Posted on 03/05/2003 5:21:18 AM PST by 2nd_Amendment_Defender
TAMPA - Teresa Castellano knows that some folks saved her life. She just doesn't know who they are. Castellano, 25, her daughter, Alysa McBride, 6, and her daughter's friend, Kaitlyn Green, 8, survived a recent attack from two Rottweilers and a pit bull.
It is an amazing story of horror and heroism.
Castellano said it began while she was watching the girls at Kaitlyn's home on Jan. 18. Kaitlyn's father, Sean Green, had stepped out for 10 minutes to run an errand.
Castellano, of Land O' Lakes, said she and the girls laughed at something on television, and that apparently sparked the dogs to start barking and growling. She soon realized the dogs were not playing, and she sensed it might get worse.
She asked the girls to quiet down so the dogs would relax.
It never happened.
The dogs attacked.
``When [the Rottweilers] saw the fear, one of them started biting Kaitlyn,'' Castellano said. ``I told them to stop screaming because they were making the dogs upset.''
Castellano said she laid on the girls to try and protect them from the dogs. She then tried to block the dogs to give the girls a chance to escape to a bedroom.
Nothing was working. The Rottweilers were going wild.
So Castellano and the girls bolted outside the house at 8126 Bay Drive. The girls ran to safety in a neighbor's house while Castellano distracted the dogs. The pit bull, Petey, joined in the attack.
The commotion outside attracted the attention of neighbors and a motorist passing by.
John M. Anderson and his wife were in their car and leaving a friend's house nearby when they passed by and saw three dogs attacking Castellano, according to a Hillsborough County sheriff's report. Anderson drove into the driveway and began blasting the horn and yelling out the window, trying to scare the dogs and allow Castellano to get into the car.
It seemed to work. The dogs stopped biting Castellano, but she couldn't make it to his car.
Anderson, 22, was about to get out of his car when he looked over his shoulder and saw a man toting a pistol. He kept honking his horn and sped away to get his friend, Justin Turner, who lived nearby.
The man with gun was Winston H. Harr, a next-door neighbor. He had heard screaming outside and grabbed his Kimber .45-caliber pistol. His wife, Deborah, came, too.
Harr said he saw Anderson's car moving back and forth in the driveway, and three dogs attacking a woman. Harr fired three shots into the ground to try and scare the dogs. They screamed at the dogs, but it didn't seem to matter. Deborah Harr called the dogs by name, and they stopped momentarily.
Then, without warning, the dogs charged at Harr. The pit bull bit him on the leg before Harr trained his pistol and fired, hitting the dog in the head. He also fired at one of the Rottweilers, and it fell to the ground.
Harr, a librarian's assistant at Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library near Carrollwood, said he fired the rest of his bullets at the third dog, and it seemed to back away. He bolted for his house for more ammunition and a flashlight.
Turner, who had heard the screams and was told by Anderson of the attacking dogs, grabbed his Glock .40-caliber pistol and ran to the scene. He was told there were three dogs, and only one was dead.
Turner, 33, told deputies he positioned himself between the wounded Castellano and the Rottweilers. When one of the dogs made a move toward him, he fired. Deputies believe it was his bullet that wounded the dog.
At that point, both Rottweilers retreated into the house.
Also arriving at the scene was neighbor George Lease, a Tampa police detective. Carrying his 9mm pistol, he found Harr and Turner at the house with their guns.
While Deborah Harr and Anderson comforted Castellano, the three armed neighbors searched the house and found the dogs, one wounded and on a couch and other other laying on the living room floor.
The wounded Rottweiler was euthanized later that night at Florida Veterinary Specialists, said Dennis McCullough, an investigator for Hillsborough County Animal Services.
The other Rottweiler was placed under quarantine at Animal Services until Wednesday, when it was euthanized.
Alysa was released from St. Joseph's Hospital on Jan. 26; Castellano remained hospitalized this week due to infections from the bites. Both mother and daughter needed more than 100 stitches each to close the wounds on their bodies.
Kaitlyn's injuries required 20 stitches, said her mother, Jennifer Harvey of Town 'N Country.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said no one will be charged in the incident.
For Castellano, she said she doesn't know who fired the shots that spared her from the dogs.
``I thank them with all my heart. They saved my life.''
My guess is your incident was exceptional - but "annoying" is perhaps misleading.
Non-lethal, or non life-threatening, might have been more appropriate.
Powerful dogs are easily capable of lethal force, esp. with regard to humans of small stature.
After dealing with German Shepard's for many years, it's clear your list is created out of glaring ignorance.
We have a Great Pyranese guard dog out in the fields with the sheep. He will kill anything that goes in there without me being around. We have coyote and wolf problems around here. Not any more at my place. And any LEO who ever thinks he's going to go wandering around my place will be mighty sorry. The DNR man did that two years back. Instead of asking me to gain access to my property to look at whatever he was interested in, he just climbed the fence and walked a hundred feet into the pasture. A neighbor called to inform me that she saw a man in a tree in my pasture. He was all lippy at me telling me he could shoot my dog. I told him he could just stay there then. A dog is not an easy handgun target when facing you. After he did get down, I wrote the DNR complaining of trespass. No response though.
Unfortunately, we had a few dogs and when he was coming in the dog door, the lab was going out, and both were at cat chasing speed. The head on crash left the shephard killed instantly on the spot from a broken neck. The lab was found a few feet away with temporary paralysis. He recovered. To all you dog owners out there, never get a swinging dog door that is not clear plastic.
And I agree, German shepard's are smart beyond belief. It's really amazing. My wife and I have to spell out words to each other so she doesn't understand what we are saying, like, have you given her a T R E A T today? Or you wanna W A L K the dog? Of course now she is learning how to spell, so it aint working no more.....
jmt teeman
We were devastated for months.
My in laws breed them. Very high quality dogs, some that finish on the show circuit. I will tell you without hesitation their behavior is not always honest. They are exceedingly smart but some have personality problems, while others in the same litter are totally level headed. I base this on mexperience with 60-70 of them.
A dog is a large carnivore and must be treated as such.
A cat can do that too. Turns on its gravity beam (the same one that enables a 10 pound cat to weigh 100 pounds on your bed) then gets right in front of your foot. Then when you trip on it, it runs right in front of your other foot.
Bump
Good point. I have wondered that too.
I knew someone(a family) who had two Rotties, one bought for each kid, and a couple who had a pit bull. I have rarely seen nicer, sweeter dogs. But, its all how you treat them. Im leary of such dogs myself until they become familiar with me and I know the owners raised them and treated them right.
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