Posted on 04/05/2005 6:22:36 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Family's two pit bulls kill Hamtramck girl, 6
4/5/2005, 4:28 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (AP) — Two pit bulls attacked and killed their owners' 6-year-old girl in the backyard of a home near Detroit, state police say.
Cassidy Jeter was killed Monday morning, said state police Lt. Harold Love.
The girl had known the pit bulls since they were puppies, The Detroit News said.
Cassidy and a younger child were walking down an alley next to the home about 9 a.m. when the dogs attacked, Love said. The family recently moved out of a home around the corner, and the dogs were still staying at that house. The alley separates the two homes.
"For some reason the dogs were loose, and one of them attacked the girl," Love said.
The other dog apparently joined the attack. The younger child climbed a fence to get away, and the girl's mother tried to save her daughter.
"The mother tried to beat the dogs off the girl with a 2-by-4," Love said. "She was screaming for help from the neighbors."
The girl was dead at the scene. Police shot the dogs to death.
Police in the Detroit enclave of Hamtramck asked state troopers to investigate because a person died and its officers used their weapons.
American Pit Bull Terriers where originally bred to help cattle butchers with wild cattle and for bear hunting/ wild boar hunting, not dog fighting. The dog fighting came along latter when butchers and hunters no longer needed dogs to help. Did you know that when Pit fighting was legal that if a Pit dog showed aggression to anyone inside the ring that they where put to sleep and their offspring was never to be bred. This is because when the breed was respected and first established you hardly ever heard anything bad about them (people trained and socialized them). It was like hearing something bad about about a Golden Retriever, it just didn't happen that much. Terriers (including the American Pit Bull Terrier) are dogs that have to have socialization and proper training. I'm sure that if all the people in your area are as you say they are none of them have even taken a minute out of their time to do so. This is why you here so many bad things about Pit Bulls, because there's to many ill responsible people that own them. Believe me that if American Pit Bull Terriers where such a bad breed then president Theodore Roosevelt wouldn't have owned them as he did. Also if American Pit Bull Terriers where untrustworthy as a breed in whole than there would not be search and rescue Pit Bulls(saving lives), there would not be Therapy working Pit Bulls helping the handicap and being aloud into nursing homes to make people feel better. I know that if all the people that owned Pit Bulls where responsible owners that you would not hear all the bad things you do. PUNISH THE DEED NOT THE BREED!
Oh, nonsense!
A few weeks ago we had a pit bull attack (unprovoked, of course) in our town. A 4 year old boy got severely mauled when he and his grandmother were visiting a friend of the grandmother. Here is an excerpt from the story...
"The dog attacked McGee after it escaped from a bathroom in the home, said the boy's grandmother. When the child saw the pit bull, he screamed and the dog lunged at him, she said."The dog bit off part of the boy's ear and put deep gashes in his cheek and forehead, the grandmother said. The animal also injured the boy's right eye, and doctors are concerned that the child could lose his sight in that eye, she said."
http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050324/NEWS/503240341&SearchID=73205670427421
These dogs aren't fit to be around children - or in civil society.
Everyone needs to check out the new issue of Dog Fancy Magazine. There is an article in there that I believe will shed a new light to everyone in this forum. Its about breeds people think should be banned.
You may have a point there. It just must be that the vast majority of pitbull owners are irresponsible. I mean, who ELSE would want to bring a breed that's well-known as a fighting dog into their house? With children?
I gets the feeling you're just a Fate-tempter. You've heard all the negatives from all the 'dummies' and their 'irrational' beliefs about pitbulls, so you have to go and prove society wrong, eh? I'd guess the parents of that 6 YO girl were thinking the same thing.
On a side note, the pits I've dealt with have been, without doubt, the dumbest, most stubborn, and plainly unpredictable dogs I've ever met.
Yes Pit Bulls where bred for fighting. Their strength, tenacity, smarts and size have all beens used for negative things in the past and present. Pit Bulls are easily trained and have a large desire to please people. Unfortunately many people use this for horrible things. Pit Bulls where created to be completely trust worthy around children and adults, while having the ability and drive needed to bull bait, bear bait, hog hunt and dog fight (I am against all these cruel sports). The parents to the child in this story probably never took the dogs out of their back yard once and they probably never took them to even one training lesson with a professional. So this means these dogs would be unsocialized and untrained and any dogs without socialization and training are unpredictable with there behavior, no matter the breed. I'm sorry the parents didn't know better. We have way to many people breeding and not educating the buyers on the breeds they purchase( this goes for all breeds). I also want to point out to you that Collies are not as safe as you think they are, at the hospital my sister works at last year there was 4 different attacks on children caused by Collies. There was 8 caused by Golden Retrievers. Not even one Pit Bull attack has been reported in the last 5 years. Pit Bulls are the number one owned breed in my area. I guess I'm lucky that the people in my city are responsible Pit Bull owners and care about socializing and training their American Pit Bull Terriers.
BTTT
Biting and killing are a little different. Labs are on the top 10 list of biters. My lab doesn't bite but she is mouthy. If she mouths you and you jerk your hand away, you're bite.
Your right, biting and killing are two separate things. But still yet, it was a Black Lab that attacked and killed my cousin when I was eight years old.
Any animal can go bad. Some are more likely than others.
Your right and the American Temperament Test proves that. Pit Bulls have a higher score than 3/4 of all other breeds proving that its the people that own them not the dogs. If Pit Bulls where so bad than how come 200 Pit Bulls can be at one dog show and not one person or dog ever gets hurt?
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