Pets & morning drama

This morning..just like any other morning, I awoke and let me dogs out into the yard. Almost immediately I was alerted to something wrong by much unusual and aggresive barking. I ran outside to find my neighbors two small children(age 6 & 4)trapped in her yard with two free roaming and quite large rottweilers. My dogs, who play with and adore these kids had distracted the dogs and they were barking at each other through the chain link fence.The kids were sort of paralized with fear and their mother was no where to be seen. Then my other neighbor let his dog and cat out. Well, I finally screamed at the kids enough that they went in, and we got the neighbors dog in as well as mine. Animal control was called, but sadly, not soon enough to prevent these two dogs from attacking and injuring another neighbors pet dog and killing a cat. I adore dogs and cats and own quite a few, but it is very upseting to me when people do not restrain and control their pets. This was a potentially deadly situation for the kids and could have well been avoided by a little more caution on the part of the animal owner. Anyone else ever had a scary situation like that?
Sandy

Sandy, did they pick up the dogs?? I hope the kids didn't witness the poor cat, but thank God it was not one of them. What did their mom think??

Hi tiG,
I just came back from checking on the kids and wanted them to be sure they knew that I wasn't mad at them(I was yelling pretty feverishly)and that they realized not to go near strange dogs. They witnessed nothing and still don't realize the danger they were in.Animal control did pick up both dogs finally, my only remaining concern is that the cat that was killed, may be my neighbors, and they are not home yet to find out.
S

What a terrible day for you Sandy. And sad for the animals owners that were hurt and killed and sad too for the owners of the roaming animals who dont care. Thanks god you were there and moreso that your dogs were.

Oh Sandy -- I'm so sorry you had to witness this......how awful! But thank God you were there to rescue those kids!

I too, have seen vicious dogs destroy other animals...when I lived in SC there was a woman who was constanly losing her shar pei "Charlie".....and he would roam our neighborhood and munch on any critter he could run across. I saw him kill one of the kittens that I'd been trying to tame (to rescue/spay/neuter,adopt out).......it just broke my heart! I told the woman if I EVER saw her dog in or around my property again, I'd kill it. And I meant it. Never saw him again.

I do pray that those dogs will be restrained permanently......and that those kids will be forever safe in their own yard!

We took a dog out of the pound a while back that was beautiful, friendly and so darn smart we had to take him back again! He managed to get out of the fenced yard the first day {jumped an 8 ft fence) The second day we tied him up hoping he would get used to us and stick around...he chewed through the rope and jumped the fence again. The third day we used a chain...He managed to slip his collar and was off...on day 4 he managed to unfasten the chain from the collar somehow...On Day 5 we took him back...after paying to get him his shots, liscence and nutering a grand total of $125.00! Two days later there was an ad in the paper describing a lost dog 30 miles from us that had just been adopted....I called and let his new owners know they could come and get him anytime....He had come 30 miles and jumped the fence INTO my yard! Would have kept him but he kept jumping fences so he could "herd" the ranchers cattle and they kind of frown on that around here!

Zanymuse that reminds me of a story.

Some 35 years ago when my son was very young he was deathly afraid of dogs. We went to the pound and got a cute little dog. Eventually my son got over his fear.

But the dog! We had a 6-foot block wall fence and this tiny thing could get out. I watched and discovered that he was using a small pile of dirt as a launch ramp. He would run full tilt up the little slope and bounce onto the wall.

Eventually we got tired of bailing him out of the pound and gave him away. He would escape from that owner and come back to us.

I also have a strange story. Bubba, our collie, is three years old and never wandered. One day he was gone. I looked for him for three days and figured that someone just took him. (That's been known to happen around here.) On the 4th day, a neighbor from town called and said that his dad had a collie wander to his farm about 17 miles away. They took the number off his tag and called the vet whose phone number was on another tag and found out he was ours. We got the dog back, skinny and dirty and he never wandered again. Don't know why he suddenly wandered off, maybe chasing a coyote or something. (Bubba is not known for his brains.) (Lassie he ain't)LOL
Ruth

All this about wandering dogs makes me realize how fortunate I am that my labs(knock on wood) have never strayed out of the yard. Although it is fenced they certainly have had opportunities
Sandy

I've got a wonderful ederly neighbor, who has nothing to do all day but keep tabs on my animals. I have my back yard fenced in, but my cocker spaniel Dusty has always managed to squeeze thru gaps here and there. And my neighbor just LOVES to tell me when he's out. Dusty is harmless, all bark and no bite, and he loves kids - most of the time he gets out to follow them up the road, hoping they'll play with him. Not only that, but because I have raised cockers for years, probably 2/3 of them in my county had come from my kennel, and they all bear a similar resemblence.
Anyways, to shorten this up a bit, my neighbor came knocking on my door one morning, yelling at me that my dog was out and was sh*tting in her yard. She said she had called the dog warden and she was tired of my dog roaming the neighborhood.
I took all of this very calmly, because Dusty had spent the morning in the house with me.
When she stopped a moment to catch her breath, I asked her if my dog was out at this very moment, which she replied yes, he was in her yard right now, probably ruining her grass.
I then stood aside and showed her Dusty, who had been cowering behind me the whole time.
I've never seen a more beautiful shade of red than the one her faced turned. lovely....

After that, she's never bothered me or my dogs again...


Since my favorite dog-pal was killed by a car years ago, I have never allowed my dogs to roam free. To this day I feel guilty about not being responsible enough to keep him penned in.


Bucky

I am so sorry to hear what you had to go through Sandy. Yes, I've had a similar situation. I came home for lunch one day and went to let my dogs in, but they were not at the sliding glass door - very unusual. I walked out into the backyard and around the house looking for my dogs. At the far corner of the yard, I found Cypress, my Greyhound mix, dead on the ground. As I looked up to see if I could find Diamond, our boxer, I found I was being circled by 2 large pit bulls. I had never seen these dogs before and our yard is completely fenced so that was the last thing I expected. Our back door was on the far side of the house and that was one of the longest walks I've ever taken - they were circling me the whole time. I didn't fall apart until I was safely back inside, but by the time I reached the phone to call my husband, I was shaking like a leaf. He flew home in record time while I called animal control. They told me they could not send anyone out for several hours. Hubby decided he had to look for Diamond as she might still be alive. We didn't know if the demon dogs were still in the yard - they had gotten in somehow, so hopefully they let themselves out the way they came in. Just in case, he took a gun with him and it's a good thing, because the dogs immediately charged out of the brushy area in the back of yard and tried to attack him. He had to shoot both of them. As a dog lover, that still bothers me at times even though I realize he had no choice. We found Diamond and we got her to the vet just in the nick of time. If we had waited for animal control, she would have certainly died. After a long stay in doggie-icu she recovered with only a slight limp and is still with us 7 years later. Looking back, I'm convinced that someone or something was watching over me that day. I am still amazed that I was not injured or killed.

AnnMarie

Why do people feel they need dogs that were bred for fighting????? I've seen the nicest PitBulls in family homes turn on their owners.

When I was younger I rented a room from my brother. A pitbull had somehow gotten into his garage (very old garage, dirt floor, shaky). It was stuck and going absolutely insane in there. It tore everything up, kept lungeing at the door like a battering ram (the door opened inward). We called animal control & it took them some time to get it on that stick with a laso thing they use. Animal control had the nerve to suggest it was our dog & we were trying to get rid of it since it had turned. Anyway, they took it away & never saw it again.

Julie

Those pit bulls are fiends! I can't understand why people keep them either. Is it some macho me-big-man bull crud? Is it to compensate for feeling effeminately urbanized? What is the deal with pit bulls as pets? It's like keeping a lion. Ridiculous.

AnnMarie, what a horrible day that must have been. Did you ever find out where the pit bulls had come from?

AnnMarie,
My heart goes out to you over the loss of the one dog and the ruthless attack on the second. I have no sympathy for dog owners who do not properly control and contain their pets. When an animal is out of the yard, they are confused and scared in addition to just being on the prowl. fear in an animal is a very dangerous thing. A few incompetent and careless pet owners tend to make the rest of us responsible people look bad to others who are not animal lovers
Sandy

Oh boy, hope I'm not going to open up a can of worms here.....but here goes....

I owned a pit bull/boxer mix. Sasha was the most obedient, passive dog I've ever owned - and I've had quite a few. Whether it was simply the boxer half of her or not, I would have trusted that dog with my life.

Any dog breed that becomes popular is subject to inbreeding and mishandling that creates the dogs we hear horror stories about. Pit bulls have been bred to fight and attack...to kill and shred. I'd love to wring the neck of every moron who thinks its "cool" to have a pit bull. When I got Sasha from the SPCA, they simply listed her as mixed breed, and I treated her no differently than my other dogs at the time. She was raised with cocker spaniels, and that's what she thought she was. I treated her as I did them, I was the alpha dog, and what I said was law. I never showed her any fear. The only time she ever caused anyone harm was when she tried to climb into a lap.

I have no answers for this crisis. I think it's very sad that these dogs are being raised as killers. If people want a good watchdog, any dog will do. Any dog can alert it's master to intruders. If people want a guard dog, what exactly are they guarding that they can't protect with an alarm system?
If people are looking for personal protection, they shouldn't rely on dogs. Certainly not big dogs, that's for sure. I had a cocker who took a chunk out of my ex's arm when he shoved me during an arguement. It certainly doesn't depend on size, my ex can tell you that.
Breed-specific abuse (greyhounds also come to mind....) is a wretched thing. I personally have no qualms about animal abuse being a felony. The people involved in this sort of thing are not people I want out on the streets.

Sorry for the soap box sermon, I'm not trying to be rude, just educate. If we cold stop these people first, the breeding and training that turns these dogs into killers would stop.

Well said, Bucky!

The pit bulls belonged to a neighbor down the street who was a breeder and "trainer". He has since moved away, but my dogs still stay in the house when I'm not home, no matter what breed or size. I've learned to live with the dog hair, the dust, and the lack of fine furniture. The person that invented futons must have had dogs - those washable covers are a godsend :)

AnnMarie

Bucky
I agree with you 150 % on all of you well-spoken points. I fully belive that the problems are with the people and not the dogs, whether it be from over-breeding or the way the animal is raised and treated. Two of my best friends have a rottweiler and he is the sweetest most loveable dog you would want to be around. another girlfriend has 2 pit bull mix dogs and again, they are wonderful pets for both her and her children. I must admit; however, with the exception of these dogs that I know, I am basicly afraid of pit bulls and rottwielers. In my case ...their reputation preceeds them..
I have 5 labs, 2 pomeranians and 5 pomeranian puppies at this time, and I do breed my dogs. I am vehemently opposed to in-breeding and I'm not real big on line-breeding either. There can be problems down the road. If you don't breed your dpgs with love of the breed, you will surely have problems.
Sandy(and my dogs are house dogs...they are not out back in a kennel)

Bucky,
don't be sorry for your "soap box sermon"! I had no idea that pit bulls weren't little demons by nature. It is rather unforgivable to lay the blame on the dog, isn't it?

Shelly

I am not a news person. It depresses me and I have enough to deal with without crying my eyes out for the world.

Okay, that said, I'm sure that some of you heard the recent San Diego story about the neighbors living in an apartment setting with a common entry...? One of the neighbors owned two rottwielers and did not control them when another neighbor was trying to enter her home... the dogs mauled and killed this woman. The person who was home at the time, and in direct charge of these animals is being charged with murder, as it should be. The at home owner was female, and is being pricipally charged. The male owner is being charged on a lesser violition.

All I can say is, it's about time. I don't own dogs, not a real big fan either. BUT, a dog only knows what it has been taught... There have been sick individuals out there training dogs to react to racial stimulus, fear, and all sorts of other chemical triggers. Dogs are like children in that they only know what they are taught. FINALLY someone is laying the blame where the issue belongs. The AKC has disbanded(what ever the technical term is when breed recognition status is removed) the American Pit Bull as a breed as it has too much violence attatched to it's history. Too many attacks, court cases, and mauled children. How sad, that such a fine breed has been used as a tool by people who had nothing but discontent to teach these animals...

My family always owned miniature Boston Terriers. In the beginning, my grandmother had a full size, but as time went on we all ended up with the smaller size. Our dog could jump six feet into the air unassisted, and God Forbid you should mean any member of my family harm. My dad was a longdistance trucker which left me and mom home alone, alot. Right after one of my moms surgeries, I went in to wake her from a nap and got attacked by the dog that slept with me every night! Mom knew that Lady was not startled awake, as mom wasn;t sleeping, just resting, and Lady had been trying to borrow under the covers... five seconds later she was snarling, leaping for my throat. I was barely five feet tall, so if she had really meant it, I wouldn't be typing this now, but stressed women don't always think in a straight line. She spent the night chained into her bed, and went straight to the vet the next morning. She also tried to take a chunk out of Dad later, even though he WAS the Alpha Male. He beat her so bad with my clarinet case, he jammed my reed right up into somewhere it shouldn't have been. She never preformed that trick again, but I always felt better knowing how she felt about my mom, her Alpha Dog. And that Dad was in the same catagory that I was. When you are young you don't always aprreciate the nuances of adulthood... and that dog was going to protect my mom if it meant her life.

Really truely, there are no bad dogs, just bad owners!

Sandy, I'm sorry that you were subjected to such a startlement, not to mention the disruption of your neighborhood.

AnnMarie, I'm so glad that you are still with us.

Thank you for this uplifting story.

Cena