Articles Posted in Dog Bites

It must be nerve-wracking to be a postal worker. As someone who delivers mail and parcels for a living, he or she doesn’t know the viciousness that lurks behind an open door or gate. I’m of course talking about dangerous dogs here.

Take the case of Mai-Anh Nguyen, a Milpitas letter carrier who was mauled by a Pit-bull while she was delivering mail on July 14. According to an article posted on NBC News’ Web site, Nguyen was on her rounds walking on the sidewalk when she was attacked by the Pit-bull that charged at her from an open garage door of a house in that neighborhood.

Nguyen, who is quoted in the NBC article states: “There was not even enough time to pull out my dog spray. It happened so fast.”

The article states that dog bite incidents costs the U.S. Postal Service $25 million annually. That includes medical expenses, workers compensation, legal costs, delivery curtailment, worker replacement and other miscellaneous costs. Last week, the Postal Service also released the picture of the injured Nguyen, whose face was completely disfigured by the dog bites, to raise public awareness about the horrific aftermath of a dog attack.
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It is time to institute criminal penalties for irresponsible dog owners whose dogs injure people or other animals. Civil penalties are not enough, especially for those who are not able to pay for the damages their dogs cause. Irresponsible dog ownership has always been with us. What has changed?

Two major factors have changed. The number of severe dog attacks by bigger, stronger, more aggressive dogs causing horrific injuries to people and other animals is on the rise. The number of vicious dog attacks on dogs is on the rise. The number of insurance companies dropping coverage for dog owners or refusing to cover certain breeds and sizes of dogs is increasing dramatically.

A steady stream of people have contacted us who have been attacked by vicious dogs, their children have been horrifically mauled by dogs, their pets have been seriously or mortally wounded by dogs or who are afraid to walk the streets of their own neighborhoods because dogs roam their streets. My wife is reluctant to walk our Bichon Frises in our gate guarded community due to a previous attack on them by a much larger unleashed dog. Nearly every day I see large dogs being walked, without a leash, on the bike/horse trail on the side of our property where over a hundred people pass each day.

In Orange County, California we have an ordinance that states:

“No person owning or having charge, care, custody, or control of any dog shall cause or permit, either willfully or through failure to exercise due care or control, any such dog to be upon any public property unless such dog be restrained by a substantial chain, or leash not exceeding six (6) feet in length, and is under the charge of a person competent to exercise care, custody, and control over such dog” (OCCO 4-1-45).
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Vicious dogs and especially vicious pit-bulls are a danger to society. My regular readers are familiar with my complaints about the more aggressive and vicious breeds of dogs. I have been unaware of the size, scope and cruelty of the dog fighting under-world.

Recalling a number of vicious Pitbull attacks on our clients, I am wondering if some of those dogs were actually raised for fighting, inadvertently escaped from their owners and took out their pent up hatred of their handlers on the next human being they came in contact with. Could it be that a part of the reason we see so many really serious maulings of people and pets from Pit-bulls is that those particular dogs were from a line intentionally bred for their vicious and aggressive tendencies. Is the sub-society, that supports and participates in dog fighting partially to blame for the increasing number and severity of dog attacks by Pit-bulls in America?

The Human Society of the United States is campaigning the National Football League to punish, Michael Vick, a mega-star NFL player and alleged dogfighter in an appropriate manner. If you would like to weigh in on this matter and let the NFL know how you feel about this issue, the HSUS has made it easy for you, go to:
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An Orange County judge ruled last week that a pit-bull that aggressively attacked a woman, is a potential threat to the public and must be put down, according to an article in The Orange County Register. The judge turned down an appeal and desperate plea by the dog’s owner to spare her pet’s life.

Orange Court Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Didier determined that Brutus, a 1-year-old Australian shepherd and pit-bull mix, lunged unprovoked at a 23-year-old woman who was visiting the home of the dog’s owner, Sheri Moody. The judge also ruled that the dog’s release “would create a significant threat to the public health, safety and welfare, and is ordered to be destroyed by the city and its animal control department,” the newspaper reported.

The 53-year-old Moody, who owns three dogs including Brutus, wept when she was informed of the ruling, the article said. Moody insists that it was an accident and that Brutus is a “great dog” and “he never bit anyone before.” The city of Westminster had ordered, after an investigation, that Brutus be put down, but Moody had appealed the decision in court.
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Two Pit Bull dogs are suspected of mauling their owners’ 2-year-old son, who was bitten so viciously on the head and neck that one of the animals broke a tooth, officials in Hesperia said last week, according to an article in the Riverside Press-Enterprise. According to the news report, the toddler suffered jaw fractures, a crushed bone around one eye, puncture wounds and gashes on his head and face after the Thursday afternoon attack.

The boy, whose name was withheld because of his age, is in critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Officials are not sure what provoked the attack, but say that when officers arrived at the home, the two Pit Bulls – a male and a female – had blood on them and were barking and growling. The article states that the boy had gone outside to the driveway where he was ambushed by the male dog. Officials don’t know what triggered the attack, but say it could range from the boy touching the dog to the child falling down thereby setting off the pack animal instinct of attacking a wounded animal.

The family had owned the male Pit Bull for only a month, but officials learned that the dog had displayed violent tendencies even within that time. Two weeks ago, the male Pit Bull had attacked and injured a neighbor’s dog, officials said. Both dogs will be quarantined for at least 10 days because they don’t have current licenses and rabies shots. A hearing will be held in the next 20 days to determine how and why the boy was attacked and what should become of the dogs, the article stated. If the family gives up the dogs, they will likely be euthanized, officials said. But they said the family has expressed a desire to have the female Pit Bull back.
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South Carolina authorities say they are likely to charge a local mom with negligent homicide charges in connection with the death of her 1-year-old son who died after being mauled by the family’s Pit Bull Monday morning, according to a news article posted on the First Coast News Website.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the family’s apartment after getting reports that a Pit Bull got out of a laundry room and killed 1-year-old Brian Palmer. According to investigators, the dog showed clear signs of aggressive behavior before the attack, killing a cat and attacking other dogs. The boy died in a local hospital Wednesday morning. Initial cause of death was reported as “lacerations to the throat.”

“When you have small children in the house, you may have to exercise better judgment,” Sgt. Michael Miller told the newspaper. “And it’s going to be our job to investigate to see if this judgment was proper or not.”
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Two Rottweilers attacked an Inland Empire woman while she was taking a morning stroll, last Friday morning. Gail Theurer, 66, of San Antonio Heights was severely injured in the dog bite attack. She was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton where she was hospitalized in serious condition, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Apparently Theurer used a can of Mace or pepper spray on the dogs to protect herself after the initial attack. It did not stop them however. According to Beth Les, community-resource officer for the Inland Valley Humane Society in Pomona, neither dog was licensed. The Humane Society took possession of dogs. The owners of the dogs have not been located.

The dogs will be quarantined for 10 days, per state code, because the bites broke Theurer’s skin, said Brian Sampson, supervisor of animal services for the Inland Valley Humane Society. He said that vicious-dog charges will be filed against the owners due to the severity of the attack.
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Should dog owners be held criminally responsible for severe injury attacks perpetrated by their dogs? Would the prospect of jail time, a fine and mandatory participation in a dog education program make dog owners more responsbile for their animals? Would such a law cut down on the number of vicisous attacks on children that happen nearly every day in our state?

If such a law saved ten vicious attacks on children a year, would it be worth it? If it was your child or grandchild that was saved, would it be worth it? You bet it would. Would such a law have prevented the following?:

A Monterey County Sheriff’s Department’s news release stated that on Thursday of last week, emergency crews from the North Monterey County Fire Protestion District and Westmed Ambulance Services treated a 7-year-old Las Lomas girl for severe dog attack wounds and then transported her to a local hospital. She suffered multiple lacerations to her face, back and leg.

Andrew Richesin, a 27 year-old Napa Valley College student and golfer, spent March 29th the way he spent most days-playing golf. After returning home that afternoon Andrew was anxious to spend some quality time hanging out, watching some TV, and relaxing with his dog, Jessie. Andrew seemed to fall asleep next to Jessie, and several hours later when Andrew’s girlfriend, Vanna Kalawa, returned from work she covered Andrew with a blanket, curled up next to him, and went to sleep.

Vanna recounted that about 3AM the next morning Jessie, Andrew’s 2 year-old boxer-pitbull, started barking and yelping in Vanna’s ear, startling her from a sound sleep. Vanna soon realized why Jessie was so unnerved. You see, Andrew had suffered a heart attack while he was sleeping and when Vanna checked Andrew she found that he had no pulse. Paramedics were called, but even shock treatments appeared unsuccessful, and Andrew lay in a coma for several days on life support. Then, miraculously, several days later, Andrew awoke from his coma, and now his condition is slowly improving.

As it turned out the doctors now say that they have never seen anything like this, and they marvel at the fact that they cannot figure out Andrew’s condition, and except for an enlarged heart Andrew seems to be improving. A brain scan was unremarkable, and the doctors pronounced his brain perfect.
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A 17-year-old boy saved a younger boy from a savage attack by two pit bulls Monday morning as they were walking to school according to story on a CBS website.

Jesus Jurado of Tempe, Arizona had just walked past his neighbor’s pit bulls in a trailer park without incident when the dogs attacked a 12-year-old boy walking behind him.

Jurado, risking injury to himself, rescued the boy who had already been bitten by the pit bulls. Both boys climbed up onto the roof a nearby parked car to escape further injury. According to Jurado the dogs were coming up the car after the boys, so he opened the car door and got the younger boy through and into the interior of the car for safety.

Jurado said the dogs then came after him and he again got back onto the roof of the car.

It wasn’t long before the police arrived. They got the same treatment from the pit bulls, the dogs went after them. The officers shot at the dogs, hitting them both. Animal control eventually arrived, captured the dogs and took custody of them.
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