Posted on 08/21/2007 8:00:32 PM PDT by paulat
Woman mauled by home-invading pit bulls
07:45 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 21, 2007
KING5.com Staff
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.
Bernard Choi / KING 5 News
Two pit bulls entered a Pierce County home and attacked a woman in her bed.
"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.
The pit bulls also attacked a Jack Russell terrier named Romeo.
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.
“Something most people don’t understand about pitts and other dog attacks is this...”
Mr. Stephon Marbury, you should concentrate on your basketball and give up on defending Michael Vick.
Nobody ever said other breeds don’t bite or attack. Pits just do a disproportionate amount of it.
They’re bred to fight. That makes them more dangerous because it’s next to impossible to eradicate a dog’s nature out of it.
I’ve never seen a lab that doesn’t love water and chasing things, nor a border collie that can be trained NOT to herd.
Defend all you want but there’s no use in this world for a dog bred to fight. It isn’t worth the consequences when they snap.
“I’ll tell you what.... Whenever you find articles about non-pit breeds going berserk like this and doing the kind of damage pits do; post it for all to see”.
I found those stories and thought I would share. I am not defending anything.
Well then he was apparently just playing.
No, he and his buddies would have been happy to tear me up. But, just like cowards and other low life human beings, the effing bullies ran away when I convinced them I meant business.
You can take your pit bull appolagenincs and cram it.
Every terrier that ever lived was also bred to bite and fight. Your post proves nothing.
Btw. I am not excusing these pitts. They should have been killed on sight and the owners charged with a crime.
I personally don’t care for pitts. I don’t like terriers. Pitts are half terrier and half bulldog. I like bulldogs...specifically the olde english bulldogge, an the the olde tyme boston bulldogge. I currently have a red lab. She is a good dog. I’ll think about getting an olde english bulldogge after she dies.
What’s your point?
Your ignorance is glaring. Have you ever heard of an old TV show called the “little rascals”? Or “our gang”? The dog in that show with the black circle painted around one eye was a pitt!
Now go eat crow.
Have you ever seen the corporate symbol or logo for the old fashioned victor(victrola) phonograph with the moma dog listening to the record and the baby dog right beside her listening as well? That was also a pitt.
Now go have another helping of crow.
I currently have a lab. I like her. Terriers are ornery little imps.
True. You do have a point there. A very good one, I agree.
I once knew a cocker spaniel that did that exact same thing. I called those dogs “sneak biters”. As soon as you turned around, they would run away. They were afraid of people. I also knew a lab mix that did that as well. The cocker was on my paper route when I was a kid. The lab was in the neighborhood I used to go jogging in when I was in my twenties. It’s been a long time since I ran accross a sneak biter.
You do realize that not all those dogs(if any) were pitts don’t you? At least half of them were mountain cur dogs or catahoulas or similar breeds. Traditionally that kind of hunting was done with cur dogs and catahoulas and florida blackface dogs. Only recently have pitts been introduced into that sport.
Btw, labs are now used as sled dogs. The most numerous breeds find their way into all sorts of things they don’t normally do simply because of their numbers. There are lots of pitts out there and lots of labs out there. Hence they get trained into fields they aren’t really meant for. I immagine pitts will soon find themselves being used as retrievers too.
The distinction is this:
There are fools on this thread claiming pitts are evil and contain an irresistable instinct to maul and maim. This is idiocy. A dog is a dog is a dog. There are good and bad in every breed.
Yes, the larger dogs with powerful jaws and big teeth need to be culled more often for the “rogues” as you put it. But so what? We don’t outlaw the whole breed because of this. We just get tougher on the owners of dogs that do the damage. Forget about naming one breed or another. Just call them all “dogs”. Then let the chips fall. If 50 percent of all pitts need to be destroyed and their owners jailed, then so be it. I have a feeling it will be more like 5 or 10 percent though. The media blows everything out of proportion.
I have no argument with your post. In fact I agree 100%.
There’s alot of variation in a breed from one individual to the next. For instance, I’ve seen a large standard poodle kill a boxer before.
I like the turkish kangal dog myself. But I get your point. I think you are responding to a post where I was responding to someone that wanted to put two pitts in a cell with a great dane. The dane wouldn’t stand a chance.
No. That was a different situation completely. But you knew that. You were intentionally misunderstanding my post. Nice try though.
I am not defending pitts. I think those dogs in this article should be killed on sight. I was saying that most pitt “maulings” are not maulings at all but merely stupid dogs that don’t know when to quit. I’ve seen the videos. I’ve seen dogs do this in person with kids and they have to be stopped by an adult before going too far.
I am not a pitt lover. I am a dog lover. I personally don’t really care for pitts so much. I’ve never owned one and probably never will. I don’t like terriers. Pitts are half terrier. The trait I was describing about the juvenile-ish dogs that don’t know when enough is enough comes form the bulldog part of the pitt. But the terrier part of the pitt is what can make them a little nasty. The pitts that I’ve seen are more bulldog than terrier in personality.
No, that was a statement of fact. The pit was playing. If you stabbed him and he wanted blood, it wouldn’t have slowed him down. Not that I am some “I have a powerful monster look out for me” person. I ended up a Pit owner to save him from the pound. But these are loyal obedient dogs and I am sure if they are trained to be mean they are viscious. Trust me I have seen my old bosses pit attack a 43 wheeler tire and get run over twice. They werent scared by a human with a knife, they just knew you didn’t want to play nice and left the insecure human to go play with himself.
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