Neighbor's pit bull attacked my dog!

[raccoon city]

You seem to be handling it really well though.

Not really... I'm still somewhat in denial about everything that happened.

I had planned to update this thread after I did a few giveaways, but I guess this is as good as a time as any to do an update. Thank you, Nepenthes101, for reviving this old thread.

The real first name of "Jason" is Ron, and my first name is John. I named him Jason because Ron and his pit bull remind me the invincible and very dangerous Jason Voorhees. Also Ron acquired his pit bull in [J]uly 2010 and I was hoping this mess would be over with in [N]ovember 2010. The first letters of the months of [J]uly [A]ugust [S]eptember [O]ctober and [N]ovember spell out [JASON].

My mom moved to our current house (next to Ron's house) sometime in 2005. I moved here in December 2005. Ron has had dogs at least as long as we have lived here. All of his dogs have been very friendly, except for the pit bull (from July 2010). I don't think Ron and his family liked it, but I used to pet his dogs. I petted his dogs several times a week for years. I quit petting his dogs after the pit bull attacked Garth on August 3rd, 2010. I even petted the pit bull until that date. I did not know that the pit bull was dangerous until it was too late.

...fast forward to September 2010. I think Ron had to pay a $150 or $200 fine to the criminal court system for the pit bull attack. Also in September, our landlord (which is a really nice guy) started to put up a new fence so that we would have a complete fence between Ron's and our's properties. At that time, our male Siamese cat somehow went into Ron's yard and was killed by the pit bull. The cat's name was Coco. The only reason our family knows that the pit bull killed Coco is because our other neighbors (the Clarks, which are also really nice people) heard Coco being killed by the pit bull. Shortly after Coco was killed, we replaced Coco with a female cat named Silly.


Here's some photos of Coco the Siamese cat before he was killed:




Coco stretched out, but still alive:




On October 9th, when our fence was still incomplete, the pit bull got in our yard for a second time.


See the gap in the fence covered with a car hood?:




Where did that car hood go? This is probably how the pit bull got in our yard the second time:




Garth in the processing of healing:














A gap in the fence covered with a blue kiddie pool:




A different gap in the fence covered with particle board:




Heeere's pit bull! [a reference to The Shining (1980)]:




Fence falling apart already:




Fence needs more nails:




Pit bull trying to get through fence:




Fence falling apart:




Both of my family's dogs were inside the house and no people or animals were injured. A female from Animal Control came and picked up the pit bull. She tried to directly return the pit bull to Ron's yard, but they were not home. In less than 24 hours, the pit bull was back in its yard. My mom tried to get a police report for the second incident, but the female from Animal Control did not write a report. I believe the female from Animal Control was a friend of Ron's family and basically gave my mom the runaround, which I believe is completely against the law. I also think that Animal Control legally had to hold the pit bull for 10 days, but they chose not do.


Pit bull in my front yard:








Between October 10th and October 17th, our landlord and his helpers finished the fence between Ron's and our's yards. I think Ron may have put up about one-third or one-half of the entire fence. So we had a complete and newish fence (that was already falling apart because the pit bull body slams and chews on the fence) between our yards and we believed that there was no way that the pit bull could get in our yard again.

On October 18th, I slept in until about 7:10pm. This is pretty normal for me because I am frequently nocturnal. I took a shower and I went and got the mail. I then went into the house and my mom put Garth out. I started to look at the mail, and I heard a horrible squeal. I looked outside, and the pit bull was in our front yard, biting Garth. Next to Garth and the pit bull was Mr. Clark, our neighbor. I ran into the front yard. I think Mr. Clark was trying to get the pit bull to open her jaws to release Garth. Eventually, Garth was free and he ran from the front yard, through the side yard, through the back yard, and into the back porch. I yelled to my mom that Garth was going towards the back porch. She went to the back porch and held Garth for quite a while. He had been bitten numerous times and he was bleeding pretty badly, but I was still in the front yard and I didn't know how bad it was.

Let me backtrack a little. When the pit bull went in our front yard, our gates were all locked. Mr. and Mrs. Clark were walking down the street near our house. Mr. Clark saw the attack and he jumped the fence to break up the mauling. I think Mrs. Clark called 911.

Okay, so Garth ran to the back porch. Mr. Clark held onto the pit bull's collar. Apparently this pit bull might be human-friendly and dog-dangerous. Or maybe the pit bull only wants to attack our dogs because the dogs bark at each other so much? Mr. Clark held onto the pit bull's collar for quite a while. As he did that, I went into the house and called 911. After calling 911, I unlocked the gates so that the police would not have to hop the fence. When I was in the house, I saw Garth bleeding in the back porch with my mom putting pressure on his wounds to stop the bleeding. This is apparently a while after the Clarks called 911. Eventually a male police officer came to the scene. The pit bull didn't try to hurt any humans at that time. The Clarks and I told the police officer what happened. We were basically just waiting for Animal Control to show up. The police officer asked me to get a leash so that he could tie the pit bull to the fence. I went inside and grabbed a nylon leash. The police officer tied the pit bull to the fence with my help. The police officer asked me how the pit bull got in our yard, and I told him the truth, which was that I didn't know. I even showed him that we had a brand new fence. One strange thing that I pointed out to him was that someone had opened one of our gates that was locked shut. The police officer showed me how easy it was to compromise our gate. Then the police officer had to leave to go to another call. It took quite a while after the police officer left, but a man from Animal Control finally arrived. I started to tell Animal Control what happened. While this was happening, the pit bull broke the nylon leash and became loose. This is when I started cursing profusely because I knew that Garth and my mom were sitting ducks in the back porch. As I was cursing, I ran through the house and luckily the pit bull didn't know where Garth and my mom were. I ran to the point where the front yard and the side yard meet. I basically blocked the path that led to Garth and my mom. Also, luckily, I had a high-powered flashlight on me. It was dark outside, and every time the pit bull tried to get past me I shined my flashlight into her eyes and she ran in a different direction. Apparently dogs will not run into blinding light. The guy from Animal Control told me repeated to go into the house, and every time he did I told him I couldn't. I was unable to communicate the message that my dog and my mom were sitting ducks.

Eventually the guy from Animal Control captured the pit bull and put her in his vehicle. After that, I told him to follow me. We walked from the front yard, down the side yard, through the backyard, and into the back porch. Garth was lying in a large pool of blood, and he could not stand up. I got on the phone and eventually called an emergency vet. I wrote down the directions to get to the vet. The vet was about 50 miles away from our house. Garth was wearing a halter-leash and I picked him up by the halter and pulled him in the car. Then my Mom and I left to the emergency vet. The Clarks were telling Animal Control what had happened as we left.

We made it to the veterinarian's office without any problems. It took a while before the vets could see Garth, as they had an animal in worse condition than Garth that they had to attend to first. They eventually took care of Garth, and after several hours, we went home. I couldn't sleep at all that night. In the morning, a man from Animal Control came to our home to talk to me. I was really tired and I don't think I answered his questions very well.


Blood in back porch:




Bloody towels:




Blood in back yard:




Blood in car (most of it went onto sheets):




Bloody sheets:




Continued in next post...

[raccoon city]

Nylon leash that the pit bull broke:




How did the pit bull get out of her yard on the day of the second mauling? Here's Ron's metal gate compromised, probably by Ron:




After the first mauling, but before the second mauling, Ron told my mother that he did not like Garth barking at his dogs. I can't believe the nerve Ron has, and I believe this is his motive to try and kill Garth. I believe that both maulings were premeditated.


How did the pit bull get in our yard for the second mauling? Someone (probably Ron) also compromised our gate, but in a different way. We put a heavy chain all around our gate so that no animal can get through that gate again:




This is where Ron's dogs get out:




The pit bull is supposed to be tethered so it cannot get out, but this photo clearly shows the pit bull not tethered. In fact the pit bull is rarely tethered:




At some point, Garth was transfered from the emergency vet's to our normal veterinarian's office. Garth was there until October 27th, which is when he came back home.


Garth back from the vet:




Garth's leg all chewed up:




Close-up of leg:




Garth was in very bad shape, and could hardly walk. His legs had been bitten a lot. I wish I had bloody photos of Garth when he was mauled on October 18th. I do have photos of large blood stains however. Garth had almost no appetite and I had to drag him outside so that he could do his business in the front yard. On October 29th, my mom called our vet and told them that Garth was not doing very well at all. They told her to stop his antibiotics and painkillers, and to start his anti-nausea medication. She followed their advice, but we should have brought him to the vet's office regardless of their advice. On the night of October 29th, Garth was off the painkillers, and he had a very desperate look in his eyes that I will never forget. He was obviously in a lot of pain.

On the morning of October 30th, shortly after starting his anti-nausea medication, Garth stopped breathing and passed away. By the time my mom and sister woke me up, my family was in the process of taking Garth's body to his burial. My mom drove us up to a rural part of a small city on the way up to California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. We went up there with church members from my mom's church. A friend of our family used a backhoe to dig a 6 foot deep grave for Garth in a matter of minutes. It was the first time I had noticed how cool backhoes were. Someone said a prayer, and that was the extent of Garth's simple burial. We all drove back to our hometown, and that was that.

On Sunday, October 31st, 2010, I woke up crying. It was the first time I had cried in about 5 years. I took a shower and cried in the shower. I decided to go to my mother's 12-step church meeting because I had to get out of the house. It was the first church meeting of any kind I had been to in 11 years, not counting my father's funeral. By the way, my father died on January 4th, 2004. I went to his funeral which took place at a church. I did not cry at his funeral. In fact I have never cried about my father's death nor my grandmother's death from back in 2006. But I have cried a few times concerning Garth's death.


The pit bull and the puppy roaming the neighborhood, which happens frequently:




The city I live in decided to put a fire hydrant in our yard. When they did that, they left a hole in the chain link fence:




Close-up of hole in fence:




Here's the fire hydrant and the plugged up hole. The city was quick to plug up the hole:




If you're still reading this, you have seen some messed-up bloody photos. I would like to finish this post with some photos of our living pets to cleanse your visual palate.


Close-up of Tigress, the Tabby cat:



Sleepy Tigress:



Silly, the Calico cat that replaced Coco:




Silly again:




Silly sleeping on her chair:




Charlie, the Cardigan Welsh Corgi, lying on his back:




Charlie lying down:

[lizasaur]

That is absolutely...horrible.
I can't begin to understand the level of sorrow and frustration you feel and how infuriated you must be.

I am so sorry. For everything you've had to go through.

[thez_yo]

That really is impossibly horrible. I'm so sorry.

People never understand why when I see a large dog that is not being adequately restrained by its person on a leash on the sidewalk, I back away and would rather walk through the center of the road. It's up to the person to be in control of their dogs at all times so things like this never happen.

But I also believe in Karma, so don't worry - I know that eventually everything will work out for the best