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Maybe fences do make good neighbors: A 75 year old Queens woman was attacked by a neighbor's pit bull. Newsday reports that Phyllis Perillo, a retiree, had "retrieved a wayward garbage pail" for the neighbor, whose relative then opened the door to thank Perillo. But the neighbor's pit bull "came flying out," according to Perillo's brother, and mauled her for 15 minutes. Neighbors say that Perillo tried to get up repeatedly, and that another neighbor tried to stop the dog with a broomstick. The dog's owner was apparently very upset about the attack, saying "I don't care about the dog, [only] that poor lady."
The dog is under observation with Animal Control and Care or the ASPCA; he may be euthanized after 10 days. Newsday spoke to a neighbor who said the dog attacked her as well, and from what we know, when a dog attacks a human twice, an agency does usually request to put the dog down.
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You guys could've at least used the photo of the actual dog that attacked. Not just randomly pick the scariest pit bull pic you can find! Poor lady regardless, hope she can recover from her wounds, at least the physical aspect of it.
IMO, if they put down the dog, they should put down the owner as well. People who don't know how to care for animals properly shouldn't be allowed to have them. Stories like this only vilify the dogs--not their owners (e.g., "I'm more concerned about the old lady than my dog" plea; yeah, tell it to the judge when that old lady hauls your ass into court for negligence). And for the record, proper care for animals includes recognizing when they're too dangerous to be kept as household pets, even with safety precautions in place. As the article states, this was not the first time something like this happened with this owner...
(p.s. Nice juxtaposition, gothamist, of the ASPCA plug in your sidebar next to this story.)
this is why i prefer cats as pets. they're generally too lazy to attack anybody.
"I don't care about the dog" exactly the kinda irresponsible owner who would raise a poor dog like that
Pitbulls should be outlawed in the city. No ifs, ands or buts about it. The city used to have a vaguely worded law banning "dangerous wild animals inclined to do harm." Damned if pit bulls don't fit the bill. The Department of Health banned ferrets, so why not pit bulls? These beasts are naturally vicious and anyone who says it's just training is deluded. At least make it much harder to own one. If you want a license for a pit bull, you'll have to prove that it's not dangerous. If you falsely state the breed on the license and your dog attacks anyone or anything, you'd have to pony up a huge ($5,000 or more) fine. Just how many people, cats, small dogs, etc. have to be mauled or killed before dog owners admit owning dangerous animals isn't a God-given right and privelege?
Brightliner, you are wrong. Pitbulls who behave violently are doing so strictly because they were trained to do so. A doberman, rottweiler, or chihuaha raised the same way would in all likelyhood have attacked people too. Pibulls are very friendly, fun loving, caring dogs who are great with strangers, if that is how their masters raised them. My friend has had pitbulls his whole life, and they are the sweetest most loving dogs I've ever known. All they want to do is play and eat strawberries.
Unfortunately, there is a culture among dog owners to specifically raise pitbulls as fighting dogs, and this is wrong. I agree that certain breeds such as the pitbull should be made much more difficult to obtain.
Its kind of like the firearms debate. People should have the right to own and use them, but the licensing should be much more strict, people should have to prove that they are responsible and educated enough to earn the privilege. While we're on the subject though, I think it should be the same for people who want to have children...
If it's all in the upbringing and any dog can be just as affectionate or aggressive, then why get a pit bull in the first place? Why not one of those other breeds? When was the last time you heard about a chihuahua mauling or killing someone?
As an animal behaviorist once said, you can never trust any dog 100%. That means pit bulls with their strong jaws and almost unique tendency to bite over and over are always a danger.
Lots of NY'ers have pits because the shelters are full of 'em. And because they're smart and loving. Your Chihuahua argument is stupid. Any large dog is capable of mauling, but surely you don't suggest outlawing large breed dogs. Plus, small dogs have mauled people before. How about this quote for you? "The baby's uncle left the infant and the dog on a bed while the uncle prepared her bottle in the kitchen. Upon his return, the dog was mauling the baby, who died shortly afterwards. ("Baby Girl Killed by Family Dog," Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 9, 2000, Home Edition, Metro Section, Page B-5.)"
Finally, pit bulls are often misidentified by eye witnesses. Take this fun quiz. http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
Nicely put SP. I guess you could say i work with and in the "field" of dogs. For some reason, more irresponsible owners have American Pit Bull Terriers. They put choke chains around their necks, walk them like they are going to attack and are amazed when they actually do. The reason you see a lot of them on the streets of NY is the result of an irresponsible breeder who bred their dog just to make money. They aren't screening who buys or adopts and most of these animals are being abused. Other breeds that have similar problems are Dobermans, Rottweilers, and Stafforshire Terriers, all of which are loving and caring dogs when you raise and train them properly.
Sorry, didn't specify, that article was about a POMERANIAN.
Everytime a pit bull post comes up, I reply with a vid cap of the little blond white boy who was mauled in the face by ONE pitball. (it was from the TLC show "tales from the ER")
Yes, it get's me banned or flamed but it's worth it to see what this animal can do. And, it's a pretty disturbing image.
what culture is that where a Blond blue eyed little boy get's mauled in the face, with his cheeks ripped open and the doctor's worried if the pit bull bit through his skull? it's not culture, it's the breed.
I used to subscribe to the "nurture not nature" argument as far as pits go, but the fact is they're bred for fighting--the consequences of any sort of incident are much more severe.
A friend of mine had a sweet pitbull from a breeder that was fine until one day he tried to bite her girlfriend's face off when she got too close to his food bowl. That doesn't happen when a terrier mutt or a golden freaks out.
San Francisco is working on a mandatory fixing/neutering policy right now. That makes sense--no one has to give up their beloved, but Joe Shmoe can't buy/adopt a pit (or Pressa Canario, etc.) either.
Nice try at deflecting blame, A., but everybody knows newborns are extraordinarily vulnerable. They can't escape, they can't strike back, they can't even raise their heads. A New York subway rat could kill a newborn. Go ahead and dredge up a citation of a toy breed mauling, maiming, dismembering or killing someone who could run or fend off an attack, say someone over the age of six years, if you can.
I have an amazingly sweet pit bull who I socialized properly and plays well with children, adults, and other dogs.
Pit bulls are easily trained and because of their history there are idiots all over the city training them to be mean. But a pit bull can just as easily be trained in a positive way. They are extemely intelligent dogs - it is the owners who teach them to be aggressive that are at fault here.
These dogs are loyal to a fault so when you have some moron who makes it "protect them" and attack that is when you have a problem. A good policy on spaying/neutering would really help.
The ASPCA has a lot of really great information on the history of the breed and it's bad reputation.
since people are the ones who start wars, commit murder, rob, rape, and otherwise commit acts of violence on other people, maybe we should just ban people. BAN EVERYTHING!
I am convinced it is nurture. Me and my Great Dane were attacked by another Great Dane who wasn’t socialized properly. We both have scars. I was also bitten in the face by a German Shepherd when I was a kid. Again, the dog was not properly socialized.
Now another dog that gets a bad reputation is the Rottweiler. I had one that some relatives couldn’t keep anymore, and he was very sweet and loving towards everyone, yet people were either deathly afraid of him or thought he was sweet.
The problem isn’t the dogs, it’s the humans (or in some cases sub-humans) who take care of them.
There is no such breed as "pit bull." Usually what people are talking about when they say "pit bull" is some variation of the American Staffordshire Terrier, a breed of dog known in England as the "nanny dog" because they are so good around children.
More to the point, though, is that any dog that is mistreated will be a mean dog. That really should be obvious.
American Staffordshire Terriers (aka "Am Staffs" or "Staffies") are wonderful, loving, friendly and smart animals. Mine prefers to spend much of her days on her back, playing with stuffed animals.
If you live by the Fox News reactionary damn them all way of thinking, then you might be in favor of breed banning.
A lot more dogs could live happier lives and people would be safer if those found to have abused an amimal were forever banned from owning another animal, and if the criminal penalties for animal abuse were stiffer.
A good friend of mine was attacked and badly bitten by an Akita. He never thought to initiate legislation banning Akitas; he did go after its owner's assests in court, however.
If Dude didn't care about his dog like how he says in the article, he should not have had one in the first place. Maybe if he cared about it, it wouldn't have attacked anyone.
And hey, Brightliner, from your other comments on other posts, I'd figured that you were some sort of environmentalist person. Now I see you are for banning breeds. Save the trees; kill the dogs? Hypocrite.
Am Staffs are also not 100+ lbs, like most of the dogs in these horrible attacks. 9 times out of 10, the dogs in the news are crossed with Rotts, Mastiffs, etc or are an entirely different breed, like the Canary dogs that killed that woman in San Francisco.
"Real" Pit Bulls were bred to be dog aggressive, not people aggressive. How in the world would you get handlers into the pit for a dog fight if there was a chance the dogs would attack people????
Nice quiz. I'll post the link again in case anyone missed it.
http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
I brought my dog to the local "pet fest" this year and last year. Nobody screamed "Pit Bull!" and ran away. They all asked what my sweetheart of a dog was. When I told them, almost without exception, they stared in disbelief or told me that I was wrong.
The dogs in the news are not Pit Bulls. People think they are and perpetuate any number of myths, but they are not. Go to a dog show and see the registered show dogs. Learn about the breed.
pitbulls, like any other breeds, are still dogs... domesticated dogs! it's up to the owners to raise their dogs to behave or not to behave. why descriminate against pitbulls? we've brought them to this world and now all we can do is to be responsible as pitbull owners. that's the bottom line! banning them would definitely solve the problem in that area, but only to a certain extent. the same irresponsible owner can own a rottweiler and it will soon maul another old woman! then what? ban rotts too? WAKE UP! if it's your dog and you wanted to have that dog, raise it properly! to all those ignorant about the american pitbull terrier breed, research about it and don't just base what you know on hear-says. they do more good than bad regardless all the irresponsible owners out there!
Pit bulls tend to be much gentler with people than many other breeds. They were bred to fight bulls and other dogs, NOT people, and pit bulls that bit people were traditionally put down, so the breed evolved to be very gentle with humans. Golden retrievers and spaniels are much more likely to bite people than are pit bulls. Sure, some wackos mistreat pit bulls and encourage them to be aggressive against people, but it's a lot harder to train a pit bull to be aggressive toward people than to train most other breeds. Pit bulls do tend to be dog-aggressive, as they were bred to be, so you do have to be careful with them around other dogs, especially if they weren't socialized well when young. All this hysteria against pits is so crazy--for much of the 20th century, they were viewed in America as the best family dog, because they are so incredibly gentle with kids. Our pit-boxer mix loves every child (or adult) she sees--she would be utterly hopeless as a guard dog. The only danger she presents to people is when she wags her tail so hard she falls over--she might trip someone.
Half of you are completely rediculous. I was once attacked by a poodle, lets go ban them. Or... Would you like to see the damage a Scottish Terrier could do to a defensless little child? Pitbulls are sweet dogs, I know cause' I own one, and by far, she is the most loving animal I have ever cared for. True, they can cause' a lot of damage, and they could very well rip the face of anyone, but you'd have to let them. If your dog is going out biting people, you should know better than to keep them loose, even in your backyard. But that's besides the point. If the media would announce all the other dogs in the world biting people, I think you'd laugh when you all realize that pitbulls aren't even top 10. Its just that they have the POTENTIAL. I have the potential to kill, and so do all of you. Does that mean we should walk around wearing muzzles? Or perhaps we should be banned?
I think people need to lay off.
This is absolutely tragic. I extend my deepest sympathy to that poor woman and her family. Reading some of the comments written by others on this page saying pit bulls should be outlawed in the city is simply ignorant. I have 2 pitbulls that cuddle up with my grandma and sleep with her. PITBULLS ARE NOT INHERENTLY DANGEROUS. the FACT IS THIS: pitbulls are strong. they can out muscle any other breed pound for pound. They aren't vicious or mean. However there are plenty of people who are vicious and mean; they are the people who exploit the physical attributes of this breed. The dog will be as gentle or as vicious as it is trained to be. If you look back to the 80's it was Dobermans that were being exploited this way and before that it was German Shepards (the dog used by our law inforcers) I trained my first pitbull, who was aggressive due to the abuse of her former owners, into the most gentle loving animal in the world. It's all how you treat them. I have an adorable labradore in my building who has tried to attack me and my dogs on 5 different occasions. My dogs who could easily shred this dog into chopped meat just sat there looking to me help them. If you want to stop pitbulls from attacking people, remove them from the violent hands of drug dealers and criminals and use this incredablly intellegent, loyal breed for police work.
And another thing- That picture is not the dog who attacked that woman. I don't think they could have picked a more intimidating picture. The dog is chained and obviously aroused. My dogs are just as big and muscular and they are currently curled into a ball of fur at my feet as I write this with two cats in the room.
I agree that it is the owner's fault that these incidents occur... but lets face it, the dumb people always breed; Whether it is their own deficient off-spring, or violent dogs, stupidity breeds stupidity. Until we can ban the most stupid and the irresponsible people of this society from reproducing themselves, we must try to limit their avenues for harming those around them (ban pit bulls, guns, etc)... so much for natural selection
i dont think dogs should be put down like that i think is ther owner who needs to be more awer of the dog he has i have 2 dogs a blue pit and a rottweiler and i have a 5 year old son and gess what ? ther nothing like they say they are they protect me and my family and there good with kids
even if ther not ours but i allways know that i got to be carefull with them so i try to teach them to be good and spend time with them i know one day im going to let them go but ill remember them as i allways emagine. so i think that who ever has a gard dog (dangerous dog) the owner has to be responsable for what happens.
Ok, I have read all of these comments. Just let me say this, those of you that put the pitbulls down Obviously never owned a pit for yourself. So many people love the pits and chose to have them because they are a smart dog and very easy to train. I have bred many different types of dogs, rots, pits, boxers, st. bernards, and dobermans. The pits were by far the easiest and most mild tempered out of the lot. Yes they did thier job as a guard dog, if you were a stranger and was where it knew you weren't suppose to be then yes they would get you. However if I or another person was there and they would let us know. If you possed a threat to anyone they would get you. As long as they knew it was ok for you to be there then all was fine. I have been around this breed my whole life not once have I ever witnessed an attack. The people as well as myself that raised them raised them right. Yes breeders do need to go about selling the breed properly. However buyers need to go about raising the breed properly. If a dog attacks then there was one of three things that happened, one: the dog wasn't kept the way it needed to be like on a chain or in a pin; two: the person that was atacked wasn't where they needed to be as in where the dog knew that person shouldn't be; three: the dog felt threatened in some sort of way. These three things will happen with any dog or animal for that matter it is called instinct. If you train them the right way which is to be used to people and other animals then these chances of atacks will be very small. I'm sorry that the lady was atacked, but I'm more sorry that because of a poor excuse for an owner now a dog that was only doing what he thought was his job, protecting his owner, may now lose its life. Those of you that don't trust these animals or hate them cause of all the bad publicitythey get in the media, why don't you go look at the most comon dog bites that are reported in the hospitals. It might suprise you. Not long ago the local news in my area showed the results. The most common was the lab. They showed the top ten and the pits only made it to the nineth spot. So don't put down an animal you know nothing about personaly. The media will streach things and bend them to where they seem worse than they are. Anyone with alittle common since knows that. If anyone would like to contact me on this subject please do. My e-mail is captainlatino1@hotmail.com. To all of you pit lovers and supporters please vote against breed banning. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD BREED, ONLY BAD OWNERS. Thank you for your time.
i love pit bulls i have 2 and 1 American Staffordshire Terrier also and they are not vicious
The dog didnt fly out of the house and attack the woman the woman smelled like another dog and when the pit bull tired to smell her she kicked it a couple times until she pissed him off therefore the dog attacked her...that is what i hate about dumbass people first you kick a dog well that was your first mistake but to make it even dumber it was a pit bull then you try to lie and tell the cops it just attacked you if i was the cop that took her statement i would of let the dog attack her again just because shes a dumb hoe who needs to learn how to treat animals...i have two pit bulls and the only time they've ever attacked me was when i was playin with them a pissed them off...god i hate dumb people
ballin
I have 2 pitbulls and I have 3 children from the ages 4-9 years old. The pitbull is not a vicious dog, they get along well with me children, they are very playful they will let anyone into my property they will bark at the stranger but they will not attack I know cause I had this happen before plenty of times. My mother-in-law has 2 chihuahuas and they always attack me and my children when we go to visit her,and get this my children are afraid of those chihuahuas rather then my 2 pitbulls I have at home.
I love dogs... dogs are best friends as we all know. But there comes a time that we need to draw a line. Saddly this time is a Pit, he is a guard dog. By what I've read it wasn't trained properly and have a record of two insidents. This is not good, we cannot wait unitl it happens again or worse. I feel that this should go for ANY dog breed plus fines ($5000 plus)for the owner.
I have a six month old pit bull and he is just a baby and we have already got him out of the nipping stage.My brother had one and it almost killed his fairly old neighbor.Yours is beautiful but they are dangerous.
I have a best friend that has a full blooded pitbull and i am sitting here right now in the same house with her and she is the best dog I could ever be around!!..she is always giving me kisses and she never once snapped at me,never bit me,never growed at me or anything!!...No one should never put a dog down just cause she done that unless the dog does it more the twice!!..I mean I am very sorry to hear about that woman but at the same time the owner just needs to spend more time with the dog unless they had it put to sleep!!..I also have a cousin that has a full blooded pitbull and that dog never once done anything to me and SHE came from a drug house and you know how they can be and I can be left in the room alone with her also and all she does is lay on my lap and love on me!!...it's not the dog its the owner!!..If anyone has any comments feel free to leave them but please no nasty comments because I WILL not answer back
THANK YOU
this comment is for Brightliner...Don't take this the wrong way but so you are saying that if someone owns a pitbull where ever,those people have to move to another state or get rid of the dog?.Thats messed up really but that is the way I look at it.Any dog can turn on someone no matter what. it is just the matter of who owns them and how they are treated!!..So no pitbulls should not be outlawed!!..They are not outlawed here where I live!!..