Woman mauled by home-invading pit bulls

Animal control officers say the victim was covered in blood after the dogs attacked PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. - In what deputies describe as the worst mauling they've ever seen, two pit bulls entered a Wauna-area home via the pet door and attacked a woman in her bed.

Pierce County Sheriff's Dept. spokesman Ed Troyer said a neighbor's Jack Russell terrier also entered the home in the 10600 block of 132nd St. Court NW through the dog door and the pit bulls attacked the terrier named Romeo.

The 59-year-old woman was in bed, in her room. Neighbors say she was sound asleep when the attack happened. She managed to get away, run to her car, lock herself in and call 911. Even after fighting off the dogs, she was in pretty bad shape.

"Pretty much from head-to-toe, she was covered in blood," said Pierce County Animal Control officer Brian Bowman.

Troyer said firefighters locked the pit bulls in the house until deputies arrived. Officers had to use pepper spray and fight the dogs to get them into custody.

The woman was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where she was listed in satisfactory condition. The terrier was taken to an animal hospital, where he died Tuesday afternoon.

The pit bulls were taken to the Pierce County Humane Society, where they will remain until the case is resolved.

Troyer said the owner of the pit bulls has been identified and lives on the same street as the victim. KING 5 went to the home, but nobody answered the door. Neighbors say they have had problems in the past with the two pit bulls running wild.

Information will be given to prosecutors, who will decide what, if any, charges will be filed against the owners. Animal control officers say they will recommend gross misdemeanor charges at the very least.

I reread the story, and if I were guessing, cuz the reporting was...bad, the Jack Russell was a neighbor dog that had the mauled woman in its mind as someone to protect. There is a reason why Jack Russells are revered in Britain where you can’t have guns.

My neighbor had a pit bull, dumb as a box of hammers. I used a runners trick to confuse him. He would exhibit typical menacing behaviors when I was in my driveway. Low growls, aggressive stance. I started throwing doggie treats at him. I okayed this through his owner first, nice kid, bad dog. The pit bull got used to it and started looking forward to it. Never trusted him as far as I could throw the empire state building, would have shot him in a second if he came onto me in my driveway.

Had a couple of neighbor dogs test me in my driveway. They never come back. Had a couple of neighbor dogs looking for an early morning friend, they always came back.

Dogs are generally a product of their owners.

Oh jeeze, this is what we've come to? We're politically correct with dogs now?

I OPPOSE BREED BANNING and it is the one thing I and pit bull defenders agree on -- but I follow pit bull threads regularly and can tell you the answer to your question is -- YEP. It's political correctness all the way with pit bull defenders, though they are blinded to it.

Pit-bull defenders put all kinds of spin on it. They compare the ownership of pit bulls to the 2nd amendment, they insist that it's an owner problem, not a breed problem (even though, if the lady's neighbor had had two basset hounds instead of two pit bulls, this incident would never have happened -- same owner, different breed = very different outcome), they become extremely emotional and upset when the breed or breed-type is targeted. Like liberals, pit bull defending conservatives are feminized with regard to their pets. They are not dogs, they are "people too" and have rights, dammit! They act as if it's a real tragedy when these dogs aren't adopted out of pounds and are put to death instead. They're DOGS, for god's sake. Not people. But again, to many people, "Dogs are people, too." It's a very screwed up priority with negative consequences that go far and deep, death or critical injury by pit bull being one of them.

NO DOGGY PROFILING!

Instead of breed banning, I think Americans should have the right to carry sidearms at all times and kill these dogs on sight if they are running around unleashed anywhere but on the owner's property. Period. More important, I think conscientious owners of these dogs have a responsibility to come down hard with mean, hard-core peer pressure on irresponsible owners. Instead, pit bull owners whine that they're being mistreated by the media, that pit bulls are being "unfairly targeted" and "profiled," that "It's the owner, not the breed!" But again, same owner, different dog = different outcome, so that's clearly bullsh*t to any rational person. However, pit bull lovers are often irrational because to them, dogs are like children, not dogs.

Now, my great aunties used to have nasty little chihuahuas and poodles that were aggressive and unpleasant, and those dogs to these old ladies were like children -- the difference being that NONE OF THEIR DOGS COULD KILL SOMEONE (of course, some pit bull moron will pipe in with a story about how a chihuahua killed an infant in its crib -- that's the mindset of most pit bull defenders). We tolerate people thinking of their animals as children because 99 percent of the time, as obnoxious as their "children" are, that's all they are. But with pit bulls/mixes and Rottweilers there is a proven track record of critical injury and DEATH, for God's sake. When we tolerate that in the name of political correctness and "NO DOGGY PROFILING!!", we're fools. Pit bull defenders who ask us to do so are the bigger fools.

Jack Russell terriers are yappy ill-mannered vicious little POS dogs that should have been bred out of existence before they actually DID exist.

We'll see if you say that when you've got a rat or mice problem. They were bred for a purpose and a damned good one. If not for dogs (and cats), we'd never have been able to sustain an agrarian society. My dad's cow dogs often made the difference between profit and loss by the end of the year. They were well-mannered and quiet, but would have torn your hand off if you'd done anything to threaten my dad, his property, his livestock, or his kids. But those kinds of dogs deserve big homes; folks on small properties owe it to their pets to have small dogs.

If I was going to have a dog, there's a good chance it would be a JR -- aggressive, nasty, and as metmom says, small enough for anyone to drop-kick across the room if need be.

I'll see your cutsie picture and raise you a couple of real pit bull pictures

Between 500,000 and 800,000 dog bites annually in the USA serious enough to require ER treatment. 94% are unprovoked. The majority are on children, Although a number of breeds are responsible, pit bulls, german shepards, dobermans, chow chows, and Huskies are the most common offenders, so there is something to the breed argument (with pit bulls being number 1)

I wonder if you'd "luvmypitt" if it did that to YOUR kid.

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