Wednesday, February 16, 2011

another day, another victim

and speaking of sudden, random, unprovoked and violent....

recently someone sent me their pit bull experience. their identity and location have not been disclosed, those details are not relevant. these attacks are happening daily across the nation and the globe. here is one person's pit bull experience.

It was a peculiar day one winter morning. Surprisingly it was warm and inviting, I had thought that that today would be the day to get some sun on my face and enjoy the on goings of my neighborhood.

I have ridden my bike many times, one could say almost thrice weekly. And I've had dogs gently keep pace with me as I peddled around the busy neighborhood, while the pit bulls generally looked on with disinterest. Other days I had little yappies (small dogs) chase me as though they were part pit myself. And even had a lab or two vehemently chase me off their property, but never did they pursue me after I bolted from the front of their house.

Well this one day was the day that I felt would be the fight of my life. i did my usual round about the neighborhood. And was passing a school in my well flourished and hipster neighborhood. As I passed, I had thought I'd glimpsed a sulking pit type dog only to see it was a trash bag floating within the inner gate of the school. But I was fooled.

Two or three cars were blocking a four way and I caught glimpse of an adorable pit bull. It was a puppy, but an older puppy - maybe around 9 or 10 months of age. The obviously confused and frightened pit bull looked at me with a want of security and I put my guard down, despite my wariness of the breed.

I didn't call it, but looked at it with a wanting and helpful demeanor, the dog came to me with a light gate and a wagging tail. I thought I could pat this pit bull upon the head with no problem and possibly direct it to someone who would watch it. No sooner than when I relaxed did the canine suddenly purse its lips like this and then changed its gate to a more menacing pace and posture.

I mounted my bike and then as soon as I moved the pit bull charged me.

Desperately for 4 blocks I weaved around cars and pedestrians. The pit was hot on my heels and on many occasions I was forced to swerve in front of cars (at least 4 times) in order to attempt to block the dog who tried to bite my right heel.

I was tired, exhausted, and feared the worst. I had medical issues so I was beginning to become light headed. I was going faster than the cars which were going about 15 to 20 and down a very steep hill. I could have easily slipped and died from a break or been killed by oncoming traffic. I was too tired to continue and stopped fearing the worse. Before I reached the fifth block looked back and saw the pit bull was being petted by someone who was around the fourth block of our chase.

The dog was kind and licked the person on the mouth. Despite growling and pursuing me for four blocks. I called Animal control as I had the street the person lived (who picked up the dog), license, and car type. They did nothing about it.

The dog was not abused. It was well cared for, had a new expensive collar and a glistening coat. The house it lived in was expensive and well kept. The car the owner drove was nice and well kept.

Out of all the dogs who have chased me I have never encountered such tenacity as that of the pit bull. I have been chased by small yappy dogs that with one kick sent them whimpering back to their house. I have been deterred by big dogs who instantly backed down when I passed their yard. But the one breed who's supposedly like any other breed pursued me relentlessly for four blocks until a good samaritan blocked it with his car. And this dog instantly went from pathetic, to vicious, to docile.

Which is why I ask you. Are pit bulls like any other dog, and should they be treated as such? Thankfully this one did not get me. And even more thankfully was I not pursued by a post pregnant, scarred, black pit bull who glared at me with such intensity from a yard away.

All it takes is meeting one pit bull, isn't that right?

16 comments:

Bagheera Kiplingi said...

The birth of an advocate.

John said...

The pursed lips thing? Maybe this is what the person was talking about.

http://image03.webshots.com/3/8/97/71/27989771MAsTfFKFzm_fs.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/50/116134529_f0ff4d09a5.jpg

I've seen that with dogs before when they're not too happy about a situation or are having the urge to act in offense, aka bite someone.

I've been around dogs that have done this, and almost all of them would try and bite me soon after doing that gesture with their mouth.

John said...

I mentioned that because I think there was supposed to be a link somewhere in the journal but didn't see one. Hope that helps!

grizzled rider said...

i too am a cyclist whose wariness for pitbulls is based on experience rather than ignorance. cycling is regarded as healthy and good but i have become to believe that it is actually fairly high risk, you log a lot of miles and things will happen. the grim reaper (and his pitbulls) have taken a lot of serious cyclists.

Anonymous said...

Woman shoots a pit bull and bull terrier for tormenting her dog.

http://www.koco.com/news/26907262/detail.html

Anonymous said...

Two "lab mixes" attack a pit bull and beagle.

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-poway-dog-attack,0,1959147.story

I betcha those mixes have a bit of pit in them, they normally do when lab or boxer is in front of their name... especially when you see images.

Ironic that a person with a pit bull wants the dog attacker to man up. I wonder if she would man up if it were her pit that did the biting.

Anonymous said...

@ grizzled rider


I have had this same level of caution as well. Too often are pit bulls lunging at the fences and viciously barking at me. With maybe a lab or here doing it. But on my biking route, there are 4 pit bulls and 1 lab. This is the safest route as other have 5 to 8 pit bulls each.
Yep. It's pit city where I like sadly.

Anonymous said...

Another Heart warming Pit Historical moment was when Author Jack London referred to Pit Bulls as "Clinging Death".



http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rJEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=olkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6517,2358786&dq=fatally+bitten+by+dog&hl=en

Anonymous said...

Cute fairy tale.

Slade said...

Anon 6:08

Yup! Because these people must be lying about their experiences! That would surely explain the dozens of mauled children this month. Especially the ones that were done by the children's very own nanny dogs!

You nutters make me sick... I don't think I would mind as much if it were just the owners of these dogs being mauled and not the innocent people in society.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 08

Are you seriously calling bullshit? That's a riot! You're the worst scum ever... so desperate to avoid responsibility that you go through the lengths of even dying your pibbles to not let them get the gas.

I may not know this person, but I can believe their tale as I myself have been attacked by your frankenmaulers.
If any of your pit bulls got attacked by anything other than a pit bull, it would not be a far stretch to call bullshit on your stories.

Seriously, stop being a fuckwad.

Anonymous said...

Don't you guys know, any and all stories of pit bull attacks are fairy tales? It's obvious that cocker spaniels and poodles are deviously disguising themselves as pibbles, trying to make the pibbles look guilty by launching these attacks. Or the bike rider provoked the pit bull by... daring to riding her bike. Yeah, that's it!

Too bad people can't go for mule rides in their neighborhoods. ;)

- Anonymouse

Anonymous said...

Anonymouse

I would take a guard mule over shitbull any day.

And yes, the whole thing with poodles and labs is true! Because the movie Cats & Dogs proves they have such technology!

Seriously, these nutters should be banned or regulated like their pit bulls.

Anonymous said...

Another baby killed by the "loving family pit bull." See dogsbite.org

The question I have is, what mother out there DOESN'T know that pit bulls and children are a deadly mix? This is common knowledge now. Who would do this to their kids?

gofigure said...

these people are really good at shifting blame to the victim but what can they say when the victim is their own child?

Jake said...

"family pit bull"... ugh, what a bizarre combination of words.

I don't understand what sort of parents would put their new born baby at the mercy of a frankenmauler, but I wouldn't wish this tragedy on anyone, and I feel very sorry for everyone involved in this horrible event.