a pit bull. A 15-year-old girl told her to mind her own business, then punched her in the head, police say. The dog bit the woman, causing bruises and puncture wounds on her hand and thigh.
Another woman watched the attack and followed the kids to North SeaTac Park. Once the kids realized they were being followed, police said, the 15-year-old head-butted, punched and kicked the second woman so hard that the teen's foot was injured.
Police say the pit bull was turned loose on the woman and grew more and more violent as the children encouraged him. She remained at Harborview Medical Center on Monday in satisfactory condition.
Some advocates for and against pit bulls agree that the children's alleged criminal action was the problem, but the case again raises the question: Are pit bulls or their owners the problem?
The answer varies depending on who is asked.
"People will say there are no bad dogs, just bad dog owners," King County Sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said. "We don't agree with that."
Deputies see more animal-related calls in the summer -- a season when overall call volume increases. Police are not dog experts, Urquhart noted, but he said they do find bad dogs along with bad owners.
"We're not sure if this was a bad dog," he said of the pit bull, "Snaps," who is now at a King County animal shelter. "But clearly he had a bad owner."
The deed, not the breed
Don Jordan, director of the Seattle Animal Shelter, has heard outrage in the past few years about pit bulls. In the early 1990s, Dobermans were the problem, he said. In the mid '90s, Rottweilers got most of the complaints.
"Our approach has always been that we focus on the deed, not the breed," he said. " If you're going to properly protect public safety, you look at enacting ordinances or requirements that affect all dog owners."
There were 40,136 licensed dogs in Seattle and 1,298 of those were pit bulls, according to Seattle Animal Shelter statistics through Feb. 11, the most recent available.
Of all breeds, pit bulls were most likely to bite, according to shelter officials -- 547 of 2,914 reported incidents between 1997 and last year. They also were identified in fully a quarter of menacing incidents during that time period -- 1,066 of 4,189.
Labrador retrievers, German shepherds and Rottweilers also had relatively high numbers. But shelter statistics also show the number of overall dog bites decreased by more than half in 2008 from the previous year.
There were 134 bite calls and 189 menacing complaints last year, down from 304 and 315 the previous year, respectively. Pit bulls were responsible for 89 of the bites and menacing calls, down from 150 the previous year.
Jordan isn't quite sure why there's been a decrease.
"I think there's been a lot of media attention last year about (a previous) SeaTac incident," he said. "Maybe dog owners are being more responsible."
Pit bull rap sheet
Last September, two pit bulls attacked a 71-year-old woman as she walked her grandchildren through their SeaTac neighborhood. The woman later said she thought she was going to die as the dogs ripped her face, legs and arms.
A sheriff's deputy shot the dogs, killing one. Another deputy killed the second pit bull nearby when it remained aggressive. The woman's neighbor who owned the dogs, Travis Dean Cunningham, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for the attack, plus a firearms violation filed in a separate case.
Family said the elderly attack victim, who underwent hours of surgery, didn't attend the sentencing because it was too emotional. Prosecutor Dan Satterberg described the attack as a "case of dangerous dogs and a dangerous owner."
Rather than banning pit bulls, it would be better to prevent some people from owning the dogs -- including felons and those convicted of dog fighting or gang-related crimes, said Julie Russell of Seattle, spokeswoman for Families Against Breed Bans.
"It sounds like these dogs were being taunted and abused and these are just the kinds of kids we want to get the dogs away from," she said of the most recent attack suspects, who deputies say may face felony charges. "It's not the dogs that are unsafe, it's that there are unsafe owners who mismanage their jobs."
Russell, who owns four dogs, grew up terrified of pit bulls. When her husband picked out their first one a few years ago, she said "it was a source of tension for a couple weeks." She initially wouldn't leave her Labrador alone in the car with the pit bull.
"After about two weeks, I realized she's a highly emotional dog," Russell said of Simon, one of her two pit bulls. "I could not imagine her harming anything or anyone."......
Adopted my pit bull mix when she was nine months old. Five years and counting and no ‘snapping’ yet. She’s pure sugar water. Maybe I’m fooling myself. Maybe it’s because he isn’t a purebred (she might even have some greyhound in her.) But I couldn’t imagine owning a more wonderful dog.
People who breed and abuse these dogs for fighting should be strung up by the short ones. Or a couple of days in the town stocks where they can be pelted with rotten tomatoes.
It’s always the owner. A bad owner can turn a beagle into a biting dog.
I've seen dangerous nuisance dogs of all breeds, and great companion dogs of all breeds.
There is a pit bull problem right now, but it's not necessarily the dogs, but more so some breeders, owners and the media. Some bloodlines (think Michael Vick) have been bred for traits undesireable for civilized society, but if it weren't pits it would be chows, akitas, shar-peis or some other breed with a fighting heritage. Of course, the media fans the flames with the "it bleeds it leads" mentality, and has been know to misidentify boxers, mastiffs etc. as "pit bulls" just to grab the headline...PETA also pushes breed specific legislation, and I think it frightening that *conservatives* would so willingly align themselves with those of their ilk.
I choose to remain aware of how the left operates and I know that if pits are banned, my shepherds will be #2 or #3 on the list.
It's sad that this, or any innocent kid (or adult) gets mauled, but rarely do we see the human negligence addressed or made the issue, and that's not by accident.
I grew up with male and female Dobermans. Both were loving, obediant family dogs, and gentle with children. They would do anything to protect their family from a perceived threat. Any failings of the dogs was more likely due to the owners (us).
Three lessons about raising (particularly male) Dobermans: (1) Do the training yourself with expert supervision and family members present. The “trainers” (at that time) would take the dog in for a week and beat the crap out of them to make them more docile; (2) Don’t let people walk up behind your Dobe. The dogs are always on the alert and can take a huge chunk of flesh in a flash, (3) Don’t pair a male Dobe with another male dog. The Dobe will not allow any other dog to be the alpha male and things can get bloody.
I really don’t know if pit bulls are as trainable as Dobermans, but Dobes are more lethal animals because they are incredibly quick with Pit Bull-like jaws that can crush almost anything. I suspect that people who own these types of dogs may need a special license because of the dogs’ potential lethality.
I'd pay real money to see a Yorkie go postal, though.
yapyapyapyapyapyapyapyap!
Pretty good article in Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_bull
I once had a neighbor with a sweet female Dobi. I asked him if they were violent, and he reploied mostly not. But he said if they ever turned on a human, put them down.
In my family we had Shelties, for a while. One in particular was very aggressive.
We once had a mixed breed, who was a sweet guy. Once a neighbor kid held his jaws shut, and the kid got snapped at and broke the skin.
Any dog can be made to be aggressive. They descend from wolves, and in nature they will kill to eat.
My conclusion: you cannot entirely train all aggression out of them, but you can train in increasing the aggression.
The bad owners today reward their animals for aggression. Pen the people, and leash (and if necessary muzzle) the pit bull dogs.
Here’e the answer: Pitt bulls are attacking kids every day in this nation, they are mauled beyond belief, it’s sheer horror. Get rid of the breed, and those attacks will stop. This is not a gun issue, a gun can do nothing on it’s own, a dog can and does. Eliminate the Pitt Bull breed off the face of the earth.
I agree, it can be both....
I was talking to a friend of mine that took his dog to a dog park. A women walks in with a still intact male pit bull and the dog got away from her and started go after another man and ended up attacking his dog who was defending his owner....long story short the man got arrested because he was trying to defend himself with a pocket knife and the idiot owner of the pit accidently got a cut on her arm.....she called police because this guy had a knife......
In this case the the owner was the problem.....
That's a ridiculous notion. Thugs and "G"s (those criminals that choose to comply with the law) will simply start keeping and breeding Rotts, Dobermans, Shepherds, Akitas, Chows, mastiffs or other dogs, and letting them run rampant. Meanness has, for the most part, been bred out of those breeds; it can easily be bred back in.
PBT need to be ACTIVELY trained to NOT be violent, and the VAST majority of owners do no such thing. Even if that particular PBT doesn't have some of the "bad blood" that still exists in many PBT lines, you simply cant take that chance. In fact, any "dominant breed" dog should be treated the same, just in case. It has to be actively socialized to get along with other people and other animals. Don't rely on NOT training it to be aggressive.
PBT's can be great dogs, if not, they wouldn't have been such a popular breed for so long. But the fact is, the majority of owners don't have a clue, and if they do have one, its how to make the dog even meaner and more dangerous, why else do the Thugs prefer the breed now? That and every other gap toothed redneck.
Ideally, that breed needs to lose its popularity, and the only people to have them would be those who know what the heck they are doing (Ceaser Milan's "Daddy" is an awesome dog!). There are other breeds that if they were as popular, would be as statistically dangerous as PBTs (Chows, Canario's, Giant Schnauzers). Then there are other breeds even more aggressive, which if they were larger, would certainly be as bad statistically if not worse (Dachshunds, Chihuahuas, Jack Russells, most Terriers).
The we pass a law, your dog attacks a child, 15 years, your dog kills a person, death. I have no problem with that at all.
I take it you have never had to unlock a pit from something.
I still don't see the relevance; I can cite plenty of incidents where a dog attack took place precisely because of a father's negligence. Like dogs, there are good parents and bad parents.
The #2, #3 rankings etc. are all based on pretty loose data collection...some of the most frequently referred to studies have been pretty thoroughly debunked, or at least tied directly to those pushing breed ban agendas.
I guess I just can't see the willingness of so many who are unfamiliar with the breed to indulge in the hysteria over the breed and miss the human element. I know the parallel between pit bulls and firearms or other inanimate object is not perfect, but it does have some parallels. Vehicles are owned by irresponsible and responsible people. When a large, powerful vehicle is used or maintained irresponsibly, it creates more damage...this doesn't mean we ban SUVs for irresponsible people. The same argument can be made for *assault* weapons...when they are mishandled, they potentially create more damage and cause more havoc in the hands of an irresponsible owner....but we don't ban them (certainly not the people on FR anyways). Yet, when it comes to breeds more prone to, or capable of inflicting more damage (i.e. pit bulls) people see it as a simple matter of enacting a ban. It's a little more complicated than that. I take my dog to a dog park on a daily basis, as do a number of pit owners...and with the dogs who come there...never has there been a problem with people or other dogs. Truth be told, if the media were interested in doing so, they could report 100,000 "pit bull harms nobody today" stories to every one mauling they do report. Of course that coverage is not forthcoming.
I'm fine with that...unless said *child* was breaking into my home when attacked, or said dead person is dead as the result of trying to inflict bodily harm upon my dog's master.
Have you ever owned a pit bull or other so-called "dangerous breed?"
Sorry to hear that.
Ok: Collie 1; Pit Bull 3 (stories just today)
Our family dog was a Collie named Sonny, and he was put down when I was young for biting the neighborhood children. Didn’t make the news.
My sister was bitten by a Spitz (not a moose) around this time, too. I remember well; she came home crying and pulling skin tissue out of the wound saying she had “tissue paper in her leg,” as my mother nearly fainted. Surprisingly, it didn’t make the news. She hates those dogs to this day, and who could blame her?
Crazed collies are kind of like crashed Priuses, they don’t fit the preconception of a “proper” news story so they don’t get reported. Pit bulls and SUVs get all the stories, not necessarily because they’re the killers but because that’s the kind of story newsies want to report.
And yes we had a collie that went nuts when I was little, not really his fault though he’d gotten hit by a car and was never really right after that. Also got a good gash on my cheek when our German shepherd decided he could hug like a person and missed with one paw. It’s an imperfect world, dogs do bad and or stupid things.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.