There should be a law that every dog should have a muzzle on when outside. Don't know why people don't take care of their pets.

That's just a sad story all around. I'm sorry it's upset you so much. I'd be the same way.

There's no question that the owner of these two dogs is responsible for what has happened. I believe that this breed is an unpredictable one and when you pair that with a terrible owner, this kind of thing is bound to happen.

Lucille, it's cute that you remember Squishy, the pink poodle. Yes, the girls have a dog, a lovable thing but so homely that people stop and stare. Or avert their eyes, lol. To my knowledge, no one has ever asked what kind of dog he is.....and I couldn't even guess about his scrambled genes. He's a happy boy, though, and much loved by all.

He was adopted from a shelter a couple of years ago.

How terriable and frightening. Pit bulls have a rep for a reason. I've also noticed thru reading that people that have them always say the bad rep is unfounded and that pits are just so sweet and loving. I always think ya until their not.

The lady up the road from me has a pit tied in her yard. She does have a fence but only about 5 foot high besides they can dig out. She doesn't think it could ever break its chain but I know dogs often break chains. This ladys husband trained this dog to be aggressive so I'm petrified some day it will get loose. I've ask the township what my options are as I have young kids. No options, I can't do anything unless it gets loose and someone gets hurt.

Rhizo, dogs will pack hunt even if they are completely disparate breeds. I have seen them do it here in my neighborhood. A pack took my MILs cat and some other pets. I called the police and when the police came and were ineffective, I got their permission to discharge a firearm and put the pack down. I hate that animals get loose, lost, or are neglected in a way that this kind of thing happens.

There is a neighborhood on the south end of Chicago that is under alert since Friday morning for what were two loose pits that attacked a young boy on the way to school. One has been caught the second on is still out there. The boy is doing well thank God. The owner has been charged.

I think the problem with breeds like pit bulls is that they seem to attract the kind of owners who either will not train them at all or will train them to behave aggressively. Either is a recipe for disaster.

I'm not saying _all_ pit bull owners are like this, but one rarely encounters savage miniature poodles or springer spaniels, just to name a couple of random breeds.

Colleenoz, I understand what you are saying, but the two meanest uncontrolled dogs I have encountered were a poodle and a chihuahua.

I'm sorry it had to happen that way, but I am glad they are dead. I would have killed them in a heart beat.

linda_6- I'm sorry but I'm going to have to disagree on that.

I don't think their should be a law that every dog should have a muzzle on when outside.

What a terribly upsetting situation. I've never been faced with that thankfully. I live in the country with some wildlife so you do hear of pets getting injured or killed but you can't really blame the wild coyote so much as you blame the pet owner for allowing their small (meal sized) pet outside after dark with coyotes that live in the area.

Wow, what a horrible thing to go through and so sad for their victims. Our local news reports dog attacks pretty much weekly in our area and the large majority of the aggressive dogs are pitbulls I’m not a fan of the breed because they are so unpredictable, but I completely blame their owners. It just irresponsible.

Linda_6 I concur with Texas. There is no reason whatsoever for every single dog to be muzzled, that’s just plain over kill.

I would have been a nervous wreck too. I'm very glad those dogs are dead and I hope the owner is charged. I love animals but I'll admit I'm scared of Pit Bulls. Today while hiking on the AT we met one but its owners had him on the leash as we did our two dogs. But once in my own town on my own sidewalk one broke free of its owner and ran to me and my dachshund. I tried to protect him with my legs but the dog just sniffed as the owner ran up. I was shaken.

Doesn't matter the breed, any large dog can do harm to another animal or person for that matter. Out walking, we encountered two loose dogs, one looked to be border collie mix the other was a pure pug, the larger border collie mix came at my dog and growled but the pug came up and bit my dog on the stomach. Another incident, my neighbor's two dogs, one a large black lab mix the other a lab beagle mix got loose and attacked my next door neighbor's yorkie that was outside on a tie out doing his business. Luckily the yorkie was just shaken (literally). It's worse when there are two or more because the pack mentality kicks in. I see this every day at the dog park. Two dogs will play great together but then here comes another one and they will begin to pick on one dog incessantly.

Doesn't matter the breed, any large dog can do harm to another animal or person for that matter.

While that is true, a pit bull is statistically not just another dog.

I walk my neighborhood daily and have encountered several "pit bull" dogs that had gotten loose and they did nothing but sniff my dog.

What an awful thing to happen in any neighborhood! I am sorry it happened in yours. Too close to home.

We live in the country with no enforcement at all of dogs. And unfortunately rural areas are often the dumping ground for unwanted dogs, so we often have packs of roaming dogs that have to be dealt with. They are worse than the coyotes we do know about.

No responsible dog owner would allow their dog(s) to run free in the neighborhood.

How very sad.

Well, I was up and down all night with this still casting a dark shadow over my mind. Judging by what I've learned about the dog owner, this may loom over our peaceful neighborhoods for some time.

Stupidly, his facebook is open for anyone to read and I am one who has taken advantage of that. He is lying about everything, denying every incident, and claiming that "people always blame pitbulls", even in the face of these recent pet attacks.

His FB friends have no idea of what really went on and are stoking his anger for his neighbors, the real victims of this situation. How does one enter a facebook page and remain anonymous?

I'd like to thank everybody for their heartfelt comments. I knew that it would be a good idea to share this here.

I live in North Alabama also and there isn't anything about this on the news. That is what is scary. If you hadn't been on Nextdoor you wouldn't of known.

I'm a dog lover, but pit bulls do concern me. They are muscular and have powerful jaws. My understanding is that years ago, people put down (killed) any pit bull that showed any aggression whatsoever to humans. As a result, pit bulls were considered great nursery dogs. Remember Pete, the pit bull with a circle around its eye, on The Little Rascals? The whole breed had a reputation for never biting a person, even when provoked.

But that's changed. Thugs and ignorant people now breed too many pit bulls. If I wanted to own a "sweet" pit bull, I'd research it's parentage carefully. Or go through a pit bull rescue organization that would have fostered the dog long enough to see if it was people-aggressive at all. And yes, I'd be careful even with my "sweet" dog.

That is very scary. People should control their dogs regardless of size or breed. I think some people feel that because their's is a smaller breed, no training is required.

I'm so sorry for the victims of this attack, and thankful it wasn't a child. Back in the 80's before much was heard about pit bulls except their aggressive nature, a woman who became a very good friend of mine talked lovingly about her dog as I talked the same about mine. No mention was made of breeds, just cute stories in passing. Then she invited me over one afternoon to get ready for a school event and I met her dog. She came running to me, tail wagging, and I squatted down as she rollled over on her back to be rubbed. She was one of the sweetest dogs I'd ever met!!! Later as we worked on the school project I asked what the breed was. She said pit bull. I hope the look on my face didn't show the fear I felt, but once I knew it was a pit bull, I immediately became frightened and wary. Even though that dog seemed to be a great dog, my mind was made up, and it's never changed over the years. If I see a stocky muscular dog with ears that look like a pit bull, I avoid it like the plague. I'm sorry I feel such prejudice about an animal and I'm sure there are nice pit bulls out there somewhere, but I can't trust them. Soon after that there were so many stories about the tragic incidents involving pit bull and I can never un-see some of those images.

Sorry for going on and on, but being a dog lover I sometimes feel guilty for being so biased against a certain breed/look in a dog, but my heart just won't let me love them.

Two pit bulls got into my fenced yard and killed my beloved 10 year old cat. It was horrible. It was even more horrible for me to stand there feeding them ham to get them to stay until animal control came. Even the police wouldn't come in the yard. We went to court, the dogs were euthanized and the owner fined about $600. The judge apologized that it wasn't more, but he did assess the maximum fine.

Animal control knew immediately who the dogs belonged to, even though they had no tags, because they had been picked up many times before.

While waiting for our case, the case before us was also about an aggressive pit bull. That one was jumping the fence and charging children walking home from school. That one, named "Chomper", was also ordered to be euthanized.

I know they say it's the owner, not the dog, but I have no love in my heart for that breed. And, by the way, I love dogs.

Cooper what a traumatic experience. I'm so sorry.

This is a very sad story on all fronts. Thank God no children were involved. Our nextdoor is awesome for aiding in lost and found pets. It's been a real asset to us after the flood and it was through nextdoor that I asked for someone to come rescue us! It literally saved our lives and my neighbors lives.

So sorry rhizo.

Cooper, thank you for having the strength to pursue the court case. It was the right thing to do. And "Chomper"? to me, giving that name to a dog of a feared breed indicates "bad owner." I'm sorry for these dogs, NOT sorry they were euthanized, and MAD at their irresponsible owners.

Any dog roaming at large can be frightening. Ya just never know what might set them off into a "fight" mode. We have had winters with so much snow the dogs managed to get beyond their invisible fencing..they began running as a pack. It was very scary to come home for lunch and see them on my property. I was glad I had power garage doors. In my town there are laws..even when we don't live in town. If the two killed pets had been reported to police those dogs would have been rounded up and put down. Ya don't get a third chance at killing. Everyone wants to be neighborly..but in the long run you do no one any service by not reporting animals that have poor owners.

I wish more people who have been harmed by these dogs would also sue them civilly - some of them may have liability insurance and after a successful lawsuit against them would be unable to get homeowners insurance - esp if they have a "dangerous" breed. Granted, many irresponsible pet owners might not have insurance, but that doesn't mean they don't have a job or assets to attach. There should be more punishment than a $500 fine.

I think a lot of the unpredictability and aggresiveness of the PitBull has to do is it’s breeding and subsequent handling. Those two things are, at the very least a large contributor to their behavior and why you have some who are so docile and others that are not.

Pittbulls were and continue to be bred to fight and if a lot of bad breeding, especially cross breeding too much in the same family occurs, the dog can really have it’s cards stacked against it, if you know what I mean. There are just so many determining factors. Any dog can be aggressive if given the right circumstances, unfortunately, the pittbull can just do more damage when it is.

I wonder if we are looking 'too small' here, by focusing on 'which breeds' are 'problems'.

Might there be TOO MANY DOGS IN SOCIETY? Might the DOGS think so? I'm talking about non-working dogs -- dogs whose sole function is 'pet'.

When I was growing up in suburbia, it was unusual for a household to have a dog. (There were more children!)

I find it odd to see huge industries catering to pet owners. This little 'niggle' probably started when our vet was featured on MONEY magazine.

I agree that pit bull dogs are a scourge. I am so tired of hearing about “sweet pitties ”. Take one look at those jaws and you know they are meant to maim. I also agree there are too darn many dogs around. We have a beautiful park that has woods, trails and streams. I used to go there often but it is now overrun with dogs. Sometimes they are leashed and sometimes not. I can’t go there any more because of constant worry about aggressive dogs. Many are friendly but how do you know? There is nothing relaxing about being there.

I carry rly a dog horn and spray when walking after my friend and I were menaced by a pit bull mix that was running loose. It bit my friend on the arm, although the damage was minor, thank heavens. Could have been so much worse.

There are at least 20 dogs on my street. I never look out the window without seeing someone ‘s dog peeing on my lawn. At least my neighbors are good about picking up, but I don’t want their dog peeing on my lawn.

Don’t even get me started about guns.

All the comments about NextDoor are spot on regarding lost pets. I might add that it is also great regarding reports of aggressive dogs who threaten anyone walking or jogging. Some of those dogs are even on a leash, believe it or not, and the owners can barely control them. Imagine if they got loose!

Long age there was a sweet dog of one of the pit breeds, I forget which one, that belonged to the people two doors down. It wasn't properly confined, but she didn't wander and never bothered anyone for the first few years. Then, very suddenly, I could not go outside without her running over from her home to crouch 8-10 feet away, growling and snarling very threateningly. Come to find out, she had had puppies. I have never fully gotten over that Jekyll/Hyde switch in personalities. I understand normal protectiveness with a litter, but that was a large territory radius she claimed and I was nowhere near her pups.

This happened about 45 min from where I live. 5 pit bulls attacked a UPS driver trying to deliver a package.

http://www.wftv.com/news/trending-now/woman-watched-dogs-attack-ups-driver-threatened-to-shoot-him-police-say/613125363

People who don’t care for dogs or like to be around them shouldn’t be forced to interact with them or worry about their safety while out and about. Regardless of how much one loves their dog, I think there is absolutely a place and time for them and the local Costco isn’t one of them.

We used an electric fence for a while so our dog is trained to stay within the borders of our property. When she’s home, she doesn’t wear a collar, when she’s off our property, she’s leashed. Not because she’s aggressive, (she’s actually way too social), but because as others said, the person walking by doesn’t know that. It’s a common courtesy that I want extended to myself when passing a dog I don’t know as well.

Lukki, I wish more dog owners had your sensitivity about people who do not like or are afraid of or are allergic to dogs. I can't walk down my driveway without worrying about being accosted by my neighbor's dog, nor can I send my grandson to the curb to help me with the garbage cans or get the mail. I feel like a prisoner in my own yard sometimes. I detest going to public places where people are so enamored with their pets that they assume I will be, too. And don't get me started on paying $400 for a hotel room and having to listen to someone's little yappy darling. Ugh.

I am truly saddened about hearing all of the pitbull fear posted here. It's true, they do have powerful jaws and the owner is 100% responsible for controlling this very powerful animal. We rescued our pit mixes to save their lives and we do supervise them at all times. They are after all regarded as loaded weapons. I am truly sorry for all of the bad experiences that some of you have had. I wish there was some middle ground. Our dogs are gentle with our grandkids and I can not imagine (given their personalities) that they would bring harm to any child, adult or cat. On the other hand, I appreciate their willingness to protect their pack (us) and the strength to be a real protector.

We had a pit bull mix in the 1970's with 3 kids and other dogs....at that time we didn't know they could be dangerous and she was a sweet girl. We got her from our neighbor who had a purebred pit bull who got together with a German Shepard, hence our puppy. These days we keep to small dogs I can pick up, like our peke. We have rentals and our insurance doesn't cover pit bulls and other dogs deemed vicious.

I agree about the abundance of dogs in our society (cats too). When I was little only one friend had a dog, an Irish setter who roamed our town unfettered. Now there are a plethora of dogs everywhere. We even have festivals in my area where hundreds show up. It's called Woofstock. On my short side street, every house has two dogs and two have three. Funny because the other side of the street has none. They must hate us, but all of our dogs are smallish...Corgis, dachshunds, french bulldogs...no pits.

It's true, they do have powerful jaws and the owner is 100% responsible for controlling this very powerful animal. We rescued our pit mixes to save their lives and we do supervise them at all times.

I feel compelled to comment on the above quote because it is profoundly relevant. If every dog owner, and especially every bully dog owner, were to take the quoted words to heart, I feel that we would not be having this conversation about deaths and injuries caused by dogs at all. The recognition that the bully dogs are indeed powerful, and that owners are responsible for supervision, is essential to responsible bully ownership.

Instead, some pit owners have a page full of excuses that they hope will excuse them from responsibility for the death and destruction some of these dogs can leave in their wake if unsupervised.

For instance, they will point out (true) that many different dogs have been known to bite, and then they decide,because of this, they owe no special responsibility.

The statistics involving pit bulls tell a different story, that these dogs do in fact need to be supervised at all times. There are a heck of a lot more statistics of pit bull maulings than there are of yorkie maulings. If all owners of these dogs (and all dogs) would, like the above quoted responsible owner, simply take that quote to heart, they would not have to invent pages of lame excuses because they couldn't be bothered to watch their dogs.

I love dogs, too. I've been lucky enough to know some great examples of all kinds of breeds including the so called viscous dogs. Dobermans are a favorite of mine, having been in very close proximity with one during a hurricane evacuation. He made himself the self proclaimed nanny of a pile of kittens in the household.

I've had friends who have had shepherds, dobermans, rottweilers, pit bulls, chow chows, and other large breeds and can say with confidence that it is the owner that determines my comfort level about the dog.

The scariest dog I've been around was a neighbor's rat terrior, lol. One's ankles and/or finger tips weren't safe around that dog!

Here's a scary news flash: my husband sent me some pictures a few weeks ago of some feral puppies on the very large campus on which he works. The puppies resembled coyotes, which are common out there. Then he sent a picture of the mother....a pit bull.

Oly, I wish they did too and have some similar issues in our neighborhood. The people across from us are on 5 acres and have a boxer that likes to stand at the end of their long driveway and bark at us. Occassionally, he will cross our busy road to mark up our yard, but a couple of weeks ago he was brazen enough to come to our opened front door to bark at us! These same neighbors also have a beautiful German Shorthair and he keeps showing up in our back yard (no fences) while we’re playing chuck it with Ellie. Ellie starts to growl and I worry the encounter won’t be friendly so I have to put her back inside. Last time, I grabbed our leash and collar and told him to “come”, which he did! Then I slipped the collar and leash on him and took him home. His owners could have cared less.

Now there’s a new guy with 2 dogs taking daily walks on the path in front of our house. Normally, that’s not a problem (except when they don’t carry baggies) however he doesn’t leash them and they wander all over the place. One is part Great Dane and huge, the other is a terrier mix. Last weekend, we came face to face with them in our back yard and when my husband tried to shoo them out, they wouldn’t move and started to bark at him quite aggresively, it almost felt pack like. I put Ellie inside and my husband had to pick up a garden tool to scare them off; so incredibly, we can’t safely enjoy our yards either.

There is a bright side though because we have another neighbor with 2 labs who used to bark constantly and run amock in everyone’s yards. I guess they saw us running Ellie every day because they recently started to run their dogs daily as well. Amazingly, the dogs no longer roam and their barking has almost completely stopped!

First I would like to say that my DD and her DH had a pitbull from 8 weeks old until they had him laid down due to old age. Yes, he was a wonderful dog, never showed any aggresion at all, even once he was in obvious pain. My 3 grandkids lived with this dog his whole life.

However, I have to ask, just as I did them: Why......When there are so many other breeds available, and many up for adoption in our local shelter that have historically shown no agression, take the risk? Why get a dog, or pup, that could even potentially be a risk when you have small children in the home?

Never understood it & still don't. They now have a Jack Russell terrier, lol!

I said in another thread that some friends have a pit bull which, while seemingly gentle, is damn scary to me. It's like the overly muscle bound guy who spends too much time at the gym pumping iron. I hate being around it and will move quietly to put it outside if we're in (or inside when we're out) if I have a chance. Yes, I'm a lifelong owner of big dogs, this isn't a me vs dog thing.

So, they have one. They used to have two. The second viciously attacked a household member and caused severe damage. Surgery and long rehab was ultimately required. Needless to say, that dog was euthanized a short time later. To have a dog like that in a home with the risks it entails (because of its incredible strength and sometimes unpredictable tendency to attack) is more than crazy. It's like doing Russian Roulette every day before breakfast. Not if, but when.

http://fox2now.com/2017/10/15/2-pit-bulls-shot-to-death-in-springfield-in-wake-of-new-ban/  It happened in Springfield, MO - too.

lisaw, in many shelters pit bull breeds and pit-mixes are a large percentage of the animals available. Except following popularity spikes (Dalmatian, Chihuahua, for example), the other breeds are usually underrepresented. When the other breeds do show up, breed-specific rescue groups usually are at the front of the line scooping them up. The shelters will actually call the rescues group when they get a dog of that breed in, leaving the public with no shot at adopting. Too many rescues have such crazy requirements and jump hoops, that their own volunteers admit they could not pass the requirements to adopt from the group themselves.

People can defend pit bulls as sweet and gentle (in their experience) but the stats tell a different story. I can't imagine why anyone would risk having one, especially around children.

• 31 U.S. dog bite-related fatalities occurred in 2016. Despite being regulated in Military Housing areas and over 900 U.S. cities, pit bulls contributed to 71% (22) of these deaths. Pit bulls make up about 6% of the total U.S. dog population.2
• Together, pit bulls (22) and rottweilers (2), the second most lethal dog breed, accounted for 77% of the total recorded deaths in 2016. This same combination also accounted for 76% of all fatal attacks during the 12-year period of 2005 to 2016.
• source:
• https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-fatalities-2016.php
• and "In this series, dogs causing the injury were overwhelmingly familiar with the patient: 53% of dogs belonged to the family ... In our series (as in Philadelphia), Pit bulls were most commonly responsible."
• source: https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-quick-statistics.php#dogbite-statistics

Wow, Oly. That's scary. Thanks for posting those links.