LIHU‘E — A Wailua resident and self-professed dog lover who once had plans to own a pitbull is now frightened at the sight of any dogs, even Chihuahuas, after a loose pitbull lunged at her young son and their small
LIHU‘E — A Wailua resident and self-professed dog lover who once had plans to own a pitbull is now frightened at the sight of any dogs, even Chihuahuas, after a loose pitbull lunged at her young son and their small puppy.
“I’m terrified of any dog, and I have never been afraid of a dog before. And my kids are terrified, if they hear a dog barking they freak out,” said Sarah, who asked keep her last name from being disclosed.
About a month ago, Sarah was walking to a bus stop about a mile-and-a-half from her home to pick up her 5-year-old daughter, who was coming from school. Her husband was at work, so she took her their one-and-a-half-year-old son and the family’s puppy, a shih tzu/Tibetan spaniel mix, along with her.
As they waited longer than usual for the bus to arrive, Sarah let her son out of the stroller to walk around a little bit. She then noticed a gray pitbull charging toward them.
“He didn’t have a collar and it looked like he was out for fun,” she said.
Sarah said she immediately put her son and the puppy in the stroller and pulled down a mesh that covers it. She said when she bought the stroller, she hated the mesh and thought it was “the stupidest thing ever,” but now she realizes it probably saved her son and her puppy from being seriously injured.
As the pitbull approached them, she said “go away” and put her hand out for the dog to smell it. The dog started sniffing around, and then just went crazy on the stroller, she said.
“I’m not sure if he noticed the puppy, smelled the quesadilla my son was eating or wanted to attack the baby, but he lunged for the stroller,” said Sarah, adding that the dog started jumping on the stroller, biting and clawing at it.
The puppy barked once and her son didn’t scream, but the pitbull kept attacking the stroller. Without anything at hand to defend herself, Sarah started lifting the front end of the stroller to block the dog from getting through the mesh. As the drama unfolded, a passing car stopped and the driver got out to help.
The stroller’s mesh had a latch holding it down, but somehow the dog was able to undo it.
“The dog had just happened to hit the latch to make (the mesh) go up,” Sarah said. “He had his head in there right at the moment the guy pulled (the pitbull’s) head out. Had the guy even stopped a second later, the dog could have bitten somebody. … It was about to get really ugly.”
At that point, another man pulled up, she said. Both men tied up the pitbull and held it until Sarah’s daughter arrived at the bus stop.
As Sarah walked home safely with her family, it was only then that the seriousness of the incident hit her, and she broke down and cried.
“At home I couldn’t stop thinking about it; every time I’d shut my eyes I’d see this dog attacking the stroller,” she said.
The incident happened on Sept. 20, and it took Sarah a while to tell her story. She said she tried to forget about it, but rather developed some type of post-traumatic stress disorder. Whenever she sees a lose dog, big or small, she is terrified.
“I have always been a lover of the bull mixes; my last dog was an English bulldog,” said Sarah, adding that she always loved and wanted a pitbull. “Now I’m all prejudice against pitbulls.”
But more importantly than releasing stress by telling her story, she thought that this is safety issue that involves children, and therefore should be addressed.
“Truthfully, I would have dropped this and just dealt with it had I been alone, but my kids and the bus stop are involved, and now I am terrified for (my daughter’s) safety just getting to and from the bus because of dogs which, is ridiculous since it can so easily be controlled,” she said. “To this day I don’t know what happened when I left the bus stop that day.”
Before being attacked by the pitbull, Sarah said she didn’t think much of lose dogs.
“But now, every unleashed dog coming at me terrifies me, and I’ve never been afraid of a dog,” she said. “My daughter has only been riding the bus about two months and all this has already occurred. What’s next? Do we actually need to get bitten or have my puppy killed before someone actually cares about this situation?”
Sarah said she has not seen the pitbull ever since the incident.
What if a dog comes after you?
Growling, baring teeth, snarling, snapping and biting are all aggressive behaviors. Although these messages are among the handful of communication tools available to dogs, they’re generally unacceptable to humans, according to the Humane Society of the United States, “the nation’s largest and most effective animal protection organization.”
People should never approach an unfamiliar dog, specially one that has been confined behind a fence or in a car, states the Humane Society on its official website.
“Never turn your back to a dog and run away. A dog’s natural instinct will be to chase and catch you,” according to the Humane Society.
People should also never disturb a dog while it is sleeping, eating, chewing on a toy or caring for puppies.
“Be cautious around strange dogs,” the Humane Society states. “Always assume that a dog who doesn’t know you may see you as an intruder or a threat.”
Quite a few websites and Internet forums suggest pepper spray as a deterrent. Some websites state it works 90 percent of the time to keep aggressive dogs from attacking.
Kaua‘i Police Department Assistant Chief Ale Quibilan said if individuals want to acquire a pepper spray, they need to acquire a permit. The chief of police has the authority to issue permits, but Quibilan said he doesn’t know if any permits have been issued on Kaua‘i.
If people are approached by a dog that may attack, the Humane Society advises to follow these steps:
• Resist the impulse to scream and run away.
• Remain motionless, hands at your sides and avoid eye contact with the dog.
• Once the dog loses interest in you, slowly back away until he is out of sight.
• If the dog does attack, “feed” him your jacket, purse, bicycle or anything that you can put between yourself and the dog.
• If you fall or are knocked to the ground, curl into a ball with your hands over your ears and remain motionless. Try not to scream or roll around.
In case the attack occurs and the dog bites, the Humane Society advises to immediately wash the wound thoroughly with soap and warm water and contact a physician for additional care and advice.
Additionally, the police should be called, because the aggression may continue or at least the threat of continued aggression remains while the dog is on the loose, Quibilan said.
What can dog owners do?
Quibilan said the county has a dangerous-dog ordinance, and depending on the situation, legal charges may be brought up against owners of dogs that have attacked people.
In order to prevent dog bites, the Humane Society advises dog owners to socialize their dogs, train them and spay or neuter them, which are also some of the advice provided by the American Humane Association, an organization that has been around since 1877 and bills itself as “the nation’s voice for the protection of children and animals.”
Dog bite statistics, per American Humane Association:
• An estimated 4.7 million dog bites occur in the U.S. annually, and early 800,000 of them require medical care.
• About two-thirds of bites occurred on or near the victim’s property, and most victims knew the dog.
• 92 percent of fatal dog attacks involved male dogs, 94 percent of which were not neutered.
• 24 percent of human deaths involved unrestrained dogs off of their owners’ property.
• 58 percent of human deaths involved unrestrained dogs on their owners’ property.
• 25 percent of fatal dog attacks involved chained dogs.
• 50 percent of dog attacks involved children under 12 years old.
• 82 percent of dog bites treated in the emergency room involved children under 15 years old.
• 70 percent of dog-bite fatalities occurred among children under 10 years old.
• Bite rates are dramatically higher among children who are 5 to 9 years old.
• Unsupervised newborns were 370 times more likely than an adult to be killed by a dog.
• 65 percent of bites among children occur to the head and neck.
