Beware of Dog
Yesterday evening on our way home from the office, after a brief romp through the grounds of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Strummer was attacked by a loose dog on Somerville Avenue between Laurel and Loring Streets. It was just after 6:00. The dog was maybe 12-18 inches tall at the shoulder, short-haired, white with brown markings. It looked a lot like this.
Being on a leash, Strummer had a difficult time defending herself. I tried ineffectually to pull her by the leash away from the attacking dog, before it finally occurred to me to kick the other dog to get it off her. A crowd of people gathered out of range of the two dogs and me, and finally a man arrived and kicked the attacking dog so hard that it flew about three feet from Strummer, whom I immediately surrounded with my whole body. I asked the man who stopped the fight if the other dog was his dog; he said it was not.
I then proceeded to run my fingers all over Strummer's body and through her thick poodle hair. I couldn't see any blood, but my hands found wet spots on her foreleg and flank. The moisture must have been the other dog's saliva, because after meticulously working my fingers through her hair, I did not come up with a trace of blood.
A concerned woman, who had stopped in the rush hour traffic on Somerville Avenue, talked with me for several minutes, which really helped to calm me down. She told me that she has a Yorkshire Terrier who has been attacked by the same dog that had just attacked Strummer. She encouraged me to check Strummer carefully for injuries and, even if I didn't find anything wrong, to take Strummer to a veterinary hospital anyway, just in case she sustained internal injuries.
The man who stopped the fight returned to check if Strummer was injured. He said he was the owner of the beauty salon on Somerville Avenue at the bottom of Laurel Street and that he thought the dog was owned by a man who lived across the street.
By this time I had calmed down sufficiently to realize that a loose dog had just attacked my dog and that Somerville has laws against both dogs being "at-large," or running loose and distubance of the peace by dogs (Code of Ordinances City of Somerville, Massachusetts, Sec. 3-33. Disturbance of the peace by dogs and Sec. 3-34. Dogs at-large. See Chapter 3 Animals, Article II. Dogs). I called 911 on my cell phone and was put through to the Somerville Police Department, who told me that the dog officer had already left for the day and advised me to call the Animal Control Office on Monday. I requested that an officer come to assist me in speaking with a witness and trying to identify the owner of the dog that attacked mine.
In about 20 minutes an officer arrived, escorted Strummer and me to the salon and spoke with the man who had indicated that he knew who owned the offending dog. Unfortunately, it turned out that the witness did not know who owned the dog and wasn't even sure where the dog lived.
Interestingly, Strummer showed no fear about returning to the place where she had been attacked. Either she was not afraid of meeting the dog again or her doggy senses informed her that the dog was not in the area.
I think I may have been more upset by the whole incident than my dog was: while we were waiting for the police officer to arrive, I sat on the grass with her in my lap and lavished love upon her. It was a warm evening and after a while she stood up and faced me and wagged her little tail!
I kept hearing in my mind the voice of the woman who stopped in traffic to comfort me, and I finally called my vet's office around 9:00 last night. Their answering service gave me the number for Angel Memorial Animal Hospital in Jamaica Plain. I called Angel Memorial and learned that they consider any dog fight an emergency: they recommend that any dog involved in a fight be checked by a veterinarian. Considering that Strummer was acting normal, had jumped up to greet my husband when we got home, had eaten and had urinated when I took her out, I decided that, rather than upsetting her by taking her to the Hospital, I'd let her enjoy a quiet evening at home. I'm keeping a close eye on her; she has a prior appointment with the vet on Monday to be spayed.
Comments
I'm terribly sorry that that happened. It's very awful when dogs escape from their enclosures or worse, when owners just let their dogs out off the leash to prowl the street. I noticed, however, that the pic you posted for the attacking dog was a APBT. I own two of them in San Antonio, both of which are incredibly well-behaved and well-trained, but nevertheless are feared by people who don't know them because of what they look like. If the dog that attacked your animal really was a pitt-bull, chances are that your dog would've been dead because a poodle (American or otherwise) really stands no chance against a pitt, and it's absolutely impossible that even in a few seconds, that pitt wouldn't have drawn some blood. Regardless, I am happy to know that your dog is all right, and I'm sorry that you had to experience something like this. I hope that this experience will scare the owner into bing more responsible for his pet and taking more precautionary measures so that something like this never happens again.
Posted by: Silva | May 9, 2004 9:54 AM
Thanks, Silva, both for your sympathy and for the information you included about American Pit Bull Terriers. I don't believe that pit bulls are evil; I think there are bad dogs of all breeds and that behind every bad dog is human irresponsibility. I understand that there is "dangerous dog" legislation pending in the city of Boston that targets the pit bulls. In principle I oppose such legislation: Laws should address people, not dogs. Dogs are not responsible; dogs do not have rights. People are responsible; people have rights. It is people, not dogs, who have a responsibility to respect each other's rights. Laws must address people's rights and protect people's rights from being violated by other people.
I included a picture so that people in my community could have an idea of what to watch out for, since there is clearly a dangerous dog in the neighborhood. In posting a picture of APBTs I wanted to make it clear that I wasn't blaming the breed. That's why I linked to dogs that are available for adoption through a pit bull rescue organization and included a link to Paw Printz Pitbull Rescue.
That being said, I'm not sure that your comment is in the best interest of the breed. I am sure that, in a fight, a pet poodle would stand no chance against a pit bull trained as a fighting dog. I don't think Strummer was up against a dog trained as a fighting dog. The fight stopped when the other dog was kicked hard. When the fight stopped, I surrounded my dog with my body and began checking her for injuries. I did not see what happened to the other dog; I do not know if it was removed by a person or if it ran away. I was out on Somerville Ave. for another half-an-hour at least (waiting for the police) and did not see the other dog again.
Posted by: Canis Major | May 9, 2004 11:12 AM
I am sorry to for what happened to your dog but there are sooo many dogs that look like pits that you shouldnt point the finger at one particular breed of dog unless you know for sure that it was in fact a pitbull. There are sooo many bull breeds that could have caused damage to your dog and most pits are not evil man eating dogs. In fact the lady that I purchased my house from had a bull mastiff that killed my neighbors pitbull in a matter of seconds...I can go on and on in other breeds that have injured pits. [Here's a test to identify] a 'true' american pitbull terrier, the fact is that most people cant propery identify the breed.
The fact of the matter is that the other dog was unleashed and that is against the law for him to be off leash regardsless of the breed. That is why breed specific leglistation will never work because the dogs that are potentially dangerous are owned by the people that dont care about the law.
Edited by Canis Major to include link and fix resulting issue with readability.
Posted by: Babs | May 9, 2004 11:21 AM
I've updated the text that I included with the picture so that it no longer names the breed of the dogs. Neither of the dogs pictured is the dog that attacked my dog; the dog that attacked my dog looked like the dogs pictured.
Adopt a dog from a shelter or rescue; be a responsible dog owner.
Posted by: Canis Major | May 9, 2004 12:02 PM
I don't think pit bulls are evil either, but they are a troubled breed. The recent bias against them is unfair, but to say that they're no different from other dogs is misleading. A lot of the PB's PR problems stem from the fact that they are bred to fight other dogs and although this tendency shouldn't be confused with aggression towards people, it gets them into trouble. This is NOT something that is trained into them--it is bred, the same way that retrievers are bred to fetch things and greyhounds are bred to chase bunnies. Not every PB will fight but there are very few full-grown PB's that can be trusted 100% around other dogs. Of course this dog should've been on a leash or fenced in, but I have heard this story over and over again--and yes--real stories, not urban myths (and strangely several times with the same lack of visible damage). Bad Rap, [San Francisco] Bay Area Doglovers Responsible about Pitbulls, is a great resource--they love PBs but they are very tough and realistic about their temperaments and needs.
Edited by Canis Major to include link and identify the acronym in the link.
Posted by: greengage | May 12, 2004 11:40 PM