True story of a friends pit bull

True story of a friends pit bull

I am really not looking for a debate- I just wanted to share something with you as its now finally resolved. I just want people to read and consider- . The reason in my posting this is in the last paragraph so please read the WHOLE story. Again- I am not looking for a debate, and I will have the moderator delete the thread if this is too upsetting..

I have friend I have known for about 25 years. One of the top skilled trainers in a several county area. She had worked with problems dogs, advanced obedience, search and rescue, even therapy dog work. She wanted to get a american staffshire to " prove" that the breed could be a wonderful companion, excellent obedience and show dog etc. She got a pup from one of the top breeders in the us- highly successful pedigree- ie " TOP of the Line". Not in bred etc- with excellent lines.
Being a skilled trainer- she started working with the pup very early, and spayed her at 6 months old. The dog was a obedience GENIUS! Going easily from one title to another. She tried to put the dog into our therapy group but was told because of the breed type, she could not qualify. Meanwhile the dog continued to be the most amazing working, top scoring dogs I have ever seen. ( keep in mind- I am not easily impressed because I have also used my shepherds in high competition status- but this dog was amazing..)

She lived in town, had a fenced in yard- always went outside with the dog, but the dog never EVER showed any sign of aggression. The dog was use to people walking past the house, with their dogs, their kids etc, and well known in the area for being a friendly dog. The dog loved people walking by as my friend had trained her to accept this routine.

One day she was out in the yard- gardening with the dog laying in the grass, when a older lady, and her spayed female that walked infront of the house daily- never shown either dog as aggressive or with problems. Both excellent dogs. For reasons that escape any understanding- my friends dog- took off- jumped the fence, and attacked this dog. As the lady tried to get the dog off, my friend as well flying to the fence to stop it, the dog attacked the woman.. Even my friend, the lady and two people passing by had a hard time getting my friends " highly trained" - a dog that had never EVER shown a single sign of aggression- they all had a hard time getting my friends do to stop the attack.
Finally they did- the my friends dog was taken into custody. The ladys dog to the vets, the lady to the hospital - and in this transport, went into cardiac arrest..

Five people were bitten in this attack- the ladys dog could not be saved..
Later in the afternoon- after knowledge of the ladys cardiac arrest became known to the police- my friend was arrested for "reckless endangerment, and attempted murder etc.". With one of the best top lawyers, he convinced the judge in the bail hearing to do a necropsy on the dog argueing this was so out of character for the dog- the dog must have been sick. ( she wasnt....not a thing showed up to explain this sudden attack..) . At the time the county did not have a "pitt ban", but the charges were steaming from mostly the lady had a heard attack because of this situation, and although she recovered, my friend was held without bail pending investigation, and later sentenced. ( the exact total charges are unknown to me..) My friend went into deep depression, had to be placed on suicide watch, and served her sentence.

Meanwhile- because she was in jail, she couldnt work- lost her house to foreclosure, then the ladies family filed a law suit. Although she always had liability insurance on her dogs (as well as I do too..) it was not enough to cover the damages of everything from the hospital bill for the lady, pain and suffering, neglegence- ( the court and insurance company said a 4 foot high fence was inadequate and being a trainer- she should have known her dog was too big and should have had a higher fence or at least a anti jump harness, even the value of the dog that died because of the attack, and the vets bills in an attempt to save the dog.. etc etc etc..
The result- although now out of jail, she has lost her home, her wages will probably be taxed for her entire life, and she is still in such a state of depression- and vows to never EVER have another dog ( any dog) again after being so active in dogs almost her whole adult life..

** MY POINT in this whole thing is this- people dismiss breed traits and believe they have altered the inheirent breed type traits . Just like a sighthound can never have a 100 percent reliable recall against a chase, this type of dog was used to fight in a " pitt". Although my friend had taken every single precaution with high training, and socializing- she is beating her self up for not thinking for a second to have a anti jump harness on her dog whenever off the lead.. You cant turn off breed traits. Does that mean you should not own a certain of dog? OF COURSE NOT- it just means to never under estimate the bred in instinct "its in there". Just like I know my dogs may not come on my recall ( I am a licensed certified trainer by the way) and bolt in a chase- TAKING PRECAUTIONS - thinking " outside the box of what else you can do and heading breed standards and clubs advice- are things owners need to think about..

This is a very thought-provoking thread. What a dreadful thing to happen all round.

Thank you for your considering and understanding this is not a breed " bashing". Its a statement in how bad not understanding deeply the breed inheirted type in potential behavior. Do your research.

poor woman, how sad, what a terrible story. Have to say though that I would never have less than a 6ft fence around any of my dogs, and to be honest if they wanted to go up and over that I am sure they would. I don't think 4' presents a problem to most dogs, especially if they have done any sort of agility work (which is why I would never teach mine to jump or run up an A Board - too much risk).
Like you say, if the instinct is in there, it may well show itself at the worst possible time. I am sooo sorry for her though it is just dreadful, as she sounds a responsible caring thorough person who has done everything she thought possible to prevent such an occurence.

I agree but as she stated in the past, she even had great danes that never tried the fence, or her shepherds, collies etc..
The other tragic part of this is that while other breed clubs give recommendations on handling a breed, and precautions- the "pitt" clubs have stuck their heads in the sand and do not have a set standard of situations- including a antijump harness. And as you said- if the dog is intent on jumping a fence, unless its a toy dog- even 6 foot fence would not have stopped the dog..

I own a Dogue de bordeaux, even though she is higher then my 4ft fence shes way to lazy to jump it, My Staffordshire bull terrier on the other hand is only 11" to the withers at present and she is always trying, so we are having to heighten it

anyway, back to the point, its a very sad thing to of happened, and your friend, from what you have sad, could not of done anymore than she did to prevent this situation

That is a truly amazing story ,and i must say i agree with all your closing comments ,but i carnt help hoping that your friend will eventually find her way back ,to working with and loving dogs again ,as we all know dogs can help us through our darkest hours .

well I know that a lot of Utes have a very strong prey drive, one of mine in particular is giving me great problems due to this and she is back on a long line at the moment because she could quite easily cause an accident due to the fact that she switches off to everything but the chase. As I am aware of this, I take precautions, one of these is a high fence so my dogs cannot see cats etc on the other side, they would be over the fence and off after whatever, probably straight into the road and cause an accident. I work very hard on recall, but when the instinct kicks in nothing else matters, so I can well believe what happened, it is just such a dreadful thing when she herself had gained so much success with her dog.

Such a sad story I do hope your Friend recovers,from her trauma.

That is a really sad story and I really feel for the woman, I never underestimate any dog, its a dog with lots of teeth and potential to use them, I think because of the amount of attacks on Suki it opened my eyes to the fact that not all owners really do know their dogs, they would always say to me its ok my dog is fine, the dog (off lead ) would approach Suki was on lead she would ultimately get bit then they would say oh thats unusual they've never done that before, I'm sure a lot of people have experienced that.