You reacted in panic and your natural instinct was to defend your dog. Nobody should fault you for that.

It wasn't your fault the dog came over; that is the fault of stupid owners who don't care and a society that promotes keeping potentially dangerous dogs through sensationalist news stories and the way the media portrays them. What better adverts for keeping (and then turfing out) these dogs, if you are an idiot with low self esteem?

If you still feel bad about what happened, why not do something positive, like maybe take some dog food down to a local shelter, or make a donation to a dog charity? You might never find the poor dog that you poked, but that does not make you a bad person

If pitbulls roamed my area during the night there is NO WAY I would ever venture outside at 2am.

People know me and how I am. Nobody would suspect that I'd injure a dog like that. I didn't mean to hit the dog so hard, but I did. I'm over 200 pounds and weight lift etc. The amount of force I used was absolutely unnecessary.

I truly hope I see the dog again so that I can confirm if it's really hurt. I won't let it suffer because of me. You're right, it's over and I need to get over it, but I truly do feel really bad about it...

I really try to avoid it, but it's very hard for me to do. I always take Jade outside before I settle in for the night. However, she is sort of in training and when she says she needs to go out, I take her. I infrequently take her outside in the middle of the night, there are usually no problems.

I don't want her to pee or poo in the house (she will as she's not perfect at holding it yet), and I haven't seen a pit bull for a bit. I didn't think there would be a problem, but there goes thinking.

She's going to get to where she can hold it for longer, she's doing great already. But I know if she's allowed to have accidents and denied potty breaks because of potential dogs that she will regress. I CANNOT have dogs going potty inside the house. :/

It doesn't look like you had much choice at the time. But in future pop a water pistol in your dressing gown or something to scare the dog away from you and Jade. Its done now, so don't beat yourself up over it. You did what you had to do. Like you I too would feel guilty, but its the morons who just turn their dogs out in the street to do whatever they want. The're the ones I'd like to hit with a poker. Whether it be a pitbull or a Yorkshire terrier. These people really need prosecuting.

The ideal would be to fence your plot. If that is not possible could you fence one small area that is accessible from one of your doors. I appreciate it must be horrendous living in an area with lots of pitbulls but hearing that makes me worry even more for Jade's safety. Her normally wearing a muzzle outside would give her no chance of defending herself If she is aggressive towards children and some dogs, just try and avoid them as much as possible and turn and walk in the opposite direction.

I do feel for you but I wouldn't feel happy whatever dog I owned living near free-running pitbulls. Thank goodness they banned over here.

Are the public authorities not doing anything about the problem of stray pitbulls. Just recently Alex posted on here about her pitbull escaping and biting someone and the warden shows up within 20 mins and confiscates her dog. I'm not sure of how it operates in different states in the US but it would seem to be a health and safety issue having these poor pitbulls wandering around, potentially aggressive compounded by the fact that they're probably very hungry too.

It is so sad, I'd rather see them PTS than continue this nomadic life at risk of being run over by a vehicle, having things thrown at them etc.. It just breaks my heart and makes my blood boil at just how irresponsible people can be with their dogs - just turfing them out when they decide they don't want them anymore.

We actually cannot fence the yard. Nobody on our block has fences. There are huge boulders under the ground and you simply cannot dig a fence all the way around the yard. She had a small outdoor enclosure she used to stay in, but it's not near the door.

I love pit bulls as much as the next dogs. The people here are the problem. Only the true trash have interest in pit bulls. There are NO good owners who have them. It makes the dogs seem terrible, but really it's not their fault.

When one attacks, and they can find it.. they usually come and get it and put it down. But there are ALWAYS tons more where that one came from. Mainly pit bulls are owned here, and mainly horrible people own them. I had the ONLY Lab (lab mix) in a billion mile vicinity, honestly.

Lots of the dogs are caged or chained outdoors (the chaining is now illegal, but it doesn't stop anybody) and they simply break free. Many of the dogs I see have collars or broken chains attached to them. MOST people here keep their dogs outdoors 100% of the time actually.

There are also dog fighting rings, though finding them is nearly impossible and the cops don't care much about dog fighting thugs. If the pit bull bites then they'll put it down oftentimes, but they won't really come unless the dog has bitten or attacked. Also, if they can't find it in a hurry, they just give up.

Shelters here are starting with auto euthanize on pit bulls too. Any pit bull brought in is put down automatically because nobody adopts them, or adopts them and then returns them. The shelters that don't auto euthanize often hold pit bulls for MUCH less time then other breeds before putting them down. It's so sad and it's not fair to the dogs at all.

How traumatic for you. I woud have acted the same and then tried to analyze the situation. Otherwise you could have been doing the analyzing from a hospital bed.
Personally I don't believe that that dog would have been frightened off by a squirt of water in his face.

Dogs don't always growl. The warning can be silence or stillness and the stealthy way it moves forward.