Many said if you spend time with Duke and Delilah, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who'd label them as “dangerous” or “aggressive”
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| Michelle Stephenson doing her best tom promote pit bulls in Alabama |
They are, however, pit bulls, a breed known to have been involved in at least three attacks in the last week in our area.
“I don’t know, just out of nowhere that dog just..." That's all FOX10 News could get from Harrison before she left the room with our cameras rolling.
The stress of revisiting her attack is too much; the bruise and puncture wound on her right calf is enough of a reminder. It's certainly a reminder for the victim's mother, Melissa Johnson.
“It could’ve been a whole lot worse, a lot worse, because if the dog wanted to kill her it could have, right there," Johnson said. “I thank God. I really do. I thank my blessings because it could have been a whole lot worse. I’ve seen these attacks and if that dog wanted to take my child it could have.”
Mobile County officials said the dog remains at this home and isn’t allowed to go outside, not until the pit is quarantined. The county wanted it done by Monday, July 29.
The owner said the earliest their veterinarian will take the dog is Tuesday, July 30.
Escambia County Florida has seen two recent incidents possibly involving the breed, Lambert’s case, and eight sheep killed by a pack of dogs early Wednesday, July 24.
“It’s kind of like people," said county spokesman Bill Pearson. "Everyone may look similar in some way or fashion, but everyone may act differently. It has a lot of variety of factors that lead up to how that dog might react.”
Michelle Stephenson of the Pace Veterinary clinic agrees.
"I have scars from Chihuahuas before I do from pit bulls, so actually I just think that they kind of get a bad rap sometimes because they are powerful physically, and when they do inflict damage it’s severe," Stephenson said.
For Stephenson, it’s a case by case basis. She said pit bulls’ behavior is individual, and has mainly to do with factors surrounding its life.
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| Michelle says watch out for those biting Chihuahuas!!! |
“If you go back like 25 years in statistics, they’re actually not the majority of inflicted bite wounds in the United States," Stephenson said. "There’s a combination of mixed breeds and other breeds that make up the majority, so I think it is a little bit of singling them out. I think any breed can have good and bad in it.”
That's hard to explain to a mother, whose case falls in that minority.
“Bottom line, if my kid acted out, I would be attacked as a parent to rear my kid, straighten my [child] up," Johnson said. "Same thing the dog, it’s just called master instead of parent.”
(fox10tv - July 27, 2013)
