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.

[AntiGuv]

LOL!! Touché..

[ffusco]

My Rottie, Betty, is the gentlest animal. She sleeps on the sofa with my cat, they hunt newts together, drink out of the same bowl and even groom each other.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Pit bulls are no worse than many other breeds. In fact, it is the indoor breeds that are most likely to bite.

[KCmark]

I live with a 150# Rott named Wimpy. He'll gladly pay you Tuesday for some lovin' today. It's the owner as much as the dog.

[A2J]

I have no tolerance for them, and if yours is off leash and comes into my yard, it will never come out of my yard again...guaranteed.

Bump.

The problem with pit bulls are that the vast majority of them ARE bred with a vicious streak in them. To "tame" one of them is like taming a tiger or lion, very slim chance of success.

[Born Conservative]

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.

Sudden aggression and violence are classic signs of Rabies. I think the key points are 1. Why was the dog not vaccinated?(I forget what age the 1st rabies vaccine is given; maybe it's after 6 months of age?) and 2. How did the dog get rabies (was it loose and caught it from a wild animal? did it get bit by a rabid bat inside the house?).

I believe that generally a dog will behave based on how it was trained. I've seen Rottweilers that were big "pussycats", and chihuahauas (sp?) that would rip your face off if they were only large enough to do so. We don't know whether this Pit Bull was trained to be vicious, we only know that it was behaving consistent with the symptoms of rabies.

Everyone has different likes and dislikes with certain breeds; myself-I'll stick with my Springer Spaniels.

[ZULU]

I agree.

True some dogs are individually nuts - like some people. Some breeds are more aggressive or stronger than others.

But the final responsibility lies with the owner. If your dog isn't crazy, and knows who is the boss, and has not been abused or mistreated, he/she will be a fine animal regradless of breed.

Buster Brown had a Pit Bull, so did Teddy Roosevelt. These arguments about Pit Bulls are like arguments about guns - they are better directed at idiotic owners than the dog or the gun.

[joesnuffy]

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

They were pioneers first defense against bears, wolves, big cats and Indians bent on ravaging the farm and the women and children..

Not to mention that the rugged cattle back then were capable of taking on bears, wolves and big cats...and it was the bully breeds that were able to take down bulls that went rogue...

Amazing animals...that saved many early Americans lives and property back in those days...

They have to be socialized at an early age...and worked with daily...you cannot chain them up and leave them alone day after day...they need to be with their people..if they are they are and can be great dogs...

And great representatives of early Americana...imo

When dogs attack kids...they must be put down...end of story...

[Liberal Classic]

Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinchers, and German Shepherds account for most of the fatal attacks on humans. All make great pets if trained properly, but all large breed dogs can be dangerous if mistreated.

[A2J]

Pit bulls can make fantastic family pets if you train them properly. I can attest to that.

Sigfreid and Roy would probably attest to the fact that lions, leopards and tigers are wonderful pets, too, though I don't think people would appreciate seeing them being walked on a leash in their neighborhoods.

[Conservababe]

Rabies shots are no longer painful nor prolonged in treatment regimen. This is outdated information from the time that rabies shots had to be given in the abdomen.

[auntdot]

Know a guy who many years ago purchased some super pure bread Rottweiler from Germany for ten grand, yep, ten grand.

He has been breeding them ever since. And apparently has made money on the venture.

Not too long ago he offered me one of his dogs who happened to eat a small dog of another breed for reasons unknown. He did not want to give away the dog, but his wife insisted.

He told me the Rott was a really nice dog, the little pooch just annoyed him.

Some people just don't get it.

[MineralMan]

"But the final responsibility lies with the owner. If your dog isn't crazy, and knows who is the boss, and has not been abused or mistreated, he/she will be a fine animal regradless of breed.
"

For me, the problem is that I don't know how well a stranger has trained his dog. Or even a neighbor. So, my rule with pit bulls, and only pit bulls, is that one that enters my yard off leash will never leave that yard. Other breeds and I will make an attempt to call the dog and restrain it until its owner can be contacted. Not pit bulls, though. My neighborhood is full of small children and household pets playing behind low fences. I refuse to take any chances with pit bulls.

Bottom line: you can have a pit bull and live in my neighborhood, but you're going to have to have the dog under control at all times. That's it. No second chances.

[ClearCase_guy]

Pit bulls are no worse than many other breeds. In fact, it is the indoor breeds that are most likely to bite.

I got a paper-cut once. On the other hand, some people have been disembowled with samurai swords. The paper-cuts are actually a more common occurence. Based on that, I guess the two categories of cuts are pretty much even-steven, wouldn't you say?

[jmc813]

Hi Cathryn. There are few FR topics that get more heated than WOD threads. Pit bull articles are one of them.

[The Other Harry]

I DO NOT LIKE PIT BULLS. THEY ARE ALL SUSPECT.

That is how I feel about them.

I used to live in an area where there were a lot of pit bulls. I suppose they can be fine dogs, but they rarely are. Nine times out of ten they were owned by sociopaths.

It wasn't funny. If a child or another dog got attacked, it was almost always by a pit bull.

If it weren't for the laws, I'd kill every one I saw.

[Dog Gone]

Pit bulls are like sharks. 99% of the time, they won't bother you if you encounter them. The problem is that you never know when that other 1% of the time is.

[Catspaw]

I don't trust pit bulls. One young female pit, whose owner claimed was just a sweetie, attacked another neighbor's German Shepherd (another neighbor and I witnessed this). The pit was allegedly being walked by the owner's young daughter and ripped the leash out of her hands in a second and went after the Shepherd, who was leashed and being walked by his owner. The Shepherd's owner managed to pull the pit off of his dog, kicked the pit a few times & told the kid to take her dog in the house. A few days later, the same pit, unleashed, came running out between the houses & raced across the street in an attempt to get my furball Lhasa. I grabbed my dog & got him up & out of the way & beat--and I mean REALLY beat--the pit over the head with the retractable leash handle and yelled my head off. The owner came out of his house & tried to tell me the pit wouldn't hurt anybody. Uh huh. I told him BS & said I had seen his dog attack another dog a few days earlier--and he's either going to get sued, have his dog taken away or both.

[CommerceComet]

OK, yipper-yappers bite but when was the last time you read about someone being mauled by a Yorkshire?

[metalcor]

All dogs may bite but not all dogs may maul a human until dead. Different breeds have been bred for different purposes--pit bulls are for biting and not letting go. No amount of training will ever remove that basic instinct. Most will go their entire lives without having that switch go off--and training no doubt has something to do with that-- but that switch is still there.

Golden Retrievers don't kill people--pit bulls do. To say there is no difference is just plain silly.

I personally have killed one pit bull after seeing it tear a kitten away from a group of children and then eye the children threateningly. A good friend's 6 year old bears the scars of a pit bull attack--150 plus stitches. I would contribute to a bounty fund to see the damn things exterminated.