Man Bites Dog…Dog Awestruck

October 1st, 2009. By Hunter West

Be warned. This story has teeth. 

What would be your reaction when you see a much larger and stronger dog (and a breed that carries the perception of being vicious) attacking a smaller, meeker dog? 

A: Scream.

B: Call the SPCA, or the Police

C: Attempt to pull them apart and stop the attack

D: Nothing

For a man from Saskatoon, a city located in Western Canada, there needed to be one more letter to that stack noted above. 

E: Bite Dog.

As in, give him a piece of his own medicine. 

Doggonit, if it didn’t work too.

Here’s the story, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Early in September Jonathon Schacher heard a scream outside his Saskatoon home and looked out to see a wayward pit bull terrier, wandering free and unrestrained, attack another dog belonging to his neighbor.

Schacher ran out to help. The more aggressive dog had its powerful jaws locked around the victim’s muzzle and just would not let go (as pit bulls are wont to do). Schacher tried to pull them apart, but to no avail. Prying the pit bull’s jaw open didn’t work either. 

He tried to really, really yank the pit bull off. Like really hard, y’know? 

No luck.

So what would a hardy Canadian living in a cold, western city forever immortalized by the Guess Who in “Running back to Saskatoon” do? 

Why, bite the sucker back. Which is what Schacher did. “I could just feel I needed to do something,” Schacher told the CBC. “So I bit the dog right on the nose.”

Schacher reported that the pit bull yelped in pain and loosened its grip on its victim (the other dog). Schacher was then able to pry the attack dog’s jaws apart, thereby releasing the smaller dog.

Now, whad’ya think that pit bull did next? Attack Schacher? You would be forgiven for thinking so, but you’d lose points on this one. For in reality that nasty old pit bull turned meek. “He just sat down and his tail started wagging,” Schacher told the CBC.  He added the attack dog started licking him in the face, seemingly in supplication.

In the end, the pit bull wandered off on his own, the neighbor’s dog survived and there is yet no report of Schacher contracting rabies or being nicknamed ‘Fang’ by his neighbors.

And Schacher’s response may have been to the extreme, bordering on foolhardy. The dog could have attacked him. He could have wound up with rabies. Lucky for him the pit bull suddenly believed that Schacher was its Alpha and caved in obedience.

But there’s a bigger issue here and it has nothing to do with the frequent trashing that pit bulls take in the media. Yes, they can be aggressive and are allegedly bred to be inclined that way. Plus if people don’t know what they’re getting into because they like the thought, or the image of themselves walking down the street with a pit bull or two pulling at their tattooed arms without knowing a lick about the breed, then don’t blame the dog. Blame the owner.

And where was the owner of this pit bull terrier anyway? Why was the dog not restrained on a leash, or in an enclosure? For that matter it was not revealed whether or not the dog belonging to Schacher’s neighbor was itself restrained. Perhaps it was just left to wander the property, allowing it to be vulnerable to any wandering pit bull out for a Sunday stroll without supervision and looking for some meat.

That’s the problem. And that’s how more dog attacks, and attacks on children happen—when a dog is not restrained and left to wander. If another dog, or a child wanders into (somehow) a secure enclosure containing another dog and an attack ensues, then I’m sorry but the child or the other dog has to shoulder some of the blame. A responsible owner takes reasonable steps to control and restrain his animal. If some other party does an end run around that control, then don’t blame the owner.

Conversely, if a dog is left wandering around and attacks another dog—or worse a child or an adult—don’t blame the dog. Blame the idiot who allowed the dog to wander in the first place.

Sadly, in cases like this the offending dog will be put down while an innocent victim is left emotionally and physically scarred—and all because some idiot doesn’t know what a leash looks like. 

Hey I don’t like pit bulls. I would never own one. But if you do, good for you. And this message is not just to owners of pit bulls, but any dog. Beagles. Pugs. Poodles. Chihuahuas, even. Keep them in the fenced-in backyard, or in the house. In the carrier. When they have to go walkies, use a bloody leash—even for Fiffi with the sculpted tresses dyed purple. 

Dogs are generally only as good as the Alphas (read owners) who train them, control them. All too often an attacking dog, be it a pit bull or Yorkie, takes the rap that should really be directed at the owner. 

It’s too bad Jonathon Schacher only bit the pit bull. Because it would have been better if he had tracked down the owner and bit HIM in the ass…

Tags: Dog Bite

This was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Lex Levity, Personal Injury . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.