Attacked by a pit bull

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New member
Molly and I were enjoying a day at the disc golf course when someone's pit puppy got away from them and ran across the field to attack Molly. I stuck my hand between them and got bit too.

Intellectually, I know you're not supposed to try to get between fighting dogs, but I didn't even think about it.

I know; pics or it didn't happen ;)

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I took Molly to the vet right away. She has a few small puncture wounds and one big laceration on her right hindquarters. My hand is pretty beat up. She's going to be fine; has to take antibiotics, anti-inflammatory meds, and needs a hot compress a few times a day. I'm going to the doctor in about an hour and a half to get my hand checked (it feels like at least one of my metacarpals is broken).

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I'm not mad at the guy who owned the dog; it was a puppy reacting to instinct and got away from him. It happens. He was very responsible about it though and gave me all his info. I called from the vet to get his dog's vaccinations records and he got his dad and vet involved (the dog is up-to-date on its shots, thankfully). They're going to take care of all the bills.

I'm just worried this is going to traumatize molly against being the social butterfly that she is.

So... anyone know the best way to get fighting dogs apart?

edit: you can't really see it in the pics, but both Molly's leg and my hand are very swollen around the bites right now.
 
Dude, your hand is fucking HUGE!



I don't think there is a good way to get fighting dogs apart. I've heard people say water but I've also seen dogs fighting while being sprayed with a hose. Maybe it depends on the dog.

I've found the dog's collar to be a pretty successful way of distracting it in a fight. Get your hand under it and twist it so the dog begins to choke and gag. Usually when the gagging kicks in they move into self preservation mode and shift their focus away from whatever they were attacking.

Though sometimes the focus then becomes you so depending on the dog, you've got to take that into consideration.

But yeah, sorry to hear about your run-in. I hope Molly isn't too traumatised.
 
Ish! that's horrible, luckily it was just a pup. Glad you and Molly are okay :hug2:
Although it was wrong of you to go between, it was rather heroic..Pitbulls even as pups can be pretty dangerous.

There isn't really any sure way of keeping that kind of dog attacking, the only things I can come up with are loud noice(that molly is familiar with) like some horn or something, tranquilizer or a pepperspray..or then the ultimate= a responsible owner of a vicious dog(I know they are nice dogs, but there are stupid people who raise dogs wrongly). Maybe you should take Molly to a dogpark or somewhere where she can meet other dogs again and asap get that "all dogs=not evil".


oh and svens gag advice is pretty good too :D
 
stardust- as soon as her wounds heal that's the first place we're going. They had to leave the wound open for now since it's probably full of bacteria. They're going to check again in a week and see if she needs stitches.
 
Yeah, i've heard horror stories about pit bull owners (like how their dogs are usually nicer than they are), but this guy and his dad were very cool; they both called about half an hour ago to make sure Molly was ok.
 
Just conjecture, but it seems like if you were to lift the dogs up off the ground they wouldn't be able to push at each other / pull away from their owners. Could two people grab their chest area and lift them up and away from one another? Too dangerous?
 
The mechanics of a pit bull's head/jaws are such that they lock on and stay on. It's what they were bred to do. Pits are also bred to withstand immense amounts of pain, particularlly around and about their heads, the first place you'd think to strike. The underside of a dog's jaw is really sensitive... the downside to trying to either press and/or strike the area is that it's rather close to the teeth...

If you're really adventerous, if you shove your hand or something else down their throat, they'll gag and immediately have to let go, but again, the teeth thing sort of prevents that.

53V3N's idea about choking the piss out of them is probably close to being right, but some dogs won't release even then, and choking could take a while to take effect, and in such a situation, seconds count.
 
Most dogs' windpipes are protected by a lot of muscle. If they are enraged, you can choke them, but it does take a long time, like you said.

I'm not really informed much about pulling dogs apart but I used to do a lot of reading on how to fight back if attacked yourself.... not sure how much that might help though. Dogs' teeth are designed curved back toward the throat to prevent you from doing what you reflexively do when bitten--pull away from them. It's easier to push AT them.

I read this and tested it on my Labrador, playing tug-of war with him with a foam bat(closest facsimile of a flesh arm I could find). I could pull and pull and pull and I'd never get it out of his jaws, but if I pulled on it and then suddenly lightly shoved it at him, it would slide towards his throat, even if he had his teeth really sunk in. If I had done it forcefully I could have jammed it down his windpipe and strangled him or seriously damaged the tissue.

Makes me wonder if that would be a viable strategy when trying to get a dog to let go of you or another dog. My own personal experiences seem to show that a dog doesn't have a lot of mechanics to stop you from continuing to forcefeed it if you're already in its mouth (we all know that it's a whole different story trying to force open a dog's mouth if its teeth are closed! :) )
 
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that's what they look like. That in mind, I recommend against the windpipe thing as getting the arm back out (even if it's not biting anymore) is going to be a bitch.

Edit: also they don't feel less pain, they're just one of several kinds of dogs that tend to ignore it to complete whatever task it is they're currently carrying out (wiki).
 
From my reading, the best method is to grab the aggressive dog's back legs and lift, then back away slowly. They can't bite you then and as long as you keep moving they have to move with you.

The doc was worried about infections, but said nothing was broken. The scraped up finger was the least worrisome. The puncture on the right side (below my little finger) went all the way to the bone, but didn't crack it. The one between me 2nd and 3rd knuckles almost went all the way through. I'm on broad spectrum antibiotics now, and I had to get a tetanus booster (got pneumonia and flu vaccines while I was there).

My finger had stopped hurting until the nurse decided it needed cleaning again. What a pain that was.
 
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