Nov. 25, 2004
IN
THE NEWS
| GARDEN | STAGE DOOR | THE HUM | CALENDAR
On the cover: Roxy, the customer-friendly
pit bull belonging to Clothing dock owner, Susan Paul.
Inset of impounded pit bull at the Humboldt Animal Shelter.
Photos by Helen Sanderson
by HELEN
SANDERSON
Pit bull: The name alone conjures
up images of muscled, ferocious dogs whose encounters are consistently
splashed on the pages of newspapers. One look at the dog's
blocky skull, deep chest, and chiseled hind legs can send people
slithering away for safety. Pit bull enthusiasts say that the
dogs are happy, sometimes goofy tail-waggers that have been given
a bad rap by the press, and when the dog does lash out, it's
the result of abusive ownership, not an inherently brutal breed.
Even animal control workers
and dog experts say that pit bulls are not as nasty as many people
think.
"Pit bulls are generally
very sweet, loving dogs," said Andrea Hale, Humboldt County
Animal Control officer. "The problem is that when they go
bad, they're really bad."
There have been at least six
pit bull attacks against people in Humboldt County since late
August. None of them were life-threatening, but they could have
been. That is why more media attention is paid to pit bulls in
the first place: because they can kill.
`Ungodly screeching'
It was 15 years ago this month
that a toddler was mauled to death by a pit bull in Southern
Humboldt. On Nov. 13, 1989, Garrett East, just 22 months old,
was killed when he walked into the path of a family pit bull
chained to a pickup truck outside of their Ruby Valley home near
Redway.
Marc Lee Antonsen, the dog's
owner and boyfriend of Garrett's mother, was charged with involuntary
manslaughter in the boy's death. While awaiting trial, Antonsen's
legal troubles continued; in May 1990 he was busted for growing
marijuana on his property. He later pleaded guilty to the manslaughter
charge.
Pernel Thyseldew, who lived
near Antonsen at the time, said neighbors were wary of the dog,
and that it had nearly broken its chain when lunging for an elderly
man who passed by the place. It was that same day, an ill-fated
mid-November afternoon, that Thyseldew heard an "ungodly
screeching," ran to the scene, and saw the medium-sized
dog thrashing an overall-clad toddler around, an image he said
he would never forget. The entire incident, he recalls, probably
lasted a minute.
"The dog had him by the
trachea and was shaking him like a rag doll," Thyseldew
told the Journal last month. "I ran to [the closest
house] and called for help, but 911 was already called and someone
was hauling the kid off to the hospital.
"A lady I know was an ER
nurse at the hospital, and she said they worked on [Garrett]
for 10 or 15 minutes but they knew it was hopeless. He was basically
dead on arrival."
Not long after the boy was taken
to the hospital, a California Highway Patrolman arrived at Antonsen's
house and shot the dog, ending its life.
It is not unusual to find pit bulls in
connection with illegal activities, said Arcata Police Chief
Randy Mendosa. [photo
at left]
"I have met many nice friendly
pit bull terriers. However, I've also met a large proportion
of pit bulls that have been trained by people to be aggressive,
to guard facilities such as marijuana grows. That's a common
utilization of pit bulls. In fact, last year we had a pit bull
that was guarding an indoor grow that was shot by the people
attempting to do an in-home invasion."
While Garrett East's death was
gruesome, what is more disturbing is that the attack was preventable.
The pit bull was reportedly trained to be a guard dog and had
a history of violence. It had bitten Garrett before and killed
another dog, yet the family kept it.
Arcata toddler
bitten
A little girl in Arcata, close
to the same age Garrett was when he died, was bitten by a family
pit bull in late August. Earlier this month, the Journal
visited the house where the incident took place. The child's
caregiver, a woman in her 40s, answered the door with the 2-year-old
girl trailing happily behind her. Clearly visible was the characteristic
dog-bite-shaped scar, a red crescent on her left cheek where
the dog had bitten her.
The woman said that the pit
bull in the side yard, which at that moment barked relentlessly
from the confines of a chain-linked fence, belonged to her son-in-law,
and that it had bitten the child. She explained that the little
girl was feeding the animal when it snapped at her.
"She was holding the bowl
out," the woman said, mimicking the movement with her hands.
"And then she took it away."
Kathleen Kistler, who retired
as executive director of the Sequoia Humane Society last week,
said that it is not unusual for dogs to bite when their food
is fiddled with: It's called resource guarding and lots of dogs
do it, regardless of breed.
"It's the number one situation
where people get bitten with animals, whether it's food or a
toy," Kistler said.
Of the 18 dogs that were at
the Humboldt County Animal Shelter in the first week of November,
three were unadoptable. One of them, a pit bull-cross breed,
exhibited this behavior, also known as "food aggressiveness,"
and was killed.
The family of the little girl
who was bitten decided not to put their dog down. The woman who
was minding her explained that the matter was "taken care
of in the family," despite the fact that the Arcata Police
were initially involved. She declined to comment further and
did not give her name.
All of the other attacks that
happened here in recent months involved adults. A woman from
Garberville was mauled by two pit bulls in late August after
she entered a neighbor's yard where the pets were kept. Officer
Hale responded to the scene.
"[She] had severe, deep
bites, on her arms. It happened right out in front of the house
and it was dark out," Hale said. The woman's wounds required
surgery.
The dogs' owner decided to have
Animal Control put the animals down because of the severity of
the mauling, Hale said. When they were quarantined at the Humboldt
County Animal Shelter for the next 10 days, Hale said that the
pit bulls were well behaved.
"That's the difference
between how they act when they're protecting their territory
and when they're not on their property. [The dogs] were not trustworthy,
especially when you see them acting nice here; they cannot be
good 100 percent of the time."
In Manila, two female pit bulls went
on a biting spree in early September after they escaped from
the yard where they were held. The three victims were men, one
of whom was mowing his lawn, another was working on his car and
the third man was walking outside of the Manila Market. They
were all bitten in the leg and none of them sought medical attention.
Humboldt County Sheriff's Lt.
Steve Knight, [photo at
left] manager of the new county
animal shelter in McKinleyville, said that deputies cornered
the animals in a neighbor's yard with shotguns drawn while Animal
Control snared the dogs on long poles attached with cable leashes.
The owner of the dogs, Knight said, was distressed over the situation
and cried when he chose to have the dogs euthanized.
"The guy felt awful about
it, but at the same time, those dogs were a liability,"
Knight said.
Whether a pet lives or dies
is not always up to the owner. In cases where a dog is labeled
as vicious, based upon the severity of injury it inflicts and
also the frequency of attacks, Animal Control can decide to euthanize
the animal.
If a dog attacks people or other
dogs but does not cause much damage, it may be labeled as potentially
dangerous. In that case, the owners will then be required to
keep it within a 6-foot-high fence that is cemented at the bottom
so the pet cannot dig its way out. Additionally, licensing fees
for the animal double, from $30 to $60 a year; the dog must be
kept muzzled in public; "beware of dog" signs with
a illustration of a barking dog must be kept on the property;
and the owner can even be ordered to pay higher liability insurance
for their pet.
If a dog has a history of aggressive
behavior, Animal Control does not make it easy for the owner
to keep their dog.
Pit bulls awaiting authanasia
at the Humboldt County Animal shelter for biting three people
in Manila in September.
Troubled history
Knight has been working for
Animal Control since July when the county took over the sheltering
of animals from the Sequoia Humane Society.
"In the short time that
I've been doing this, pit bulls have been one of the primary
animals for biting humans," Knight said.
Additionally, they're difficult
to find homes for. From January to December to 2003, 96 pit bulls
or pit crosses were taken into the Sequoia Humane Society in
Eureka. Thirty-eight of them were put down for viciousness, 37
were returned to their owner or adopted, 10 were euthanized for
severe mange and the remaining 10 were also put down for various
reasons.
Since Sequoia Humane broke ties
with the county and now operates a no-kill adoption center, they
rarely take in put bulls.
"We hardly accept them
anymore because they're difficult to adopt out," said Molly
Cook, kennel manager for the Sequoia Humane Society. "It's
too hard for people to find rental places if they have a pit
bull."
And when they do accept pit
bulls the dogs must be "ambassadors of the breed,"
according to Kistler. In other words, only well-behaved pit bulls
are allowed in. The shelter requires information about the dog's
parents be provided, it goes through a thorough temperament test,
and it has no history of fighting.
Indisputably, pit bulls, also
known as Staffordshire terriers, American Staffordshire terriers
and American pit bull terriers, are tenacious, athletic and determined.
Match these qualities with an owner who encourages aggressiveness,
and account for their incredibly strong jaw -- often called a
"lock jaw" for its ability to clamp onto something
with its teeth and not let go -- and a pit bull can become a
lethal menace that makes the front page.
Nationally, 4.7 million dogs
bite people every year, according to the Centers for Disease
Control, but the statistics are not breed specific.
A tally that does identify breeds'
misdeeds is the number of humans killed by dogs. The CDC has
kept a death tally, with the most recent report stretching from
1979-1998.
Pit bulls top that list. During
the course of the survey, 66 people were reported killed by pit
bulls or pit bull crossbreeds. Rottweilers ranked second, killing
39 people, and German shepherds were responsible for 17 deaths.
More than 25 breeds were involved in killing humans, including
a cocker spaniel, which killed one person, and Labrador retrievers,
which killed five people. Most victims were children.
Since the survey has resumed
there have been a number of human fatalities, including the mauling
of a 6-week-old infant by a Pomeranian -- a breed whose average
weight is 4 pounds.
"Every dog is a potential
biter, and humans need to realize that," Kistler said. "They
are not that far away from a wild animal who has to kill for
its food -- those instincts are still there."
Pinky, a pit bull puppy, takes a nap on the Arcata Plaza.
Bred to kill
A trainer at Best Friend Training
Dog Obedience School in Eureka explained how pit bulls came to
have killer instincts.
Pit bulls can be traced back
to England in the 1800s, when dog fighting became a popular spectator
sport. The breed was the product of a cross between bull dogs
-- used for baiting bulls -- and terriers, a somewhat larger,
family oriented dog, creating a mix that was loyal to humans
and vicious with other animals. These dogs were pitted against
each other for gambling, which was later outlawed.
The "sport" eventually
came to the United States in the late 1800s, and the Staffordshire
terrier was bred selectively for fight-to-the-death instincts.
"The dogs were provoked
in a ring until one of them killed the other. Dogs don't normally
work that way," said Scott Nelson of Best Friend school.
"They have an instinct called ritualized aggression. When
one dog gives up in a fight, it exposes its throat and genitals,
basically saying `I give up, you're the winner.'
"At that point, the other
dog's adrenaline level would instinctively drop, and the fight
would end."
Nelson described how handlers
provoked the dogs to continue fighting, essentially overcoming
their instinct to call an end to a fight. The dogs who won the
most were bred to create a line of fighting dogs.
"The next thing that happened
was a mutation: The [pit bull's] bottom teeth became wider so
the top teeth could lock together with the top ones. Then they
could grind their teeth and hit an artery. So basically, this
type of dog could just get one good bite in and win," Nelson
said.
To further perfect a four-legged
fighting machine, the dogs were selected for jaw strength, allowing
them to lock onto an opponent's neck.
Randall Herzon, a trainer with
another area dog obedience school, Kritter Kountry, said that
pound for pound pit bulls have the strongest jaws around. Specifically,
the dog can exert 3,500 pounds of pressure with its mandibles.
Compare that to the next strongest
domesticated canine, a St. Bernard, which can muster 1,700 pounds
of pressure, or a German shepherd, 1,500 pounds of pressure.
The only dog stronger than a pit bull is a wolf-hybrid, which
can exert 5,000 pounds of pressure.
"A pit bull would destroy
a German shepherd or a Rottweiler. They would win every time
because of their jaw," Herzon said.
The pit bull's low center of
gravity and shorter stature helps the dog spring for the neck
of a taller dog, like a shepherd, he added.
Eventually, dog fighting rings
were shut down in the United States and the original line of
Staffordshire terriers were bred with the feistier American breed,
creating an American Staffordshire terrier, also called the American
pit bull terrier.
For this reason, it's hard to
know whether or not a particular pit bull has aggressive tendencies.
Nelson, whose dog training company has had a number of pit bull
clients, said that you never really know what your dog is capable
of until you've seen it in a fight.
"A pit bull can still turn
out to be a really great pet, but you have to be aware of the
possibility that it can be aggressive. The best thing is to get
your dog trained and watch out for potential problems,"
Nelson said.
The Humane Society's Cook agrees.
Before pit bulls can be adopted from the shelter, the new owner
must prepay to put the dog through obedience school.
"Pit bull owners need to
be prepared to train that dog and stay constant with their training
to raise that dog special," Cook said. "If they're
raised incorrectly they can become a problem. The potential of
dogs that can lock the jaws on you can become really deadly.
"But they can be the best
dogs if they're raised right; sweet and smart. I raised one from
a 2-day-old puppy. It was a wonderful dog."
Hosting dog fighting rings is
a felony, but that doesn't stop it from continuing. Nelson thinks
that it happens in Humboldt County because every so often a dog
comes to the obedience school with scars and a bad disposition.
Animal Control also believes that underground fighting rings
are organized locally, usually in connection with gangs or drug-dealers,
but officials are not sure where.
Ronda, an 11-year-old pit bull, was once the resident dog of
Marino's, an Arcata bar that burned in 2001.
Doggy in the window
Tom King, a postal carrier in
Arcata, said that he knows of four pit bulls on his downtown
route. Do they scare him?
"Not at all. They're all
sweethearts. Especially Roxy, the dog at the Clothing Dock,"
King said.
According to the American Veterinary
Society of America, postal workers are the third highest demographic
to be bitten by dogs, following children and elderly people.
Knight added that most postal
workers he knows are more distrustful of smaller "toy"
dogs, like poodles.
At the Clothing Dock, a trendy
consignment store in Arcata, owner Susan Paul [in photo below with Roxy] sorts through a basket of sweaters and knit tops,
while "talking dog," the term she uses for gabbing
about her tan-colored pit bull-cross, Roxy, who lounges on the
floor nearby.
"I love to talk dog, I
can talk about Roxy all day," Paul said.
Roxy, who Paul says is also
1/32 Rhodesian Ridgeback, got the dog three years ago when she
was just a pup, the runt of the litter. A man was selling the
dogs outside of Winco in Eureka.
She's now 50 pounds, which is
about the average weight for a pit bull. If she's not prancing
around the store with her red kong -- a cone-shaped dog toy made
of thick rubber -- or soaking up attention from a customer, the
dog is dozing beside the mannequins in the window that faces
K Street.
"I don't know how many
times people have come in and sung `How much is that doggy in
the window?' to me," Paul said, bobbing her head with the
song's chorus.
"There's a few customers
that are afraid of her, and they'll peek their heads and ask
if she's around, so I'll just tie her up in the back, and that's
fine. But for the most part, everyone loves her; some people
come here just to visit her. They bring their kids. A lot of
times a girl will come to shop and her boyfriend will play with
Roxy," Paul said.
By far the toughest situation
Paul has gotten into since she's had Roxy was finding a place
to live. When she decided to move from Eureka to Arcata a year
and a half ago, finding a rental was nearly impossible. As soon
as a landlord would hear the words pit bull, negotiations would
end.
"I practically begged these
people to just meet my dog but they wouldn't have it. They just
said no pit bulls, period.
Many insurance companies, like
Nationwide and Allstate, will not write homeowners insurance
policies for people with pit bulls, and other breeds of dogs
that are deemed a risk.
"Our guidelines started
tightening when Diane Whipple was killed in San Francisco,"
said Harmony McCoy, an agent with Allstate Insurance, referring
to the notorious 2001 savage mauling of a woman by two Presa
Canario dogs.
The blacklisted breeds include
pit bulls, Rottweilers, Akitas, boxers, chows, Doberman pinschers,
Presa Canarios and wolf-hybrids.
Instead of disqualifying certain
breeds, State Farm Insurance has a different approach. Agents
will meet the homeowner's dog and then make a decision on their
premium. An owner whose dog has a history of violence does not
get a policy.
"If someone has a pit bull,
I don't say, `Whoa, that's not OK,'" said Gale King, a State
Farm agent from Arcata. "If they haven't been trained to
be a guard dog or an attack dog, then usually they're fine."
Bubba, a 75-pound pit bull cross and brother of Roxy, is a mild-mannered
3-year-old.
SAFETY TIPS for Kids
Children are bitten by dogs more often
than any other group of people. A majority of those bites are
inflicted upon the face and neck of the child, whose height can
be close to that of a dog. In May, State Farm Insurance agents
and the Sequoia Humane Society visit area schools for Dog Bite
Prevention Week to teach kids how to be safe around animals.
Here are some basic tips for children:
- Don't bother dogs while they are sleeping
or eating.
- Always ask the owner's permission before
petting a dog.
- Never tease a dog.
- Don't bother a mother dog when she's caring
for her pups.
- Always approach dogs slowly and carefully.
- When meeting a new dog, let it come to
you and smell you.
- Do not reach through a fence to pet a
dog.
- Never put your hands between two dogs.
- Stay away from stray dogs.
- If a dog approaches you, remain calm.
Don't scream. Don't run. Stand still.
- Always protect your face and neck.
- If a dog knocks you to the ground, curl
into a ball.
- If attacked, try to give the dog a book
or backpack to chew on.
- Never try to help a hurt dog; get an adult
to help.
|
SEE ALSO:
Dec. 26, 2002: GOOD NEWS: Making amends to a pit
bull
June
1996: FUNNY BUSINESS: Attack of the killer dog
IN
THE NEWS
| GARDEN | STAGE DOOR | THE HUM | CALENDAR
Comments? Write a
letter!
© Copyright 2004, North Coast Journal,
Inc.
|