Sunday, April 12, 2015

Reader report: Pit bull attack on Avenue A


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

We don't have all the details on this incident this afternoon on Avenue A and East Third Street (we heard about it from several people) … Here's one version:

[There was] a pit bull attack on Avenue A, on a small black-and-white dog. Despite people throwing garbage and a garbage can at it, the bull would not release its grip. Multiple cops came, dog's owners appeared to not give a fuck, and the little dog's owner went into shock and an ambulance was called for her.

Anyone else witness this?

Updated 9:08 p.m.: We heard from the owner of the dog that was attacked… the puppy is doing OK

Updated 4/13

The owner of Dante, a 1-year-old Yorkipoo, shared her version of the incident:

We were walking on Avenue A when a pit bull on a leash on the other side of the sidewalk made a beeline for Dante. He grabbed Dante's neck, and with a locked jaw kept thrashing him about and would not let go. My husband and I just tried to pull the dog off — a crowd was forming and the dog's walker said he was sorry but he couldn't do anything — it wasn't his dog.

People kept yelling for him to kick his dog, to do something — I don't know what he should have done ... but standing around saying he couldn't do anything probably wasn't it. Then at one point he said something like, "oh gosh, the dog is dead" or "it just killed a dog." That's when I had to turn away ... it didn't seem like we were going to be able to get the dog to let go and it looked as if Dante's neck was about to be ripped apart.

Then, somehow Dante gets free and everyone thinks he's dead. My husband felt a very faint heartbeat but he was lifeless in my arms — not moving for a few minutes. I start to run to the Lower East Side Animal Hospital but some amazing people from the Ruff Club [at 34 Avenue A] ushered me inside. That's when Dante started to move a bit, pick his head up. Poor thing was shaking and in shock. He ended up having a bite and needs to be in a cone, receive some medicine, etc., but the vet said Dante is very lucky. The people at the Ruff Club were beyond awesome — they stayed with us, checked on Dante, gave us advice and clearly cared a lot.

My husband got a small cut and I got bit, though it isn't too deep. We found out that the pit bull did not have his rabies shots and now my husband and I need to go through a series of rabies shots over the next month.

66 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did the little dog live? This is horrific. Put the pit down!!!

Anonymous said...

Pitbulls with asshole owners suck. Disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Having a pit bull is like walking around with a loaded gun drunk. It might not go off. If it does go off, it might not kill something, but then it might. In other words putting others at risk and being insensitive to all but yourself, you likely have other issues. narcissist, psychopath, bully / brat.

Scuba Diva said...

For future reference, the best thing to do would be to lift the pit bull's hind legs like a wheelbarrow, thereby destabilizing her. In any event, I'm happy the little dog is doing okay and hope she makes a full recovery.

Anonymous said...

Whenever anyone leashes one up outside the craptacular Key Food, I always walk out into the street/road to avoid it.

Scuba Diva said...

I posted an earlier comment which was not published; in it I basically said there are strategies for dealing with pities—most of which are pit-mixes, by the way. Even purebred Staffies aren't necessarily more dangerous than other breeds; they have a few physical advantages over certain other breeds, but in my own experience I've received more bites from springer spaniels and Yorkies. (Obviously that's no case for breed-specific legislation!)

If a pit bites and won't let go, it's useful to lift his hind legs up like a wheelbarrow to destabilize him.

That said, I'm glad the little dog who was bitten is recovering.

Anonymous said...

From the ASPCA site, good things to know:
Plan A: Startle the Dogs or Use a Barrier

Before you physically separate two fighting dogs, try these methods:

A sudden, loud sound will often interrupt a fight. Clap, yell and stomp your feet. If you have two metal bowls, bang them together near the dogs’ heads. You can also purchase a small air horn and keep that handy. Put it in your back pocket before taking your dog somewhere to play with other dogs. If you have multiple dogs who get into scuffles, keep your air horn in an easily accessible place. If a startling noise works to stop a fight, the noise is effective almost immediately. If your noisemaking doesn’t stop the fight within about three seconds, try another method.
If there’s a hose or water bowl handy, you can try spraying the dogs with water or dumping the bowl of water on their heads.
Use a citronella spray, like SprayShield™ or Direct Stop®. Aim for the fighting dogs’ noses. If you walk your dog in an area where you may encounter loose dogs, it’s wise to carry citronella spray with you. If an aggressive dog approaches, spraying the deterrent in his direction may stop him in his tracks and prevent a fight. If he attacks, spraying the deterrent on or near his nose may break up the fight.
Try putting something between the fighting dogs. A large, flat, opaque object, like a piece of plywood, is ideal because it both separates the dogs and blocks their view of each other. If such an object isn’t available, you can make do with a baby gate, a trash can or folded lawn chair. Closing a door between the dogs can also break up a fight. Throwing a large blanket over both dogs is another option. The covered dogs may stop fighting if they can no longer see each other.

Plan B: Physically Separate the Dogs

If other methods don’t work or aren’t possible, it’s time for Plan B. If you’re wearing pants and boots or shoes, use your lower body instead of your hands to break up the fight. If they’re covered, your legs and your feet are much more protected than your hands, and your legs are the strongest part of your body.

If you feel that it’s necessary to grab the dogs, use this method:

1. You and a helper or the other dog’s pet parent should approach the dogs together. Try to separate them at the same time.

2. Take hold of your dog’s back legs at the very top, just under her hips, right where her legs connect to her body. (Avoid grabbing her lower legs. If grab a dog’s legs at the knees, her ankles or her paws, you can cause serious injury.)

3. Like you’d lift a wheelbarrow, lift your dog’s back end so that her back legs come off of the ground. Then move backwards, away from the other dog. As soon as you’re a few steps away, do a 180-degree turn, spinning your dog around so that she’s facing the opposite direction and can no longer see other dog.

Anonymous said...

I see the equivocation has already started. Pit bulls have a high prey drive - they see fluffy little dogs as toys to tear apart. Doesn't surprise me in the least about the pit bull owners apparent disposition. Seen it way too many times before.

Anonymous said...

I came upon this a little after 3pm. The pit bull already had the yorkie in it's jaws. A huge crowd was around, the owner was hysterical. Somebody was holding onto the yorkie's body to prevent the pit bull from shaking the yorkie to death. A big kid was holding the pit bull's lease while people screamed at him to control his dog. He was yelling that it wasn't his dog. Somebody kicked the pit bull but the dog ignored it. Somebody else tried to smash the pit bull with a garbage can but missed. People were genuinely scared and in shock. The yorkie was somehow pulled out of the pitbull's mouth. It looked nearly dead to me. A number of good people helped the owner find an emergency vet. The pitbull's owner showed up just as the yorkie's owner left with her limp dog.. He was horrified at what happened and stayed until the police arrived. The pitbull thought this was all a lot of fun and never understood that it had done something humans considered wrong.

Anonymous said...

@9:23pm: Your comment is correct only as it applies to owners who DON'T bother to train and control their dog.

My sister has had a pit mix for about 12 years now, and the first thing her vet said was that the DOG + the all the HUMANS in the family needed to go through training, and that the humans could not let the training "slip" - they ALL had to be consistent with the dog over the long term. They completed 3 full cycles of training with a specialist. And to this day, if that dog (who weighs about 70 lbs.) is told "drop it" he releases anything in his mouth immediately. Similarly, if he is told "sit", "stay", "lie down", "heel", etc. he obeys immediately. He is not allowed to jump up on anyone, nor is he allowed to pull while on a leash.

So the problem here is dog owners who don't take responsibility for owning a powerful animal.

Eden Bee said...

Also put any liquid up the dogs nose. Water. Beer. Soda. They sneeze and let go. Also pouring water on the dogs mouth that is locked on makes them let go right away. I've done in dozens of times. It's really easy to unlock a pitbull. I wish more people knew this.

MosaicManNYC said...

for pit bull .....kill the owner.....thats what i will do mosaic man..... if my dog is attacked.d e a d...whose goon-a stop me..d e a d.

Anonymous said...

My pit bull is a rescue from AC & C and she was almost put down. She is the sweetest dog ever and I take her to Tompkins dog park several times a week. I can not stand people who can't see that bad dogs come from bad owners. Get educated in life before you judge people!

Anonymous said...

Everybody needs to do some research. Pit bulls are amazing companions and very lovable. Their fault is being very loyal which is a problem with some of the humans that own them. Watch the Tompkins dog park on a daily basis for a week and then judge.

Grant B. said...

We watched from Two Boots, where we were eating with our kids. We didn't let them watch because ti was traumatizing to see. It took an inordinately long time for folks to figure out how to get the pit bull to release. They ended up doing it by sharply whacking it on the nose - it was harrowing because they got it to release once and then an instant later it clamped down again and then they whacked it again and finally pulled it back. The little dog wisely went limp and someone hung on so the pit couldn't shake it to death - you could see the pit just had some skin and it was awful to watch but not a lethal bite. We were happy to hear the little dog was ok. The owner was going to go to the Lower East Side Animal Hospital (which has great veterinarians), but I called them first and they said to go to Fifth Avenue Veterinary, which has 24 hour emergency services. Everyone was seriously panicking.

Anonymous said...

Someone threw a trashcan but missed? Did they throw it from across the street?

Anonymous said...

11:23, you have NO idea what was in the Pit's mind.

NOTORIOUS said...

Walking my dog around the city, it's amazing how many people clearly don't do basic training with their dogs. The biggest offenders are usually young women who think it's cool to get a Pitt Bull, German Shepard, or some other large breed and let it run wild at the end of a leash. They don't even know how to walk a dog.

Then there are the owners with small dogs who don't let them socialize with other small dogs because "he's bitey/yappy/snappy" etc. failing to realize they are making their dogs like this because they won't socialize the dog. Every time this happens with the smaller breeds, I tell the owner, call your dog on its shit, let them bark at my dog. The owners who listen to me, within 10 seconds, our dogs are playing and they look at me like I'm the dog whisperer.

Bad owners make bad dogs.

Anonymous said...

There has been an explosion of new dogs in the EV over the past 5 years. Expect this kind of thing to happen more often with the ever increasing amount of dogs. As expected the pitbull defenders came out to tell us how misunderstood the breed is, and how it is always the owners fault and by the way enough all ready with the term "pet parent". You may argue that this breed does not bite more often than any other breed and even if that were true it does not erase the amount of carnage one of these dogs and its freakish jaws can inflict. There are some many breeds and mongrels to choose however most dog owners go for a "lifestyle" pet, one that shows how cool they are when picking a pitbull. I would advise anyone with a dog to avoid passing this breed on a sidewalk, show the pitbull owner what you think of their choice in pet by staying away and protecting the life of your dog.

Anonymous said...

The same thing happened to my little shih tzu last year. The pitty came out of nowhere and chomped down on her neck and started to thrash her around. Thank god bystanders leaped into help. One held the pitty's head to stop it thrashing and some other guy had some spray he sprayed into its face and it released her. The owner stood by and watched and did NOTHING. The most horrifying few minutes of my life. She was badly injured. But then we've met other pittys whi have been sweet gentle giants. Yes, small dogs also bite sometimes but it's not going to result in the death of the other animal. As the owner of a large powerful dog you have extra responsibility to train and socialize your animal.

Anonymous said...

this comment section already makes me so grateful to be a cat lady

nygrump said...

too many pets, when a real crisis happens the pets are going to have be put down and put down immediately - because who comes first, children and seniors, or pets?

Anonymous said...

I came upon a similar scene on East 5th Street and Avenue B about two years ago. A pit bull had its teeth sunk into the head a small, older dog, who was just in shock while people were picking and pulling on the pit bull, unable to get it to release its grasp. After about five minutes, a man came upon the scene, took off his belt and choked the pit bull. That finally made the dog release his grip, and we all learned a good lesson. The belt was the only thing that worked. Kicking, punching, pulling did nothing. This dog was fixated on holding onto the little dog. It was awful. The pit just saw the little dog and went for him.

Anonymous said...

Pit buls and Rotweilers are responsible for two thrds of all fatal dog attacks on humans. Yet these breeds are less than 10% of the overall dog population, and they are roughly 8 times more likely to kill you than any other breed.

Don't tell me this is all about bad owners and how the other family members treat the dog. I guess there must be plenty of bad owners out there since there are so many more attacks by pit bulls. Funny how there aren't that many "bad owners" of most other breeds but when it comes to pits and rots the number of bad owners are at epidemic levels.

Also: How is a small child in the family suposed to be trained to treat a pit bull? Small children are the ones who often get attacked and killed, so was it their fault they got attacked because they didn't behave the right way?

Arguing with pit bull owners about safety is pointless, they will never agree with the facts. It's like arguing with gun owners -- their play toy isn't dangerous, until it suddenly goes off. Using this logic I guess pit bulls aren't dangerous, only bad pit bull owners are dangerous. It's just too bad there are so many bad owners.

Anonymous said...

I was there and called the police. it was truly traumatic to see. the owner is absolutely to blame - even though he wasn't there, he should have left his dog with a proper caretaker, one who would actually do something. he literally just stood there holding the dog's leash. it is despicable. he should go to jail. does anyone know what happened to that man and the owner?

NOTORIOUS said...

9:03 AM We were at Josie's one night and a Pitt Bull-like dog burst out of the bar and went after an older Pitt Bull being walked outside. Eden used her waterboarding trick and broke it up. I felt terrible for the lady walking her dog because she was blitzkrieged out of nowhere.

When I'm walking my dog, I always either cross the street or steer clear from this breed. They're just too unpredictable and with those locked jaws, forget it.

Anonymous said...

Blame is so easy to assign. Without any trepidation I am mortified by this type of event. As a dog owner, who lives in the EV, I am amazed at how stupid some dog owners can be. First, they don't watch their dog. Second, they don't watch other dogs. Two owners not watching and BAM! Of course I blame the pit owner in this case as it was evidently an aggressive attacker, assuming the smaller dog did not bark and snarl and make offensive moves toward the pit. Dogs do not know their size. Small dogs can be just as aggressive and dangerous as any large dog. But that is no excuse for allowing your large pit to do damage to other animals or people. As a dog owner it is your responsibility to have your dog under control at all times. Period.

Mike Diaz said...

So many pitbull haters and fear mongering. Pitbull a are an incredible breed and wonderful loving pets. It's amazing that people are calling for its death but we try to 'rehabilitate' aerial child nokwstwrs and rapists. The owner should be held responsible. Dogs are dogs and ALL dogs, like people, are subject to moods. I'm glad the little dog is ok but if the out in question never had an issue before why are you calling for its life.

creature said...

Cat-man here, too. I kinda want a dog one day, but it all seems so complicated (and my apartment is way too small). I'm glad Dante is okay.

Anonymous said...

There are pit bulls in this neighborhood that are trained to attack and fight. There's one trainer that lives on our block, and the pit bulls that he walks are always vicious and will lunge at any dog. We cross the street to avoid him.
And Ruff Club has indeed been a great addition to the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

Everyone blames bad owners for these cases, but I don't think that is always true. I had written about the attack on Avenue B a little while ago here on the blog, and I wanted to mention that the owner of the pit bull, a seemingly nice guy in his 20s, honestly couldn't do anything to get his dog under control. The dog was so fixated and so strong. Once the little dog was freed after another man choked him off, the dog owner was in shock and kept saying his dog had never done anything like that before. I believe him, but that is also the problem with pits. They can be sweet as pie but when that hunting instinct kicks in, forget it. The dogs aren't "bad." They are simply doing what instinct drives them to do. And this isn't good for anyone. I am not sure what the solution is, but someone needs to come up with something. Maybe muzzles?

Adam K. said...

People need to stop breed discrimination. Pit bulls are wonderful pets and hardly ever rip the faces off toddlers and mail carriers!
People also need to be aware of species discrimination! I happen to have a pet grizzly bear and Pookie is like a member of the family! I wish people would stop blaming grizzly bear maulings on grizzly bears.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a story! So glad the attacked dog survived, and so many neighbors assisted in rescuing it. Lots of helpful info on this thread, thanks all.

Anonymous said...

" the owner of the pit bull, a seemingly nice guy in his 20s, honestly couldn't do anything to get his dog under control. "

This is exactly the problem with large breeds and is magnified with pitbulls due to their deadly jaws. If you cannot control and animal you should not own that animal, it is that simple. You are liable for any death, harm or damage that dog does to another person or dog. There are no excuses, period.

Anonymous said...

Gonna be a little more leery of pitbulls from now. Sorry to be a dog racist but hey, it's a rough world out there.

Gojira said...

From Petfinder.com:

MYTH: Pit Bulls have locking jaws.
REALITY: Pit Bulls do not have any special physical mechanism or enzyme that allows them to “lock” their jaws. If you compare a Pit Bull skull to a skull of any other dog breed, you can see with the naked eye that both skulls share the same characteristics and general bone structure. However, one personality trait of the Pit Bull breed is determination. Whatever Pit Bulls do, they do it with a great deal of enthusiasm, and it is this trait that can make it seem like they have a locking jaw when they bite down on something and are determined not to release it.

Anonymous said...

I don't think people care whether it's locked jaws or determination when they're being mauled to death by a pitt bull.

Anonymous said...

Really glad that Dante is ok. Here's my experience - met a lot of pits with no problems but an Airedale Terrier attacked me and almost ripped my ear clean off.

Anonymous said...

Myth: Pit bulls have a special jaw locking mechanism.

Reality: Pit Bulls do not have any special physical mechanism or enzyme that allows them to “lock” their jaws. If you compare a Pit Bull skull to a skull of any other dog breed, you can see with the naked eye that both skulls share the same characteristics and general bone structure.

Anonymous said...

The headline should be dog attack.

Unknown said...

The only thing I've seen save a dog from a pit on A involved someone lifting up the pit's rear legs and kicking it in the ribs four times field goal style. Barely saved the other dog.

NMM said...

In Ontario Pit Bulls are banned - You were not allowed to breed them, buy them or import them after a certain date. If you had one it had to be neutered.

This happened 12 years ago, there are very few left now.

Statistically this ban on Pit Bulls has proven to be a good thing. Dog Attacks are down.

The type of people that want to own them is another story.

Anonymous said...

Pit bulls are fine until they are enthusiastically biting your arm off, then...not so much.

Eden Bee said...

Yeah, that attack by Josie's was scary but look how fast the dog let go with water poured over it's head. A dozen people yelling and the walker of the dog is in shock and it was like two seconds to end it.
I don't think any dog should be put down or killed. But I wish that Pit owners and walkers were more aware of what they have. I lived with many sweet pitbulls and almost all of them at some point lost it and attacked a dog they were playing with a moment before. I see it again and again. And the owner always says the same thing..."They never did that before!"
So i think a healthy fear of pits is good. When I lived in a communal situation one pit killed every cat in the building once. All 10 of them. 2 were mine. One lived and I gave her away to someone who had no dogs. She had already almost died out in the cold and then she almost died again with a dogs jaw on her neck being shaken. I got that pit off of her by sticking a pen into it's butt. Yup. If you shove something up their butt they let go ASAP.
I think it's a combination of bad owners and also just owners who need to be more aware of the fact that these dogs do go in for kill at times. I feel like half of my life has been spent getting pits to not kill other dogs or cats. Many were "the sweetest dog ever!" too. But I still don't hate them.
They are what they are I just want people who own these dogs to be able to take care of them and always be aware of any danger they may cause. I also know people who have lost fingers to pits. Breaking up fights the wrong way. It is really not that hard to do.

Eden Bee said...

That night at Josie's was not the pits fault, Lib. But those two have a history of fighting and the next week the owner of the older pit walked by the bar with that same dog off the damn leash. And he should know better. He has two pits and had a third that died. He was texting and the pit ran into Josie's looking for the other dog to start it up again. Luckily, the guy was not there right then. I freaked on the owner. Told him I saved his dogs life the week before and maybe he should put down his phone and put his two huge pits on a leash.

Anonymous said...

"The headline should be dog attack."

Yeah! Facts are misleading!

Anonymous said...

Eden Bee, your comments on this article are incredibly important - this tends to be a deeply polarizing issue, and it's rare to hear from a realist.

Sadly, pits have two disadvantages that work against them: 1) A lineage of dog-fighting, and 2) Too many owners who have no concept of what they are dealing with. I've met marvelous pits who have been properly socialized and trained - they are a delight. I've also had the misfortune of having two of my leashed dogs, both greyhounds, attacked by them. One was slammed to the ground without warning, and repeatedly bitten - very deeply to the neck and abdomen, which usually mean an intent to kill. It was horrifying, and although my dog recovered in time, he was never again comfortable around any strange dogs.

I just wish that more folks who love these dogs were able to acknowledge the dangers, and approach the matter with a deep level of responsibility. They have the capacity to be wonderful dogs - they just need a realistic leader.

NMM said...

I was the guy who whapped the pit bull over the nose with a newspaper which got it to let go.

the guy walking it was a doofas. Had no idea how to control the animal, didn't really seem capable of understanding what was going on.

I was just walking with my kids up Ave A eating a slice of Pizza when we ran into this.

Word is this was the third time this dog has done this.

Next time it will be some toddler, and the dog will be latched on to his face. The fact that it's jaws don't have some magical latching mechanism will matter little.

It will be little comfort to them to know that it was a 'bad owner' and not the dog's fault,

Stats don't lie. Pit Bulls are dogs that attack. and the people that like and are attracted to them have serious issues.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eden Bee said...

Thanks. I agree with you 100% anon. Luckily when the pit that used to live with me decided to lock on to a dog it had known and played with for many years we were at the beach and just dragged them into the water. That pit was a sweetie...known for licking everyone to the point where it was hilariously insane. Friendliest dog ever and very fat. Her owner weighed about 80lbs and had no idea what to do to get her off the other dog. She just started crying. Dog weighed more than she did. It turned out okay and to be fair to the owner this was the first time her pit HAD ever done this. We were all in shock, really. A second pit that was with us joined in too. Another "sweetest pit ever!" locked on the poor dog from the other side. They had all played together fine until this. It was after this incident when i saw two pits i knew well and loved gang up on a smaller dog and try to kill it that I realized pit owners need to know about what their dogs are capable of and always be aware of the danger. Because the danger is there and that is a fact. But with awareness and knowledge no dogs need to die from more aggressive ones attacking them.

Anonymous said...

Oh so its also normal dog behavior to attack and decapitate its owners mom and eat her hand? No its a pit bulls normal behavior to kill and consume its victim

Anonymous said...

BS

Anonymous said...

Lol.

Anonymous said...

Why? Because it gives these monsters a bad name? Tell it like it is. Any other breed wouldn't have done that damage and you know it. People need to know about these dogs. Shelters need to stop lying. Its a never ending battle. Lime I said. May as well talk to a free.

NMM said...

http://dogbitelaw.com/store/dog-bite-lawsuit-forms


The best strategy to eliminate these problems is to make it too expensive to own a pit bull.

If people realize that they will be sued and for serious punitive damages, that will start making these dogs less popular,

This dog has a history of violence, a lawsuit against the owner should be a slam dunk. Problem is he might not have anything of value, but being on the losing end of this will sure change his mind about owning a dangerous animal.

Anonymous said...

I met the owner of little Dante this morning and just found out what happened on Sunday. The sad thing is we had all just spent a lovely couple of hours at the dog run in Tomkins only to have it ruined by yet another asshole with a vicious out of control dog.
This Pit Bull dog is a known menace in the neighborhood. It's gone after my dog at least 5 times most recently Saturday 4th April. Fortunately I've managed to avoid injury but it's terrifying. It's owner is utterly irresponsible, he frequently ties it up outside the deli (Bueno East Mart) on 3rd and A on a long leash and leaves. The dog hides then lunges at every small dog that passes and almost got my leg last week. The owner has no control over the dog, doesn't care and sickeningly seems to find any runs in's amusing.
Last summer I had to take refuge in the bike shop across the street (Landmark Bicycles) as the dog was about to kill me and my little dog. When I yelled at the owner to back off, he called me every derogatory name in the book, all the while letting his snarling, wild beast of a dog get closer to me. What a psycho, your dog is not a weapon, at the very least it should be wearing a muzzle.
Sadly apparently there have been no complaints about this dog. So today I tried to make one and was met with NYC's finest bureaucratic waste of time/money system.
First I called Animal Control 212-788-4000. Hopeless, just a long list of instructions, dial 1 for adoption, etc. No live human to speak to and I was hung up on after holding for over 5 minutes. I then called 311 and explained my experience, they put me on a 3 way call with 911. I explained to 911 that this was not an emergency I just wanted to make a report and 311 told me this was their procedure. (What a waste of 911's time) I was then given the following number for The Animal Bite Unit 646- 632-6074, who tried to help but since I didn't know the name of the dog or the owner, they said they couldn't take a complaint. Basically it seems there is nothing I can do. Really???
The dog who was not up to date on his Rabies Shots is going to be released back onto the streets in less than 10 days. Can anyone offer a solution before it attacks and possibly kills another dog, or next time a human?

NMM said...

The solution is to get an Accident and Injury lawyer after the owner. The Civil courts have pretty specific laws about dog bites, there are lots of ambulance chasing lawyers looking to pick up this sort of work.

The Police should have a record of the attack on Sunday. That will include the dog owner's name and address so he can be served.

The idea is to just make this dog too expensive for this moron to own.

Anonymous said...

Exactly! A hand grenade is the other way to describe a pit bull. Cute, quiet, not a problem until suddenly it is THE problem. And that little pin thing: it's controlled by 200 years of pit bull instinct. And there's no off button.

Anonymous said...

To mske a pit ket go: Use your leash, a belt, cord, to wrap around the pit's neck, high, near its ears and choke until it loses consciousness. Don't let it regain consciousness, as a determined pit will continue attacking. That way it dies happy, as a good pit is happy when mauling. The victim's will then be freed.

nygrump said...

Why can't you just poke it hard in the eyes?

Garrett said...

WARNING & UPDATE: The dog that attacked Dante was returned to the owner. The owner continues to leave the dog tied up unattended in front of the deli on Ave A & 3rd where it still continues to bark & lunge at every passing dog. It almost got me a few minutes ago. I still do not see a rabies tag on the dog, nor I was the owner anywhere to be found.

jucat said...

To all the pit bull defenders: yes, other dogs bite. But the violent attacks by pit bulls are in a whole different league. My little toy fox terrier was attacked in the East Village (3rd St also!) 4 years ago. The owner of the OFF LEASH pit bull was at least a block behind her dog. Who does that?! Her comment: "my dog's never attacked before." My dog survived after extensive surgery that totaled $1,000. The owner paid.

Anonymous said...

Lighter to the stomach of the attacking dog works every time

Anonymous said...

With all the information available I'm suprised how stupid most of you are.
Any breed of dog is a product of the enviorment and nurture it receives form the HUMANS who own them. Just like your ignorance and lack very obtainable knowledge are a product of the reality you probably watch for hours on end.
Hopefully next time this dog comes and bites your dumb asses.

Unknown said...

I have a pit bull. The biggest baby in the world. Awesome with kids. Sleeps with my daughter. I also have 3 little dogs that he grew up with. Never had a problem. Today in fact I came home to a bloody mess. He got ahold of my small Chihuahua and killed her. Blood all over my dining room. I've had my pit almost 6 years. He has killed two cats before but never dogs. And this was our dog he killed. Our pit has never been abused. Loved on like he was our baby since birth. I don't understand this. I've been crying all day trying to figure out what I did wrong. He's been with these dogs for years and never had a problem. Now I have to tell my kids and put my dog down? So I lose both today. Its like losing my own kids. And knowing I have to be the one to have my loveable pit put down makes me feel like a murderer. Yes I know what he did. I can't get it out of my mind. I just can't comprehend it. He wasn't raised to be aggressive. He's never been aggressive to anything except the cats. But bottom line is do I risk my kids? No. If he can do that to our little dog what's to say he won't to my child? Or the grandbaby coming? Its almost as if he was jealous and wanted her out of the way. Is that possible?

Gojira said...

Your dog killed two cats and yet you were fine with that? Ummm...