[News] American Bulldog Kills Yorkie and Injures Girl

[AZME]

When I first found my little Yorkie Lou he was about 4 at the time he could be a mean little SOB seemingly out of nowhere. He was nippy and tried to bite some of my kids teenaged friends. I had to break him out of this and I did thankfully. HOWEVER when my young nieces or nephews or great nieces and nephew (big family ) came to visit. I put him in my bedroom. It wasn't until he turned about 10 years old that he was okay with kids. So yes little dogs can be vicious and yes he pinned my yard guy up against a block wall because he came into the yard unannounced (came a day early to take down a tree) Lou was 7 lbs the guy about 180. That said. If you have a dog that has aggressive tendencies it is a big issue and a big responsibility. If that dog is a large dog you have a lawsuit or a potential fatal injury waiting to happen. Are owners responsible of course the are. And like an earlier poster with the border collie stated sometimes it comes out of the blue. We have to remember we have animals and not humans and they are wired the way they are wired. People who own large breed dogs need to be able to handle them (unlike my neighbor who rides her bike with a large dog on the leash and two kids in a little trailer…sorry but I fear for all 4 of them the dog, the kids and a little less the woman w/out the brains on the bike) A 7 lb Yorkie who can pin a man to a wall is scary. When I saw it I thought holy crap but he was protecting his turf and would have died doing it. Translate that to a 70lb dog who feels threatened and it's over.

I had a personal experience that pretty much left its stamp on me. This was prior to owning a little dog. I was walking in my neighborhood a quiet suburban place and did about a 3 mile loop. My son who at the time was about 10 usually rode his bike while I walked but that morning (by the grace of God) was still sleeping when I left. As I rounded the corner about a block from my house there were two very large Bull Mastiffs lying in their front yard (these were acre lots) the owners were nowhere to be found probably taking an early morning dip in their pool. The dogs were each well over 100 lbs. It was about 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning. They would not let me get by their teeth were barred they were growling. Honestly I feared for my life. I would not turn my back on them I did not make direct contact. I kept hoping that their owners would come. I did not have anything other than an empty water bottle with me. My instinct (right or wrong) was that if I yelled they would be more aggressive. I felt that I had to try and remain calm as possible. One dog was more dominant than the other. I kept thinking that my young son could have been with me and would have been even more of a trigger for them. I kept hoping for a car, another human or the owners. I finally sternly told one dog to sit. He or she did the other continued to slowly come towards me. I took one step backward at a time (fighting the urge to run) I kept giving the sit and stay command as I walked backwards very very slowly until I was out of their sight. It took me about five minutes to do this and it was a very LONG 5 minutes. Did the owners ever come out NO. Could they have heard the dogs, sure if they were listening. The crazy thing is they had a huge blocked wall back yard but had left these dogs out front. When I got home my young son was eating a bowl of cereal and said "Sorry I woke up late for your walk, Dad wouldn't let me take my bike out by myself to catch up with you" THANK GOD! I called animal control. I told them that I was threatened and felt that I was more than fortunate not to have been attacked. These dogs obviously thought they were protecting their turf unfortunately they never got the surveyor lines down for their yard's plot plan and thought it extended a half of a block in every direction. AND YES THE OWNERS FAULT. But truly it is difficult for me (who never met a dog she didn't like) to not be fearful of this breed now. Animal control apparently cited them for not keeping their dogs under control. I saw these dogs on leashes with their owners occasionally when I was in my car. I changed my daily walking route and the best news? They moved in the next 6 mos.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by AZME

When I first found my little Yorkie Lou he was about 4 at the time he could be a mean little SOB seemingly out of nowhere. He was nippy and tried to bite some of my kids teenaged friends. I had to break him out of this and I did thankfully. HOWEVER when my young nieces or nephews or great nieces and nephew (big family ) came to visit. I put him in my bedroom. It wasn't until he turned about 10 years old that he was okay with kids. So yes little dogs can be vicious and yes he pinned my yard guy up against a block wall because he came into the yard unannounced (came a day early to take down a tree) Lou was 7 lbs the guy about 180. That said. If you have a dog that has aggressive tendencies it is a big issue and a big responsibility. If that dog is a large dog you have a lawsuit or a potential fatal injury waiting to happen. Are owners responsible of course the are. And like an earlier poster with the border collie stated sometimes it comes out of the blue. We have to remember we have animals and not humans and they are wired the way they are wired. People who own large breed dogs need to be able to handle them (unlike my neighbor who rides her bike with a large dog on the leash and two kids in a little trailer…sorry but I fear for all 4 of them the dog, the kids and a little less the woman w/out the brains on the bike) A 7 lb Yorkie who can pin a man to a wall is scary. When I saw it I thought holy crap but he was protecting his turf and would have died doing it. Translate that to a 70lb dog who feels threatened and it's over.

I had a personal experience that pretty much left its stamp on me. This was prior to owning a little dog. I was walking in my neighborhood a quiet suburban place and did about a 3 mile loop. My son who at the time was about 10 usually rode his bike while I walked but that morning (by the grace of God) was still sleeping when I left. As I rounded the corner about a block from my house there were two very large Bull Mastiffs lying in their front yard (these were acre lots) the owners were nowhere to be found probably taking an early morning dip in their pool. The dogs were each well over 100 lbs. It was about 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning. They would not let me get by their teeth were barred they were growling. Honestly I feared for my life. I would not turn my back on them I did not make direct contact. I kept hoping that their owners would come. I did not have anything other than an empty water bottle with me. My instinct (right or wrong) was that if I yelled they would be more aggressive. I felt that I had to try and remain calm as possible. One dog was more dominant than the other. I kept thinking that my young son could have been with me and would have been even more of a trigger for them. I kept hoping for a car, another human or the owners. I finally sternly told one dog to sit. He or she did the other continued to slowly come towards me. I took one step backward at a time (fighting the urge to run) I kept giving the sit and stay command as I walked backwards very very slowly until I was out of their sight. It took me about five minutes to do this and it was a very LONG 5 minutes. Did the owners ever come out NO. Could they have heard the dogs, sure if they were listening. The crazy thing is they had a huge blocked wall back yard but had left these dogs out front. When I got home my young son was eating a bowl of cereal and said "Sorry I woke up late for your walk, Dad wouldn't let me take my bike out by myself to catch up with you" THANK GOD! I called animal control. I told them that I was threatened and felt that I was more than fortunate not to have been attacked. These dogs obviously thought they were protecting their turf unfortunately they never got the surveyor lines down for their yard's plot plan and thought it extended a half of a block in every direction. AND YES THE OWNERS FAULT. But truly it is difficult for me (who never met a dog she didn't like) to not be fearful of this breed now. Animal control apparently cited them for not keeping their dogs under control. I saw these dogs on leashes with their owners occasionally when I was in my car. I changed my daily walking route and the best news? They moved in the next 6 mos.

Scary, potentially dangerous experience that you escaped through using your brains and staying cool. It's a shame big, powerful dogs are allowed out loose by irresponsible owners or guardians who are sitting them.

I'm so tired of being scared to go out in the neighborhood for fear some 50-lb.-plus dog will come dashing from behind a bush and see my Tibbe as instant prey - again, which is only dog nature and not his fault. It's his owner's fault for not properly leashing him or housing him within walls or fencing. There are so many, many dog owners who just flat drop the ball and the bigger the dog, the bigger the ball they seem to drop!

Still, my trusty, big, black, auto-open umbrella has heretofore stopped every dog I've had time to unfurl it on in the last 15 or more years when I've gotten the drop on them with it. The only time any dogs even got close to us is when I was walking Tibbe in the rain with the umbrella already open and over our heads so they didn't get the full effect of it whooshing open before their eyes and making our outline suddenly, "magically" big and intimidating but, still, I used it as a shield in front of us and the two little dogs never got to Tibbe in one hand on the leash before the owners rushed off the porch to retrieve them. They were both twice Tibbe's size but small and it was still scary. I can only imagine how scary those two big Bullmastiffs were advancing on you and I can only imagine how much worse it could have been if you little son had been with you! Glad you called AC and at least some action was probably taken.

[AZME]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

Still, my trusty, big, black, auto-open umbrella has heretofore stopped every dog I've had time to unfurl it on in the last 15 or more years when I've gotten the drop on them with it. The only time any dogs even got close to us is when I was walking Tibbe in the rain with the umbrella already open and over our heads so they didn't get the full effect of it whooshing open before their eyes and making our outline suddenly, "magically" big and intimidating but, still, I used it as a shield in front of us and the two little dogs never got to Tibbe in one hand on the leash before the owners rushed off the porch to retrieve them. They were both twice Tibbe's size but small and it was still scary. I can only imagine how scary those two big Bullmastiffs were advancing on you and I can only imagine how much worse it could have been if you little son had been with you! Glad you called AC and at least some action was probably taken.

I took to carrying a 9 iron with me (golfer) but I like the umbrella better and will adopt that with the new puppy I am getting in October. I love to walk and hike and am vigilant but as you say sometimes even prepared you have the occasional issue. Now to find the perfect umbrella thanks you made my day!

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by AZME

I took to carrying a 9 iron with me (golfer) but I like the umbrella better and will adopt that with the new puppy I am getting in October. I love to walk and hike and am vigilant but as you say sometimes even prepared you have the occasional issue. Now to find the perfect umbrella thanks you made my day!

Oh, thank you! My little 3 lb. Yorkie, Jilly, was attacked years ago by a 65-lb. off-leash dog who had apparently been lying on his porch when we were out walking blocks from home and if I hadn't had a walking stick with me (for the first time ever that day), I doubt I'd have gotten him off her before he killed her.

After that, I realized I needed something intimidating and impressive and that made a bit of a sound and thought of the one-button, auto-open umbrella and ever since that time, we've run off many a belligerent big, powerful dog plus a few smaller ones when they hear and see that big thing blossom open in front of us with that "whoosh" sound and the dogs just either totally stop in their tracks or begin to go the other way. I've seen one or two owners gets a little ticked with their big, powerful dogs and force them to walk on past us after I employed the umbrella, all the while the dog was leaning and balking to avoid coming near us and that big thing!

But that big dog came running so suddenly from that porch and engaged us, I barely had time to process what was happening, let alone open an umbrella so I doubt if even that would have saved us as the time-frame from porch to bite was about 4 or 5 seconds total, part of which I was trying to reign in Jilly who had suddenly stepped out protectively ahead of me to growl at the fearsome attitude of the oncoming dog. After beating him off Jilly with the stick, he STILL followed us to the end of the block as I was trying to get her away from him, as she had been bitten 6 times, was bloody all over her tiny flanks and belly, seizing/foaming and choking, and I had run/walk blocks home and get her to the emergency vet.

But for that old walking stick, we probably couldn't have gotten away and Jilly have still lived as I couldn't put her down while she was seizing and choking and fight that dog. She needed me to hold her and soothe her right then so I held her with one arm and kept brandishing the stick with the dog still stalking us with the other arm. He stopped at the corner of his block, we finally made it to the car, she had surgery that evening, healed up, had home PT and was fine afterward and never showed any fear of big dogs after that, thank goodness.

Maybe that's because she knew I had the big umbrella with me and I would open it if things got drastic and she'd be okay. haha. I doubt it but I was so glad she didn't die right after the attack when she had seizures before I got her back home and to my car and the vet! Ever since then, I've been so alert to dogs whose irresponsible dog owners allow to escape their yard or house or just run on ahead, totally off leash when on walks and so aware that some type of protection is absolutely essential! But with my umbrella, I walk Tibbe with way more confidence than w/out it.

[AZME]

That is SO scary. My next door neighbor has a mixed breed do who isn't so friendly and occasionally it will pop out to her front yard when she is bringing in groceries…

I try and avoid peak times that dogs are out…but you never know!

The craziest thing is when adults let a small child hold the leash of a big dog….I've seen kids hang on for dear life getting dragged across asphalt ughh!

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by AZME

That is SO scary. My next door neighbor has a mixed breed do who isn't so friendly and occasionally it will pop out to her front yard when she is bringing in groceries…

I try and avoid peak times that dogs are out…but you never know!

The craziest thing is when adults let a small child hold the leash of a big dog….I've seen kids hang on for dear life getting dragged across asphalt ughh!

I know - the things humans do to dogs and allow them to do is so scary sometimes. I was a street over from home and once saw what looked to be 7-year-old-sized boy up the street - all by himself on the sidewalk with no adult in sight - walking down the sidewalk holding onto the leashes of two full-grown boxers who suddenly both lunged forward, jerked him across the sidewalk into the street as he tried to hang on to the leashes but were quickly free and off running. Two boxers are hard for an adult to hold, let alone a little child!!! Two or three people ran out of different nearby houses and saw to the boy so I don't know if one or them was a parent or not as I immediately took my dog and started toward home before those two big wild dogs came our way.