Pit bull attack breaks calm
Dog was tranquil, owners say, until their son was hurt
Kenneth Garrison, with his son, Jadyn, 1, who was attacked by the family’s pit bull and hospitalized. Garrison, too, was hurt. (Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr. / October 22, 2007)
By Brent Jones Sun reporter
“Had we seen any signs that the dog was violent, he would have never came here,” Melissa Garrison said.
Because of the attack, investigators from the city’s Department of Social Services have made two visits to the Garrison’s Armistead Gardens house in East Baltimore, the family said. A spokeswoman from the department said she could not comment on individual cases.
Jane Smith, the spokeswoman, said it is not uncommon for the department to investigate family dog attacks as a form of neglect.
Investigators will visit at least twice a month for the next two months, Melissa Garrison said. The couple has five children ranging in age from 13 days to 9 years old.
Kenneth Garrison, 26, said he had owned four pit bulls previously and that none of them was vicious. He assumed ownership of the dog from a cousin who died last month. Despite numerous news reports of pit bulls attacking humans and other dogs, Garrison took the dog in with no reservations. He said he was familiar with the dog and that his cousin did not breed him to be violent.
Shortly after nightfall Saturday, Melissa Garrison, 26, who had given birth to the couple’s youngest child a week earlier, said she was sitting on her couch relaxing. She said Jadyn was the only child in the room at the time, standing with a cookie in his hand a few feet from the dog when Chocolate charged and went straight for the child’s face.
Melissa said she screamed, then lunged at the animal and head-butted it.
Kenneth Garrison heard the commotion from upstairs. He said he ran down, grabbed the dog by its neck and fought with it for about 10 minutes. Garrison said he wrestled the dog into the kitchen, where it remained while the rest of the family rushed out a back door. Garrison said he eventually left the dog in the house and attended to his bloodied child outside as an ambulance arrived.
The struggle left Kenneth Garrison with puncture wounds and hand lacerations. His arm remained in a soft cast yesterday.
Chocolate was Tasered by authorities and taken to a shelter. The next day, the Garrisons signed papers to have him euthanized.
The attack on Jadyn was one in a series of recent pit bull maulings.
A June assault left an East Baltimore woman hospitalized with bites and gashes on her head, neck, arms and legs. In April, a 10-year-old Towson boy spent more than two weeks in the hospital recovering from his injuries, and two Baltimore sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a pit bull as it was attacking a 7-year-old girl.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report that showed pit bulls were responsible for more dog bite-related attacks than any other breed during a 20-year period.
A city councilwoman introduced a proposal this month that would require owners to keep dangerous animals in pens with a concrete base and a roof anchored to the frame.
Kenneth Garrison said he supports legislation that would require dogs to be muzzled in public. After Saturday’s incident, he will no longer allow any dogs in his house. The attack has disrupted his life and might force him to go on short-term disability from his construction jobs.
The only pet remaining in the family’s home is a turtle.
“I was always one that said pits are fine and they’re only mean if you train them to be that way,” Garrison said. “This thing made a liar out of me.”
Pit Bull Attack 
I started a blog like this once and it go so depressing I had to remove it. There was all this evidence, yet the only comments I got were raving pit bull lunactics. I will warn you right now. You are going to get pit bull supporters commenting who are totally in denial about the danger of these dogs. And they’re looney! They’re like anti-abortion people; they’ll threaten to kill you or blow up your house. Crazy people with crazy dogs!
i’m not crazy, i’m not in denial, and i won’t threaten to kill you or blow anything up, but i am a big fan of pit bulls and i’d like to ask you to reconsider your project here.
you said [on your other blog]:
“Perhaps over the long hall we’ll get some reliable information on trends with Pit Bulls, their owners, and their actions.”
first, owners —
yes, there are bad owners who purposely make their pit bulls into bad dogs. this happens with other breeds too. it used to be german shepherds and doberman pinschers. then it was rottweilers. now it’s presa canarios and cane corsos and dogos. in fact, many of the medium- and large-sized, muscular, athletic breeds have suffered this fate in the past.
and there are stupid owners who accidentally make their dogs into bad dogs, or don’t know enough about dogs to recognize a nervous, fearful, aggressive, or neurotic dog until it’s too late. cw meisterfeld is one of the pioneers of dog psychology and humane training methods. this book is a fascinating case study of how ordinary, good-hearted, well-meaning people can accidentally turn a perfectly nice pet into an apparent raving lunatic.
next, trends —
well, for complete and accurate data, you’d have to publish all the news stories about all the pit bulls that AREN’T attacking anybody. oh, wait… nobody writes news stories about things that DON’T happen.
next, reliable information —
the american temperament test society is reputable organization that has been testing many many different breeds for years now. you can see how any dog that passes this test would likely be a well-behaved dog with a reasonably stable and predictable personality.
84% of pit bulls tested by the atts pass. this compares favorably with german shepherds [83%] and golden retrievers [84%], two breeds that are commonly used as guide dogs for the blind and assistance dogs for the disabled.
it’s true that pit bulls are popular [right now] among the kinds of people who purposely want a mean-looking and vicious-acting dog, but underneath it all, pit bulls are just dogs, just like any other breed. the misconceptions that people keep repeating about them just aren’t true.
and finally, a word on their looks —
can you spot the pit bull? if it’s got a big blocky head, it must be one, right? in fact, humans are lousy at accurately identifying other humans, so you’re asking me to believe that all of these dogs are unquestionably pit bulls?
ah, well, end of rant. here’s hoping that you will eventually meet enough of the many good pit bulls there are in this world that you’ll be moved to judge each dog as an individual, no matter what label others may want to slap on it.
I am no pit bull lover. My son was attacked by a pit bull almost 2 years ago. My son was riding his bike down the street when out of no were the pit bull who was one a leash broke free from his owner and chased down my son knocked him off his bike and began to bite. The first bite he clamped down into his chest and arm. The second bite he tried to get his throat. He had a large claw mark
on his stomach. It took 2 grown adults to get the dog off of my son. My son was 8 at the time, we rushed him to the ER were they had to clean his wounds which was painful who ever said dogs have clean mouths are misinformed they carry lots of germs. The thing that just really upsets me is what happened next. The dog owner lied about the dogs shots said they were up to date and the police not doing a proper jog called the ER and said the dog had his shots so the ER did not give my child the rabies vaccines. It was only 2 or 3 days later that after the health dept. getting involved as state law requires,did they find out that the dog only had his puppy shots and
not the full coarse of vaccines dogs should have which resulted in my son having to get the rabies
shots. People don’t talk about that as much ,first off rabies vaccines are very costly ,about $5,000 just for the vaccine. The trouble I also had was finding the shots. I live in a rural area you would think they would have such things accessible,but no. My doctor could order it if I paid up front for the whole thing because of the cost and special order. Come to find out I could only get it through the ER only. In which my son had to wait hours if they were backed up. and add on the so called office visit on top of the cost of the vaccine. But that was not the worst of it the first set they give you is right into the bites you got the another in the butt followed by 1 shot every so many weeks. My son had an allergic reaction immediately after the first shot was given. To which he then had to have a meds to help with that. The things is he had to get through the reaction because there wasn’t anything else they could do,he had to have the shots. The reason he also had to have the shots is these dog owners “doing the right thing” killed the dog before it could be watch by the vets for rabies. The health dept didn’t believe the dog was dead thinking they just hidden out the dog made them go dig it up to show her and the police that it was dead. According to her this happens all the time, them having to get proof of the dogs death because even after the dog bites some of these dog owners will hide out the dogs and claim they killed it. I was shocked. Anyways I was looking around the net for anyone else who’s a mom with a child who’d been attacked or a ban pit bulls site and sadly lots of people have been killed or hurt by these dogs, yet not a lot of support for those who have lived this. My son could have died that day. And there are more websites to support these DEADLY
PEST NOT PETS than there is about the people who have been attacked, killed and scared for life. This owners of pits love to show pictures “poor little pits” who were in dog fights and all mangled. They never show the same kind of pictures only instead of pit its a 2,10 or 40 year old with the same type of wounds all over the their bodies. I can’t believe there is even a web site by a woman who claims
that these could have been prevented that our kids are to blame for their bites we just didn’t teach them right. I guess all children should not ride bikes because my child didn’t even see the dog coming. The sad thing is we did go to court and they tried to blame this on my son. It seems when it comes to pits its blame the victims the pits are more important till they bite them or someone the love. By the way I love dogs just not pits rots and other know aggressive dogs. I own 2 loving beagles. My son loved dogs he did go around this pit it scared him even before this attack. But now my son has issues with large dogs he sees a large lose dog running around out side and he freaks out and wants me to call police. Its a very hard thing to go through. Thanks
First off Mr. homeless man, its amazing you have such a colorful website for being homeless. i just find that kind of interesting. and also im not a lunatic, and ive never set anything on fire in my whole entire life and ive never threatened to kill anyone. so thank you for putting a label on me just like you’ve done with Staffordshire TERRIORS. It’s a funny thing they call pitbulls staffordshire terriors. How bout you let me inform you, the actuall “pit Bull” dog was not raised for fighting it was raised for baiting cattle. Its when they mixed it with a TERRIOR is when they started breeding it for fighting. Its amazing how ignorant people can be. and any HUMANE person would know that EVERY dog reflects its owners personality. I must say i am a proud owner of 3 STAFFORDSHIRE terriors and a black lab mix and they all love eachother. A big bunch of pushovers really. but i can also say that i have proper care for all my animals, they’ve had all their shots and i have insurance on every single one of them, i also feed them properly(not raw meat people!). and another thing, the person who said rabies shots are 5k. ur full of crap. my rabies shot for my dogs only cost $35 each.I’ve also had my dogs for over 5 years. most of the animals you talk about in you so called “articles” were only puppies and they obviously werent raised right.and any person with common sense would know not to leave a BABY with a dog without watching the pet.any little thing can provoke a dog. like for example looking them straight in the eyes is a sign for dominence, or making loud noises can startle them, or cornering them can make them uneasy. Most of these people who have dogs are highly uneducated about having them. and you can say whatever you want but all i can tell you is that ur offending people because you have NO idea what youre talking about.so how bout you take things into consideration before you open your mouth? or start typing whatever you do for a living. and were you in these people’s homes with them the whole time the attack happened? were ya living with them? no obviously not because ur homeless….wow.but anyways i have love for my animals and i will protect their reputation as good pets in my home until the day i die.
I have a pit and he is the most loving and affectionate dog. We have 4 children 10, 5 , 4, and 3 months. If you give any dog love and affection they will inturn give it to you. My wife and I spend at least 2 hrs each a day hugging and loving our dog as well as the attention the children give the dog. Dont blame a dog for a mistake made by a human. A pit when scared will not back up if you step back they will step forward on you. Love your dog and they wont be scared of you. dont yell at them when they do wrong show them what they did wrong. dont hit them they do not respond well at all to that. Sorry you and your child got bit but the dog did not attack for no reason. Stop giving pits a bad rep you are just fueling the media and giving these loving dogs a bad name
i hope the little baby is alright
It is very tragic to hear a story such as the one with the young parent and child biten by a dog. What is most tragic is that people take in a dog of any kind and put it with their children without having the dog evaluated. I have a nephew who almost lost an eye due to wandering to close to his chow’s food dish. I have neice who has a terrible scar on her face from a bit from a britney spaniel. I was bit as a child from a poodle. Dogs bit, all dogs are capable of inflicting great bodily harm. But I love dogs! Despite being bit by both large and small dogs through my life. I have the scars to prove that all dogs are capable of going over the line and bitting humans, but the fact is we jump to quick to judge with a broad brush. John D Johnson now a very old but wise man has done all he could for the american bulldog. He breeds the best their is, but someone could take one of his beautiful pups and turn them into a killer. In fact you can do this with a beagle… and raw diets don’t cause them to be blood thirsty either. In fact they are healthiest when they eat as naturally as they are suppose to. Responsibility is what we as human beings should be. Do you know how many beautiful animals are put to death every second in our great nation? They are put to death every second because we are cruel stupid human beings who treat them as toss aways. I see countless ads daily giving away my loving pet, must move can’t take with me etc etc. The seas of disregard for their loving companions are endless. Now we have groups gathering because a certain kind of dog has bitten or mamed or even killed someonw. Well check your local shelters folks their are groves of pit bulls left homeless some who were brutally abused yet still love we humans… Amazing!
Don’t condemn the breed, condemn the deed and parents take responsiblity with your children. This parent had no idea of how or what his cousin did to that dog, or at least we never heard.
I am sure that there are unstable dogs out there in every breed in fact with all we do to them I am sure of it, but they still give us uncoditional love despite our cruelty.
To the lady that had a son attacked by the pit, I find it odd that the son knew this dog and for some reason feared it already. Could it be that the son teased it or even had been with friends who did? Who knows perhaps this was a pit bull trained to be aggressive, but that doesn’t mean they all are. I suggest for one that the lady takes the son to a animal shelter and have him work with the friendly bullies to get him over these fears. There is something to the old saying when you fall off the horse get back on. Leave this child in his fear and he will be a disfunctional adult when it comes to dogs. Another thing that disturbed me about that attack of the child on the bike is that the mother trusted a doctor about the child having to undergo rabies treatment without a second opion and that the health department allowed it. It is simply not true that you have to undergo treatment if the dog is dead and the dog was not innoculated before hand. This is crude but this is the fact, the dogs head would be removed from the body by the health department and sent to the state for anaylisis. Even though the dog was killed that injured the boy they can test the brains of the animal and know if he suffered rabies or not. Having to sit in an ER for the shots etc… I dunno maybe a rual setting etc but your local university of medicine could have done the procedures at no cost if you had looked into it. Anyway this is my opinion for what its worth. Think people about what you are doing out there… It only takes a moment to see that their are more uneventful acts each day from bullies then these horrific stories. Get to the underlaying causes…. bad owners, BAD BREEDERS… puppy mills are the most horrific and fix those don’t kill off the beautiful breeds.
I know alot of people like pits but from personal view point pits are not good little kid dogs. little kids dont know how to treat some animals and could make them mad. so i say if you have kids get a lab or something untill they are old enough to know how to treat a animal.
ok well first off your a foggot!
pittbulls are just like every other dog out there only they have a bad reputation because of ppl like u!. And just because they have a bad reputation doesnt make them bad dogs! its like a person with a bad rep.. they may be called a slut but does that make them one? i have two pitbulls and they are the most loyal animals i have ever owned.. yes some may have a mean streak but thats because of the way that they were raised. If u rasie them with love like u would a child then they will turn out just as good as any other dog!. but when u treat them like they are some monster that out to destory your home and hurt your childeren then they are gonna go based on how they were raised. Its ppl like you that make them bad… they are good dogs. and just like every other dog out there its alive… would u like to have ppl puttin a ban on u? highly doubt it! douche bags like u should be put to sleep.
I have been around pitbulls all my life and they can be great dogs, in the right hands, but you should never take in a grown dog of any breed when you have children, that was your mistake, had you of purchased a pit bull pup i doubt your child would have ever been bit for the life of the dog , only protected, p.s. sorry to here about your son i hope everything is going good now…
I wonder if this family properly exercised this dog, gave him mixed signals, treated him like a human and didn’t establish proper dominance in the ‘pack’. I also wonder if the man was carrying his own unstable or aggressive energy. It’s the human energy that dogs feed from. The fault here always is with the humans, one way or another. Cesar Millan states that it’s not the breed at fault, the animal needs dedicated and responsible people to set rules, boundaries and limitations in a calm assertive manner. I am sure this family was very busy, perhaps they just wanted a dog to use as protection but weren’t willing to put the work in? Again, humans at fault. Sad about the attack happening, I bet you a million there were signs pointing in the direction of this accident for months, however the family (or prev owner) was too ignorant to notice. Then they get to play the role of victim, when the true victim here is the pit bull terrier. Dogs don’t just ‘switch’ for no reason. If a person believes they do, then they obviously are clueless about dog behaviour. I hear these stories “he was so nice and cute and then…” A big part of the story is missing there. So I hope everyone is alright from this attack, I also hope that the family can heal and realize it’s own mistakes and not forever blame an innocent animal.
Why the hell was he letting his new baby unsupervised around ANY dog?!…stop blaming the dog……Fuck him and his kid……….
I am very sorry to hear about the baby getting hurt. This situation is very unfortunate and I pray everything is ok.
On another note-Me and my family including husband, son(9yrs) and daughter(6yrs) are proud owners of a Pitbull Terrier. We rescued him from the shelter at 3mos old and have fallen in love. This was our first family dog and have taken huge steps in making sure we are responsible parents. We have read about their history, read books on different pit personalities and different ways to train them. We do not allow him to play tug-o-war, jump on people or chase. His teeth are not allowed to touch skin and he knows his place(rank) in our family. We are proud to tell people that we have a pit and to hear their reaction. We are also proud to tell them that we have taken all necessary precautions to ensure safty of our family and others. We are aware of the fear in the community and beyond and hope that the little we have done to raise a great representative of his kind will be noticed and catch on.
PS-I also believe that this kind of background investigating should be done for any breed!
Hey Im so sorry about Jadyn well I have a pitbull to i was wondering if they can attack eney time? and do i need to keep him locked up because i dont want to be attacked Im only 15 and my dog is a male and im a female well i will write you later because im in school!!!!!!
well i would have to say right after my own dog nearly bit off my 1 year old’s nose i would get rid of the dog by either selling it or putting up for adoption or send it to the pound.well bye.
i have 2 pits and they are very dog sweet and loving,and it angersm me beyond reason when i see pepople support BSL (Breed specific legeslation)it its not the pit bulls fiault it is they peice of shit owner .r. In fact pit bulls”Pit bul bull” is not even teh corrrect namee it is american pitbull terrior whicj in fact were not breadedadfd to attack humans hthey atrre dog agressive becuase they were bread to fight other dogs , so Quit just the other day i was watching a newd report and they said i child was bitten by a dog and they said “The dog was a pittbull” and i sn about a day they re i found out it was not a pit bull it was infact a rotChow sp the media sa, just becuase they dog bit auromaticly made it a pit bull
so the media was giving false news too get higher ratings whigh may i add
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It IS the dog. They can go from nice to crazy without warning, and there have been hundreds of instances of this. There are lots of other dogs that bite, sure…but if I get bit/attacked by a retriever or a cocker spaniel, I have a much better chance of surviving/escaping than by one of these dogs.
Here is a little letter i worte. I would like to share it with you and maybe change your mind just a little bit…
Hello, my name is Michelle. I am a 27 year old and proud ower of a 10 month old pitbull. These dogs are wonderful to be around. Unfortunatly they fall into the wrong hands (Michael Vick). People train them to be fighters. Pitbulls are actual rank out of 122 breeds #4 in temperment tests with a 95% passing rate. Pitbulls are affectionate, intelligent and highly trainable. It is true that they have other dog aggression, but the same is true for all terrior breeds (boston terrior, rat terrior, etc…). It is all about socializing them. My Sheba goes to the dog park and kisses everydog she meets. Any dog has a potential to attack humans but we only ever hear about pitbulls. A chiwawa attacked me the othe day… where were the news crews??? Cocker spanials are mean little dogs- one actually bit my best friends lip off when she was little. Why is it just pits that are hated on? Did people forget about STUBBY? He was America’s first war dog and he was a pitbull. He won lots of metals in WW1 and we thank him by trying to get rid of them. Helen Kellers loyal compainion was a pitbull. Then there was WHEELA. She save over 100 people, dogs, cats, and horses from a flood in southern California. BOGART saved a child from drowing in the pool and then there was DIXIE who saved 3 kids from a cotton mouth snake. WHERE WERE THE NEWS CREWS??? Bannig one particular breed is like being racist. ALL DOGS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE HARM! It is the media hype that have gotten these dogs such a bad name. Take away the bad people who want to make mean dogs!!!
I am not sure what this website is all about.It does not seem very positive for the “pitbull” owner. So I will make this as short & sweet as possible for all of you that are terrified of the breed & continue the gossip that has caused worldwide panic.I use tho think just as all of you did, that I would never in a million yrs. let them around anything that I love, let alone own one myself.But in fact i could’nt have been more wrong I now own three of the world’s most spoiled rotten “pits”.They have been loyal, well minded and gave back all of the love they were given! And to make things just a “lil” more interesting I have four children as well that are around them everyday, when they are in & outdoors! Ranging from ages 10-5. I have educated my kids on the precautions that are to be taken around any animal. Treat them as you would want to be treated! And all is well!…They have enlightened my life, brought much laughter & I would take them all in if I could!….In fact one of mine is one that I rescued & nursed back to health. Just a big baby is all he is he was mistreated & taken out of that environment…& we live happily ever after!!!!…
Wow. I really don’t know where to start with this. I have to say that I hate all dogs equally. Almost every person who defends pit bulls says that you can’t judge a bit bull for being mean because it’s a pit bull. Yet, you also say that any dog has the potential to attack. There you go. If any dog can attack then any other pit bull can attack. And I read from one person that any HUMANE person knows that the dog is a reflection of it’s owners personality. What a load of steaming horse shit. For example: My dad has like NEVER risen his voice to me or my brother or sister. He is very soft spoken and calm. I have never seen him make a sudden move. Everything he does is thought through. His dog on the other hand, has sent my nephew to the hospital once, me to the hospital twice(once for surgery and I had to stay for three days AND was eight months pregnant) and my sister once. He bit her in the boob. Boy was she pissed. Since that dog attacked me, I can’t look at a dog the same way ever again. Seriously, I’m going throught post traumatic stress syndrome. The other day I was driving down the street and a few pit bulls ran into the street. I moved away and yelled for them to get away from me. I thought about it later and realized that I was acting a little stupid ’cause I was driving a big ass Suburban. Another time, a dog started barking hystarically while I was trying to load some stuff into my car one night and all I could think about was a pack of wild dogs coming to see what the commotion was about and attack me. I got in the car and had to roll up the windows. Even driving down the highway, I couldn’t stick my arm out the window, ’cause I thought a dog was gonna run up beside me and jump up and bite my arm. My two year old son watched me get attacked by that dog both times. He was also traumatized. He is very violent now. That damn dog attacked me while I was trying to get over seventy ants off my sons foot. Think about that. I have to deal with my own paranoia and my violent child everyday for the rest of our lives because that stupid dog didn’t know when to stop.
What is wrong with you people? Most people that have NO knowledge of dog behavior or how to raise a dog in a dominant healthy household, you will forever say “BSL”!! The articles that I have read have explained why the attacks happened you are just too blind and ignorant to see it. I am NOT backing up unresponsible owners and bad genetic breeding. What I am saying is you don’t allow your pit bulls on the couch unless the pack leader in the house is established, being you of course. Do not chase your dog into someone elses yard knowing that a pit bull’s territory is with in those bounds. Keep your own dog in your own yard. Pit bulls go for the throat because they were originally bred to bring down bulls by the throat! I applaud those who are not blaming the breed, but blaming the genetic breeding and the unresponsible owners. When pit bulls attack it can be uncontrolled bounderies within the household, dominance issues, bad genetics, territory issues, (my personal pit bulls will NOT let anyone in their fenced in yard)(HENCE THE FENCEED IN YARD) and just plan bad owners. It is unfortunate what happen to the children and adults that have had unforgettable bad experiences with pit bulls. But you can not judge them as a whole! You have to judge them individually. Any animal in a heightened excitment or stressful situation is going to bit the first thing that comes along. Yes I am aware everyone does not know how to read a dogs body language. And when dogs are not spayed and neutered they are more aggressive in situations like these. I read a website that said all the attacks from pit bulls where from intacted pits. What is so wrong with getting them spayed and neutered nothing. Both mine are. I am not asking you to learn. I am just asking you to educate yourselves. Everyone can grow with knowledge. And usually insurance companies will deny the claim because the owner did not reveal to the company that they owned an APBT. Which is one of there breed selections for there list of dogs that they usually will make you pay more for your claim or they drop you all together. And yes I am quite aware that pit bulls can be dog aggressive. Half the pit bulls born are taught to fight if not more, so where do you think those puppies are sold from the top fighting pit bulls? TO THE PUBLIC!!! And yet again we have unresponsible breeders that are not responsible for the rippling effect of the offspring that they produce. Well I personally am going to go snuggle up with my pit bulls in bed, yes bed because they KNOW who is the pack leader and would never hurt myself, my husband or my two daughters, NEVER! Every one is easy to point fingers at everyone else for the blame, perhapes you should look in the mirror and educate yourself a little and then maybe we won’t have bad owners, but classes educating people on these breeds and how to set boundries and leadership roles, they deem vicious before they opt to buy them and not spay or neuter. I agree bad owners have ruined the reputation of this couragous, faithful, beautiful, smart breed.
first of all a dogs personality and behavior is not just the reflection of its owner, its a reflection of how its treated. it doesnt matter if your dad was soft spoken, was the dog treated badly by anyone? was it neglected? was it given the commitment every owner should give their pet? probably not…. i have had two pitts, one of which has attacked a family member but i saved her from an abusive home and should have known she could be agressive. My other i have had since a puppy and i could not ask for a better dog. she gets along with my cats and my other dogs with no problem. because of this “stereotype” i have had trouble finding a new apartment and its really not fair. pitts just have the resources to do real damage and their owners need to realize that before they mistreat this loving breed. small breeds are really the aggressive ones, they cant do any damage. so before you start labeling think of these dogs that can love if given a real chance.
Reply to Paul “and another thing, the person who said rabies shots are 5k. ur full of crap. my rabies shot for my dogs only cost $35 each.”
The parent was saying that rabies treatments for the kid were $5000, not preventative rabies shots for a dog.
Sorry, I meant to reply to Cassie on that, my bad
I was a proud owner of 2 boxers until they were dognapped from my house. I was never too fond of pits but I have since then ran across a sweet pit bull pup that strongly resembled our white boxer, except she was a pit. I have fallen in love with these dogs ever since and realized they are just dogs, and she is the biggest sweetheart ever. On another note, people see a bully breed (Boxer, Mastiff, American Bulldog, Argentine Dogo, etc.) and automatically call it a Pit Bull. The media jumps all over these stories and this is why they are so common.
http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
Find the pit! It will take some of you a few tries. And they wonder why Pits are portrayed as evil dogs. FYI Many or all of the pics are of bully breeds which are mistaken for pit bulls. Ever seen the movie “The Little Rascals”?
PS: The most vicious dog I have ever come acress was a German Sheperd, not a pit. I couldn’t get near it without it bearing its teeth. I was also attacked at age 3 by a golden retreiver. Dogs will be dogs, they (like kids) need to be raised with discipline or else they will do as they please.
Well honestly I agree with a lot of things hipparchia wrote. I have been raised with an assortment of dog breeds.
Cocker Spaniels
Teacup Poodles
Pit Bulls
Honestly the top viscous ones that have to be kept away from children were not any of our pit bulls. Currently my parents still own two teacup poodles that are not allowed to be left alone or picked up by children because they bite, and have tore and broken skin to many of the grandchildren.
When I was growing up I can’t even count how many bites I’ve received from our cocker spaniels. I have scars from my ears down to my ankles. Yes I was a bratty little kid who would pull the dogs’ tails or ears I paid for it many times over.
Right now I have a 7 months old son and we have two dogs a cocker spaniel and a pit bull. The pit bull is trusted with the baby. When I say trusted I don’t mean she’s the nanny and we leave our son in her care. We don’t leave him alone with either dog. He’s too squirmy right now to be left alone at all. But the cocker spaniel has bite him already because he had gotten a hold of her ear and before I could untangle him without growling without showing teeth she turned around and nicked him in the ear. Thankfully he’s a tough little boy and blew it off.
But when it comes to the pitbull she was raised with neighborhood children and with toddlers and babies. So she is use to a baby crawling on her using her as a jungle gym.
As well as out pitbull is currently recovering from an attack by a mastiff. I was out walking the two dogs and a loose mastiff came up to us and started attacking our pitbull, if literally grabbed our pitbull by its back and shook it in his massive jaws. I was smacking and prying the dog off of her, and they only thing that got the mastiff to back off. The cocker spaniel went for the throat and defended the pitbull. So in a scenario where the cocker spaniel should have been the target and the pit bull should have been the viscous killer. The cocker spaniel was the one who injured the mastiff. So now my big baby has stitches that got infected another trip back to the vet.
But there are always many facts to consider like stated before a large group of dogs are label pit bulls. When there bull dogs, staffshires, Dobermans, Rottweiler’s, and random Heinz 57 mixes.
Of course there are dumb owners and dumb dogs. Especially with their rise in popularity over breeding has become a huge problem. Breeding mental instability along with health problems.
But you also have to look at what we do unintentially towards the dog. Any dog you show fear to creates tension and anxiety in ANY dog. Don’t believe me watch the dog whisper, or it’s me or the dog on animal planet. When we teach our children to be fearful of any large breed dog that creates big problems later.
I’d like to direct you to the story of the “poodle” that ripped the genitals off a 1 month old.
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message563300/pg1
In this case it was poor supervision on the mother’s part. But let’s not over generalize and say hay all poodles are pests and need to have muzzles when their in public. Let’s make insurance premiums skyrocket if you own a poodle.
That would be just plain nonsense.
Mandy
“Living in Car”, you are ABSOLUTELY ignorant!! Period!! I read their story, and I know EXACTLY what went wrong. The pit bull was jealous of the little boy because the little had a treat, and it didn’t. That is why if you have a tenacious dog, around kids, you HAVE to make sure you give these types of dog LOTS of love and attention. They get jealous too. And because they can’t yell like us, they express their frustrations and jealousy by biting. We don’t know how this family disciplined this dog.Who knows, when their son was born, the dog probably got less attention. Just because people like pit bulls, DOES NOT make people crazy!It takes a responsible owner to have a pit bull. Obviously, this family wasn’t. Maybe they should have given the dog it’s own treat at the same time. I BET you, the dog would not have attacked the little boy if they had done that. This is a list I got of the internet, that lists which dogs are most common to bite :The 9 Breeds of Dog That Bite the Most
According to a 27-year study of dogs in the New York City area made by Dr. Robert Oleson, of the U.S. Public Health Service, these are the 9 dogs most apt to take a nibble out of a human being. They are, in the order of their aggressiveness:
1. German shepherd 2. Chow chow 3. Poodle 4. Italian bulldog 5. Fox terrier 6. Mixed chow chow
7. Airedale 8. Pekingese 9. Mixed German shepherd
DO YOU SEE PIT BULL ON THIS LIST?? The media paints a bad picture of the WHOLE BREED!!! NOT ALL PIT BULLS ATTACK!!! Just FYI, there are pit bulls who are search and rescue dogs, but you don’t see this on the news, do you? the media doesn’t report this! Back on the original Little rascals show, the dog the children had was a pit bull, were there any reports of any of those children getting attacked? NO!! It’s how you discipline them, and how you treat them.Obviously, this family did not give this dog a healthy amount of attention. If they did, I guarantee, this dog would not have attacked this boy.NOT ALL PIT BULLS ARE VICIOUS! AND NOT ALL OF THEM ATTACK!! German shepherds attack WAY more than pit bulls! But do you hear this on the news? NO! Before you attack, and accuse a WHOLE ENTIRE breed, why don’t you read some books about them first. You, like a lot of Americans, go by what people tell you, and what you get from TV instead of researching things on your own! You’re the ignorant and crazy one!! I am a PROUD owner of a pit bull, who DOES NOT attack! Because I know how to handle these dogs.
Rachell Warmuskerken, sounds like you and your child need some therapy.
Does anybody realize the baby had a COOKIE in its hand?
No wonder the dog attacked it.
Who the fuck leaves a baby unattended in a room with a dog?
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This is a very tragic story! But lets not just attack Pit Bulls. Other dog breeds can bite as well, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and even a cute Golden Retriever. Yes, Golden Retrievers are not known to be as aggressive, but I have still heard stories of them biting. It was unfortunate that this child was left alone with a dog(if I’m reading the article correctly). Children should NEVER be allowed to be alone with a dog, I don’t care if it’s a lab or golden retriever. I agree with one person’s comment, “some dogs are not properly socialized and owners neglect to notice it.” I bet this pit bull was not properly trained and/or socialized and the child had food in his hand and the dog just snapped and attacked. When there is food around, a dog’s instict is to fight for it if the other is not deemed dominant. If the dog would have been trained effectively, it would have never charged at the child. Dog bites are very common occurance in children. It’s very sad! In most cases, it’s the owners that are misinformed about the dog’s breed and the correct ways to socialize and train them. Instead of always attacking the dogs, we need to start pointing some fingers at people that fail to train dogs.
First mistake, taking in a mature pitbull with kids in the house. If you didn’t raise it, it wont love you the same. Mine is sleeping on my foot right now and never takes his eyes off me when we are out. like a good dog should. Second, you have to socialize your dog as a pup with kids, other dogs, and adults. lets not forget about that football player who TRAINED his dogs to fight, and got caught. They decided not to put all the digs to sleep and guess what they do now. They go to the hospital to visit the sick.
P.S. when i was at the dog park the other day it was a black lab that was fucking with all the dogs there pissing them off, not the 5 pits of all sizes and colors that were there.
End breed racism
P.P.S if you spoil your dog and never teach it no it will do what it wants because it thinks IT is the leader of the pack, not the soft quiet people who “raised” it Don’t beat your dog, bark at it and teach it whats right and wrong. I have my new pit/doberman trained at the snap of my finger, it poops and pees outside and knows how to sitdown and follow my lead at only 8 weeks old. You really have to spend time working with ANY DOG at a young age, especially pits because they are so stubborn. On the other hand, all the snobby, spoiled, rich dogs i meet are the worst. POODLES!!
They rich craps who get them for looks or dont work with them because they are “too busy” usually end up with the snobby ass yip yip dogs who dont listen to anyone for crap. Like i said above, all i need to do is snap and my boy at 8 weeks knows whats up. And i did it all without hitting him, but instead being loud “barking” at him a good word that would sit well with ignorant people who cant grasp what im talking about would yell, not quietly say “HEY” its the “A” sound that grabs the dogs attention and they do know whats up. This is all, and i probably wont ever come back to this site.
ANY DOG CAN ATTACK, I have only been snapped at my a golden retriever. YEAH, and why? Because the owners spoiled the dog and let it do what it wanted.
I feel sorry for those who have been attacked by dogs and the dogs themselves for being raised that way. Most mean dogs are the fault of the owners, not the breed and certainly not the victim’s. I don’t think any breed should be condemned just because some bad dogs give them a bad rap. You wouldn’t say every child is bad because a few are spoiled, would you? It’s nature vs. nurture. A kid who is spoiled is born that way. Their raised to be that way.
My little brother has been attacked twice by two different rottweilers. I could very easily hate the breed simply because of those two dogs but I don’t, mainly because my grandmother owned one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever known who happened to be rottie (and no, she wasn’t one of the dogs who attacked my brother). Sprocket was a great dog, very obedient though a bit stupid.
As for those who say get a lab if you have kids instead of a pit bull, you wouldn’t be saying that if you met Skye, the offspring of two of my childhood dogs. He was the most unstable dog I’ve ever met. The littlest thing would set him off and I was personally bitten by him at least once. Now before you start blaming his breeding you should know Skye was a siberian husky black lab mix (both his parents had pedigrees). His mother was the husky and she was the sweetest dog ever, with her exception of going after cats and squirrels. I only remember her biting once and that was because my friend provoked and annoyed her to that point. She didn’t even break the skin and immediately went back to whatever she had been doing before. The father was stupid, all be it, and had a habit of jumping on people. The only time I remember him biting and breaking flesh was when he was playing with Tausha, our husky, and got a little too rough with her (My stepmom had been watching them at the time so we know it was an accident). As well, my uncle has two purebred labs. One is very sweet but the other is huge and unmanageable. Even though Sammy has never showed aggression (that I know of), I’m scared of him purely because of his size and how hyperactive he is. He could easily hurt someone if he gets too rough with playing, especially my little cousins, and they have to keep him in a pin in their backyard while the kids are outside playing.
And why is it little dogs are allowed to get away with bad behavior simply because they’re little? I swear, my mom’s dachshund mix is the meanest little thing I’ve ever seen. She’s even turned on me a couple times because I was keeping her from getting to my friends. I love her but I know her behavior is bad and that my mom needs to be more firm about disciplining the dog. A bigger dog wouldn’t be allowed to get away with that kind of behavior so why should she? It’s completely unfair.
My cat tends to get in fights with neighborhood cats and he sometimes will bite or gnaw on my hand if I bother when he doesn’t want to be. One time, he was fighting with a neighbor’s cat and my neighbor decided to step between them right when my cat was about to swat at the other. After that, she came to me and told me my cat was vicious and should be kept locked up. I was in tears because of how unfair that was to Boo and I was worried the rest of the neighborhood would agree with her. It was her fault for trying to step between a cat fight and not knowing how to break up a fight. I’ve managed to pull him successfully out of quite a few frays with minimal damage to myself. It’s honestly not that hard. I know how to handle my cat and I can keep him under control for the most part. But because Boo can sometimes be mean, does that mean every gray and white tabby should be considered vicious? I think not. I do think it’s mostly because of his breeding (his sister was horrible and hissed at everyone but me) but we rescued him from the pound and I don’t know who his parents are. His personality is more then likely due to how we raised him more then anything else.
While I’ve only met pit bull mixes, I don’t think any dog should be considered aggressive and a ban put on them just because of their breed. I completely agree with euthanasia for dogs that have been known to attack people and other animals but I do not agree with banning breeds. People need to be educated on how to properly train and care for a dog (yes, I’m including my mom in that) and that dog fighting is wrong, not be told that certain breeds should be avoided.
HA HA HA you all are retarded as hell. I have two pit bulls myself and obviously all owners know the risk they take we all know the rep that comes with the pit bull name. So whats the problem? dont like the risk dont own one its that easy. we like them we going to keep them this is our choice. there is no reason to bitch back and forth its retarded. LEARN HOW TO RAISE A DOG ASSHOLES!!!!
it is not the dogs foult it the trianer not the dog itself and i heard a story in Illinios that a rotwiller killed 2 kids a a 3 year and a 6 year old. so rotwillers are maen to and my brother got bight by a chiwawa and he blead so Pit bulls are not the only dog that mean out there!!!!!
mm i played dees games on this web syte and they are so shit
Well, i believe pitbulls are great dogs. Sure, some of them are aggresive and lots are not.. I recently had a pitbull pup who was aggressive. She was only 4 months old and was constantly biting my daughter and everyone who went outside. We bought her from a previous owner so iḿ not sure what lifestyle she had there. We recently gave her away to an adult couple with no kids who had the time to train her. I have a 3 month old daughter and a 4 year old daughter and I wasnt going to take the chance of either one of them getting bit for real when the dog got older… On another note, i once found an 8month old blue pit who was sooo DIESEL it was crazy. At first i was scared of him but he turned out to be the goofiest friendliest dog ever.. The only bad thing he did was tear up my room when i left him home one night. Luckily i found the owners and was able to return him to his home even thought we really wanted to keep him. The only dog I have ever been bitten by was a shitzhu …twice!! by 2 different Shitzs. Yea so..Big bite or small its still a dog bite so Pitts need to stop being categorized as evil dogs. Every dog is different. The meanest dogs I know are small ones..(shitzs, chihuahuas, pomeranians) lol REALLY..and another thing, shelters complain about dogs being euthanized every day but then they label EVERY dog (it seems) a pitbull when they are really not. Shelters and rescue groups need to learn your breeds. And iḿ terribly sorry for the baby and dad. but its true what another poster said.. Dont take in any adult dog (any breed) when you have kids..
well i also have an a pitt bull but its mixed with boxer,my dog is very sweet and playfull even thought she is quiet aggresive, she is just meaning to play….(sometimes pitt are meaner is because, when theres only one i donsn’t knwo what to play with and when theres two they play/fight…i dont think the dog ment to hurt ur child……but you never know…well bye. =]
if you cant trane you dog you should not have one there is nothing wrong with the breed