PHILADELPHIA -- A Philadelphia woman is distraught after a pit bull attack left her beloved pet dead.
Tracy Stewart was walking her dog before going to church when she said a man began coming toward her with a pit bull on a leash.
Stewart said she picked up her Pomeranian named Prince, and put it under her coat.
“I begged him, please don't take him off of the chain, I’m scared of pit bulls. He's going to attack us,” said Stewart.
Then she said the boy bent down and took the chain off.
Stewart said she tried to fight, but the dog scratched and pushed her and she dropped Prince.
“He kept charging me . . . He wouldn't let go so then the owner stood there and laughed...I’ll never forget his laughter, like it was a joke,” said Stewart.
Philadelphia police said the pit bull owner told them the dog slipped through his chain.
Police will turn the investigation over to the district attorney's office to see what charges, if any, will be brought.
Officials said the pit bull has been put to sleep.
http://www.nbc10.com/news/10698586/detail.htmlAll I can say is, the owner of the pitbull is a straight up dumbass! Obviously he WANTED his dog to be put down!
A local realtor gets an unexpected guest while showing a St. Joseph home.
Police say two pit bulls in the neighborhood got loose and one attacked. Police say the dog bit the realtors pant leg and didn`t break skin.
The realtor told police she was showing clients a house in this neighborhood. ..that`s when the two pit bulls got loose.
When police arrived they had to shoot one of the dogs twice to protect themselves. That stopped the dog at first, but witnesses say the dog got up a few minutes later.
Both dogs were taken by animal control and the owner signed off for both to be put down. A next-door neighbor says the dogs were usually kept chained up and fenced in...and remembers only one other time where one of the dogs actually got loose. She says she`s familiar with the dogs...and describes them as very aggressive toward people they don`t know.
She says although the death of her neighbor`s dog is sad..now she`s feeling relief.
"There`s no way a human could survive a dog attacking them in that way without a gun...there` s no way. The dog survived two riffle shots and was still alive an hour later. If that would have been me standing there or holding my child walking across the yard, my child would be dead," says next door neighbor, Maxine Ellis.
Police say the owner had 3 pit bulls. He was able to keep....one that didn`t get loose.
The owner did not want to comment about the incident.
Animal control did give him a ticket for a leash law violation.
http://www.kq2.com/news/default.asp?...ownews&id=4498Come on, it didn't even break the skin, and only ONE bit her, why did they have to put 2 down?
MELANIE Rushmore is calling for people to remain calm until the full facts of the devastating death of five-year-old Ellie Lawrenson are known.
Calls have been flooding in to the Bolton-based Fireside Bull Breed Rescue, run by Melanie.
Most are owners of dogs they fear could be pit bull terrier-type dogs.
If so they are illegally owned, said Melanie, but she is calling for people not to panic as most of the dogs will be perfectly safe and not a danger to the public.
"Until we know exactly what happened with this little girl it is impossible to know why the dog attacked her," she said.
Melanie, who is also involved in the Endangered Dogs Defence and Rescue is concerned that all pit bull type dogs are set to be tarred with the same brush.
"People don't always know if their dog is one of the banned breeds, but unfortunately if it looks like this might be, and even if they do know the parentage of the dog and feel sure it isn't, the law says it can be removed from them.
"The only way to ensure you can legally keep your dog is to plead guilty to owning it, go to court and then get your dog registered. Most dog owners do not want to get a criminal record in order to get their dog registered," she said.
In 1991 it was made illegal to own a pit bull terrier type breed unless it was registered. If the dog was not registered in 1991 then it became an illegal dog, so any pit bull terrier type breed dogs less than 15-years-old will be illegal, said Melanie.
Because pit bull terriers and pit bull terrier types were outlawed 16 years ago they should, by 2007 no longer be around in this country.
Yet pit bull terrier type dogs are prevalent in Bolton and some are still bred for fighting.
Melanie blames the law on the prevalence of the dogs. "By banning them it made them more attractive to the wrong sort of people.
"It also meant the gene pool became smaller which resulted in a problem with temperament, " she said.
The dogs are sometimes cross-bred with other less aggressive breeds simply to improve their fighting skills.
Some are bred with lurchers to give them longer legs and more speed and others with the short-eared Sharpei to give it smaller ears, helping prevent ear injuries when fighting.
Manager of the Bolton Destitute Animal Shelter, Karen Rickard, said the shelter had not seen a full bred pit bull terrier for some time but regularly took in pit bull type dogs.
The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 put stricter restrictions on owners of the "type of dog known as a pit bull terrier" and three other, lesser-known, breeds which are the Japanese tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Braziliero.
It became illegal to breed these dogs - and, had the regulations been adhered to, the breeds and any hybrids of them would no longer exist in the United Kingdom.
Owners were required to register the dog, keep it muzzled in a public place and were instructed to have the dog neutered with the hope that, eventually, the dog breed would become extinct in the UK.
Other requirements, said Kathy Kay from Bolton RSPCA, included having the dog micro-chipped and tattooed so it could be identified if it went missing or was involved in an incident. The owner was also required to take out third party insurance.
Pit bull terriers came to England from the USA and became more widely known in the mid-1970s.
The type that has been bred for fighting should not be confused with the smaller and more sociable Staffordshire bull terrier, although, inevitably, people do get confused. The difficulty comes in recognising a pit bull terrier type dog, said Kathy.
Hundreds of cross-bred dogs and their owners have suffered, over the years, because of the ambiguity of the Act.
Cross-breeding has resulted in identifying difficulties that can even cause problems for dog breed experts. A points system is now used to determine whether a dog is a pit bull, with a score of 100 - determined by jaw size etc - meaning a breed is a pit bull.
Pit bull terriers have been bred for a purpose and, as such, have tendencies that can, if not controlled, cause huge - sadly, occasionally fatal - injuries.
"The big problem with a pit bull terrier is that when it gets hold of anything it won't let go. It is bred to do that - it is in the breeding.
"Even if the dog has been bred as a pet it is still in them and that is something you can't do anything about. It is not the dog's fault.
"But there are rogue breeders out there and pit bull terriers are still available," she said.
She said any dog had the potential to be dangerous and dog training classes were extremely beneficial to all family dogs. "They enjoy the classes because they are getting praise for being good. They also socialise the dogs which is important.
"I think the main thing to look at is a particular dog's temperament rather than that of a breed. You can get a dog which is from a fairly docile breed that can have a dangerous temperament. "
That is where neutering can help as it does tend to help dogs become more sociable around people.
Kathy stressed the benefits of having dogs neutered and said the RSPCA could help people with the costs if they were on low incomes.
Sadly, said Kathy, pit bull terriers are regarded, by some people, as "macho" dogs to own.
To help detect dangerous dogs in Bolton, dog attacks on other animals are recorded by the police as well as the obligatory recording of attacks on people.
Bolton Police has a dog bite register that records all dog attacks.
"The police didn't used to record dog attacks on animals - only on people. But I said it was important to record both.
The police in Bolton agreed to record dog attacks on animals. The attacked animal's owner can go, with a police officer, to identify the offending dog and it will go on the register.
"We hope this can help prevent the dog attacking people. So it is a way of protecting the public," Kathy added.
Although the Dangerous Dogs Act was brought in to tackle the problem of specific breeds, including pit bull terriers, there are loopholes including the fact that an owner can only be prosecuted for an attack which takes place in a public place - this would not apply in the recent tragedy as the attack took place in a family home.
Anybody who is unsure about the law can ring the Fireside Bull Breed Rescue on 0870 7779294 for more information.
The RSPCA can be contacted on 521160.
More information is also available at
http://www.firesiderescue. co.uk,
http://www.endangereddogs. com and
http://www.staffycross. org
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/...anger ous.php
I'm not saying this event was just dandy but, I hear too much about these things.....and I SAVED my friend from my akita because he had never seen her before and she tried to pet him so he attacked her but, I jumped in front of him so I carry the scar on my chin. I just feel hardly any pity for things like this anymore. 
Because frankly, PEOPLE DO NOT TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHY AN ANIMAL DID THIS and it makes me angry. 
