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A pit bull named Tyrus is described by the New York Post as being "The Bitch of West 72nd St." and a 'Hell Hound.' Neighbors of the dog's owner at the former Olcott Hotel on the Upper West Side say that Tyrus is a menace who runs wild, poops in the hall and mauls other pets.
Residents of The Olcott's 7th floor said that instead of walking Tyrus, his owners simply let the dog run loose outside the apartment, where he defecates and urinates in the hallway. Tyrus is owned by W.A. Flagg, a 78-year-old holdover resident before the building went condo. He shares apartment 708 with 38-year-old Charles Lee, who is the son of Flagg's late housekeeper (Flagg took them in years ago when the Lees were homeless).
Elisa Schindler and her boyfriend said they were returning to their apartment with their Pomeranians Pumpkin, Sugarplum, and Marshmallow when Tyrus lunged at them. He knocked Schindler down and proceeded to maul four-pound Pumpkin, who survived, but required a hundred stitches. Schindler said that the attack left the hall spattered with Pumpkin's blood and fur. Other residents have had similar run-ins and fear for small children in the building.
The condo board is suing Flagg for $90,000 and would like him evicted. Lee, who was wearing just a towel when he answered the door to a Post reporter, says this is all just a ruse to get he and Flagg thrown out of the building because they don't fit in with the newer residents. Units at the Olcott sell for several million dollars (see the current listings here).
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Well Charles, it looks like you totally gave them the upper hand by making bad decisions.
I too am a resident of The Olcott's fine luxury apartments and have also been a victim Mr Flagg's beastly hound. My Yorkshire Terrier was mauled and required 10 stitches and a month's worth of therapeutic treatment at the local doggy spa. The fracas greatly annoyed both I and Foo Foo and it shall take years for us to overcome such unpleasantness.
"...Pumpkin, Sugarplum, and Marshmallow."
lol...Typical. If I was that Dog I would've lunged at them too for having such stereotypical names.
see its owners like this that give pit bulls such a bad name...
Simply go buy some tenderloin, slice it in half, and lace it with rat poison. If the cops or the building management won't take care of the problem before someone gets killed, YOU take care of it.
i like karen's solution. maybe buy a seasoned porterhouse and throw some nails in it
i'm kidding folks..
not really tho
Yeah, this qualifies as news.
"Lee...says this is all just a ruse to get h[im] and Flagg thrown out of the building because they don't fit in with the newer residents."
Nah, it's all about your damn dog you crazy, lazy, old fart. And that got your neighbors realizing that they dont like you or Boo Radley either. See you in Boca.
You know, it's pretty sad when you can tell the level of gentrification of a neighborhood by the number of pitt bulls you see walking around. High number of pittbulls = lower rents still available. Low number of pittbulls (or none) = better look around in a different neighborhood if you're looking for a decent rent. Forget it if you see labradors and beagles.
I'll solomnize. Pumpkin, Sugarplum, and Marshmallow deserve what they got, what with names as gay as those. Tyrus needs to be put down. In the old days we had dog catchers.
But a dog like this will run of on its own if it finds enough open doors. Else hire a neighborhood kid to do the job.
Porterhouse, tenderloin? what are you people, the rockefeller's?
The Rite Aid solution, libby's vienna sausages dipped in Prestone. viola.
They need to send those bitchass pomeranians to brownsville to get toughened up. What a trio of pussies...
I'm with Jacque. The RiteAid solution sounds most plausible.
All of you people who are being so facetious or ridiculing the dog names are totally missing the point. You clearly do not have small dogs or children around.
As a parent of a newborn as well as a small dog, this kind of situation is terrifying to live next to. A pitbull who has "problems" with other dogs also has problems with humans, no matter what the owner says - I know very few people who would not intervene to protect their dogs under attack, which means they expose themselves to potential injury as well.
All of you people who are being so facetious or ridiculing the dog names are totally missing the point. You clearly do not have small dogs or children around.
As a parent of a newborn as well as a small dog, this kind of situation is terrifying to live next to. A pitbull who has "problems" with other dogs also has problems with humans, no matter what the owner says - I know very few people who would not intervene to protect their dogs under attack, which means they expose themselves to potential injury as well.
Well, I figured that to do the job right, someone would be willing to splurge.
Well said, noth. I have neither children nor small dogs, but I agree that any animal that is vicious enough to attack without provocation does not belong in an apartment building. Why the heck didn't the police call animal control and have this dog removed immediately?!
Euthanize the owner, not the dog.
people in the UWS dont know what libbys is.
people in the UWS dont know what libbys is.
What's not being addressed here is how cruelly pit bulls are abused. They're actually relatively docile and even gentle animals at heart. It's just that abusive owners turn them into fighting machines who are ready to take their anger out on whatever comes near them. It sounds like, in this case, animal control (if not the police) definitely needs to get involved.
Noth,
You clearly know zero about animal behavior if you confuse animal aggression with human aggression. I suggest reading more on the issue before you pontificate. Prey drive for rodents or aggression towards other dogs is normal for all dog breeds. The latter can be trained out with proper socialization.
Good owners make good dogs 99.9% of the time, and the APBT gets a bad rap.
What's not being addressed is how we live in a city where a pit bull attack on a Pomeranian is taken more seriously than the apparent asbestos poisoning of the building's tenants. (See the building's web site.) Last I checked, humans had more rights than Pomeranians. Can't blame the dog in this case. It's an animal, acting instinctively. The owner should have been more careful, and the residents living on the floor should have been more careful, knowing that a pit bull who has problems with other dogs might possibly be interested in a trio of 4-pound Pomeranians. My heart goes out to Pumpkin, Tyrus,the owners of both dogs...but mostly to the people who have put up with what looks like some life-threatening conditions in that building.
What's not being addressed is how we live in a city where a pit bull attack on a Pomeranian is taken more seriously than the apparent asbestos poisoning of the building's tenants. (See the building's web site.) Last I checked, humans had more rights than Pomeranians. Can't blame the dog in this case. It's an animal, acting instinctively. The owner should have been more careful, and the residents living on the floor should have been more careful, knowing that a pit bull who has problems with other dogs might possibly be interested in a trio of 4-pound Pomeranians. My heart goes out to Pumpkin, Tyrus,the owners of both dogs...but mostly to the people who have put up with what looks like some life-threatening conditions in that building.
bw10009, it really doesn't matter if it's a pit bull or a standard poodle: if it's menacing or attacking other animals and people and is being allowed to roam the corridors, it's an uncontrolled animal and is posing a threat to others, and that needs to be addressed before someone gets hurt. If the owners of the dog are not training it properly and keeping it under control, it shouldn't be allowed to intimidate or harm others.
Four pound dogs? That isn't a dog and the pit bull probably thought they were some sort of rat or some sort of prey. Or the stupidly named "dogs" could have been the aggressor.
It has been our experience that the most vicious and aggressive "dogs" are the small ones, and their owners always say, little [insert stupid name like "Mr. Puffy" or "Snookie" here] would never hurt anyone as the absurdly sized beast is snarling at a human or normal sized dog. (Normal sized dogs are roughly 120 pounds and upwards and tend not to have an inferior complex.) Plus it isn't pit bulls you need to look out for, it is the Golden/Labrador Retriever.
I'd rather have a pit bull than a Pomeranian, since the former tends to be properly behaved while the latter tends to be vicious and yappy and is not really a dog.
Isn't Jon McCain technically a Pomeranian?
To Toby von Meistersinger - as someone who lives in the building, I can tell you that the pit bull has attacked at least 4 different dogs (unprovoked), 2 of which are very gentle and shy small rescue dogs (other than Poms), not yappy ones.
What is also not mentioned in any of the articles is the fact that Lee is pretty much believed by all the residents and building staff to be a drug dealer (the "friend" arrested by the police, whom Lee claimed not to know was carrying the cocaine happens to go by the nickname "Stoney".) and that every City Agency including the police have been called multiple times because of this tenant (apparently, nothing can be done until the dog actually bites a human).
If you checked out the News 9 coverage last night, which showed a shot of the attacked dog, you would also have seen that the stitches show it was almost ripped in half. So perhaps your "experience" of dogs is not as informed as you believe it to be.
And to TheOtherSide - this isn't just about a Pom being attacked by a pitbull. This is about residents fearing about the safety of many many children under the age of 2 living in the building.
And to bw10009 - I did not say that because the pitbull is aggressive to dogs, it will automatically attack humans. I said that because most owners would try to intervene to save their dogs' lives under attack, they are exposed to potential injury by the pitbull if it attacks their dogs and they try to stop it.
Noth,
You must have misread my post. I agree that it's about much more than a dog being attacked by another dog. According to the reports, the 2-year-olds you mention are more likely to be harmed by the lead paint dust they inhale (not to mention the asbestos) than they are to be bitten by the pit bull. The pit bull reportedly goes for dogs, not people, though I'd be the first one to carry my dog OR infant if I lived on a floor known to have a pit bull that stalked the halls.
And regardless of what anyone believes, you need hard evidence to arrest someone for drug dealing. Sounds like you're running into the same dismal situation with the city agencies that the original tenants did when they called for help with the problems they were experiencing.
I wish you all luck and hope that the situation resolves for all concerned.
I'd rather have an aggressive pomeranian around then a pitbull. Something about being able to pick it up and punt it makes me feel much safer.