Michael North is sure the injuries he and his 2½-year-old American bulldog mix, Brindle, suffered would have been worse if it weren’t for the strangers, who used lumber and a ceramic flower pot to fend off the dogs Friday afternoon.
[Dog looks like a Chocolate Lab mix to me...]
One of the pit bulls was captured by police and is in the possession of the Ramona Humane Society. The other — which North said was the larger and more aggressive — is still on the loose.
Jeff Sheppard, executive director of the Ramona Humane Society, said the dog that was captured is quarantined and on a 10-day hold. No owner has come forward, and the dog will likely be euthanized after the 10 days are up.
North said he and Brindle were walking along the 300 block of North Lyon Street when he saw the two dogs approach. They started to charge from about 50 feet out. He routinely carries a can of pepper spray with him and emptied it on the dogs, but it hardly fazed them.
“I didn’t really worry,” he said. “My adrenaline was pumping too much. I was kicking and punching and trying to keep the pit bulls from getting a hold of (Brindle) and me.”
As he was on the ground tussling with the two, a number of passers-by joined in.
One began beating the larger pit bull — which was white with brown markings — with a piece of lumber. Someone else grabbed a flowerpot and threw it, hitting the smaller dog in the head.
Eventually, the pit bulls let loose.
The Hemet Police Department caught the smaller dog, and as officers were loading it into the car, North said it came to him as he sat bloodied on the sidewalk and put its head to him.
“It was saying it was sorry,” North said.
Seriously? This Pit Bull just tried to kill you and your dog and you let it walk up to you??? God.
North was left with a bloody scalp, a bite on his right thigh and smaller mark on his elbow. Brindle has some bite marks near her face, neck and torso and spent the night in the veterinarian hospital. Both are expected to recover.
North said he doesn’t know who the good Samaritans were but would like to thank them.
“Without their intervention, I couldn’t have done it myself,” North said. “I would have been torn up a lot more. I lay awake at night and wonder how I would have managed.”
(Press Enterprise - Feb 14, 2012)
