I'm feeling jilted by the police and animal control, but I've got a safety issue here...other ideas?

Question

We have a fenced backyard. On Monday evening, while I was out, a neighboring dog jumped fences to get into my yard. He is a shepherd mix (looks like pit bull). He mauled my dog, a corgi-terrier, to death. My back patio was covered in blood, the collars of both dogs, & my poor sweet dog’s mangled body. We’ve seen the said dog with a choker chain collar like the one we found on our patio…no tags. Our next door neighbors said they saw that dog in their yard the night of the attack. We confronted the owners of the suspect dog &, long story short, they got a deer in the headlights look & shut the door in our face. The police won’t do anything because a person wasn’t involved. Animal Control won’t do anything because we don’t have hard proof – no witnesses. There's 2 schools about a ¼ mile from my home. It's my understanding when a dog does this, it will do it again! Nothing I can do will bring back the lifelong friend I had in my pet, but I have to stop this from happening again!

I would never say it looks like a pit bull just b/c it did something violent. I'm not about that. It does, however, seem to resemble some pit features. My neighbors have stated similar opinions.

Answer 1

be careful of taking the laws into your own hands.. though it is making you upset that no one will do anything on your behalf, but don't take matters in your own hands and if you do be careful as the law will strange enough end up being on their side not yours :,)
So sorry to hear about the loss of your pet. To stir up some stuff go to these local schools and speak to the board members, though hard to do if the blood still stains the deck take pictures. Form a petition with this picture shown to all those asked if they want to sign and ask which scenario they'd rather see, childs shoes in the place of those collars which is evidentally your greatest fear since you mentioned the schools, their pets, or no blood at all? Good luck keep your cool and keep persistent.

Answer 2

Don't give up. Keep asking your neighbors if they saw or heard anything or have seen the dog since. I would calmly and rationally approach the neighbors and try to get them to admit ownership and identify the collar and then contact an attorney if they do. If you see it, call animal control for it to be picked up. No, you're right, it won't bring back your friend but people need to learn to be more responsible pet owners and should be held accountable when they aren't! What if you or a child had tried to intervene and been attacked? Where I live in VA there was an elderly lady (this was a year or so ago) who was outside with her little dog was attacked and killed by pit bulls who roamed the neighborhood in a rural area, and had killed many other dogs and cats. The elderly lady was found by her daughter and laid to rest with her little dog Buttons, whom was also killed in the attack. It is believed that she was trying to fend them off her little dog (her sole living companion, so of course her instinct was to protect it) when they turned on her. The owner had gotten many notices which she ignored. She was charged with some sort of manslaughter which set a precedent. Unfortunately, this gives pits a bad rap when really the owner is to blame for failing to follow local ordinances requiring that dogs be under owner's control at all times, not to mention her moral obligation to properly care for and discipline her animals. I've never heard of any localities that allow dogs to just run loose in the streets. The fact is that any dog of any breed can become aggressive and if they've done it once they'll do it again. Even a smallish dog could take down a child with verocity. That's happened twice in my area in the past year also.

Answer 3

First of all, I'm sorry for the loss of your dog, especially in such a horrifying way. I can't even imagine finding my baby like that. People have already given you plenty of options on what you can do. I hope you can find some sort of resolution. Unfortunately, it's likely the owner's fault for poorly training their dog.

That being said, however, PLEASE do not go around saying this dog is a pit bull unless you know that for sure. You describe it as a shepherd mix. Pit bulls are terriers, not shepherds. There's a good chance this dog is not a pit bull and your stating it is just because it's violent is doing nothing but perpetuating a very wrong stereotype.

Answer 4

I am sorry for the loss of your pet. Unfortunately the law recognizes your dog as property, therefore the only compensation you will be entitled to is the replacement value of your dog. The law is beginning to give animals more rights, but in this situation, where the dog is the agressor and another dog is the victim (as opposed to where one of the two is a human) an owner's only recourse is to sue the owner in small claims for the value of the dog. You will not get money for the emotional stress caused to you. However, if you do bring suit, there will be a record of the dog's history of violence - so if something happens in the future and the dog bites a human, the owners will be on the hook for any damages.

Answer 5

This is gonna sound stupid but I saw an episode of Law and Order the other night and the dog's owner is responsible for it's actions and also, find out about leash laws in your neighborhood and in the people who own the bad dog's neighborhood. If you can't get the cops to help out with legal proceedings immediately, then get the dog picked up by the pound because it was running loose and doesn't have a collar then work on the cops, these people are responsible for their animals and you lost something very precious and important to you because of them. Take hem down. I'm so sorry about your dog you must have trouble sleeping at night and cry all the time if my puppy, Elliot, died AND I had to see his body, I would fall apart. God Bless You. And remember all dogs go to heaven (with the possible exception of the evil one in question). Unless your Catholic and believe that dogs don't have sols and then, well, I'm sure you still believe all dogs go to heaven.

Answer 6

I am so sorry to hear of your loss, unfortunately I know how bad it hurts to lose a member of the family. You have a bad situation, without hard actual proof it is going to be hard to prove what happened. You could try a civil suit but all you can get for that is the cost of the dog. Most states do not recognize animals on an emotional level and will not award emotional damages. It would be hard to get any officials to do anything without someone actually witnessing said dog killing your poor dog. You should check your local ordinances inregard to leash laws or confinement laws, of your area has one every time you see your neighbors dog lose call animal control

Answer 7

The only suggestion I can make to you is what I did in a similar situation. I called the k9 partrol in my home town Bethel Ct. where we have a leash law. Your dog must be on a leash, or confined to your yard. I couldn't prove anything either. When the K9 folks came their dog was in their yard. So I kept my camera loaded and ready. I took pictures of the dog, in my yard, in my garbage, and with it's teeth showing full face. I could have had his dog taken away...but I didn't because of their kids. They had to pay a $50.00 fine a few times, there after, but once they saw the $ light...we never had the problem again! The dog is gone now, and they haven't gotten a new one. Just as well, they didn't know how to take care of it anyway.

Answer 8

I am soooo sorry first of all. The same thing happened with my chow. She's a really sweat dog and never hurt anyone. One day, my mom was walking her and the Cheif of Police's dog attacked my dog. Thank God it wasn't my mom but it was still devastating. I called the C.o.P. and he said he was going to pay for the bill but never did. I personally love police officers, I'm marrying one, but they also have stupid rules they have to follow. There are lots of stupid people out there that do vengefull things to their neighbors like try to get their dogs taken so they can't do anything unless there's proof. Unfortunately you can't do much. Also, don't blame the dog. It's the owners' fault that it like that. It should have been trained better. I know a lot of great pit bulls but they just need to be trained. Good luck and I'm really sorry about your doggy. PS: drop something in their yard with lots of hot sauce on it so the dog gets the runs really badly and they have to clean it up! Heehee!

Answer 9

What you need to do is take date/time stamped photos of the dog whenever he is not in his own yard. Call animal control every single time he is out...pester the hell out of them.

Ask your neighbors to write up a statement to turn into animal control stating that they have seen the dog loose, unattended, and running the neighborhood or in other people's yards. Sadly, this happened as well to the people across from my parent's, but we kept on animal control until the dogs were finally picked up.

I am so very sorry for your loss...that is horrific and devastating. Please feel free to email me for support, if ever you need it. You can email me through my website at http://www.libertydogtraining.com

In the mean time, to keep him out of your yard, I suggest putting up an electric fence (cheap from home depot, electric wire that you can run along the top or bottom, in your case, I'd do the top if he's jumping your fence, the bottom if he's digging in.) to protect your yard. I know this will not bring back your sweet dog, but at least it will keep this dog out of yours.

If you can't get anyone to pick the dog up, load him up and take him to animal control yourself and say you have seen him running loose for quite some time, and you were finally able to get him and bring him in.

Good luck, and again, I am so very sorry for your loss. I wish I could help/do more for you, but it is a very difficult situation. Just cover your bases, and do what you need to do. Express your concerns to neighbors, that there pets could be next, and if this dog is left to run the neighborhood at will, and is not trained, then there is the potential for him to attack/kill a child or an adult even.

Answer 10

You could follow the suggestion of another of your answerers and put this info out on the radio/television locally; even the newspaper. Places like this are always looking for 'human interest' stories, and the story of losing your dog right before the holidays is the kind of story they are looking for. other than that, i would try to keep an eye on the dog in question and call animal control immediately if you see it running loose. I would also call the Humane Society and the ASPCA about the situation and see if they have any other ideas.