Saturday, March 18, 2006

F*cked up day

We had a pit bull named Naughty-she was always a mellow dog and never caused any trouble or had ever been aggressive. She was part of the family and, being a pit bull, never caused me any concern about her being around my other dogs.

On Wednesday, she decided to go galavanting, and dug out of the backyard. She got busted by the pound. We paid the fine and brought her home. She was so excited to see us and you could tell she was happy to be home.

We put her in the backyard, and my dog Taylor, who I have had for 7 years was back there. He is a beagle/american foxhound mix, about her same size. He was excited to see her and ran up to her and all of the sudden Naughty attacked him.

I was doing dishes and heard Taylor screaming. Which is an odd thing since he has never barked or made much as a squeek. She had grabbed him by the throat and it was like she went insane.

Rick and his son were out there and were trying to make her let go but she wouldn't. I ran outside and my first thought was to grab her and pull her off but she wouldn't budge. My next thought was to punch her and kick her so she would let go but she wouldn't.

I ran to the faucet to turn the water hose on her, and after a few seconds that seem like minutes of hooking the hose back up, I started spraying her with the sprinker that was attached to the hose.

She finally let go and Taylor ran into the house-she was quick and ran in after him. I got into the kitchen and she had grabbed him by the throat again. I still had the hose and in my kitchen, I sprayed her in the face with the hose again and when that didnt work I started hitting her in the head with the sprinkler that was attached to the hose while punching her with the other hand.

It was so surreal at the time because I lost my dog Reggie in a similar way in 1997 and I wasn't about to lose Taylor the same way.

I punched, kicked, and all but bashed this dog to try to get her lose from Taylor.

Finally, I got her lose from him and he ran into the house while Rick held her.
Taylor was all shook up and on the couch and I ran to check him out. He seemed ok, but there was blood all over me. I found a huge cut on his neck about 4 inches long and freaked out.

I sorta went calm then, to take charge I guess, I told Rick to make sure the other dogs were ok and got Brian to call a Vet to tell them we were on the way, but I was worried since it was after 5pm of who would be open. Luckily the one I picked was open so we made a mad dash and wouldn't you know it my fuel light came on, oy.

Luckily we made it to the vet and Taylory was ok, he got a dose of something that calmed him down, some staples and some antibiotics.

When I finally realized that he was going to be ok, I finally looked at myself and realized I looked worse for the wear. I had cuts all over my hands, both of my knees and elbows were scabbe up and I had a major cut on my hand. I don't remember getting any of them

We all realized at that point that if Naughty had decided to attack one of our other dogs (small dachsunds) or us, it would have all gone down different.

Rick called the pound again, where we had just picked her up, and told them what had happened-to come pick her back up. We knew that they wouldn't adopt her out and put her down.

I am so thankful that Taylor is ok and that it wasn't Petey or Randy she went for, but I feel so horrible that I basically beat the crap out of her before she got put down. But I couldn't and wouldn't ever trust her again to be around Taylor, the other dogs, me, or anyone.

What if it had been one of Rick's or my nephews, or a friend that just happened to be around? I can't even imagine.

So here was this dog that I loved, trusted and even defended when everyone said "eeek it's a pit bull" doing the very thing that everyone feared she would do.

I think Rick and Brian are kinda freaked that I let loose on her, we are all happy that Taylor will be ok but we are all sad that Naughty is gone.

It's all too weird.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please don't feel horrible about beating her up; you couldn't do anything else. I'm so sorry, Jeff. How awful. I've known pit bulls that were the sweetest things--and others that I wouldn't get within 10 feet of, even if they were on a 6 foot chain. Baron, my beloved Rott, gets a lot of frightened looks, and occasional comments, since Rotts have gotten a lot of bad press, too. And though he's the sweetest dog, I've seen just a little of the "bad side" there. Much as I hate to say it, you made the right decision. Once something like that happens, it's just a matter of time before it happens again, and with worse consequences. Nonetheless, I am so sorry. Sim

Anonymous said...

It just happens hon, not even a pit bull thing. We had a bunch of labs and other sporting dogs growing up, Missy attacked one of the neighbor kids one day while we were out.
Technically he shouldn't have hopped our fence and he knew it - she was just defending her territory, but -
She was never the same after that. The vet checked her, the pound made us provide paperwork that showed she wasn't infected with rabies, we didn't know for two weeks if we were going to lose her because of one stupid neighbor.
We got to keep her but... something spooked her at the pound or the way they treated her when they picked her up - we had to put her down six months later because her personality change was so drastic WE were afraid. The vet said there was nothing physically wrong with her, she was only six so her mind was fully intact...
I think they saw her as a violent animal and abused her while she was in their care.
Rest assured you did the right thing. She wouldn't have wanted to be here like she was, guaranteed.

Donna. W said...

My grandson has a young female Pit Bull, and she's loving and sweet. But I would never own one, simply because of stories like yours. It makes me wonder, though, if something about the visit to the pound made your dog change like that.

Donna. W said...

By the way Jeff, my dog Mandy was hit and killed by a car in January and I'm still crying. I feel for you, because the grieving takes a long time.