Animal killed by pit bull

[ShadyLady]

Last night I was feeding my sheep and I heard a dog bark near where I'd tethered my goats (we are in the middle of a drought and there is very little feed so tethering is my only option) I raced down the hill to be confronted by my neighbours pit bull (he uses the dog for hunting and tracking) attacking one of my pet goats she was on the ground and it had mauled her ear and neck I screamed at the dog but was afraid to go up to it as it was in attack mode eventually it got scared off by my screaming and ran home . My poor goat was still alive so we shot her . My neighbour apparently had the dog tied to the back of his ute and it slipped its collar , he offered to replace the goat but I said how can you replace a pet that has a name and numerous other little quirks that seperate her from other goats. Today I rang the ranger and I either have to take him to court or do nothing , it sounds harsh but I want the dog put down I can no longer use half my property for fear it will escape , I dont want to take him to court as I feel this is pointless but I fear for my other animals and children can someone tell me what a hunting dog is supposed to do? Do they go up to prey and pull them down while waiting for the owner or they trained to kill ? Im just trying to make some sense of this :(

[Guest Anonymous]

fd

[Guest Anonymous]

Hi i am so sorry to hear about your sheep. I happen to be a pit bull lover therefore I had to reply to your message. Your neighbor is a idot! Its people like him that allow our breed to be draged through the medias dirt and grime over the years. If I were you I would talke him to court. As in all cases of domestic aninmal attacks its the owners resopnsabilty for the actions of the aninmal. Please dont be upset at the dog, it doesent matter what breed it is because any breed is able to to what this pit bull did. What you need to do is see what can be done within the law to the owner. Many people seem to over look that. The ony other option I feel that you have besides a gun is to get a dog or 2 yourself. A Pit Bull of course and I can almost gaurantee you your idot neighbor will make shure his dog cannot get loose.. Jamal timzzzindahood@hotmail.com

[Guest Anonymous]

I also love the bull breeds I have a passion for them
This is a dreadful thing to happen
But it is not only a pit bull will attack livestock any animal is capable of it
I believe the cure here is to put the offending dog in with Ram and let the ram teach him
but a pit bull is a different story as thay are so fit and have stamina which is what makes them so popular for fighting with the scum that do this
I really dont know whats best here, is it worth a court case and fall out with neighbour or can you talk to him and say
I really dont want to take you to court but what is he going to do Is he going to make sure this wont happen again.How can he reassure you it wont and tell him your worries re the children .
Now on the other hand if the dog attacks a child can you live with it knowing you had a warning this dog can kill and you did nothing .Catch 22 situation here.
I am afraid only you can decde whats best I wish you luck
Alady

[Carolk9s]

I'm so sorry to hear about your goat being attacked. Years ago a friend of mine had a pet goat, it got attacked by a dog, we tried to save it but could not.
At the minimum, I would take the neighbor up on the offer to at least pay for the goat. I know money will not replace your pet, but the owner having to pay for his dog's activities is a start in teaching the OWNER he must ensure his dog is securely contained at all times. It would depend on your relationship with this neighbor as to if you want to take him to court or not.
As has been said too, ANY dog might attack and kill livestock. Perhaps this dog has never given the owner reason to believe he would stray and attack your goats, now that he knows, I hope he takes it seriously and works to ensure it does not happen again. Talk with the neighbor but do try at first to give HIM the benefit of the doubt, he may feel very remorseful and embarrassed that his dog got loose and attacked your goat.

[bk_blue]

I'm sorry to hear that Shady (I still go to call you by your other name!). You've got to do the right thing not only by yourself and your animals, but by any other animal that is at risk from this dog. :cry:

[behle]

How awful, Shady. :o I sure can understand your worry about your children and other animals. It seems to me, in my limited experience, that once a dog goes after an animal like that, is is usually prone to doing the same thing again. I can see why you would like the dog put to sleep, not because of its breed, but because of its actions.

Good luck on this difficult situation. If it were a stray the situation wouldn't be so hard, but when it is your neighbor's dog, that makes the problem complicated. :cry:

[Guest Anonymous]

Yep just another reason Apbt owners who wish to keep their animals outside should have them on a proper chain setup and yes it would have helped because in a proper setup the collar would have been tighter.

I am sorry for the loss of your goat but keep a few things in mind. You said that he uses the dog for hunting,well I assume you are reffering to Boar hunting where the dog is used as a catch dog. If so he is used to going out and catching animals so when he saw your goat he was just doing his job or so he thought anyways. You said he eventually let go because of your screaming,This I highly doubt as most Apbt's would not have let go even if you had been beating on them so he probably just decided that he had done his job and caught the animal but since the owner was nowhere in sight he eventually let it go(it still sound iffy to me if it was an Apbt or not since it just let go all of a sudden).
Ok now you say it was in attack mode. What is that? Apbt's are usually not like other dogs in that they will not lash out at anything near them in a fight but will stay focused on the other animal.
Also WHY did you not go and get the owner of the dog while it was attacking your animal?
Did you try calling the dogs name and telling it no or did you just stand there screaming?
Why do you think you will get reimbursed for the cost of the animal if you say that you shot it. The Apbt only wounded it YOU decided to euthanize it. You decided not to take it to the vet who could have written a statement saying it was to bad to fix and that it was caused by an attack by a dog. You did not do that.
Who said "what if it is a child next time?" APBT's ARE ANIMAL AGGRESSIVE BUT NOT HUMAN AGGRESSIVE! The dog would not do that to a child because it would know that it was a HUMAN! If it would have been human aggressive it would have went after the SCreaming crazy woman but it did not did it?
Get your neighbors number give it to me and I will tell him how to properly contain the dog when outside.
Also it will not do you much good to get the dog put to sleep as he will most likely go out and get another animal probably another ABPT and it could be ten times worse than the first one. JUSt thank god he didn't have a FILA!

[gooeydog]

I'm so sorry shady :( I understand how you would want the dog to be PTS, but there are a few other things that should be thought about, too. As has been mentioned before, what if he gets another dog, and it ends up being the same as/worse than this one? If the problem is caused by an irresponsible owner, it will continue to happen again and again until they are held responsible for their actions. I also understand your fears about your other animals, and even your children. The dog would most likely take the opportunity to chase down another animal if it had the chance again. There's also a smaller chance that if it's got a high prey/hunt drive, and has had little socialization, that it would chase a child as well (though it might not bite it). It really depends on the individual dog, and it would be a good idea to discuss this further with your neighbor if you feel comfortable doing so. Tell him how you feel, and see what kind of solution you can work out. If he is unwilling to do so, then do what you feel you need to to protect your livestock, family, and yourself.

Laduenda, I think you're jumping a bit too much on the victim in this situation, which isn't right, nor does it help the breed in any way. I would hesitate to wade in between ANY strange dog that was attacking another animal or person, even if it was an APBT. You have no idea whether this dog was purebred, or what lines it was out of, what training it had had, or anything, no idea of whether it was human friendly or not. Sure, it most likely was, but would you chance it, especially if it was a breed you weren't very familiar with. If shady lives on a lot of land, it's possible that the dog's owner lived several miles away, and the dog could already have inflicted a lot of damage by the time they had gotten the owner and came back. And if one of your dogs was fatally injured by a neighbor's dog, and suffering, would you drive it to the vet so you'd have proof that it was fatally wounded, or would you end it right there and save it from suffering longer? I know you're just trying to defend the dog, but you come across as trying to make it all shady's fault, when it was the fault of the owner, who left his dog in a situation where it could get loose and kill another person's pet.

[Carolk9s]

laduenda napisał(a):

Also WHY did you not go and get the owner of the dog while it was attacking your animal?
Did you try calling the dogs name and telling it no or did you just stand there screaming?
Why do you think you will get reimbursed for the cost of the animal if you say that you shot it. The Apbt only wounded it YOU decided to euthanize it. You decided not to take it to the vet who could have written a statement saying it was to bad to fix and that it was caused by an attack by a dog. You did not do that.
GEEZ COULD YOU BE JUST A BIT MORE CALLOUS AND CONDESCENDING? SURE, LETS KEEP THIS GROSSLY WOUNDED ANIMAL ALIVE THEREBY PROLONGING ITS SUFFERING TIL WE CAN GET TO A VET.
Who said "what if it is a child next time?" APBT's ARE ANIMAL AGGRESSIVE BUT NOT HUMAN AGGRESSIVE! The dog would not do that to a child because it would know that it was a HUMAN! If it would have been human aggressive it would have went after the SCreaming crazy woman but it did not did it?
AGAIN YOUR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE SHINES THROUGH, HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS PARTICULAR PIT WOULD NOT GO AFTER A CHILD? DO YOU KNOW THE DOGS BREEDING? SORRY, I DON'T BUY THIS AT ALL.
GOES TO SHOW, SOME THINGS DON'T CHANGE, YOU STILL DISGUST ME.

[Guest Anonymous]

Instead of putting the dog to sleep lets just get it away from that guy. YOu cant blame a dog for being a dog. Especially if its a catch-dog he was doing what his trainging told him to do. it sounds like the guy was at least ready to replace the goat which says that he is sorry. he probably feels bad and losing his best friend will only help to put tension between the two of you. remember when all is said and done you will still be neighbors. Take a few days to calm down meet your neighbor for a cup of coffe let him know these conscerns and see if he is willing to hear you out and what he will do to make you feel safer. try to met the dog see how it reacts see if it is vicious, what kind of environment is it in. he could be the sweetest house dog and just have a high prey drive he could be a vicious killer that just got out you have to find out before you make a decision. just like your goat had little quirks that made her spcial and loved this guy probably feels the same for his dog. I know it hurts to lose but taking something from him wont make the hurt go away, and will just make things worse later on.

I am deeply sorry for your loss.
:black:

[Guest Anonymous]

I am to busy to log in but I would like to reply.
Yes I would have jumped in and broken the fight up but your right I know the breed she does not. If I was harsh I am sorry but the comments about the dog attacking a child made me very angry . Apbt's are animal Agressive But those same dogs can be very reliable and human friendly meaning just because it attacked an animal does not mean it will go out and attack a child. You can tell the difference between a child and an animal right? Well a dog who has far better senses than us can tell as well. But you are also right I do not know this particular dog or if it is even truly an Apbt or not.I wrote without thinking it true.
As for taking the animal to the vet,Well If I was so intent in taking the owner of the dog to court then yes I would have taken the animal to the vet as I would need to proof in court that the animal died as a result of the dog attack. How can you prove in court that your goat would not have lived had you not shot it and taken it to the vet instead?

I agree it is the dog owners fault but killing the dog is not the answer. Talk to your neighbor but don't act histerical and call his dog a killer,get to know the dog before you condemm it and have it killed.



To answer your question: Catch dogs that are used to hunt Wild boar are used only to Catch the animal they are not trained to kill it just to hold it so that the hunter can get close enough to kill or capture it. The hunter does the actual killing. Bay dogs are used to find the animal and keep it there by sorrounding it without catching it usually you would use hounds for that and then once it is ayed you would bring in the catch dog and allow it to catch the animal then you(the hunter) would move in when your dog had a good hold and kill the animal. But it depends on what your hunting. For example you would not want to use a catch dog on a mountain lion as the mountain lion would over power the dog you would just use Baydogs and then use your gun.

[Guest Anonymous]

Your right but also a catch dog is going to hold until it is outed by his hadnler. as long as the animal tries to get up or run it excites the dog to continue the hold. so obviously her goat was struggleing and with noone to out the dog it would keep going after it. Personally i think that if you train your dog for any aggressive vocations that should make you that much more into keeping him on your property and out of harms way, or in this case causing harm. The dog is not the blame here he is doin what his nature dictates and possibly training, so it would be like putting a gun on trial, you dont punish the gun you punish the shooter. but like i stated earlier find out the dogs lifestyle as much as you can see what is really going on with that.

[Kaleb124]

Shady -- I am terribly sorry for your loss. I am sure that it was very tramatic for you. I would definitely have the owner of the dog to pay for the loss of your goat. I know that this will not come near replacing your pet, but maybe it will make the owner of the pit find a better way to contain his dog.

Laduendas -- Goats are notoriously bad healers....A superficial wound can kill a goat because their immune system is not as strong as say a horse or cow. They develop infection very quickly and the infection will progress to the point that the animal will become septic and die. Taking the animal to the vet may have prolonged the death, but no necessarily stopped it. Even with iv antibiotics, the poor goat would have probably not lived.

[mouseatthebusstop]

Sorry Shady-and sorry you had to see witness it :cry:

[Guest Anonymous]

Shady, I am sorry to hear you had to witness that tragedy. Although I just arrived here not too long ago, I am beginning to see the way people feel about others and why. Laduenda is obviously an APBT lover. That is alright with me, I think they are a wonderful breed. BUT... you cannot take one individual dog and say that that dog will not do something because the breed wasn't bred for that. One dog isn't the breed. Individuals are exactly that, individual. They do what they want in some cases and what they are told in others. Lexi has killed birds before but there has never been talk of putting her down or taking the birds to a vet.

[Guest Anonymous]

Well as I am the poster mentioned if and I said if , it attacked a child
how would she feel if that happened
Gutted I am sure
I must be imagining all those child attacks on children by dogs with irresponsible owners.
Sorry but I am not imagining it at all.

I have a deep love of the bull breeds but I am realistic and also know they have attacked and killed both children and other dogs when owned by people who did not know how to take care of them
People like you who defend dogs that have turned savage are doing the breed no good what so ever.
Please explain to me also
why the poor person who had the pet goat savaged in front of her eyes is wrong
and why is she crazy for screaming at the sight of her pet being savaged, on her own land,
and why would it be so unlikely that it might bite a child if pet goat was attacked in front of human .
your post is a disgrace and if you could not offer help to the person then you should not have piled grief on top of her as well
There is a right and a wrong way to explain your views that was no way to do it.
And if i was anti pit bull I am afraid if thats the best you can do to help the breed forget it

[ShadyLady]

Well where do I start Laduenda I am sitting here at my computer thinking what a cruel and heartless person you must be . Am I not against pit bulls NO it could have been any breed I only mentioned the breed as I wanted to find out more about hunting dogs ,as I readily admitt I do not participate in this so called sport . I witness the attack and was feeling the need to understand was it out of the ordinary or was this what it was trained to do. You may feel that it was okay to prolong my goats suffering to get medical advise but I did not the animal had a broken neck (I have a farm and am not a hysterical woman as you put it I kill my own stock for meat so I am not squemish in an means) its head was half ripped open and she was struggling to breath I doubt she would have made it there . To me this is irrelevant anyway personally as the neighbour who owned the dog offered to replace her I declined as in my eyes she is not replaceable so he admitted that the dog had cause fatal injury to the animal and there is nothing more horrid than people who will extend the life of an animal who is obviously suffering badly. The dog is a pit bull as it was confirmed to me by the neighbour and the ranger . As for why I didnt get the neighbour immediately I guess it was a cross between being shocked at what I was witnessing and not wanting to leave an animal that was in serious trouble ( I helped deliver this goat she was very special to me) and I guess a part of me hoped I might be able to scare it off . I do not know the animals name and it would have taken me 15 -20 minutes to get to the owner I also had 2 other goats located within 5 metres of this attack (I tend to tie then together to prevent fox attacks) so I would have endangered them as well.

To everyone else who respond to my post thanks .I spoke to the neighbour last night and we have come to an agreement .He is in the process of obtaining a shock collar and is going to spend the next couple of months retraining this dog on stock (sheep and goats) and after a couple of months he is going to bring the dog to my property and give me a demonstration of the dog with stock and we have both agreed if the dog shows any sign of interest he will get rid of the dog whether it be rehoming or pts .
One other point I would like to make if dogs are so good at determining between children and animals why to children get bitten I know its usually a dominance thing but surely a dog thats been trained to attack might feel that a small 5 or 6 year old child is in the same category .Its not unheard of and personally I would not like to test the theory

[behle]

Shady - I thought your compromise with the neighbor was right on target! I sure hope it all works out for the best. I'm so sorry this has happened to you and your family.. :cry:

[Prairie_Gurl]

Shady, I'm so sorry to hear you had to whitness your pet's own death. We're all (well... most of us anyways) here for you!! I think that your aggrement with the owner is a wonderful thing. That's really kewl that you could come up with such a great compromise!!

Laduenda, you have said some very heart less things before, but this time it was extremely bad. I realize you really love APBT's. But, think about it. Shady was standing there whittnessing her own pet being killed and she could do nothing about it. Why wouldn't she be screaming?? I know I would have... God, I don't even want to know what I would have done. Please think and reread your message before you hit "submit".

[courtnek]

Shady - I am really sorry about your goat...and I understand why you didnt leave it to go get the owner. I wouldnt leave any pet of mine hurt that badly.

and Laduenda, I am truly tired of your spouting off on this subject, and I truly hope you never have children.....I get the feeling you'd defend your dog if it savaged your childs face. How logical do you think YOU could be if something you loved was being aggressively attacked by someone's animal? Whether it be a pit bull or not, you cant decide to defend the dog
when it's killing your own animals or family!!!

I have nothing against Pit Bulls; they have a bad and often undeserved reputation, but YOU arent helping it any!!! ANYONE who owns an animal with a breed-aggressive tendency needs to KEEP IT UNDER CONTROL!!!

Bottom line, the owner is responsible for this, not the dog. I am glad Shady that you have been able to work something out positively in this situation. This owner appears to care, which means he probably was not aware of the aggression his dog was capable of. It doesnt matter what they were bred for, originally, the owners need to take all of that into consideration when they get the dog. It's because of the owners that dont that the breed gets such a bad name in the first place.

My thoughts are with you Shady....

:angel:

[Guest Anonymous]

Well Shady lady I will keep my fingers crossed for you and the neighbours dog .
It would be heartening to see success and Iam glad there was no falling out .
Life is too short and if something can be sorted then thats the way to way to go
Very best wishes Alady :multi:

When everyone else walk out friends walk in.

[Marble]

hey shady lady- i'm really sorry to hear about what happened but at the same time it is really encouraging to me that you handled it the way you did. i have a lot of respect for people who, even in such a painful situation, try to be rational and deal with people without just blasting the heck out of them. i hope things go well with your neighbor (who is very fortunate to have a neighbor like you) and that you are healed of the pain from this incident.

[Rowie-the-Pooh]

Shady..SO sorry for your loss...losing a pet is the hardest thing in the world! :cry: Most of us have expierienced it, it's part of the price for getting a pet..

Your choices where very well thought of and are very fair...you hadto shoot the goat, she was in unbearable pain...and your reasoning witht the neighbor was very good...it's really fair for both of you.. :thumbs:

Laundueane(sp?): I don't understand you? :evil: How heartless can a person get? :o Ill just shutup, I don't want any trouble.... :evil:

ShadyLady, ignore Lauendna(SP? :o )'s posts, she's heartless....she probably has nothing to do other than annoy us... :-?

[bk_blue]

Marble napisał(a):

i have a lot of respect for people who, even in such a painful situation, try to be rational and deal with people without just blasting the heck out of them.

So do I!! Mainly because I have a short temper!! :P