ORIGINAL: Nikademus
ORIGINAL: Apollo11
Hi all,
ORIGINAL: Nikademus
Pitbull attack.
I am afraid to ask how...
Leo "Apollo11"
Some rocket scientist tied up his untrained pitbull to a street lamp on a corner. I was standing on said corner waiting to cross.....within reach of it. Dog seemed friendly enough. Didn't give any signals to stay away. Still.....I am always careful with strange animals. I spoke to him....had his attention.....again, seemed friendly...tail wagging. I slowly gave him my outer hand to sniff. I had about a half-second of warning when his facial expression changed.....was pulling hand back when i found it in his mouth.
Owner came running out of the pizza joint he was purusing and of course said the words we always expect in some circumstances when one has blood dripping from their extremity......"OH HE NEVER DOES THAT???!!!"
Jackass.
He and his pooch were fortunate that I'm a dog lover and a former pitbull owner. Showed him the stump (ok...exageration but you get the gist) and told him that he'd better address this "issue" before the next incident where THIS NEVER HAPPENS and he gets arrested, sued, and his animal put down. I should have reported it. What if it had been a small child? But i didn't want the animal punished for the owner's stupidity.
No good deed goes unpunished.....and I have a 1000 hospital bill.....and the jackass probably laughs about it with his friends when talking about the living extension of his manhood.
Nik,
If you want my opinion, you should have reported it. Far too often these 'he never does that' cases turn out to be, 'he hasn't mauled anyone since last Tuesday'. At least if there was a record on this dog and the dumbass owner, there could be some decisions made the next (inevitable) time it happens. Instead, this can is getting kicked down the road.
The owner was stupid, tying up his dog like that to the lamp post. No doubt. He's culpable.
The dog isn't necessarily an innocent here, though. To exist in our society, dogs must follow certain rules. Rule #1: Don't bite humans. Rule #2: See rule #1. Failure to follow these rules-regardless of whether they have a dumbass owner or not-has consequences. Particularly for an American Staffordshire Terrier-ish phenotype. But that's the way it's got to be.
I'm happy that it wasn't some 4 year old getting her face torn off, instead of you being bitten on your hand. However, it could very well be some kid getting nailed the next time.
Have you personally been vaccinated for rabies? Do you have protective titers? Do you know if the dog that bit you was vaccinated? Do you know anything about the contact information for this person to find this information out?
Thankfully, domestic canine rabies is uncommon in this country-due to our stringent vaccination standards. However, it's a major problem in other parts of the world. We're not immune to its spread, particularly if more dumbass owners don't vaccinate their animals.
Anyways, if you want to talk about this some more PM me. I'm getting a little worked up here and I'll avoid the rest of the diatribe...
