B.C. boy needed 100 stitches after pit bull attack

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
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Large or small is not the issue. The Pits should not have been lose.

Also a small dog may bite but it is not going to rip your newborn apart.... larger dogs left alone with babies have done that.

A well socialized animal should behave but why one would take the chance is beyond belief. That kid is going to be messed for a long time.
 

amagqira

Nominee Member
Oct 15, 2006
53
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Alberta
Pitbulls - or rather Staffordshire terriers - one of the most loveable and dumb mutts I ever had. It is all about the owner and the way the dogs are socialized. He adored all kids and the kids could do with him whatever they wanted.

The only time I ever saw him ever really get riled up, was when we used to go walking and there was this irritating mongrel who used to come out of his yard and go yapping about two yards behind us while my pooch was being walked on his leash. By the third walk he had enough and it took all my strengh to stop him going after the other dog, I swear I thought he was going to kill him if he caught him.
 

Unforgiven

Force majeure
May 28, 2007
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I wonder why it is that no one will institute regulations on breeding? Anyone who wants to can breed dogs. This is probably the worst thing that has happened to dogs. Any dog regardless of the breed is no danger to anyone or anything if it's kept in the right hands.

Bred correctly and raised right, an APBT or Amstaff would never get the chance to get into trouble in the first place. It's when someone who doesn't know what they are doing gets a hold of a couple of dogs and starts breeding for all the wrong reasons, only to look for a way to get rid of the pups, mostly to suckers who don't know better.
 

MikeyDB

House Member
Jun 9, 2006
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I had a black and white mongrel attack me while I was walking home from work...(a few years ago...) and knowing I would be walking that way again next time I left work, I obtained a two by three of oak about three feet long and took it with me....

Almost "on-cue" this dog came barrelling down the driveway from where he lives and leaped for my throat.... I did my best Babe Ruth imitation and drove for the fence, contacting the attacking dog squarely on the head just above the eyes..... Dog went down and stayed down....... nice dog.
 

Praxius

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Dec 18, 2007
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Update:

B.C. boy recovering from pit bull attack
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/05/06/bc-pitbull-boy.html

A boy who was mauled by a pair of pit bulls on a Surrey, B.C., playground on Sunday says he shivers when he thinks about the attack.

"I hurt a lot — my arm, my face," Sean Bajwa, 11, told reporters on Tuesday while sitting in a wheelchair at Surrey Memorial hospital, numerous stitches on the right side of his face, his arms wrapped in bandages.

Bajwa, 11, was playing basketball with friends when he saw the two pit bulls wander onto the court.

"They started to walk towards me," he recalled. "I got scared, tried to get away, but I tripped and then they were all over me. They started licking me and then all of the sudden they bite me on my leg and both my arms. I couldn't feel a thing because all the skin was gone — like, there was like pieces of skin on their faces, on the dogs' faces."

He said he feels shivers and is having trouble sleeping, but hopes to go home in a couple of days.

Bajwa said he was grateful to Jordan Slezak, 20, the neighbour whose quick action may have saved his life. When Slezak saw what was happening, he grabbed a baseball bat and struck one of the dogs twice before it released Bajwa.

Bajwa blamed the owner of the dogs for the attack, and thinks both animals should be destroyed.

Both dogs are now in the custody of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and at least one of them has been determined to be dangerous, SPCA manager Janice Levers said Tuesday.

The male pit bull "is definitely a dangerous dog. He's very concerning to me, with the severity of this attack," she said.

Levers said the SPCA has located the dogs' owner, and are talking to him about the dogs' future.

The SPCA is also looking into the dogs' history, and is interviewing neighbours to see whether any other complaints have been made about them.
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
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Is anyone interested in hearing what I deem from time to time...My Finest Hour...or second to be more exact.

Very much a bad dog vs. a teenager who had had enough.
 

EagleSmack

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Feb 16, 2005
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of course eagle

Ok...

So I was 15 and I had a buddy who had a male German Sheppard. Very aggressive and trained to attack. His Dad was a former Marine MP (leave it to us Marines) and just had that type of personality. The dog HATED me and I was scared to death of it. It was big, and mean. Whenever I would go over there and get the signal...

"Come on in Steve"

The dog would fly at me barking causing my buddy to pull him (Klink...the dogs name) back. But it would still bark and growl until it settled. This went on for years. The dog just didn't like me.

The final straw was one night upon hearing me knock on the door invited me in from the couch as he read the paper. The dog a little late on hearing the knock saw me and lunged on my chest. It was face to face with me barking and the Dad calmly said w/o looking up from the paper...

"Knock it off Klink."

The dog stayed on my chest, bareing it's teeth and growling.

"Knock it off Klink"

Still growling. I thought it was going to bite my face. Finally the Dad looks up from the paper...

"Get down off him Klink...c'mere boy...sit..." the dog FINALLY got off my chest and sat down as he pet it's head "Richie! (my buddy's name) Steve is here."

THAT WAS IT! I was going to get that dog.

I found a piece of sidewalk and hit it below a bush on my buddy's street. A lot of times they would just leave the dog on the porch and whenever it saw me it would run off the porch to greet me as he had for years...barking and growling.

One night I was heading over the house and saw Klink on the porch. I got the piece of concrete and hid it behind my back. It was nice and dark and between street lights...perfect. He came off the porch only this time instead of running I taunted him. He got really aggressive...more so than ever and was about to lunge when I came down on his head with the concrete. I let him have it and the dog went yelping...I took off the other way.

So...from that day forth whenever that dog got aggressive I reached behind my back as if I had a rock and the dog INSTANTLY turned away with his ears down and tail between his legs.
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
32,493
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In the bush near Sudbury
Anyone who lets the dog run at large in a playground - where kids just naturally run - deserves to have his testicles slammed in a car door. Imagine.... Forcing the pooch to display an owner's lunacy....
 
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karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
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So...from that day forth whenever that dog got aggressive I reached behind my back as if I had a rock and the dog INSTANTLY turned away with his ears down and tail between his legs.

While I can't say I support the intentional targeting of a dog, with some animals it seems the only way for them to get past the other conditioning and issues that have come into play in their behavior, is to face a physical repercussion.

I know that growing up on the farm, this sort of method got used with animals a lot. One was a cow that constantly kicked whenever anyone would go near it. Hiding a shovel behind his back until he got near was how dad cured the cow of that. Taking it out once the cow could no longer see him, and having the shovel blade firmly positioned to catch the flying leg, cured the cow of any desire to kick people on the very first try.
 

Lester

Council Member
Sep 28, 2007
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Some dogs are beautifully trained- When I was a kid I had a Sheperd(sandy) while I was at school she stayed in the yard. One day I was being chased by the neighbourhood bullies, after a block of running flat out I got home just ahead of them and flung open the gate "Get em Girl" I said the dog came snarling out of the yard looked at me and I pointed to the ring leader, this kid took off and tried to scale the neihgbours fence in a desperate attempt to escape. too late she ripped the a** out of his pants before I could call her off- You know what, I never had a problem with those kids ever again. I still miss that damn dog.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
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Some dogs are beautifully trained- When I was a kid I had a Sheperd(sandy) while I was at school she stayed in the yard. One day I was being chased by the neighbourhood bullies, after a block of running flat out I got home just ahead of them and flung open the gate "Get em Girl" I said the dog came snarling out of the yard looked at me and I pointed to the ring leader, this kid took off and tried to scale the neihgbours fence in a desperate attempt to escape. too late she ripped the a** out of his pants before I could call her off- You know what, I never had a problem with those kids ever again. I still miss that damn dog.

my dog was a really well tempered, calm dog. Loved everyone. Then I got pregnant. She's been getting incrementally more aggressive and paranoid since. She HAS to be between me and any man who shows up at the house, or she goes berserk. She's never bit anyone, but she is right there, demanding that they acknowledge that she will if they try anything stupid. I think the instant one of my kids came home in a panic like that being chased, she'd probably do the same thing.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
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Vancouver Island
The boy has about 100 stiches, and he was lucky, as the man who saved him, was
not far away and heard him.

I am amazed that, they are going to put the dog down, 'if the owner agrees'. The owner
should automatically lose any authority to have any say, the dog should be put down,
it is obvious that somewhere during the dogs upbringing, there was abuse or lack of
nurturing for the animal, too late now. There is a difference between a pitt bull and
most other dogs, and the fact that those dogs were running loose in a park, is like
leaving a 'land mine' laying in the park, with children playing.

The young man who saved the boy, said there was two little girls playing a little way away
from the incident, and he was worried for them too, so, what might have happened if
he hadn't come by, just imagine.

I have raised dogs for many years, and I know how important the first year is, in the lif e
of a dog. Many people just don't have a clue, and that often turns out to be the
downfall of the dog, and some stranger/child who might be in the wrong place at the wrong
time.
 

Unforgiven

Force majeure
May 28, 2007
6,770
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Often people need as much training as dogs do. Some even more.
Never run from a dog. Instinct is a very powerful drive and for most dogs, it's a trigger to chase and catch.

Dogs play with their mouths. I'm sure that if they did have hands with opposable thumbs they would play with their hands. But they don't. Consider this, when you were young, you would rough and tumble, play fight and what not with your buddies. You of course used your hands to do so and eventually learned a few tricks and how things work that way. Dogs are no different really. When people play fight with them, when they are young, play tug of war and what not, they are teaching the dog to play. Problem is, once a dog grows to it's potential it's far too rough to play even a little bit with someone who isn't prepared mentally and physically to under go the rigors of all out play.

Kicking screaming and hitting are play for most dogs. So when some kid thinking they are being attacked, kicks screams and hits the dog, to the dogs perspective, it's just ramping up the game a bit. Like a kid who hits too hard.

Dogs need people in order to live with people. They are supposed to be a fun, lovable companion to the owner and an admired member of the community. That's the ideal. These things are taught to the dog, just as they are taught to a child. Only sometimes they are not.

A dog should never have the chance to decide if it should chase down some running screaming kid. It doesn't matter the dogs size or abilities. What matters is the owner and the knowledge they have and their ability to control the dog. I've seen a very few dogs that can honestly be off a leash in public.

Breeding dogs should be strictly regulated and only knowledgeable and responsible people allowed to breed and sell a dog. Owners should be regulated as well to prove their abilities before an inspector that they are capable and responsible in owning and caring for a dog.
This means insurance too.

I suspect that this would bring an end to the dogs given up to humane societies and rescue groups. The same should be done for cats as far as I'm concerned.
 

Praxius

Mass'Debater
Dec 18, 2007
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... The final straw was one night upon hearing me knock on the door invited me in from the couch as he read the paper. The dog a little late on hearing the knock saw me and lunged on my chest. It was face to face with me barking and the Dad calmly said w/o looking up from the paper...

"Knock it off Klink."

The dog stayed on my chest, bareing it's teeth and growling.

"Knock it off Klink"

Still growling. I thought it was going to bite my face. Finally the Dad looks up from the paper...

"Get down off him Klink...c'mere boy...sit..." the dog FINALLY got off my chest and sat down as he pet it's head "Richie! (my buddy's name) Steve is here."........

The owner's actions alone in the above situation diserves a slab of concrete against his skull.

None of my dogs would have ever gotten far enough to pounce on your chest and growl with teeth showing like that, because the next step from that is taking your face into their mouths and shaking.

When the dog is like that all the time, it is of course a dominance thing it enjoys playing with you each time he/she sees you, but the owner of the dog should have addressed this attitude of the dog long ago and not by "Knock it off Klink" This shows that the dog has more slack and leinancy when around his owner or that the owner gives a level of tollerance for this type of behavior in which gives the dog a level of unpredictability.

I don't care who's friggin dog it is, whether they are right there beside their dog or not, but if a dog is going to do that to me continually, their owner's going to soon realize that they better keep the damn dog in check or I'll keep him in check for him... and I won't be using blunt objects to do it either.

An animal can learn to fear a human with a weapon, it's an entirely different situation when they fear a human as a human.
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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Related, news from my home town.

YARMOUTH — A pair of pit bull-type dogs are in quarantine today after a Yarmouth man was savagely attacked Saturday.
But the dogs’ owner defended them Monday, alleging that the victim was trying to break into his home.
A woman who said a bloodied man came to her door crying out for help said she thought the man would die before help arrived.
RCMP officers responded to a dog bite call just after 2 p.m. at an apartment in the town’s south end.
"The dogs were inside the residence . . . when the officers arrived," said Const. Mark Connell.
Another person had earlier helped pull the dogs off the victim, who staggered away leaving a trail of blood.
Donna Noonan was waitressing in a nearby restaurant when the man banged on the door. She and another waitress thought he’d been beaten up, but he said he’d been mauled by two pit bulls.
"He was completely . . . covered in blood," said Ms. Noonan.
"I don’t think anybody would recognize who he was.
"The poor man, he was bitten from head to toe . . . like somebody took an axe or an ice pick to his whole body.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1054196.html

I know the last couple times I've visited back home, I've noticed many more of these dogs than there used to be. Not just with the drug dealers (of which there are plenty.) Hard to say what was going on in this case.
 

EagleSmack

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Feb 16, 2005
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While I can't say I support the intentional targeting of a dog, with some animals it seems the only way for them to get past the other conditioning and issues that have come into play in their behavior, is to face a physical repercussion.

I was desperate and found a solution. I did not know the results would be so positive though. It never bothered me again. Even in their house. I just put my hand behind my back and the dog backed off immdiately.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
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My dog would probably attack someone breaking into the house if the kids or I were home. I'd fight tooth and nail before I let anyone put my dog down for something that comes naturally to her, defending her family. If those dogs attacked that guy for breaking in then, imo, he had it coming.
 

dirtylinder

get dirty
Apr 24, 2007
301
6
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vancouver island
I recently had to put my old german shephard down, she was 12.5 ...our PUB dog...when someone got out of hand or threatened me or my staff, she just calmly sat in between the bad guy and me....she was the greatest dog ever....I will always miss her...if I had ever said get them Klaus, she would have.
I have a border collie (Ellie May)who is way more agressive than Klaus was...but only towards dogs and little kids she has nipped them trying to herd them around which has got her in some major trouble...she hasn't done it for years now, but, I still warn her, and she knows I will wring her neck if she does it again. I would never allow her to run free in a park where children are playing.
The people who own these pitt bulls will see days in court, and will pay dearly, as they should!