Man Strangles Rabid Pit Bull

AP ^ | September 5, 2003

[Shermy]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Will Stewart says he didn't have a choice in strangling a 6-month-old pit bull-mix puppy.

The puppy that wasn't known to be aggressive suddenly turned violent last week. The dog bit or scratched four adults and two children in an Indian Trail neighborhood and was later found to be rabid.

Stewart says the dog, Jake, went crazy. He says after the dog bit the children and his wife, he had to act.

He called the dog, which he thinks weighed between 50 and 60 pounds, and pinned him to the ground. Stewart says he couldn't wait for animal control to arrive, so he strangled the dog as he and the dog's owner held him down.

The Stewarts, the couple who owned Jake and their two children -- all of whom Jake bit or scratched -- have begun the painful and expensive treatment for rabies. Stewart says his first treatment involved seven shots, and he has four more appointments for additional shots.

[Cap'n Crunch]

I've heard that before. I guess you just haven't lived until you've seen a kid with his ears torn off by a couple of pit bulls.

Or seen drug dealers let their pit bulls tear puppies apart so they can get the taste for blood and get vicious.

Those kinds of dogs are the ones I do enjoy shooting.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"What's the difference when it comes to a breed of dog that goes off out of the blue?"

Such behavior in a dog is preventable. Vaccinations, training and such. A machine such as a handgun...cannot be trained or vaccinated.

[ffusco]

I apologize. If you are in law enforcement or animal control I'm sure you have seen it all. My dog got loose a few years ago, she dug under a chain link fence and took a walk. I got her back 5 days later. I'm glad she didn't wander into the wrong yard.

[Cap'n Crunch]

Had a mail man living across the street from me years ago. He got the tip of his nose bit off in a pit bull attack.

Looks cute with that big scar on his face.

[RepoGirl]

I hear you. The only dog to ever bite me was a Chow as well. Weird dogs, unprovoked attack, too.

If my knowledge serves me, Chows were actually bred for fighting and guarding, while a Rott originated as a simple farm/all around utility dog in their native Germany.

[Cap'n Crunch]

I apologize also, in a foul mood, one of the guys on the dept. died last week and I heard some of the comments that people were making about his death.

Which is no surprise any more either.

I like dogs, I was in K-9 for a few years. I just don't like careless irresponsible dog owners who could care less that their dogs run at large chasing people, especially kids. It's a big problem.

[JURB]

I own a pit bull, she's the sweetest dog you'll ever find. Other than the fact that she is full of combustible energy (and probably plays a bit too rough with young children), she has never shown the slightest bit of aggresiveness toward dog or human. I've socialized her with other dogs and have had dogs from German Shepards to Dachshunds take snaps at her while she meagerly wagged her tail.

Pit bulls are popular fighting dogs because they are the strongest of dogs per size of any breed. Unfortunately, they are the dog of choice by low life scum who train them to the fight. Despite that, America's first war dog was a Pit Bull named Stubby. He earned several medals during World War I. Pit bulls are good smart, loyal dogs.

So what if a pit bull went nuts because it contacted rabies? I suppose if it was a Golden Retriever that got rabies it wouldn't get a mention. The only moral of this story is to get your pets vaccinated.

[annyokie]

Like obdience training, regular gun maintanance is a must.

[glory]

I agree with yours and others sentiments. When we lived in Phoenix, there were a few times we would see a stray one wandering about. I would immediately take the children inside no matter what we were doing. I don't like them and am suspicious of them.

[glory]

In Phoenix, it was a machismo thing(probably the same in your neck of the woods I imagine). I don't have enough fingers on my hands to count the number of barely out of teens young men(usually of hispanic origin) with a girlfriend/wife and YOUNG children proudly walking their wild dog with the family or pondering the idea of either a Rott or Pit. Blew my mind and I felt sorry for the poor babies who would have to live with that beast.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"Royal Marshall on WSB this morning had a great analogy. "If you had a gun that had a habit of going off out of the blue and firing by itself, into tables, walls, people, whatever was in the way, you'd get rid of that gun, wouldn't you? What's the difference when it comes to a breed of dog that goes off out of the blue?"

Mike, let me lend a little local perspective and point out why I think the much esteemed Royal Marshall is wrong to use this analogy.(Personally, I could use less Boortz and more Royal, he's more willing to listen to a different viewpoint.)

Out here in the more rural areas of Georgia, there are many pit bulls, rottweillers, dobermans, german shepards, kept by responsible owners as farm dogs. With the recent infestation of coyotes, these dogs make great "bodyguards" for cow, sheep. and horses, which are expensive investments for farmers.

There have also been a rash of big cat tracks found around slaughtered livestock carcasses, but the DNR and Dept. of agriculture are in full klintoon denial mode over that one. Typical phone call to them goes:

DNR: We haven't the proof big cats exist in Georgia.

Farmer: It ain't gonna rain for a week, so the prints that are twice as big as my 100 pound lab ain't going nowhere, and I'll be nice and leave the carcass out for you to look at bite marks.

DNR: We haven't the proof big cats exist in Georgia.

Farmer: Well, when the county railroaded the nice lady with 100 acres and the desire to rescue unwanted big cats from zoos and spent the quarter million dollars for the required fencing mandated by the county to do so, but was then made to shut it down because her land abutted the hunting club belonging to our counties most esteemed citizens(I.E. Judges, DA's, Sheriff, county commissioner etc..)because they felt the cries of the big cats in the morning scared the deer off, I imagine she might get pissed and set a few cats loose just to teach those power hungry hunters a thing or two.

DNR: Did I say we have no proof big cats exist in Georgia.

On the other hand, there are many people(I'll reserve my personal nasty adjectives I use for these type of people)who raise pit bulls and other potentially violent dogs for the sole purpose of loosely organized dog fights, which usually occur right over the line in Alabama.

People that raise fighting dogs are already breaking the law, so they don't care about maintaning shots or about raising them in an enviroment that brings the "meaness" out of them. Once a dog is made to be mean, I believe that trait can be passed down to a future generation, hence pits that are housed pets going mean.

In this case, the dogs meaness was caused by a rabies infection, due to the owners neglecting required shots, not because of a natural bad temperment on the dogs part. Rabies infection will cause any breed of dog to go "bad".

Therefore, like an irresponsible gun owner who leaves their gun laying around for a child to pick up and shoot themselves causing the media to rush into their "evil gun" routine, blaming the breed in this case is wrong. The blame should be placed with the owner.

[glory]

Aaah, to have children with no developmental delays. I don't mean that to chide you in anyway. I have a wonderfully behaved 5 yr old with normal to above average language and maturity and a 3 yr old with delays and language problems and he is a hellion who is as big as a 5 year old. I just hope everyone considers that even normal looking children may not be all together upstairs yet and its not that their parents aren't trying to train them. They are a challenge and it takes many many many more lessons to train them than it does your average child and even then, you may have the unexpected outburst or behavior.

[glory]

Do you have children because I gotta tell you, no figure you put on that check or remorse you show will EVER replace a child who has been ripped to shreds by a dog. Let me put it to you this way, the way you have defended your dog and told people what you would do to them should they shoot it..is how people feel about their children. Your dog kills a child and you might as well be prepared to be euthanized if you come at someone with a check and a feeble apology that includes how your dog never hurt a fly before this.

[doberville]

"While that may be very true, most dogs owners do NOT obedience train their pets, be they Yorkies or Rottweillers. Obedience train your dog. Make your life and the lives of those around you, not to mention your dog's life easier."

Agree wholeheartedly. Untrained dogs are like ill mannered children: destructive and annoying. ALL my Dobies are trained. Some have CDs.

HOWEVER, it needs to be said that some PEOPLE are incredibly stupid and inflammatory in their interactions with dogs. Some get in my dogs faces with treatening noises and gestures. They stare at them for prolongued periods. They raise weapons above their heads near the dogs - and then wonder why the animals become protective.

But make no mistake. Regardless of how imbecilic or oafish the human behaviour, THE DOG ALWAYS, ALWAYS LOSES. Repeat: The dog always loses.

So, regardless of what sort of dog you own, TRAIN him, control him or LOSE him.

[metalcor]

I did a little research of my own. Perhaps you could help me fill out the numbers. One source was a book often used in court. It states that over 50% of all DEATHS attributed to dog attacks were committed by Pit Bulls (24%)Rottweilers (8%) or mixed breeds (21%) in which those 2 breeds were some component of the dogs genetics. (attacks resulting in hospitalization of the victim were similiar). I admit it has been several months since I saw that information and the numbers may be off a little, but not by much.


Now if pit bulls are 24% of all dogs then you could convince me of your position. Otherwise I will rely on my own experience and continue to load my gun every time I see one within site of my property or family. Ignorant or not.

[auggy]

A regular poodle is actually larger than a pitbull. Then you have the Toy Poodle's and Minature Poodle's.

I'm sure any dog will bite,if provoked long enough. Almost any.

[JLO]

"Take some time and read up on the history of the bully breeds in the US (the days of Boone & Crockett) Their frontier history makes for interesting reading is ...they were THE dog of the frontier
without them we would have had difficult if not impossible time settling America"

Wow, what an interesting factoid! Never heard of that before - do you mean specifically pit bulls? or any kind of 'bully' dogs? Will definately check that out; like I said, never heard that before. Thanks - do you have any favorite links about this?

[sweetliberty]

"How is it that the dog GOT rabies? No vaccinations? And why?"

The article says that the puppy was 6 months old. Some vets will not vaccinate a dog for rabies earlier than 7 or 8 months and several have told me that 6 months is the absolute youngest that a puppy should be vaccinated for rabies. It could have contacted a rabid squirrel or something. It does seem that someone should have noticed that something was wrong before the dog got to the point of aggression as a result of the illness, however.

[Finny]

Yeah -- me too! I'd be interested in a link, or reference, where I could find more info. Is "bully" the breed, is that a proper term?

[The Other Harry]

I do. It was a gift from my dad the year I turned 14. I only fire low-base shells in it, in keeping with the time it was made. It's very light and the barrels are quite thin. I didn't mention, but it's a 20 ga. The left barrel is cylinder and the right is modified. Perfect quail gun in California. These days, it just gets shot once or twice a year, and stays cleaned and stored properly the rest of the time. Lots of nice memories there.

If you ever decide to sell that, please let me know.