The film director Rob Devor reports:
This past weekend, a woman was bitten by a pit bull running off leash in Discovery Park.
Q: What kind of dog attacked you?
A: A tiger pit bull mix.
Q: Describe where you were.
A: I was walking down a trail in Discovery Park. It was a beautiful sunny day. And around the bend came these two dogs bounding towards me. Their tongues were hanging out.
Q: They were off the leash?
A: And off the hook.
Q: What was your reaction to them coming toward you?
A “Oh, shit, here come these two dogs totally out of control. Their owner must be somewhere right behind them.” I was trying to calm myself down.
Q: Did they stop when they got to you?
A: The tiger pit bull ran straight up to me and jumped up on my chest with its two front paws, slobbering all over me. I lifted up my arms and it lea pt up and bit the underside of my arm.
Q: What was your reaction?
A: “Oh my god”. I tried to turn and get it off of me. I couldn’t believe it bit me. I was in shock. I was thinking, “Where’s the fucking owner? Where’s the owner of these dogs!” I turned around and it kept jumping on me, on my back, scratching me.
Q: Did anybody come?
A; The dog was still jumping on me and I heard these footsteps in the gravel and there’s this stupid fat, bleach-blond bitch with big-ass sunglasses on and a woven straw cowboy hat. She was laughing.
Q: She was laughing?
A: She was laughing and she said to me causally, “There’s never anyone here.” I scoffed. I literally went (makes a scoffing sound). It was a gorgeous day on a Saturday afternoon in August! The parking lot was filled to the max.
Q: Was she concerned? Did she show any remorse?
A: She just walked right by me. She did not say, “Are you OK? Did my dog hurt you?” She just walked right on by and made it seem like it was my fault that I was there. She should have had her god damned dogs on leashes.
Q: Why do you think the dog bit you?
A: Because it was stupid.
Q: What should you have done?
A: I should have gotten her name and phone number and reported her to the park ranger and the police. The dog would have been tested for rabies and she would have been ticketed. But I was too in shock over being bit. And she was gone.
I hate equally these two things: pit bulls and people who disobey leash laws. Because your dog is your dog does not mean I have to trust your fucking dog.
Pit bulls should not be bred with tigers. Nothing good can come from it.
Need more Troll leash laws in this town too.
It would have been okay if a lab had done all of that, though
“Because your dog is your dog does not mean I have to trust your fucking dog.”
Finally, something I can agree with. Although this is also in agreement with one bit the pro-pit trolls always harp about, namely how owners are usually the problem. For dogs in general, yes, they are.
“I literally went (makes a scoffing sound).”
America!
@3, Charles hates all dogs equally.
Bitten by a pit bull, but not injured? Dubious.
Q: Why do you think the dog bit you?
A: Because it was stupid.
Pfft.
Wow! We might have just found someone who deserves to be bitten by a pit bull. And I don’t mean the owner.
But seriously, two pit bulls or two young black males come running at you. If you run from any, you are, apparently, a racist.
Dog owners on the Burke-Gilman need to realize, even when their dogs are leashed, they are still responsible for how their dogs react to other trail users: “because your dog is your dog does not mean I have to trust your fucking dog.”
I was skating on the BG a year ago and I came upon a crouched woman who appeared to have her fluffy dog’s leash secured near its collar, standing to the side of the trail; and even though I assumed she had the dog controlled, I nevertheless took the far side of the trail. The dog lunged right at my skates, there was nothing I could, no time to react–ironically, I was more concerned with not breaking the dog’s neck than I was with my own. After I was helped up by a couple of nice guys, with a number of abrasions and still shakey, I turned, expectantly, to the dog owner.
She half-laughed and she shrugged. She laughed and shrugged! Not even an ‘I’m sorry,’ no acknowledgement of responsibility, as if I was at fault.
I inline skate regularly for long stretches on the BG trail and I’d be rich if I got paid for the number of times I have been laughed at for my reactions of sheer terror and defensiveness at people’s dogs. It’s not fucking funny. And I’m a dog person! Even running in Fremont, there’s a woman who takes her dog for a walk around the same time I go for my morning run. She has no control of the dog. It jerks at the end of its leash, barking up a storm and seemingly SO ANGRY (why so angry, puppy?) and she just saunters along, no effort to train or to control the little guy. The first time I came upon her, after my skating incident, the dog was quiet and didn’t seem to hear me approaching. I gave ’em a wide berth, having learned lessons and whatnot, and sure enough, the dog goes nuts and lunges at my legs, teeth gnashing. I completely and unapologetically stared the owner in the face and yelled at her: “control your fucking dog, lady!” She seemed taken aback and fucking right, so should she be.
Please control your dogs; leashes, like guns, don’t do anything without human action. Oh, and I will scream in your face.
Dog lovers tend to be morons. I have a sister who’s one of them, drags around her screaming, unhousebroken animals with her wherever she goes. Even worse, if you catch the animal attempting to bite you, and rightly scruff the little mongrel, she gets all self-righteous and offended and then expects to be placated with more pity.
I’ve had a pair of cats for several years now; not even once did they piss outside the litterbox; they also don’t make so much goddamn noise, or expect constant affirmation.
@8 Wait, what? Are you talking about the woman who got bit, or Charles? Either way, your comment makes no sense to me.
@11: Good on you. May you have many joyous skates without ever being menaced again.
@13 – I kinda want to bite that woman myself, just based on “I scoffed. I literally went (makes a scoffing sound).”
@12, cat people tend to be sociopathic shut-ins who love to scoop shit and whiff the fumes of cat urine. And if they have more than one cat, look out! You may just have yourself a lonely, opinionated, outcast with an overinflated sense of self-worth who gets off on yapping people’s ears off about how superior they are.
I’m sure your cats love you, but just because most dogs are too smart to like you doesn’t mean they’re the ones at fault. They just have bigger brains and greater social intelligence than your cats.
That dog would be a dead dog if it tried that shit on me. Swiss Army Knife can do things other than open wine bottles.
And yeah, what @12 said. Dog owners don’t give a shit, that is their fucking dog’s job. On other people’s property.
classic seattle. (makes scoffing sound). if ever there was time for a well placed fuck you to the dog owner, this was it. PFFFFT! that’ll show her.
Hernandez: I mean the woman telling the story. Alright, no one deserves to get bit by a dog. But what’s up with her delight in mocking the dog owner’s weight, hair, etc.? Also, the dog bit her because it was “stupid”? Really?
People should keep their uncontrolled dogs on leashes, no argument there.
@3: Statistically, are Labs all so ill and over-bred, poorly trained, and with such assholes for owners?
@9: Insincere troll, nobody’s biting.
I’ve had enough bad experiences with Pit Bulls and their owners that I’m OK with broad generalizations and stereotypes: Pit Bulls are nasty little monsters and should be put down at the first hint of aggressive behavior.
It sounds like it was worse in this ladies mind than than in actuality. If a dog bites you, you will be in more than just “shock.” Pitbulls are frightening dogs, and their “masters,” if you can call them that, have a general lack of self-awareness and accountability… but it seems like her “not being a dog person” is the main reason she thinks this is a huge deal.
@20 – IN all honesty, most of the labs I know ARE poorly trained and have owners who train their dogs like my favorite kind of child parent, by intermittantly yelling the dog/childs name until said animal/animal pretty much ignores everything.
The stupid-ass dog was probably trying to “play,” but that “play” can quickly turn into “oh well fuck I’m going to rip this shit up” since humans take that kind of “play” from a scary-ass-looking dog as “LIVING SHIT I AM DEAD”
@11 I’m not trying to excuse anyone’s behavior, but I know my dog would probably lunge after an inline-skater if I didn’t control him because he’s only seen one inline-skater in his life. He tends to lunge and sniff at all new things passing him by until he has a little more experience with that thing. Just to maybe explain why all these dogs do lunge, even though you’re a dog person.
And of course, that doesn’t make this reaction ok in the slightest. As his owner, I’m aware new things freak him out, so when I see something new coming towards us, I put him on a tight leash, so that when he lunges, he can only go about 3 inches with that lunge. I try to be very vigilant when walking my dog (he’s 95lbs. a lab/shepherd mix), since he’s quite an intimidating size.
Obviously this person has no business letting her dogs run loose and is a negligent jerk. Obviously. But: “…stupid fat, bleach-blond bitch with big-ass sunglasses on and a woven straw cowboy hat.” Nice. Too bad it wasn’t someone he found more attractive and with better fashion sense.
Crazy dog owning women who think leash laws are for someone else are a big reason I moved from the Mt Baker neighborhood. Not only are they dangerous and reckless but they also manage to be condescending at the same time. Their dogs would be fine if you didn’t disturb them with your walking in the park.
I have a sneaking suspicion that this woman is overreacting just a little bit. How many people have had a dog jump up and nip at them? I’m sure this can be a bit jarring (especially if you’re afraid of dogs) and I’m thinking this is exactly what this woman experienced. Was she bleeding? Did she call the cops? Yeah… that’s what I thought. She was flustered and humiliated, and so she made the encounter sound worse than it actually was.
Still though, to this woman’s defense, dog owners shouldn’t be assholes and let their dog off leash unless its in a designated dog park. And the owner could have been a little more sympathetic.
Someone should have shot that dog on the spot.
There are 2 assholes in this story, the first is the bitch who let her dogs off the leash, the second is the woman who was “bit” by the dog; she just sounds like a smug cunt.
Dogs suck. People who like dogs suck and are secret or not-so-secret poop freaks.
(I meant “she.” Saw the guy’s name at the top and was thinking it was his story.)
Dog bites in Denver dropped 76% after they enacted a pit bull breed ownership ban, like the one we have here against owning wolfdogs. It seems we should enact that legislation here, I can’t imagine anyone would be against it.
@12 & 16, you’re both wrong.
required (and hilarious) reading: http://www.cracked.com/article_19108_5-r…
Anecdotal evidence: Cat owner here, and my least favorite smell in the world is the odious scent of cat piss. Fucking horrible.
@17 yep same here. Except I carry a hunting knife when I’m hiking in areas such as discovery park/green belts/large wooded trailed parks- for specifically this reason, and muggers.
/That’s not a knife…THIS is a knife…
Charles you’re an idiot so are most of the people that commented on this article
@35, You are why I carry a fully automatic scoped AR-15 assault rifle while stalking scared little knife fetishists.
/That IS a knife… THIS is a gun.
@37, You are why I carry a flamethrower on my daily walk.
Just a few examples of how the dog apologists on this thread choose to react to the tale of a woman being bitten by an off-leash pit bull:
“…it seems like her “not being a dog person” is the main reason she thinks this is a huge deal.”
“I have a sneaking suspicion that this woman is overreacting “
“Wow! We might have just found someone who deserves to be bitten by a pit bull.”
“she just sounds like a smug cunt. “
So there you have it. The author is overreacting to being bitten by an off-leash pit bull, because she’s the sort of privileged person who believes she’s entitled to not be bitten by a pit bull when she walks through the park.
@38, You are why I don’t walk around but drive around the park in my M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle and call in an airstrike on any location I’m about to venture into.
@40 – And you’re why I never walk anywhere without first nuking the park to glass.
People ignoring leash laws makes me think maybe Rick Perry is on to something with carrying a laser scoped pistol for his morning jog.
I love dogs, too. I’m not pleased with the woman’s ad hominem attacks against the dog owner. But the dog owner created this problem. The woman was bitten while walking through the park. A lot of people seem to be minimizing that, or saying she got what she deserved. It would be interesting to compare it to a rape thread.
Yeah, that’s exactly what we need. To compare two dissimilar things!
I took back my offhanded “deserved” comment already, but I really hope we don’t need to get into the ways in which the victim of a dog bite (which is the fault of the dog’s owner, but which doesn’t sound like an intentional attack on the part of the dog) is not the same as the victim of a rape.
Also sounds more like the dog mouthed her after jumping as if excited to see her, if a pitbull was attacking her she wouldn’t still be standing after the attack.
If I saw the headline, “Woman Raped by Pitbull”, I would almost certainly read that article.
@SPG that’s super. I’m still going to defend myself against off leash breeds that are known to be fatally aggressive. I have been attacked by a rogue pitbull before myself – luckily I happened to have mace with me at that time. since that attack, I have upgraded. I’m not being an internet tough guy, this is a serious warning to pit bull owners who think the rules don’t apply to them. I’m a dog liker, and an animal lover, and I have no joy in hurting anything, but dude, if your pit bull comes at me for any reason, it’s gonna get cut.
Recently, while I was dogsitting I was amazed to see how weird some dog owners are. These people should not be giving their dog the opportunity to jump on anybody, but if something happens, what’s with the flippant attitude?? It’s almost like the owner of this dog knew she’d done wrong and immediately started making excuses.
@48: “It’s almost like the owner of this dog knew she’d done wrong and immediately started making excuses. “
Follow these comment threads and you’ll notice that it’s a pattern.
dogs should be outlawed from city parks period. Separate dog parks are fine. Any time you wan to sit in the grass on a nice sunny day you have to take into account the fact that you might be reclining in a smear of shit. [I dont mind the piss so much] I love the dogs from my rural youth but I always made a point to steer clear of their shit. I know I’m shatting on like half the population but I think you pet people are sort of mentally ill and are the result of the natural selection loophole we’re currently living in.
hey porchedge – maybe you should look before you sit? I mean all animals shit and some dog owners pick up thier dogs shit but no one picks up the goose shit.
Oh, and be extra careful with the pitbull shit- that shit will kill you!
Of course, most people treat young black males the same as pitbulls when they see them on the streets, without leashes.
Pepper spray is quite handy for those who often encounter out-of-control canines.
@44, I’m not comparing the crimes, I’m comparing how we talk about the victims.
“overreacting”
“smug cunt”
“kinda want to bite that woman myself”
“worse in this ladies mind than than in actuality”
Any of these quotes look familiar? I think you’ll see them in threads that talk about rape, sexual harassment, racial injustice, homophobia, etc. It’s all victim-blaming.
@52, Sigh, to have anyone even think that is depressing.
Right folks, here’s what we’re gonna do: Get a pepper spray device (legally) and patrol the parks for unaccompanied aggressive dogs. After nuking said animals, respond to the animal owners that will magically appear at their animals distress cries with something along the lines of “well, I have the right to defend myself, don’t I”. Repeat defensive act upon owner(s) as needed. (Ugh, that line of thought is depressing, too.) (These kinds of problems were why dog ownership was outlawed in Iceland. Nowadays it is allowed, but only by license (like a gun).)
Peace.
At last Mudede found a way to drive his comment counts about 20. Tell the truth, Savage put you up to this, didn’t he Chucky?
Still moronic of course. As a few have noted, this woman wasn’t bitten, whether or not the ferocious half tiger, half Pit Bull dog who savaged her was ‘stupid’. If a dog of that size bites in anything but play you won’t be talking to someone about it right then.
And really, we only have this expert woman, who couldn’t even tell when a dog was playing, to tell us that this was in fact a Pit Bull. I have a friend with 2 Boston Terriers who frequently re-assures anxious people that her clearly non-Pit Bull dogs aren’t in fact Pit Bulls. Mine happen to be hounds, so even the ignorant would have a hard time confusing them with any of the flat nosed breeds.
But sure, the dogs should have been leashed both in respect of the law and in observance of a pet owners responsibilities to others.
Pit bulls: murderous by nature.
Nice job, 56, wondered when you’d get here to partake in the fun of blaming the victim. No one said she was savaged, just that she was bitten. Glad to see that you are so certain that she wasn’t bitten.
Two dogs she didn’t know ran up to her in public and jumped all over her, biting and scratching her in the process. By all means, belittle her and Charles.
clashfan, I’m not saying you don’t have a point, kinda. But I think one thing you won’t find in any of those cases (rape, sexual harassment, racial injustice, homophobia) is the victim being called out solely because they belittled someone ELSE for their appearance.
i am the woman who was bitten by that carefree brainless dog, … hi, and i am writing only to say: clashfan, i love you, and comment-leaver #39, nicely put.
Leek, I see your point about her being called out for belittling the dog owner’s appearance. But can we call someone out on their stuff without terming her a ‘smug cunt’? That’s kind of a loaded insult, isn’t it?
And half of what I cited wasn’t even about her statements; they directly denied her experience of being bitten even though they weren’t present. “Overreacting” “Wasn’t bitten” “Worse in (her) mind than in actuality”.
Will you all just listen to yourselves?
savannahlynx! I’m so sorry that happened to you. It sounds terrifying! I’ve seen a lot of dog attacks in the last few years. Even when the owners are right there, and apparently in control of their animals, their dogs can still get to a passerby and bite them. My older daughter was bitten by a dog who was in the audience at the Fremont Solstice Parade as she passed by. We called the police, who came within minutes. Nothing was done! I think we would have had to sue to get any results. The owners were allowed to leave with their dog that had bitten my daughter, totally unprovoked. Lately, I seem to have some sort of sixth sense when it comes to dogs and have crossed the street or chosen a different path to avoid dogs that I saw approaching only to see those dogs bite someone else!!! I have not seen a pit bull bite anyone, although I did see one run headlong across a courtyard with it’s leash trailing behind it to lunge at a woman walking a small dog and try to bite her dog, jumping at it repeatedly while the woman kept lifting her dog higher to get it to safety. I have seen many other breeds, both large and small, bite people. I feel very vulnerable to dogs since I now have a small child. I would love to see some real control in place to protect people from dogs. I do not think that most dogs are accustomed to strangers and even more are not accustomed to children. The smaller you are the more damage can be done. Anyone who makes light of this incident is really missing the point. This could happen to anyone, including you. I think when it does happen to you, you may feel differently and regret your negative attitude and comments directed at savannahlynx.
Pit bulls and Rottweilers should be banned. Period.
As should Mr. Mudede’s comments about dogs. He should return to commenting on architecture and public transportation signage.
Let’s ban all the idiots! Oh, wait…there wont be anybody left. 🙁
Any dog that jumps on and bites me is going to get its neck broken.
Seriously though… that woman is an idiot for not reporting what happened, even with no injuries. It’s one thing for a dog to be off-leash in a dubious area, and another for that dog to attack you in a public place.
I wish a pit bull would bite off Mudede’s nuts so he can’t reproduce…
@44:
Sigh. You suspect the pit bull didn’t intentionally attack its victim? How exactly would you know? It’s very clear that in most dog attacks, regardless of breed, the owners did not know their dogs would become lethal. These owners are the people who are closer to and know the dog better than anyone, or so you would think. When dogs prove unpredictably vicious even when judged by their owners/caregivers experience, how is that you can speak so certainly of this particular unknown animals motivations in randomly attacking its victim?
Of course the question of an attacking beast’s motivation is irrelevant to the person being ambushed by the beast. Let’s never forget that in the end it isn’t about understanding the dog. It is about protecting people from being maimed by unpredictable, viciously behaving animals whose ability to harm is the result of the decisions their owners freely make to bring them into contact with their unsuspecting potential victims in the first place.
@ 62 I pity the day when you have to realize that life and the world, along with all its challenges and big scary things, does not have training wheels attached. Risk aversion is very unhealthy to practice to the extent you describe. Hmm.
Hovering mom hovers when in presence of dog. Not shocking but rather depressing for the child whose world is subsequently shaped by the one wearing those helicopter tainted lenses.
Apropos of nothing, I’ve seen a dog owner at the dog park wave his hands in front of someone else’s very young excited dog, stick those hands in the dogs face, and then be surprised that the puppy nipped his hand. “That dog bit me!” “You stuck your hand in the dog’s mouth, what did you expect?” No blood drawn mind you, no aggression, just puppy play. That’s not the same thing as being bitten. A real dog bite in a real dog attack is a serious thing involving real pain and real damage. A dog’s mouth making contact with you is not the same as being bitten and shouldn’t even be called that.
My guess from the woman’s reaction in the original post is that she wasn’t bit at all, but merely had a hyper dog jump up at her and make contact. Hardly the same thing as being attacked. Get over it.
@68: You obviously don’t have kids. Which is good, because that means you won’t be passing on your genes for dimness.
To all the animal (and thus self) hating people, animals are animals, they behave based on what they know, like humans, only we should be smart enough to know one truth, other animals have sharper teeth and claws, that’s just nature’s joke on us. As for pitbulls being so “bad” …. stupid stupid stupid … so plain stupid. I was but 10 when I got bit by a big dog bad enough to need a bandage, I was more scared of the hospital so I wouldn’t go there. It was on my upper thigh. Want to know what I recall most? When I screamed in pain the dog actually looked sorry, sad, sorry, not scared but worried about ME. The breed, a pitbull, neighbor’s dog, he had two. The neighbor felt so bad he bought me a toy to say sorry, luckily my family was familiar with animals. We knew, the dog just thought it was playing and didn’t know it’s teeth were tougher than my skin. I have a huge scar on my hand from a cat claw, one of my own cats, the dog bite scar is faded to almost nothing, but even then, the wound from a cat that was no bigger than a foot long was much bigger than that bite, and I was much bigger when it happened. Being racist about an animal, just because you don’t know shit about animals, is just as bad as being racist about humans. You can feel whatever emotion you want, but to treat them differently than other animals is wrong.
Let’s step it up a notch, shall we? Sigfried and Roy …. with one of the most dangerous hunters in the world as a friend, tigers. Wildcats are, scientifically, the most dangerous predators in the world, they have been labeled the perfect hunters. What happened when one got killed by the big cat? The other was smart and said “it was doing what it thought would help”, paraphrased of course, the cat didn’t want to eat the guy, it wanted to help, but it’s natural reflex to help (which works with their own kind) killed the human because humans don’t work the same. Most dog bite stories I have seen in the news, in real life to, are actually results of dog play, big dogs just play rougher than humans, or signs of animal abuse by the owners. As I have said many times, I fear the owner of a dog that attacks with harmful intent more than the dog.
@71: “To all the animal (and thus self) hating people, animals are animals, they behave based on what they know, like human”
Animals rely on a much stronger sense of nature due to (usually poor/over)breeding, and nurture is less relevant still because so few people properly train their pets.
This is hardly “animal hate”.
Having grown up with Great Danes and dobermans, having a brother who owns pitbulls, bull terriers, and until recently a rottweiler, and loving dogs, I still have to say: I am scared of stranger’s dogs because you never know how they tick.
And while I agree that this woman was probably not “bitten” as most dog owners would define it (A pitbull or any dog of similar size that wants to do harm at least draws serious blood.) , this experience must have been very terrifying. Just because the dog may only want to “play”, doesn’t mean that it isn’t scary if a strange dog jumps on you and starts chewing.