Apparently the dogs were a couple of stray pit bulls. How is it possible to have pit bulls, or any other vicious dogs wandering around a town unattended.

Society has gone to hell when they get to the point that animals, especially dogs have more rights than humans. Its time for stricter control of animals.

I for one am sick and tired of dogs crapping all over the Country and owners sky gazing while the act takes place, so they don’t have to pick up their crap. I am especially pissed off a people who walk their dogs and allow them to crap in school yards or playgrounds.

All the best to this couple, I hope for a speedy recovery.
The owners of these dogs should be shot too. Sadly, they’re probably going to turn out to be of the pitbull variety, further stigmatizing these amazing dogs who used to be called the nanny breed. Any dog can be bad, it’s the owners who are at fault if they don’t take the appropriate steps to train and deal with any behaviour issues as they may arise. Little dogs are the worse, they bite the most but it’s rarely reported because they don’t cause the same harm as a big breed. Google little/small dog syndrome.

I would suppose the dog’s owner will be charged with something very serious over this. Could have been manslaughter..

I think the dog owners should be charged, for raising such aggressive dogs. I am not referring to the breed of dogs either.

The dog should be put down, immediately at the owners expense as well. The fine should be not limited to lost wages, rehabilitation cost, and therapy costs.

The real moral to this story – carry a knife at all times. A “pit bull” type dog attacked a colt in its pen right in front of me. Jumped out of it’s owners truck, totally ignored all his pleas, chased down the colt who kicked and stomped it to no avail, and it eventually managed to lock onto the colt’s mouth and refused to let go.

We beat it with anything we could find, and it clung on. Eventually the owner grew a pair, came into the paddock, grabbed his dog, and ran back to his truck and put it in the truck bed that could be enclosed. Interestingly, his young child was in the truck, who moments before, he’d planned to leave alone with the dog, now suddenly, he’s not so sure his “nanny breed” is very nanny like.

I now carry a legal knife. Had I possessed a knife then, I could’ve dealt with it effectively. Fortunately the colt wasn’t permanently harmed, and the owner was incredibly apologetic.

I agree, pit bull’s generally are a product of their breeding and training, but this guy, was not some tattooed biker jerk, he was a regular guy, with kids, who thought his family pet was quite tame. Unfortunately that horse triggered some of the breeding instincts “pit bulls” possess, and it was just gone.

And because they’ve been bred to do maximum damage when biting, they are that much more dangerous. Little dogs do bite more often, but surgeons generally don’t have to fight to save your limbs, and usually a good kick will put them out of commission.

I read this twice. Where does it mention the dog’s breed.Rottweilers Dobermans even German Shepherds can be quite vicious

Okay the Prince George Citizen is saying it was 2 stray pitbulls.

Palopu spread an internet rumour about the breed in this case.

One should always have a blade for various reasons, and a bic lighter. These two items can and will save your life. In town i only carry a puny folding multi-tool. In the bush I will have three or more of various size and configuration. I try to avoid the tacticool nonsense, especially those silly tanto points that were designed to penetrate armour. I need to skin it, not stab it.

I have no idea wtf ski51 is on about a “legal” knife, as most knives are legal except for concealed fixed blades, one-handed opening and spears. One could literally walk down the street with a sword of any size as it is legal. It may provoke some questions, but it is not illegal.

I do agree that having a blade available in this situation may changed the outcomes, but besides the tool, the operator also needs the spine to do what needs to be done. In addition, the victims were in their own home so some such device shoulda/coulda/woulda been used if the victims had the presence of mind. In this case we are talking about urbane sheeple, not resilient, self-sufficient, and independent minded rural residents.

Wow! Jumping to quite a few conclusions aren’t we??
These “breed haters” are misinformed sheeple who love to jump on the bandwagon. What you have done is participate in racism here…without even knowing the breed of dog involved.
The 2 people who were viciously attacked are the focus of this story. Not only do I sincerely hope that they fully recover from this awful ordeal, but I also hope that the owners of these animals face the maximum penalty for what their animals caused.
It does not matter what breed of dog you have, if you mistreat it (or dont pay attention to the warning signs) you may be ultimately responsible for an attack. YOU, the dog owner are responsible. I have never, and will never keep an untrustworthy dog. In saying this I will tell you that I have owned many large breed dogs. The 2 pitbulls that I had over the years stand out as the most personable and stable dogs. Their breed takes a bad rap from unsavory types who shouldnt even own a shitzu, and from people who love to point out “dangerous breed” attacks while other common breed attacks go unnoticed.
Where does this story comment upon breed?

SKI51.. unless you have ninja-like reflexes and speed, that pig stabber you go on about carrying wont do much against any vicious dog. A large angry dog will be on you before you could think about pulling it. And the first thing any attacking dog will bite will be your flailing limbs. Good luck with that!
PS.. the most vicious, damaging attack I ever witnessed was by a Saint Bernard. Who hates Saint Bernards?

While we are on the subject of breed hating, does everyone cower from a German? A Russian? Let us not forget that generations of “Christians” participated in heinous toetures and genocide. They were essentially being bred and raised for years to go to war and wilfully kill and maime in the name of religion.
The early European breeds of “Pitbulls” were not bred for fighting. The stigma towards the “dangerous breeds” is nothing more than uneducated fear. I love all breeds of large dogs, and if raised properly they really are man’s best friend. STOP THE HATE, go after the bad owners. Bad parenting produces bad results…same idea.

Unfortunately the meatheads out there that are insecure and suffering from small man syndrome choose pit bulls to compensate for their deficiencies. Until we eliminate these losers from the gene pool pit bulls will be the breed associated with most attacks.

Again, the reason we’re saying pit bulls is the citizen has reported it that way.

Watchdog, I don’t have Ninja reflexes. But at least when the dog drags me down, and locks onto my arm or leg, I have an option. Without the knife, I have no option.

And Loki, what I mean by legal knife is a folding knife capable of killing a dog – and yes, I have no problem using it – I’ve lived on a farm, sometimes hard things have to be done, and I’ve done them.

Pit bulls vs German Shepherds. Pit bulls, if they decide to do something, nothing, including getting beat with a stick, will dissuade them. A German Shepherd can be beaten off.

Watchdog, you talk about your two dependable dogs, and that’s my point, this guy thought that’s what he had. He left his pre-school kid with the dog all the time. Then suddenly, it became wacko dog. That’s how these thing’s go. Every time we read one of these dog attack stories, we have a teary eyes owner saying the dog never did anything like that before. Pretty cold comfort to the person who got maimed.

Hespoke: Re-read, dogs are dead at scene.
Watchdog, think what Ski was trying to say is he would have killed the dog to get it off the colts mouth, and blade length, think you’ll find there will be a few questions raised if you’re walking around with a sword or machete, all depends on the circumstances.
Although my shepherd was trained well, I always kept a watch with visitors.
She did grab and hold once, when a person wanted to shake my hand.
And it is so right to blame the owners if a dog goes crazy, no matter how big, small, aggressive the animal is, the onus is on the owner to ensure the safety of others. Criminal Negligence is one charge that comes to mind.

Re: “breed haters”
Hmmmmm. Why is it whenever we read or hear about these kinds of stories it allways seems to involve pit bulls. Very seldom a maltese, shih tzu or poodle.

I suspect that there are two factors involved. Pit bulls may not be more prone to attack than other breeds, but the consequences of an attack are different because pit bulls are so strong.

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Mark Buehrle owns pitbulls. His family stays just across the border in New York state because pitbulls are banned from Ontario. I haven’t heard of such a ban in any other province or state.

The problem with pit bulls isn’t the dogs themselves, it’s that they have a certain reputation that makes them popular to own amongst the scum of the world. Said scum thinks it’s good to have a powerful dangerous dog and so they train them poorly or not at all. It’s the owner not the dog. Say it with me: it’s the owner, not the dog. The nicest dog I ever known was a pit bull, and the only dogs that ever bit me were two labs and a collie.

Well that is exactly the thing 15 inch. The ” scum of the world ” choose pit bulls for the dog of their choice, because this breed has the capability to do the bodily harm as in this story. Where as others breeds are simply incapable of doing this kind of thing.

We simply can’t ignore the fact that certain dogs were bred for certain purposes. In the most simplistic of terms, they were developed to be tools.

Some were bred to track things, some to retrieve birds, some to race, some to guard, some to fight, etc. These traits are engrained in their behaviour and they are there by design.

While responsible ownership can certainly help reduce risks, it’s impossible to simply turn off the decades and centuries of “programming” that has gone into making a breed what it is. Heck, that’s exactly why certain breeds are prized, because they excel at certain things as a result of that extensive “programming”.

If this wasn’t the case, people would be using pugs to fetch ducks and toy poodles to guard fenced compounds. The reality is that certain breeds are more predisposed to aggressive behaviour, due to the fact that they were developed for just that purpose. We shouldn’t be surprised by this, it’s common sense.

My brother in law was a big defender of the pit bull house-dog idea. He had a great one for 15-years that admittedly never hurt a fly, even though I never trusted it. His next one I trusted even less. I never trusted it because they had small children around and it just seemed reckless to me having a dog like that around children.

When his pit bull was around five year of age it snapped at my infant that was in my arms, and my niece grabbed it and I was seriously worried it would turn on her too. My brother in law refused to accept that his dog would do that and said it was always good around their kids. He figured I just hate pit bulls, so just don’t understand the animal. A few weeks later it went bizzerk and killed their cat. He seen the light and took it for a final ride in the country side the next day.

To me it was kind of a nightmare knowing what that dog was capable of and no one able to talk any sense into him because it was ‘tame and was not that kind of dog’. It was raised with kids and was never a penned up dog. It did everything with the family.

I fully agree with NMG on the breeding. Pit bulls and dobermans, rottweilers, simply can’t be trusted completely with kids around.

Myself I was attacked as a kid (maybe 8) by a loose Doberman that had me pinned down until my own dog a German Sheppard cleared the fence and came to my rescue. Another time about 12-years old I got attacked by a German Sheppard retrieving a ball from a neighbors yard and was saved by a crazy old lady with a broom from across the street. A few years later I had a poodle bite me in the hand and not let go when I bent down to pet it. I still have the scars from all three attacks. Some dogs just can’t be trusted.

I’ve had three main dogs in my life. A mixed large breed that live 22-years, and Golden Retriever that lived 16-years and both were great dogs that never wore a collar their entire lives and were admired as very smart dogs by everyone that met them.

I guess that makes me a hypocrite, but I firmly believe that breed matters and that the wrong breed can be akin to having a loaded gun laying around the house. When something like the above story takes place I think the owners should be as responsible for the actions of the dog as if they themselves had entered the home and inflicted that kind of harm on an innocent person. They had a choice when they choose the breed and choose the way in which it would be controlled.

IMHO

Loki. Get a grip. Palopu searched the story in the Alaska Highway News, Ft St John, where it was first reported, and where the reference to two (2) stray pit bulls were reported,.

I agree 100% with NMG and Eagleone on this issue,. A lot of dog owners know very little about dogs.

How did the dogs get into the couples home? That isn’t addressed in the story, which clearly does state that the dogs attached the couple in their home. I can understand if it was summer and the doors were open, however, one wouldn’t think doors would be open in this very cold winter weather. Hmmm.

Perhaps the pit bulls were tearing the cat apart outside and when the people opened the door to see what was going on the dogs got into the house?

@PrinceGeorge … that very well could be, thanks for trying an answer, apparently other were offended by a reasonable question …

What a traumatizing ordeal for this couple. They were terrorized. I am sure more information will come out, but thoughts and prayers for their recovery. Also, I hope there are counselling supports available for them. I would have nightmares for years without some help working through that type of vicious attack!

The couple opened their door to let in their dog, and the pit bulls ran through the door and attacked the cat. When they tried to get the dogs off the cat the dogs attacked them. The women was able to get into the bathroom and dial 911, however her husband was mauled. The cat survived and their dog seems to be ok.

There used to be in P.G. a dog catcher driving around looking for dogs roaming the streets and apprehending them! Haven’t seen anybody doing that for many years here!

Does the Fort have an animal control effort in place? I mean stray pit bulls (or other canines) running at large are a serious threat to the community! Just a little while ago a child was killed by a pack of dogs in a First Nations community!

What about bylaws requiring people to have their dogs on a leash while being outside? Obviously the dog that the people opened their door for was equally at large!

Have any of you ever rode your Bike down a Rural Road and Dogs of any Breed come charging out of the Driveway at you ? This is one of the times I wish I could tell the stupid Owners to keep the Dogs tied up !

Outwest . When I ride our back roads I carry a gas horn . It not only scares the crap out of the charging dog . It really hurts their very sensitive hearing , it alerts their owners and the whole neighbourhood . The next time you only have to show the dogs the horn and they run like hell . It also works for an incessant barking dog . The neighbour dog doesn’t give you peace and quiet . Why should they have any . Works a treat . My horns can bark a heck of a lot loader than any dog can . And refill canisters are cheap .

One more thing get the size that fits in the bottle holder for easy access . You can give a blast or two with out even picking it up .