Tennessee: Family ponders reason why their beloved pit bull, raised from a puppy, tried to kill its owners

TENNESSEE -- A Mid-South man remains in ICU a week after his family said their pit bull snapped.

"He was dead set on killing him," Jeannie Nelson said.

Nelson said it's a miracle her 64-year-old husband, Willie, is not dead considering the wounds their pit bull named Pepper inflicted on him.

 

"I guess when he got the taste of blood, it was over with," Jeannie said.

Both of them were attacked on New Year's Eve inside their Dyersburg home as she prepared snacks in the kitchen.

According to the police report, the officer stated he observed a large, black, pit bull dragging the elderly male subject across the floor by his ankle. He believed the man to be deceased and advised the people to get behind the fence as he ran onto the porch of the residence. 

 

She said Pepper bit her stomach before turning on Willie when he stepped in.

Then Mrs. Nelson tried pulling the dog off, then sprayed the dog with pepper spray, and even threw hot water on him, but nothing would stop Pepper from attacking Mr. Nelson.

"He was our kid. He was our baby and I don't know what happened to him. What made him vicious," Jeannie said.

She said she tried to get Pepper to turn loose as he dragged Willie into the living room.

It eventually took a fatal shot from responding Dyersburg Police officers to stop the assault.

"My house looked like somebody got slaughtered in it. I mean, it was slaughtered," Jeannie said.

The Nelsons raised Pepper, who would have been three in March, from a puppy.

He even slept with Willie, who now remains in ICU at Regional Medical Center in Memphis and faces a long recovery and multiple surgeries...thanks to man's best friend.

"He wasn't a vicious dog. He's never bit anybody. He's never snapped at anybody. I don't know what happened this day," Jeannie said.

 

Mrs. Nelson, interviewed by phone on her way to the Memphis hospital where her husband is to undergo surgery, said this about pit bulls: 

"I'll never own another one. That was my first and that's my last! We've had Pepper ever since he was 3 weeks old because his mother was struggling to feed all her pups, and we bottle fed him, and he's never showed that kind of aggression."

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family with medical expenses. They say they estimate Nelson will have to stay at the hospital for the next 3-6 months.

(WMC Action News - Jan 9, 2016)

Earlier:

• Tennessee: Raised from a puppy in a loving home, pit bull mauls its elderly owners