By Georgia Osten
Most of the time, I can come up with happy thoughts to write about, but today, I’m plagued with thoughts of something that happened this weekend to a friend of mine. If you’ve ever read my Sand Buckets, you would have caught on that I’m a dog lover. I recently lost my best friend, Ruby, my cancer survivor, my sweet girl. She was almost 13 years old. For almost a week, she had gotten so tired and she kept trying to tell me she was ready to go. On July 10th, she went to sleep forever. I have the pleasure of dog-sitting my “grand dogs” from time to time, I’ve left Ruby’s food dishes in the kitchen and her bed is still in the middle of the living room floor for company. One of these days, I think I’ll be ready for another Golden.
What happened to my friend this weekend is inexcusable – it should never have happened. As my friend was innocently walking her sweet yellow lab, Nola. on the beach Sunday, a pit bull came out of nowhere and attacked Nola. Her screaming brought people running to try to get this vicious animal off the lab. A very brave man managed to grab hold of the pit bull and strangle it. Only then would the pit bull release its jaws to let Nola go.
What’s to be said for the owners of the pit bull who tried to escape the scene prior to the police arriving? Once the police arrived, the owners of the pit bull tried to tell the police that the lab attacked their dog. Onlookers quickly disputed their story. How do you defend yourself against this blatant abuse of privilege? Pepper spray, a gun …
I recently went to an open event in Galveston, hundreds of people, and there in the crowds were couples with their dogs, yes, even pit bulls. Is it a statement they’re trying to make? Is it defiance … Is it just because they can??
Nola is still at the vet, shots and antibiotics, a sprained neck and shoulder. No surprise, the pit bull had not been vaccinated against rabies.
GO’s Sand Bucket is only one beach bum’s journal of life at the beach, probably something each of you can relate to. Please feel free to email me with your thoughts, visions and/or feelings of just exactly what the beach means to you.
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I have written before on this subject that we witnessed happening to someone else and had to get involved with pulling three pit bulls off of a couples Golden that was just walking down the beach minding their own business and were attacked by 3 pit bulls. The pits came running from the dunes all the way across the beach to attack the dog. One of them was dragging a cinder block and the couple was caught in the middle of the fight. My son had to kick one of the pit bulls to get him off of the Golden and then the owner of the pit bull had the audacity to yell at my son for kicking his dog. Now I am not against pit bulls at all. There are numerous people in our family that have had them and they were great dogs. The incident below will prove that it is not always the dogs fault because of the breed but because the humans put the animals in situations that they are aware could cause a potential problem.
Then in 2012 on our yearly vacation my husband and I where walking on the beach around sunset it was not dark yet. Our dog which is a Boston Terrier was on a leash beside us at the edge of the water and she was attacked by two Akita dogs which once again were up by the dunes and supposedly were contained. They came running accross the beach attacked my Boston and my husband had to grab one of the dogs by the neck to pull it off of my dog.
She had a puncture wound in her neck from the dogs teeth and the grip it had on her. Once again the owners tried to act like it was not a big deal that their dog attacked my dog. The explanation that I got was well they are agressive dogs by nature. My response was why do you bring a dog you know is aggressive to a public place.
I called 911 and an officer came out and I did press charges.
My Boston Terrier is now afraid of all dogs. She will just freeze and start shaking violently when any dogs try to approach her. So even though her physical wounds have healed she will carry that fright with her forever.
This summer when we went for our yearly vacation I was watching everydog and looking at them as potential threats. So because of a few people who are not taking care of their responsibilty to the public. By protecting us and their animals from harming others are causing alot of us to be unable to go to a place that is supposed to be a happy relaxing atmosphere and enjoy it.
It is a sad thing that people who are responsible and take care of their pets are having to deal with this problem.
I say if you have an aggresive or potentially agressive animal leave it at home when you come to a public place. That way everyone can have a great time.
Thanks for highlighting this, Georgia. As you say, what happened was inexcusable, as was the attitude of the responding police. No ticket was handed out to the pit bull’s owners/handlers and both your friend and Nola were severly traumatized. I also understand that another bystander was bitten by the pit bull. The reported lack of sympathy and understanding on the part of the police makes you wonder just how far one of these attacks has to go before the authorities take action.