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.

[JoeSixPack1]

"Sir" is good. But what's the bag limit?

[Sabertooth]

I've found terriers and yap-dogs to be much more aggressive and nasty than the bigger 'macho' breeds.

Exactly. They and their indulgent owners have a Napoleon thing going on.

It's not as though they can't be trained not to be piss-piddling little barking rats.

[The Other Harry]

What would you recommend to someone who has never fired a weapon, but needs to eliminate a badger?

You want a shotgun. They aren't hard to use. The dealer can show you how, and you can practice a few times first.

I'd say get yourself a Mossberg 500 with an 18 1/2" barrel. They aren't too expensive, and they can be used for other things later on. They make for a good hall gun. You might find you need one someday.

You do *not* need heavy loads. Those are for shooting ducks. Light loads will be just fine. The dealer can advise you.

[The Other Harry]

One more thing...

The most important thing is to keep your finger completely out of the trigger housing until you are actually intending to fire the weapon. This is the most common mistake people make. It is the way to blow your foot off or to to kill the wrong person.

Learn to keep that finger out of there.

[JoeSchem]

why people would choose to have these often-vicious brutes is beyond me.

Sometimes a pet tells you a lot about the owner. A pit bull tells me that its owner wants to intimidate other people.

[The Other Harry]

Sometimes a pet tells you a lot about the owner. A pit bull tells me that its owner wants to intimidate other people.

I agree. Absolutely.

[berkeleybeej]

You want a shotgun. They aren't hard to use. The dealer can show you how, and you can practice a few times first.

I'd say get yourself a Mossberg 500 with an 18 1/2" barrel. They aren't too expensive, and they can be used for other things later on. They make for a good hall gun. You might find you need one someday.

Thank you for your advice. I really appreciate it. By the way - what is the effective range of the shotgun you recommended? I am really asking how close do I have to get to the badger?

[deadhead]

"Pit bulls can make fantastic family pets if you train them properly."

I agree, AntiGuv. I have a pit-bull mix. Lucy is 8 now, adopted her when she was 4 months old. I have to admit, I was hesitant about adopting her since her Mom was a pit-bull. But, I did and I am grateful that I did. An awesome dog. She is sweet, smart, a wonderful pet. I trained her. I watch her like I would any other dog around children. The little ones in my family and my friends children love her.

There aren't any bad dogs, just bad owners.

[knews_hound]

Check this out....

A Rottweiler
vs.
A Rottweiler's weight in Chihuahuas

http://www.grudge-match.com/History/rott-chi.shtml

Cheers,

knews hound

[The Other Harry]

By the way - what is the effective range of the shotgun you recommended?

I don't know. It all depends on the load, not on the shotgun.

You are probably talking about something like 20 feet. That would not take much.

I am not qualified to give you advice at this level. Go talk to a good gun dealer. I have some opinions, but I don't know whether they are right.

Talk to people who know more than I do. The factories will usually also talk to you. They can be very helpful.

As a starting point, there is nothing wrong with Mossberg. I like Ithaca (I shoot both ways, and Ithacas kick out the bottom), but Mossbergs work just fine. They are also relatively inexpensive.

See what you think. Find a good local dealer you can talk to.

[The Other Harry]

And one more thought...

Never feel embarrassed to say that you don't know. Never ever.

[Romulus]

But it's also true that Pit bulls and Rottweilers account for most fatal attacks on humans

Pit bulls scare me; rotties don't. The difference is that so many (essentially all) of the former are demented and incapable of socialisation, while the latter, while having a strong sense of territory and dominance, are more intelligent and amenable to training. Most pit bulls seem to harbor a deep core of unreasoning rage, unreachable by humans.

[Romulus]

Another plus - he hated cats.

Killed them, did he? How cute. And such good training for larger prey.

[Romulus]

Condolences on your puss. I've lost both a dog and a cat in the past 12 months, so I know how you feel.

[Porterville]

Bill finally did it, he finally strangled that old rabid pibull.... poor old bitch!!!

[Porterville]

I will bite you, grrrrrr I will bite you, ruff, ruff, ruff

[sandydipper]

Yes sir he did - and kept the real fast ones up in trees for days. Didn't need any training though.

[FreedomPoster]

>>Pit bulls can make fantastic family pets if you train them properly.

Empirical evidence seems to indicate that many (perhaps most) are unable to provide proper training.

And that said, after seeing how "hard-wired" my Lab is to fetch (did it naturally as a pup with *no* training), I can really see how this breed may indeed be hard-wired to attack, such that you're always at some risk with the breed.

[Darnright]

>On the other hand, how do you explain that dog in San Francisco that attacked and killed the woman a few years ago? It was apparently never trained to be mean.

If you are referring to the same case I am, the dogs were indeed trained to attack. The dogs had previously threatened residents of the apartment, and the owners did nothing to correct this behavior. The dogs were Presa Canarios, which are bred for guardian characteristics. Dogs with guardian characteristics are territorial, and will challenge people and animals that come into their domain. The dogs in question were allowed, by the owners, to claim the apartment complex in which they lived as their territory. Furthermore, the dogs had been attack trained by a convict.

Dogs are programmed by their genetics to perform different jobs. The genetic predispostion is then honed by proper training. Terriers are bred to be feisty vermin killers, while scent hounds are bred to sniff out game. Sight hounds are bred to search out game by sight, and then will run down and capture/kill the prey. Breeders of herding dogs select dogs with predispostions that then are honed to train the dog to move livestock from one place to another.

Dogs are not "born mean", but it takes less to make some breeds react aggressively than it does others.

[cdefreese]

Thanks for sticking up for some of those 'hated' breeds out there. I am glad to say I have owned and loved 4 of these animals. While I do not share the depth of knowledge you have about them, I do know that they seem to get a bad rap from the media, and thusly from the public as a whole.

This is one of those topics I usually do not even go near for all of the knee jerks that are all out there.

If anyone would extend their logic out some, if 25% of all crimes were committed by several minority groups, I guess then by their own logic, we should get rid of all of them too.

For the record...
Bites by my 'Pit-bull' Lady: 1 (She won't take teen punks hitting her with a stick.)
Bites by my chihuaua Tiny: 6 (a mean tempered ankle snapper)

Now that I have been reminded why I rarely even browe these threads, I will be going now...