Mother saves son in pit bull attack (West, Shepherd: house, neighbourhood)

[Merovee]

Jalen Garcia, 15, said his brother Jarod, 14, and their terrier puppies were attacked by two pit bulls that jumped out of the back of a pickup outside the Garcias' home in the 5900 block of Sunrise Bend.

After hearing screams, the boys' mother, Teresa Garcia, ran out and grabbed one of the dogs by the neck and held it, Jalen Garcia said. She also was bitten as she scuffled with the dog, her son said.

Mom thwarts pit bull attack


I wonder why there is no mention of the owners of the dog?


Should there be either a ban or more restrictions on pit-bulls and other vicious dogs in the city?


What about all the strays?

This is one take charge mom, reminds me of those stories about mom's getting a rush of adrenaline and lifting up cars. Fighting pit bulls is brave, don't they lock?

[L210]

I'm tired of the strays and irresponsible owners. Too many dog owners think it's okay to let their pets roam around because "they don't bite." I don't know how many times I've heard that phrase. Get your pets spayed and neutered and keep them in your backyard or your house. Don't get a pet if you can't even pay your own bills and feed your children. People often dump pets when they either can't afford to feed them or take them to the vet.

[Robhu]

The maternal instinct to protect the offspring is a very strong one. In humans and animals.
They do whatever they can even if it means bodily harm to themselves to save the kids.
Kudos to that Mom.

As far as pit bulls, I know people who have had them and never had a problem because the owners were responsible. Personaly, I wouldn't have one. When they do attack it is usualy a very vicious and unrelenting attack instead of just a dog bite.
But any breed under the right circumstances can be capable of going after someone or another animal. I have a Lab/mix that is just a big sweetheart. But she is an animal with age old instincts that could trigger aggression in the right situation.
As much as I trust her and as gentle and loving as she is I still know she is an animal driven by instinct, reaction to actions, the prey instinct, or a feeling of danger. She has always been loved and treated very well and has never shown aggression. But I know she is still an animal. And no animal is 100% predictable at all times. Sorta like humans. I wouldn't own a pit bull. They seem to have a lot shorter fuse than most breeds and are more unpredictable and vicious without any warning.
There is good and bad in all breeds. But pit bulls have the reputation they have for a reason.
Statistics back that up. It might not be fair to blame the breed itself. It might be more fair to blame the sick minded humans who for generations have trained into them the instincts and aggressiveness some of them have.

[majormadmax]

Agreed, this mother deserves a medal; but I am sure she is just happy she saved her sons!

As for the owners of the dogs, they should be criminally and civilly liable and I hope an effort is made to bring them to justice.

And I don't like to generalize breeds, but it does seem that pit bulls have a history of attacks like this which has lead to their being banned in many places. I know a lot of people have kept them without problem, but you can't ignore the fact that incidents such as this occur on a regular basis with this breed. Robhu is right in that much of the blame is with the owners, who raise them to be aggressive defense animals; but I believe there should at least be a requirement for the licensing/registration of certain breeds that have a track record of attacks.

Oddly enough, when we lived in Germany, I wanted to get a German Shepherd. The ones over there are much bigger than the type you see here, but when I went to get one they too were pretty aggressive. They are used as guard dogs there and raised as such, which is a shame as they are really beautiful animals. Unfortunately, since we had plans to have our first child soon, we decided to go with a smaller, friendlier breed (which is why we went with West Highland White Terriers). They may not be ferocious, but they are very alert and will let you know when someone is near.

Regardless, I hope Teresa Garcia is not seriously injured and that she quickly recover from whatever wounds she may have received. She is a brave lady but honestly I think she reacted instinctively as any good mother would! I am glad all turned out well for her and her boys!

Cheers! M2

[L210]

I think some of it has to do with the kind of people who usually own pit bulls.

[follie]

I agree- the owners of the pit bulls are the problem, not the dogs themselves. My chihuahua can be vicious if I let him- it's that instinct in all dogs. The problem is, some people are attracted to pit bulls because of their history as fighting dogs, and nurture that instinct that's been bred into them. That leads to the need for the bans- people who don't have the best intentions when owning bully breeds.

Kudos to mom, though!

[Dopo]

If one of those mother...... ever attacked, is gonna get a beating that's going to make them act like a castrated dog for the rest of his life.

[apal]

There are several reasons why it is not possible to calculate a bite rate for a breed or to compare rates between breeds. First, the breed of the biting dog may not be accurately recorded, and mixed-breed dogs are commonly described as if they were purebreds. Second, the actual number of bites that occur in a community is not known, especially if they did not result in serious injury. Third, the number of dogs of a particular breed or combination of breeds in a community is not known, because it is rare for all dogs in a community to be licensed, and existing licensing data is then incomplete."[32] Moreover, studies rely on 'reported' bites, leading the National Geographic Channel television show The Dog Whisperer to conclude that small dog breeds are likely responsible for more bites than large dog breeds, but often go unreported wiki article

[RodLu]

Originally Posted by follie

I agree- the owners of the pit bulls are the problem, not the dogs themselves. My chihuahua can be vicious if I let him- it's that instinct in all dogs. The problem is, some people are attracted to pit bulls because of their history as fighting dogs, and nurture that instinct that's been bred into them. That leads to the need for the bans- people who don't have the best intentions when owning bully breeds.

Kudos to mom, though!

I used to have an older brother-in-law who just loves having pit bulls {he also periodically acted like a loud angry barking dog himself, oftentimes when he just didn't get his way, I noticed} and he used to have a certain pit bull who somehow would periodically get loose from his meshlink fence pen {that dog was like a total ball of awesome sinewy powerful muscle even though he was usually a very sweet kool tailwagging dog, especially when you had a tasty treat of some sort in your hand that he could quickly-smell, heh.....but I sure in the hell never got near him when he was outside of his pen!} and he would have free reign of the neighbourhood just roaming around and around up and down the street enjoying his freedom.


Well, his neighbours around there just never ever really talked to my ex brother-in-law as they all no doubt long ago noticed that he was the kind of hopelessly-dense person that pretty much ALWAYS had to have the last word regodless, and let anyone else be damned if they were to ever *tell* him anything as far as what he should ever do, PERIOD, which included RETRIEVING HIS FREE-ROAMING DOG EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY AND SUMMARILY PENNING HIM UP A.S.A.P!


I'm all: "Dude, you neighbours up and down the street are all outside in their yards and on the street. They're looking at your dog running around and some of them just told me to tell you to go get him."


"Yeah, yeah, yeah.....I'll get him in a minute. He's not going to do anything to anyone. They're all exaggerating."







Man, oftentimes a "minute" took even up to almost an hour to finally go and get the dog {who just couldn't get enough of eagerly and energetically going up to each and every house on the street and sniffing around, much to the dismay and chagrin of the neighbours}.....I always felt that my ex brother-in-law was way too shamelessly-complacent about way too many things.....he was also very brazenly-entitled about much.......

[blizzrd]

I love dogs....mostly all dogs and it's a shame that pits are like that. Some of them can be very nice looking BUT even if I had one and raised it from a puppy and raised it the right way, I'd never fully trust one with my daughter. It's just not a risk that's worth taking. I have two boxers right now and they're absolutely wonderful with her. She crawls all over them, lays down on them, and they don't mind one bit. They're very gentle, patient and tolerate a lot from her.