A few minutes later, she ducked outside to pick up the newspaper she left in the driveway that morning as she hurried to work. Paper in hand, she softly kicked the front door shut and began helping her four-year-old granddaughter play a game on her laptop.
As she looked over her granddaughter's shoulder, the house alarmed beeped to indicate someone had entered her home.
Brodhead, however, wasn't expecting anyone to come by her house that late, and she immediately feared the worst — a home invasion.
But instead of robbers or criminals, Brodhead's home had been encroached upon by a four-legged invader — a stray pit bull ready to attack.
"When I turned around, this big, brown and white pit bull was coming toward me," Brodhead said Friday afternoon while recalling the culprit canine. "I evidently didn't close the door all the way."
Brodhead told her granddaughter to run to a bedroom and shut the door, and the family dog — a tiny terrier mix named Biddy — ran to protect her owners amid the commotion.
"It was three times the size of my dog," Brodhead said. "The pit bull practically knocked me over and then grabbed Biddy with her mouth and had her around her neck."
That's when her son, 18-year-old Beau, ran to protect Biddy from being bitten.
Beau, a senior at St. Thomas More High School, isn't a small guy — he plays cornerback and safety for the football team. He tried to use his size to scare the intruder out, but the stray wouldn't drop the pet.
"The dog was not letting my dog go," Andrea Brodhead said. "We were trying everything, but it was just not phasing that dog at all."
Beau then grabbed a stool to fend of the 70-pound pit bull. Andrea went for the phone to call 911.
"I don't think I could have fought off the dog if I was alone," Andrea Brodhead said.
After using duffle bags, lamps, stools and a broom to counter the pit bull's attack, Andrea and Beau were able to trap the dog inside the house's sunroom.
"She just went and laid on my couch like she was used to being in a house," Andrea Brodhead said.
By 9:15 p.m., police and animal control arrived to take the dog from the Brodhead home. Pictures knocked off the wall covered the floor, and glass from the corner table sat shattered in a pile.
Andrea Brodhead said the animal control employee told her the pit bull showed signs of being a fight dog.
Earlier that evening, Andrea Brodhead's sister and brother-in-law, who live next door, saw a pickup conspicuously pull into the field next to their homes.
They heard a tailgate open and close, and Andrea Brodhead suspects someone abandoned the pit bull in that field because it could either no longer fight or breed fighting dogs.
"The woman from animal control said it was a fight dog, and she said it could have be a lot worse," Andrea Brodhead said.
One trip to the veterinarian later, Biddy is only a bit shook up with some scratches. Andrea Brodhead said the vet treated Biddy's open wounds on her nose and the bottom of her neck.
Thankfully, Andrea Brodhead said, Biddy's collar protected the top of her neck from being pierced by the pit bull's teeth.
Virginia Lee, who is the Animal Control supervisor, said her office is investigating the incident and is trying to track down the pit bull's owner.
"The person who really is at fault is the person who allowed it to be lose or whomever owned the animal," Lee said. "Someone needs to be punished for that."
Lee said Lafayette Parish is one of the state's hotspots for dog fighting. She said though the problem has become less severe during the past five years, people do still fight dogs here.
She said it's also not uncommon for people to abandon dogs, in particular old fighting dogs, at secluded "drop spots" around the parish.
"People do that, and it's really terrible," Lee said. "There are so many unwanted pets in this parish, and people don't take the responsibility."
Lee said she couldn't comment on specifics about her department's investigation into the incident, but she did say her officers use police-like tactics to uncover the truth, including canvassing neighborhoods to ask if people have previously seen the animal.
Lee couldn't comment on if the pit bull has been, or if it will be, euthanized.
She said her office doesn't adopt out pit bulls to the average citizen because of past problems with the breed. She said they will, however, turn pit bulls over to rescue centers.
"They're a wonderful breed, but they can be used in the wrong way, and they can be bred for fighting," Lee said. "If you raise a pit bull properly, it's just like the other dogs around."
[Virginia Lee, Animal Control supervisor, says that pit bulls are just like any other dog. Hmm, let's see. How many Collies have attacked and killed their owners? How many Cavaliers have ripped their owners' arms off? How many Springer Spaniels have killed visiting family members, family members who had visited and 'interacted' with said dog before the attack?]
Andrea Brodhead said she's never had the desire to own a pit bull despite having cared for nearly a dozen breeds of dogs in the past. She doesn't dislike the breed but said it just isn't for her.
She said the dog was violent in part because of its nature, but likely more so because of how it was nurtured.
[She is a pit bull apologist. Trying to convey that even though she suffered a home invasion from a monster which attacked her pet, she doesn't 'dislike' pit bulls and believes this pit bull MUST HAVE been abused/taught to be aggressive. What a dummy.]
"It's just a scary thing," Andrea Brodhead said. "You're just sitting in your living room, and a pit bull walks in."
(The Advertiser - Oct 1, 2011)
