Fairfield Woman Severely Mauled By Own Dog In Backyard Attack

FAIRFIELD (CBS SF) — A 29-year-old Fairfield woman was severely mauled in her backyard by her own dog early Thursday before police shot it dead, authorities said.

Fairfield police said the attack took place in the woman’s backyard in the 1600 block of Kentucky St. A next-door neighbor called 911 to report they had heard the woman screaming and looked over the fence and saw a large dog attacking her.

Arriving officers could see the woman lying face down and bleeding profusely from both arms with a large dog standing over her.

The woman’s house has an unusually large yard, almost a full acre in size, and the attack was occurring in the farthest reach of the yard away from the home and street.

Authorities said the dog quickly alerted to the officer’s presence and charged the fence where the officers stood. One officer on scene fired his handgun at the charging dog out of fear of his safety, his fellow officers and the woman that had already been badly injured.

Emergency aid was immediately provided to the woman, and the severity of her injuries were determined to be life-threatening. The woman was taken by ambulance to a local trauma center and later flown by helicopter to a surgical center in the Bay Area. She is listed in serious condition.

Neighbors told police there were about 20 dogs in the home’s backyard. Fairfield Police Lt. Greg Hurlbut said the dogs were described as a special breed of hunting dog.

It was not immediately known what breed of dog was involved in the attack or were being kenneled at the site. Solano’s County’s Humane Animal Services was the lead agency in the investigation according to the sheriff’s office.

Mastiffs of all kinds were bred as war dogs and for the the fight ring as far back as Roman times-the breed was referred to as Molossus-(sp?) I’ve heard there are unscrupulous breeders selling Mastiffs for fighting still out there...

In this rural area most people have livestock, even if it is just chickens or rabbits kept/sold for food-and the Great Pyrenees is one of the dogs du jour, along with Neapolitans, Bull Mastiffs and all the other Mastiffs, a couple of Danes and a few American Bulldogs. The last dog attack we had on a human involved a neighbor hiking by the river, bitten by a tourist’s unleashed Jack Russell Terrier. The last livestock incident involved goats mauled/killed by yet another tourist’s Treeing Walker hounds running unleashed-those are some BIG hounds. People who live here have better sense than to let our dogs go without proper training, or go unleashed-and the loose dog fine is a staggering $500.00...

When our cub was a toddler, my 1st hubby and I bought a female German Shepherd puppy from the best AKC kennel we could find-it was one that also sold guard and rescue dogs to the Air Force. The dog bonded with us, the cub-and our cats-and took her guarding job very seriously-but we never, ever left that cub alone with that dog until the cub was 10 years old, and able to manage the dog the way we taught her to.

We bought another female Shepherd pup after the 1st one died at 13 from that same kennel, and she was as fine a protector and companion as the 1st had been-but like any big working breed dog bred for the purpose of guarding livestock and/or humans, they require training from day 1 to accept the humans as the alpha leaders-just like wolves.

After losing our 2nd Shepherd at nearly 13, we chose a Chow from a kennel in MrT5’s home state for our canine companion because they are good guards and have a longer lifesapan then German Shepherds-ours lived happily to 17-they also need a firm hand, or they will end up being psycho and dangerous...

My Siberian Husky also was purchased from a recommended AKC kennel that bred them for show/sled-also needed a firm hand, also became an excellent protector-due in part to her wolfish looks and demeanor-she looked/sounded truly scary and vicious when doing the guarding thing-she died a few months shy of turning 18-best dog I ever had...

People who are not willing to spend the time training, bonding with and making a pack member and nearly constant companion of a dog does not need to have a large, headstrong working breed dog just because you like the looks of the breed-it is true that too many people buy on impulse without researching the characteristics of the breed of dog they buy. I don’t care for small dogs-or terriers of any size-so I choose large working/guarding breed dogs-but I’m diligent in training them properly, and I keep them as a near-constant companion to be with me hiking, etc anywhere but work or grocery shopping-it gives them a sense of purpose and keeps them calm and happy. If someone is not up to that, there are plenty of small dog breeds to choose from.

There is beginning to be some overlap here. The “Hulk” line of giant pitbulls appear to be running about 125-150#, and the “Hulk” dog himself is claimed to be 175# on the owner’s Youtube posts.

When I first began to look at these attacks, this breed-type of dog, and these pit bull owners and apologists, I was insulted, called names, and told to “educate myself”.

I educated myself. Other people have also done this.

What I have found, at the end of my latest search, is that these dogs have been bred for brain abnormalities.

. . .abnormal disinhibited behavior is not functional, and it is unpredictable. Although high arousal and sudden attack can be functional in certain environments, this behavior is pathological in a safer environment, where a high level of arousal and aggressiveness are not necessary and only lead to unnecessary attacks and injuries. Research implicates the frontal cortex, subcortical structures, and lowered activity of the serotonergic system in impulsive aggression in both dogs and humans. Impulsive aggressive behavior in dogs seems to have a different biological basis than appropriate aggressive behavior.

Kathelijne Peremans, DVM discovered this by studying two different populations of impulsively aggressive dogs. Each dog had executed one or more attacks without the classical preceding warnings, and the severity of the attacks was out of all proportion to environmental stimuli. Peremans found a significant difference in the frontal and temporal cortices of these dogs, but not in the subcortical areas, compared to normal dogs. Peremans also found significant dysfunctions of the serotonergic systems among these dogs.

(Excerpt from book: The science of how behavior is inherited in aggressive dogs)(Semyonova)

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