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| Edward Peyre seen here with one of this pit bulls. His other pit bull, not pictured, is the one which went on the rampage attacking the Lab and biting two people. Photo: Kevin Litten, Republican-American |
According to police, a pit bull owned by Edward Peyre, 63, of Victoria Street, attacked another dog in the Price Chopper parking lot on Sunday. The dog also injured two people that attempted to stop the attack, according to a police report released Tuesday.
At approximately 12:49 p.m., the Torrington Police Department responded to the incident involving an animal complaint. A caller reported that a pit bull jumped out of a parked vehicle, then jumped into another vehicle and attacked a black Labrador inside.
The Black Lab jumped out of the car, and the pit bull chased it, biting the lab as it ran away. The Lab ran under another vehicle and the attack continued, police reported. A citizen who saw the incident said he grabbed the pit bull’s hind legs in an attempt to stop the attack. Another citizen came to assist and was bitten on her forearm by the pit bull.
The dog was finally captured and contained by citizens, who used a shopping carriage as a cage, flipping it over to contain the pit bull until police arrived.
Torrington Police Lieutenant Michael Emanuel said this isn’t the first time the department has had a run-in with this particular pit bull either.
“We had a complaint in 2010 of a roaming dog, and it was the same one involved in the attack,” he said Tuesday. “The dog didn’t attack anyone or any other animal before, though.”
Emanuel said the dog was placed in quarantine for a state-regulated 14 days in order to check for rabies.
“We will keep an eye on the dog and release it after the 14 days once it is up to date with its shots and license,” Emanuel said.
The Labrador was brought to a veterinarian and treated for its injuries. Police also said another pit bull was in the car, but that it remained inside the vehicle and did not follow the other dog.
Both the male and female citizens were injured, and were treated by Campion Ambulance at the scene
Peyre was issued an infraction for: allowing a dog to roam, two counts of no rabies vaccination (both pit bulls had no rabies vaccinations) and two counts of having an unlicensed dog. The answer date for Peyre is June 17.
The owners of these dogs had the windows rolled down on each of the vehicles and were shopping at the time of the incident.
While pit bulls can be aggressive and have a reputation as a fighting dog, veterinarian Monica Dijanic DVM, DVM said with proper training, the dogs can be great pets.
“If the owner is responsible and trains the dog well, you won’t see the dog aggression,” said Dijanic, who has practiced veterinary medicine for 15 years. “The dogs were trained originally to be ‘pit’ dogs and would fight other dogs, so they have it in their DNA. However, being human aggressive was bred out because handlers would have to pull the dogs out of fighting pits.”
Dijanic said, “The breed is misinterpreted often, and it’s sad because all you have to do is socialize the animal and keep it on a leash whenever possible in public.”
(Register Citizen - June 7, 2011)
