Traumatized ... Just Witnessed Dog Attack.... Long, Sorry.

[Guest lynne893]

I feel like I'm still having an out of body experience as I write this... and so grateful that my two greyhounds are okay.

 

My friend and I went for a walk/hike through a local park late this afternoon. My two were on leash, as always, but I felt a little uneasy because the only time I ever walk the two by myself without DH is around our city neighborhood, not up in the hills.

 

Naturally, we came across several unleashed dogs at this park, and I pulled mine close, got out of the way, and avoided contact explaining that mine "aren't always friendly." (Which really only means that I don't trust off leash dogs approaching mine... you know, dog chemistry, anything can happen and I'd prefer other dogs not approach.)

 

We came across a man getting out of his car w 2 pitbulls on strong leashes. I told my friend from the first time we spotted them that it didn't feel like the man had control over his dogs. They were pulling and jerking all over the place, so I kept my distance. At one point he must have sensed I seemed uneasy and he hollered (friendly) "Don't worry, I'm not going to let them off leash." I thanked him and said mine aren't always friendly and I felt mine were a little out of control so I was holding them close to me and asked him to continue on ahead of us. (Again, saving face. Mine were perfectly under control.)

 

Not more than 10 yards further, we came across a pack of 5 dogs, two or three women. Four out of the five in this pack were leashed, one was not but was walking calmly aside its owner and the other dogs.

 

The man completely lost control and one of the pitbulls charged at one of the leashed dogs in the pack and grabbed it by the throat. Of course, chaos ensued. The man was hollering at his dog, trying to get it to stop, the owner must have given her other dog on leash to her friend and was holding her dog (medium sized white fluffy dog) and trying to protect it, and I'm standing about 10 yards away stomping my foot and yelling "NO NO NO" over and over as if that was any help.

 

It was horrible. The attack must have gone one for two minutes, at least. The poor victim was held by the throat the entire time and while the man was pulling his pitbull off, I could see the dog's throat being pulled. I didn't see any gushing blood but I have no doubt that the dog was in grave condition, if nothing else, internal injuries.

 

Meanwhile, the pitbull owner was hitting his pitbull as hard as he could trying to get it off, repeatedly, which is a horrible thing to witness too. His other pitbull got loose and seemed to start in on attacking, but fortunately wasn't as aggressive as the other and I think the man was able to get it under control.

 

A witness was yelling "call 911, call 911" and at some point, I had the good sense to get the hell out of there with my friend and my greyhounds. The last thing I saw was the pitbull owner holding his dog down on the ground yelling at it.

 

It's tragic in so many ways, I can't even articulate them all. I'm so worried about the dog that was attacked and hope it got to a hospital right away... though it would've taken time for its owner to even get out of the park back to her car.... I feel so terrible that the man who owned the pitbulls was clearly trying to do the right thing-- he had them on sturdy leashes and wasn't intending on letting them off-leash... he at least seemed aware that his dogs needed to be restrained (though demonstrated very little control over them). He also seemed horrified and remorseful.

 

Most of all, I'm grateful that my dogs are okay. It could have very easily been one of mine. (My former greyhound Timber was attacked, unprovoked, by an off-leash pitbull and it was one of the most awful experiences you can ever have as a dog owner...)

 

Thank you for listening. I needed to get this off my chest. I'm really shaken.

[iluvgreys]

OMG! How frightful. thank god you and your gh's are safe. Hope that other poor dog is ok.

[Guest Giselle]

Hugs to you. Thank goodness you are okay!

 

Dog attacks are terrifying and horrendous experiences. And, in a lot of cases, they're just not fair. I won't pass judgment on the man or the others involved, but suffice to say that it is unfortunate any of this happened. I feel sorry for all involved, especially the attacking dogs. I doubt they have a bright road ahead.

 

Tip: This is MY personal experience, and you take on full responsibility if you decide to follow my advice. Hopefully, nobody ever has to read this and use it, BUT... To stop a dog attack, jam something hard into the dog's mouth. A stick, a rock, a pipe, whatever. Shove it deep into the dog's mouth so that the dog's molars can only clamp down on the object. People sell "Breaksticks" that are essentially PVC pipes for this purpose.

[September]

Eesh. I feel awful for ALL of the parties involved in this situation.

 

 

A witness was yelling "call 911, call 911" ....... The last thing I saw was the pitbull owner holding his dog down on the ground yelling at it.

 

Double eesh. Guess I probably know the outcome of this situation.

[greyhead]

Oh, how horrible for all concerned! I'm terribly sorry you had to be involved but very glad you kept your distance and your dogs safe. Luck was also with you, thankfully. Sending big virtual hugs to you. :grouphug

[Guest kess]

what a terrible thing to witness

 

my dogs are always leashed, one is allowed off leash at the fenced dog park but we don't go there very often as I don't really trust unleashed dogs to behave the way they are meant to. In Australia greyhounds are not allowed to go off leash in public areas at all, I think that is because of the chase instinct rather than that they are vicious, and we all know that is one thing they aren't.

[Houndtime]

My worst nightmare.

[Guest june]

I am so sorry you had to witness that. How horrible! Hope you are doing better today.

[JohnF]

What a horrible thing. That's how accidents always happen... out of nowhere and lightning fast.

 

So glad to read your hounds stayed safe; maybe you can carry a mace spray or at least a fold up walking stick if you go into out of the way areas again?

[Guest IrskasMom]

This gives me the shiver just reading this. It could have been your Dogs just as well.

[racindog]

How terrible! No excuse for the pit bull owners stupidity.

I never take any of my dogs out without at least one weapon for protection which I have no compunction about using. (We actually had a police dog attacked here in Louisville last year by a loose stray dog.) In fact most of the time I have a gun and a kabar, even when walking my maligator. And even then I just have to hope that events unfold that will allow me to use them and protect my dogs.

People are so stupid to think they can just handle potentially aggressive dogs without any knowledge or training on either theirs or the dogs part-and we won't even go into the clowns who indiscriminately breed them. People are just so stupid. Thank God your hounds didn't get hurt.

[ozgirl2]

Horrible!! The only thing worse is when your dog is being attacked & you can't stop it... (been there, it was awful)

[Yamaha_gurl]

I'm so sorry you had to witness this. I still remember the story not too long ago about the greyhound that was killed by a pitbull, I cried and cried so hard after reading that

[Feisty49]

This will be with you for a while. I've seen something like this but nearly as bad as what you saw and it was days before it stopped haunting me and even then it wasn't far from my thoughts. It's scary to think that your "kids" could have been involved if things went a little bit differently.

[Guest jennis]

I feel for you.It is a traumatic experience. I can feel myself shaking inside it has brought back memories and emotions from years ago when my leashed lab mix was attacked by a neighbours unleashed spaniel. I ended up kicking and hitting my own dog by accident when trying to get the spaniel off him. The neighbour blamed my dog even though his dog ran more than 20 metres to get to us. The spaniel later disappeared after it attacked a person by running after them and jumping onto their back and doing some serious damage. On the positive side dog attacks are a tiny percentage of all dog interactions.

Sending you hugs and best wishes.

[Guest psdirector]

My stepdaughter was walking her Skipperke, Charlie, when she was 13 (she was at her mom's) and a loose dog came and attacked Charlie and killed him while she stood by helplessly. Talk about trauma! I was so furious at whoever was irresponsible enough to let their dog loose and so sad for my stepdaughter. It took her a long, long time to even be able to talk about it without becoming hysterical. I still get furious when I think about it.

 

So glad that your hounds are ok. Your being wary really paid off for you and your dogs (a lesson for all of us), but what a horrible situation to witness. Hugs to all of you.

[TINMANPDX]

My goodness, what a horrible, traumatizing thing for you to witness! Glad you and your hounds are okay. Our group instructs anyone handling a grey to never just hold the loop of the leash, rather to wrap it around your hand and wrist - owners of most large or powerful breeds should do this too. I hope the dog that was attacked made it.

[Guest zombrie]

It witnessed the immediate after effects of a senior greyhound viciously attacked by a pack of greyhounds(and 1 galgo). I didn't witness the actual attack but seeing the damage really left a mark on me. Made me appreciate muzzles even more and not afraid to use them.
I'm sorry you had to witness the fight, that is terrifying

[brindlehound]

That sounds exactly like what happened to Magic when he was attacked. The owner didn't have good control over her dogs and they broke loose. One had Magic's throat and I really thought he was going to the Bridge at that point. The weird thing is one of his legs had the worst of the injuries. His throat injuries were very minor.

 

You're right that is horrible to witness.

[RedHead]

Dog attacks are not fun to see Even though the pit owner didn't mean anything, I personally have NO sympathy for people who choose to get powerful breed dogs and then don't have full control of them. Two powerful pits straining on their leash at everything is just an accident waiting to happen, this guy clearly is not the right owner for them. Hopefully the other dog is okay and the pitbull owner got a wakeup call.

 

You noticed you didn't see blood...a lot of dog fights that look and sound horrible are sometimes just more putting on a show rather than doing damage. Most dogs that are truly aggressive to kill another dog will do it straight away...I would imagine if a pitbull was grabbing the neck of a smaller dog and really meant to harm it, it would have done serious damage right away. Hopefully this was more a holding on thing than actually doing fatal damage. Sorry you had to see that.

[Guest zombrie]

You noticed you didn't see blood...a lot of dog fights that look and sound horrible are sometimes just more putting on a show rather than doing damage. Most dogs that are truly aggressive to kill another dog will do it straight away...I would imagine if a pitbull was grabbing the neck of a smaller dog and really meant to harm it, it would have done serious damage right away. Hopefully this was more a holding on thing than actually doing fatal damage. Sorry you had to see that.

 

This!!! I've seen lots of quarrels that looked and sounded horrific and terrifying but no one got hurt (or very minor injuries). They are very powerful animals and if they intended to seriously injure or kill, they would have.

 

About a month after Minerva came home, my parent's golden attacked her. The sounds were awful and he actually chased and pinned her down on the ground. We couldn't get him off... I was pulling on his collar, my dad was actually kicking him but Caesar wouldn't let her go. The only way I got him off of her was when I grabbed his back end (the "tuck") and pulled up and away as hard as a could. I thought for sure Minerva got seriously hurt. I looked her over and couldn't even find a scratch. The only thing that was hurt was her feelings

I just wanted to add, Caesar was sick with Lyme disease when that happened and this wasn't normal behavior for him. Minerva and Caesar are good buddies now

Edited January 28, 2013 by zombrie

[Guest blueberri]

We had a very similar situation unfold on Sunday, when our greyhound group gathers so the kids can run. We were waiting with our boy still in the car as there were dogs loose in the park, pitties to be precise. Their owner exited the park with them off leash, and they ran for two of the greys, leashed and muzzled, and proceded to attack. I think it was one of the "drama but no trauma" type attacks, as pitties don't tend to miss when they really go for gold... the grey's mum was shaking for the next half hour, the dad (having kicked the dogs and gotten screamed at by the useless owner) equally so.

 

I recall just screaming and yelling "No! No!!" when Sparky was attacked by a GSD at the dog park... I honestly thought he'd die... that we'd only had him a month and he was going to be killed. Colour me surprised when he didn't have a scratch on him. I was traumatised!

 

Big hugs to you, and good on you for listening to your instincts and protecting your kids.

[Walliered]

I always carry "Halt" and have used it twice. It works.

[Pepsi2004]

What a gruesome thing to witness - glad that you and your dogs are safe.

[Guest karilynn]

Oh gosh, that is a horrifying thing to witness. I saw a pitbull rip the ear right off of a basset hound once at the dog park. Suffice to say, I felt traumatized.