(hijack) Aesiron, birds do NOT suck. They do bizarre things like eat dracaenia plants and household appliances and they pull your eyelashes off if you sleep late and of course if they had control of nuclear weapons the world would no longer exist but they do NOT suck. I’ve never seen a bird suck on anything. Their beak structure does not permit it. (hijack over)
Pull off your eyelashes? That’s a good one.
OK, I meant to say eyebrows, not eyelashes. But they will do this! Really! I swear!
Uh, now back to the dog attacks, I guess…
Riding my bike at about age 10 a border collie raced out and “tried to herd me” according to her apologetic owner. Nipped me twice on the ankle drawing blood.
(Waltons-narrator like voice) But the one I recalled, when I saw this thread and always do recall when these tales are told, is the story of two mutts: what looks in my memory like a yellow lab mix and it’s Rott mix partner. I was about 12 and on the sidewalk in a nearby but unfamiliar neighborhood. The dogs were loose on the porch lying down head on paws watchin’ the world go by. Jes two ol’ pooches thought 12 year old I, if I reckoned them at all. Next thing I know they are charging, snarling and snapping machines bearing down on me. I could tell you a Jim Hawkins/Young Indy story of on the spot quick thinking, about a young lad’s calm and wits winning out. I could tell you that but what really happened was that I ran screaming hysterically into the semi-busy street and caused two lines of traffic to slam on the breaks, squealing to halt, not that I saw this through my blinding tears. A man (Bless you sir wherever you are) unlocked his door and I Jumped in (I would kill a kid of mine that did this) as the dogs slobbered and clawed at the windows Cujo style, he drove me down the street while I regained my Tween composure (I hope I was appreciative even if I played down my >15 seconds of PANIC). No one but you readers know this whole story.(/Waltons-narrator like voice)
Sorry, just joking - I think. I do know that people who don’t control their dogs don’t get their mail delivered, and I do believe it is a federal offense to assault a postal worker on duty. I don’t know if deliberately letting dogs attack a postal worker could be considered a federal offense though.
My perception was the same as Ferret Herder’s husbands - dogs attack because we invade their territory. I didn’t own a dog at the time, I might do better know having raised a bunch. Still, I think it is stupid to let dogs run loose - if only so they don’t get run over while chasing a squirrel or something. I delivered in a suburban neighborhood, not a farm route which is certainly different.
Never attacked but have had two near-misses. Both times I was minding my own business, walking down the street and the dog’s chain broke and he charged.
I hate 99% of dogs. And I despise owners of vicious dogs, I think they should do time when their dog gets loose and attacks someone.
Oddly enough, I have been attacked by a parrot. I was about 7. By the time it was over, I’m not sure who was screaming louder, but I was the only one bleeding. He died about 5 years ago, 70 something years old IIRC.
Good for you. That’s the last thing all vicious dogs should see before they die AFAIC.
Yes, I have. I avoid dogs. I cannot tolerate them. I won’t live with one, and I have my children avoid them as well.
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I was 6. I was attacked by a dog owned by a Philadelphia Police Department officer. It was his german shepard, let loose to run. I ran up the front hood, onto the roof of my best friend’s parents car. The dog wasn’t able to make it, and growled and leapt over and over…till an adult screamed at it and it ran off. Tore the fuck out of the paint job, completely terrorized me. My parents went to talk to the cop that night. He informed them that if they knew what was good for them, they’d forget all about it. Bite impact: 0. Mental impact: 10
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Moved in to a house in college. As I carried in last box, dog owned by woman who also lived there attacked me. Half black lab half german shepard. Untrained dog, used to attack his mistress as she stepped over him to pee in the middle of the night. I lived there for 2 years. He only actually got me once, but attacked quite a few times, with me running screaming into my room just in time. Had to be taken out on leash, as he chest-growled and snarled at me, lunging towards my door. Bite impact: 1. Mental impact: 11. I had nightmares about him tearing at my throat where I’d wake up gagging.
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Bitten by a pit bull. Yep. A warning shot to my elbow, which tore into the skin through both a sweatshirt and thick bomber jacket. In a junk yard. In the trailer/office. Dog just took a shot at me out of nowhere. Owner punched dog violently in skull to punish it. I ran like hell. Bite impact: 5 ( broke skin, deeply bruised arm, bruised bones ). Mental impact: 10.
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Responded to ambulance call of girl bitten in face by dog. My good friends’ 3 year old daughter, bitten in face twice rapidly by dog at friends’ home. Lost end of her nose, and over a half-dozen deep punctures and bites into face and skull. Now 11, badly scarred. Incredibly, found bit of nose, ran to hospital, gave to plastic surgeon ( within an hour or two ), reattached to face. Bite impact: 0. Mental impact: 9 at least.
I’ve said this before in threads about dogs and biting and I’ll say it here. There is no such things as a tame or trained or controllable dog. Period. End of tale. Every single dog is safe and has never bitten, until it’s bitten someone the first time. Then it’s a bitter. They are animals, some more innately dangerous than others.
They are animals. Period.
Cartooniverse
And, I’m with you Abbie Charmichael. That dog I lived in the same house with? I bought a dog whistle and used to get even for the nightmares by blowing it nonstop. Used to fill up a huge thick balloon, and squeeze the stem of it around the dog whistle so it’d blow for like 90 seconds at a pop.
He went entirely berzerk when I did this. Bonkers, out of control barking and howling. Ahhhhh, it was fine.
The fucker.
I don’t do guns. Poison? You betcher bippy. Only good dog is one that’s suffered just as much as the humans it’s mauled, eaten, attacked and terrorized. People wanna treat their dogs like family? Goodie. They get to pay the price for their carnivorous violence just like family. 
Works for me.
You try telling what’s left of that sweet little girl that it’s her fault, and the dog is a dear sweet snookums puppy baby doggie. Go ahead. Try facing a child mauled and attacked, and tell 'em that it’s not the dogs fault. They just provoked it. You know. By breathing, and being alive and in the same room as them.
Oy, I hear you.
Had that been my kid, that dog would have been dead before the ambulance got there and the owner would have been sporting a few bruises too. Poor little kid I hope her parents sued the shit out of the owner.
I almost had to do something about a neighbor’s dog while I was pregnant. Doberman, kept getting loose. We couldn’t go into our own backyard without fear of him jumping the fence. He finally got loose (again) and killed 2 cats (one was on my porch, not my cat though) the night before we brought the baby home from the hospital. His owners had the good sense to put him down after that. Good thing, because I was about to do it for them.
Once I was walking to the bus stop to get to my internship, and out of nowhere, this scroungy looking mutt just comes barreling at me from across the street. I screamed, ran, and he just missed grabbing the hem of my pants. I continued screaming, and thankfully, a car came by and drove him back across the street. The stupid dog kept darting out in front of various cars, while I cowered on the other side of the street.
Finally, as luck would have it, a police car drove by and I motioned for him to slow down, explained to him about the dog (which had run back down into the drive way from whence it came), and he went to investigate, and told me the dog tried to attack him as well. The owners weren’t home, so he said he’d come back later to check it out. At this point, it had been over an hour, my bus had never shown up, and I was angry and shaken, so I walked back home (there was some street construction and the sign guy watched the dog for me to tell me when it was safe). I got home, gave MY dog extra ear scratches for being such a well-behaved dog, and ate lunch.
I was so fucking pissed! In fact, I think I posted a thread about it in the Pit.
The families had been friends. The friendship didn’t endure. The family had a 2-week old infant in the back room. They put the dog down 2 days later, they couldn’t bear the thought of this happening to their newborn as well.
I was driving that ambulance. Quite a thing, to see my then-friend David waving us down, praying it wasn’t one of his kids, only to see an EMT who lived down the street, run out in her bathrobe with the young girl in her arms.
Time doesn’t heal all wounds. They sued their friends’ homeowner’s insurance for all medical bills and future reconstructive surgery. ( She’s had two, since the initial work that day, and faces at least one more as she hits puberty ). She was fortunate. The fangs sunk in so deeply that the Dr. had a rough time debrieding one of the punctures. Tore the earlobe, missed the eardrum. Tore into the face/cheek, missed the eyeball by less than 1 inch. Tore into her lower lip, missed ripping her tongue out. As I said, she was fortunate.
Anyone who owns a dog might do well not to be grossed out by what they’ve just read. Get used to it. It is likely in your future. Or, worse- as is evidenced by first-hand accountings already shared in this thread.
When I was 12 I was attacked by a German Shepard. It took three grown men to pull the dog off of me. It took 50 +/- stitches to put me back together. I was afraid of dogs for a long time.
Fifteen years ago I was charged by a rotweiller while I was taking a walk. I put my arm out and he grabbed it and wouldn’t let go. Even if you are wearing flip-flops, if you kick a dog repeatedly in the throat, you can kill it. Somewhere arround here I have the paperwork where the owner attempted to sue me for the wrongful death of his prized stud and family pet.
I was about 18, out for a run late in the evening. Out of nowhere, and without a bark or a growl, this dog flies for my throat. Reflexively, I raised my arm, and that’s what he got - created some deep punctures and I lost some flesh.
This was a pretty big dog, looked like a Shepherd, but black.
I shook him off, and kicked the heck out of him. Then I resumed my run.
The whole time, the owner just stood there with the leash in her hand, said nothing.
When I got home, I realized I had to get this looked at (took a few stitches), and it started dawning on me that I should’ve talked to the owner.
No idea what happened to the dog. I kicked it pretty hard…
You are definately overstating your case. In no way is it likely that a dog is going to maul your child. It’s possible but no facts back up your claim that it is likely. We own a 7 pound miniature Dachshund. My three year old girl can take him in a fight.
Cartooniverse, I like and respect you as a poster, but I must disagree with you on this point. There are over 65 million dogs owned in the US today. If every dog out there were a ticking time bomb, there would be far, far more bites than the reported 4.5 million each year.
4.5 million sounds like a huge number. It is. But the majority of bites are never reported because they simply aren’t that serious. Here are the statistics that I found:
- in 1994, there were an estimated 4.7 million dog bites in the US
- 800,000, approximately one in six people bitten, sought medical care.
- Of those, 332,000 needed some form of treatment (fewer than 1 in 2 who sought medical care, perhaps 1 in 10 of those bitten)
- 6,000 people required hospitalization, out of 4.7 million. That’s less than 1 of every 780 bites.
- 27 people, mostly children, died of dog bites. That’s compared to approximately 7,600 people who died of aspirin and other non-inflammatory drugs. For heaven’s sake, more children die of chicken pox each year than dog bites.
There is no escaping the fact that an attacking dog is terrifying on a level few people encounter in their ordinary lives. The idea of being killed by a dog hits on a visceral level that cannot be equaled by the vast majority of dangers we normally face.
However, that should not lead people to think that all dogs are vicious killers who will attack without warning. Dogs have their psychology, just like humans. I can truthfully say that both times I’ve been bitten - once when I was five, the other time when I was in my early 20s - it was my own fault. Not the dogs’. We are the creatures with the ability to analyze and predict. It lies under our responsibility to train the animals we have domesticated, learn their behavior patterns, and teach ourselves how to protect ourselves.
The attack your friends’ child suffered was horrific and tragic. I do not want to minimize it in any way. But it is not a fate in store for every person who spends time around a dog.
Obviously, people should be more cautious in owning, training, and breeding dogs. Pit Bulls are responsible for 50% of serious dog bite attacks. Pit bulls and rottweilers together account for more than half of the deaths due to dog attacks. Those two breeds were created to be hostile and aggressive - a fault that lies not with them, but with the people who created the breeds, and the ones who own them and refuse to be responsible.
I’m more sorry than I can tell you for what you’ve had to deal with. I don’t blame you at all for your hostility towards dogs. But it would be nice if you wouldn’t look at the entire species as evil.
When I was in 2nd grade I got bit on the ankle by a nasty little chihuahua. It didn’t hurt me, but it did bite a hole into my jeans. F’n chihuahaua’s. :mad:
[disclaimer] The situation I mentioned in my post occurred while I was acting in an official capacity. I do not advocate anyone going around shooting dogs with shot guns. Call 911 and leave it to the professionals[/disclaimer]
Indeed.
About 10 years ago a friend of mine was taken to a field and shot in the face at point-blank range with a shotgun. That was pretty f’n horrifying too, but I’ve managed not to tag the entire human race as evil as a result. Let’s face it, the human race is no more predictable (and maybe even less so) than any animal. And I would imagine that emergency personnel spend a lot more time picking up the pieces of what people do to each other than what animals do.
(aside) I love both birds and dogs, but the worst hurtin’ I ever had came at the hand of a parrot. That’s the only animal I can remember being bitten by that actually drew blood. (aisde)
likely in my future? give me a break. i feel for people who have had dog problems, but talk about a wide brush!
some dogs are either innately violent or become violent due to the situation or bad treatment by humans. some dogs are perfectly well behaved.
not all dogs are murderously violent. a small percentage are, but then again, so are a percentage of people.
cujo is not all dogs, like jeffery dahmer is not all people.
that being said, my neighbors had 3 very large, very mean looking, and very mean sounding rottweilers. and all that separated them from me was a measly 3’ chain link fence. i’d leave the house, and those things would be jumping and snarling 2 feet from me, since our houses are so close. those dogs could have easily jumped that fence if they were smeart enough to know they could. so i always carried a framing hammer out to the car with me. i still probably wouldn’t have been much of a match for those things, but i could have at least taken out one or two of them.
but the people thankfully moved and took their dogs.
My mother managed to survive her entire childhood with numerous family dogs, all taken in as strays, without being attacked. I grew up with a 100 pound dog who never even barked at me unless I asked. Heck, I remember wrestling with her; the most damage I ever received were scratches from her claws. She would kill snakes on site; every other animal small enough to be contained in her mouth was retrieved live.
I’ve encountered some nasty dogs in my life; most notably, a golden retriever that had spent his entire life in a very tiny kennel. No walks, no car trips with the family - just a tiny cage. Very mean dog. You’ve obviously encountered your share of nasty-tempered dogs; as a dog lover, I am truly sorry to hear that. There is no excuse for what happened in any of the cases you mentioned. Your fear is certainly understandable; the outright hatred is not. There are many, many well-behaved dogs in the world, a result of responsible owners who understand their dogs, and know (and respect) their limits.