another interesting day in th elife of hcs3

[hcs3]

so i'm getting ready to leave for dinner and decide to let my parents dog out to take a leak before we leave. out the garage she trots until she gets to teh corner at which time she runs on a dead sprint out of my sight.

she is only a 12lbs toy fox terrier, but she is a mean little doggie. i fear the dozen or so children in my neighborhood are playing in my front lawn and "holly bear" is going to attack thier ankles. i give chase at full speed.

as i round the corner the scene quickly takes shape. holly bit off more than she could chew this time as she was standing square in the center of two stray pit bulls. i did not wait for anything to happen, i reacted immediately.

it wasn't soon enough. by the time i got there holly bear was securely in the jaws of one of the pit bulls, up in the air, and getitng flung around like a rag doll. i tackled the pit bull with everything i had which brought it to the ground. still, poor holly is trying to free herself and the pit is still intent on killing my parents dog.

with every once of strength i have, i force my hands into the jaws of the pit bull (yeah, rather stupid, eh?) and begin prying them open. well, i got holly bear free, who immediately runs for cover. but what i'm left with is my hands in the jaws of a very ****ed off pit bull whom now has his attention turned to me.

i am no longer trying to open the jaws to release holly, i'm trying to keep those same jaws from crushing my hands.

it was a battle i surely would have lost within moments had my father not arrive at the scene just then. a couple, note i said couple, solid blows to the chest of the animal finally released my hands.

now we had to control this rapid animal.

for those of you whom have not met me, i am a fairly strong and solid 280lbs. it is also very clear that i am my father's son. it took everything we had to control this dog. after what seemed like an eternity, my neighbor arrives with plastic straps and we hog tie the pit bull.

through a small miracle the second pit ran away during all of this. if it didn't, it is likely i might have been critically injured. alone i could not control one pit bull, not to mention a second.

the pit bull we "captured" was wearing an electric shock collar. it also did not have owner or name tags.

the police located the second pit bull about 1 mile away. through a small stroke of luck the dog, when chased by police, ran home. the owner admitted to owning both pit bulls before he realized what had happened.

the attack pit bull will be put to sleep in 10 days after a series of tests for rabies, etc. the fate of the second pit that left the scene is undecided. it won't be put to sleep, but since this is the third time, yes i did say third, animal control has had to capture these pit bulls and issue $300 citations for each dog, they might take it away.

FWIW, the police refused to handle the dog. there both my father and i lay upon this rabid dog doing our best to control it, both of us bleeding, and the cop has a clip board and is trying to take statements from the situation. when asked what he planned to do with the dog, the officer replied "wait for animal control." when we pointed out how we were both injured and did not need to be restraining the dog any longer, the officer politely asked us to pick up the dog and move it into the back of his squad car. after the officer refused to give me his 9mm, we didnt see much choice so dad and i carried the dog into the squad car.

so the pit bull is locked in the squad car, i'm bleeding, dad is bleeding, and holly bear is screaming like you've never heard a dog scream before. officer friendly wants to try a second time to get statements. i inform him that we need to get the dog and two people to the hospital and he asks me to give him a few minutes first. i can't type my response here but i think the officer knew exactly how i felt about giving a statement.

the cop refuses to leave the "scene of the incident" to assist with getting us to the appropriate care facilites. won't take me or dad, won't take the dog, and won't give us an escort with cherries. well gee, i'm glad somebody thought to call the cops for assistance.

my father and i are merely bleeding from the hands, poor holly bear had half her guts hanging out of her. she has been in surgery now for 5 hours. vet called about an hour ago and things were not good. she honestly may not be alive right now as i type this. her diaphram was torn in two and was the most pressing issue. the surgeon was having great difficulty sewing it back together and did not seem confident on the phone. more or less the vet was preparing my parents for the worse. the stomach was also torn, massive internal bleeding, etc. i'm trying to keep the faith but it does not sound good.

after all that we had to get to the hospital ourselves. i had only 4 punctures through all this. dad has 12. needless to say, we were lucky.

[Dave Dunbar]

I hope you get a GOOD ATTORNEY and both of these worthless dogs are put DOWN. I think the owner should be fined a large amount NOT $300 more like $3000!!! Hopefully the little dog pulls through!! This is not good what if these dogs went after children? What was the owner of these dogs doing letting them run wild anyway? Hop everything works out for the best!!!
Dave

[swegyptian]

Wow, that's a bad deal. I hope everything turns out okay. Can I ask what neighborhood you live in? I'm in Champaign too.

Alex

[Shooter7]

Wow, what a rough time. Really sorry to hear how bad your parents' dog is. Hope things turn out ok, but doesn't sound too great for your dog. My wife's former dog was a toy fox and there's not much too them I know...wouldn't be any kind of match for a pit, much less two.

[badbu68]

Sorry to hear that, hope she pulls through!

My 4 yr old 8lb toy fox Zeke has had his front leg broke and his rear leg removed due to being hit by a truck. They're pretty tough dogs for being so small/brittle.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...23zeke-med.jpg

[llewoh05]

Sorry to hear that terrible ordeal. I think Dave is correct. You better get a good lawyer.

[Benny Z]

you know, they say bad things come in 3s.

you may want to consider locking yourself in a dark room for the next month or so.

definately get that lawyer.

[hcs3]

holly bear was laid to rest at 12:15 this morning. the vet said the internal dmage was too entensive to repair.

[Benny Z]

so sorry.

[LegoZ81]

You should be able to EASILY place a claim with their insurance (homeowners) for the cost of all surgeries/injuries to yourself, your dad and their dog. You can (if you can find out who he is insured thru) file this claim against his homeowners all by yourself you DO NOT need (at least if it is SF) wait for him to do it.
If not, it is time to contact you insurance and see if you can make them subro the claim or see what your options are thru that.
This will help diffuse the cost of privately hiring an attorney.

Good luck! Hopefully your parents dog pulls thru and you and your dad heal up ok.

lets hope for no rabies in the dog that would truly suck :O

[Shooter7]

Really sorry to hear about your little dog.

You know, I know there's probably too much sadness right now to think clearly of it, but these people need to be fried with a really good lawsuit with this. Compensation for the emotional and physical pain associated with this. And hopefully a big enough sum to cause these people to think twice before getting more dogs like these and being irresponsible in keeping them under control. Like what was said, next time could be someone's kid. As the owner of a small dog, and the father of a 4 year old, stuff like this hits close to home.

Again, condolences to you and your family.

[hcs3]

sure, lawsuits are fine and dandy. however, i have heard a rumor of where the owners live. if this rumor turns out to be truth, i can guarantee you everyone of us pays his drug and alcohol habit through our wellfare system.

not to sterotype, but has anyone ever known a respectable human that owns pit bulls? they are killing machines owned by the trashiest people on earth.

since it was asked, i live in ashland park subdivision. it seems the dogs wandered over 2 miles across parking lots and open fields to get into my neighborhood.

[Shooter7]

Funny you should say that...I work with a lady who is big into helping with the humane society and various other animal welfare groups and I had mentioned your story to her. We were just talking about how it is that those animals are so often owned by people who are completely irresponsible for their care. Sorry again, just hate it when someone else suffers for another person's negligence.

[redvipe2010]

Henry,

I'm so sorry. You are really having a tough time lately. Those dogs both need to be put down. I'd hate to see what it would do to a child or elderly person.

Brenda

[Benny Z]

this thread made me think of something i saw on tv some time back...

if you're ever attacked by a dog like this, your best defense is to pull their ears as hard as you can and/or stick your thumbs into their eyeballs.

...just in case anyone ever finds themself in a similar situation.

[hcs3]

benny,

i've seen programs like the one you speak of myself. i kind of shrugged them off as interesting viewing and not much else before this. i think kicking them in the sternum is also recommended. regardless, having just went through this i can affirmatively say you don't think back to the TV programs you've seen. i'm sure it all happened in less than 10 seconds, who knows maybe 5 or 30, doesn't matter. it was a life and death struggle first for my parents dog, then for me. it all happened so fast you don't have time to think - only react. if i would have let go of this dog's mouth for one second attempting to go for the sternum punch, ear tug, eye poke, or any other WWF move, things could have been very different for me. i thank god that another full grown adult man was present and helping.

[andycook]

I'm sorry Henry. Let me know if there is anything I can do.

[lglamb]

Kill the dogs. Jail the owner.

"oh, but really they can be good dogs" BULLSTUFF!

IMO, of course.

Lowell

[w2]

Henry - Ditto what Andy said. Call me if you need anything.

Also, have you contacted the press on this? Perhaps a little investigative reporting may help out.

[seldon]

Im sorry to hear about you, your father and your parent's dog. I hope thing pick up for you and that you and your father recover quickly. It's ashame when people put others in danger. Good luck with whatever may come of this.

Seldon

[FloatingFish]

Sorry to hear Henry?

[Lemmz]

Henry, My thoughts are with you and your family, I know what you are going through, just last week I almost lost my cat Toad and over the last 6 months I lost 3 of my rats.
Matt

[saltyseaman]

[tcottle]

Originally posted by saltyseaman

[schmoeger6]

Henry,
Our thoughts are with you and your father. I have read your original post 3 or 4 times, and am just amazed at peoples ignorance. I've raised all kinds of animals (dogs, cats, cows, horses. . . ) 1st and foremost is secure the animal to prevent injury to itself or anyone else. Anyone that would knowingly let a dangerous dog run loose through your community not only deserves to loose his dogs, he also deserves to loose his right to be a part of your community. I hope you persue this to the full extent, and know that everyone is thinking of you.