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Pit Bulls Kill Man, Woman In Michigan
The Indy Channel ^ | September 14, 2007

Posted on 09/14/2007 5:04:52 AM PDT by Abathar

DETROIT -- An elderly man and a woman were mauled to death by pit bulls in Iosco Township, Mich., on Thursday afternoon, police said.

Michigan State Police were called to a farm and found a 90-year-old man mauled to death by dogs.

The Iosco Sheriff’s Department said the man’s 70-year-old son went to check on his father, who was visiting the property, and found him dead in the yard.

Police said there were still pit bulls in the yard when the son arrived.

Upon further investigation, MSP found dogs had also fatally mauled a 56-year-old woman who was jogging, just west of the property.

Investigators confiscated 10 pit bulls from a nearby residence.

MSP said there are still some dangerous dogs at large in the area.

The deaths are still under investigation by MSP.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: bopma; breedmisidentified; breedofpeace; doggieping; dogofpeace; msmdoesitagain; pitbull; preciouspooch; rdo
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Wow, I use to rent a duplex around the corner from there years ago. Never heard of something like that happening back then like you do now either.
1 posted on 09/14/2007 5:04:53 AM PDT by Abathar
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To: Abathar

Oh, but they are such good dogs.


2 posted on 09/14/2007 5:07:48 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Abathar

Islam = “Religion of Peace”
Pit Bulls = “Dogs of Peace”


3 posted on 09/14/2007 5:08:59 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: Brilliant

I saw a bumper sticker the other day, on a big ole red pickemup....had a picture of a pit, with the slogan, “Blame the deed, not the breed”.


4 posted on 09/14/2007 5:11:09 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (...forward this to your 10 very best friends....)
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To: DieHard the Hunter

Anyone who has 10 pit bulls has raised them to fight and kill.


5 posted on 09/14/2007 5:14:44 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: ErnBatavia

Yeah, but when was the last time you heard about an incident with a dog attack where it wasn’t a pit bull? I honestly can’t remember.


6 posted on 09/14/2007 5:15:56 AM PDT by The Ghost of Rudy McRomney ("We just can't trust the American people to make the correct choices."-Hillary)
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To: Brilliant
My pit bull is so gentle. It would nurse my children and when done with that do some volunteer work at the church. < /sarc>
7 posted on 09/14/2007 5:17:39 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (May the heirs of Charles Martel and Jan Sobieski rise up again to defend Europe.)
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To: ErnBatavia
“Blame the deed, not the breed”.

Fine. I don't blame the breeding of the rednecks, peckerwoods, backwoodsmen, boors, bumpkins, clods, clodhoppers, clowns, corn-fed's, country boys, country cousin's, hayseeds, hicks, hillbillies, jakes, mossbacks, peasants, rubes, rurals, wahoos, yokelands, and "gangstas" who own pit bulls.

I blame them for owning pit bulls.

8 posted on 09/14/2007 5:20:01 AM PDT by Crawdad (I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no class.)
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To: KarlInOhio

There are a lot of other kinds of dogs that don’t do such things. Why not have those instead? What is the lure of a dog that kills innocent people?


9 posted on 09/14/2007 5:25:05 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: The Ghost of Rudy McRomney; Crawdad

For the record, I think the breed should be eradicated. It was so stereotypical seeing the sticker on the redneck truck.


10 posted on 09/14/2007 5:27:37 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (...forward this to your 10 very best friends....)
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To: Abathar

The local newspaper had a story this morning about two loose pit bulls killing a Yorky while a guy was taking it a walk.


11 posted on 09/14/2007 5:28:37 AM PDT by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: Brilliant

<< Oh, but they are such good dogs. >>

Yep.

Until they kill someone.


12 posted on 09/14/2007 5:28:55 AM PDT by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: Abathar

I used to get that load of b.s. all the time from my neighbor who owned pit bulls. She was always telling me what wonderfully gentle dogs they were and how my threat to shoot them if they ever got through the fence and into my yard again was completely unreasonable. Then about a month ago one of her “loving and gentle” dogs, that she’d had for years, decided to try to take her right arm off, and the others joined in.

She’s out of the hospital now, and the dogs are gone. Imagine that.


13 posted on 09/14/2007 5:29:02 AM PDT by Lucretia Borgia (Who ever said the pen is mightier than the sword never met automatic weapons.)
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To: The Ghost of Rudy McRomney
Yeah, but when was the last time you heard about an incident with a dog attack where it wasn’t a pit bull? I honestly can’t remember.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_396850.html

Time to ban Miniature Poodles

14 posted on 09/14/2007 5:30:27 AM PDT by Long Island Pete
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To: Abathar

I can’t imagine the horror of these people being ripped apart by dogs. No one jogging down the street or picking weeds in their yard should be subject to this. The natural liberal reaction is to call for bans, restrictions, etc. which I disagree with but the person responsible for this should face life in prison or even the death penalty if he knowingly trained them to kill.

The next question is who let the owner have that many big, violent dogs? I thought everyone had to register dogs at the town hall. Didn’t the Animal Control Officer think “hmm 10 pitbulls, maybe I should check that out”?

Just another news story that reminds me to pack heat more often just in case.


15 posted on 09/14/2007 5:31:46 AM PDT by ParaVet93
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To: ErnBatavia

I agree, the breed should be eradicated, but then the gangstas would probably just start converting another breed to violence and fighting. Around here, they passed a law that you can’t own more than one, which is at least something.


16 posted on 09/14/2007 5:33:01 AM PDT by The Ghost of Rudy McRomney ("We just can't trust the American people to make the correct choices."-Hillary)
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To: Long Island Pete

I’d be all for that! Poodles are some of the meanest dogs I’ve ever encountered.

We can ban labs too:

http://www.carmelpinecone.com/070810-4.html

but it killed a maltese, which is barely a dog, so maybe it’s ok to keep them.


17 posted on 09/14/2007 5:34:49 AM PDT by Hoodlum91 (I support global warming.)
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To: ErnBatavia
Agreed.

Its a breed gone bad. Any singular pit can be raised to be gentle and friendly; but its the "bent" of the breed, and its natural inclinations.

These DOP's are not unlike the ROP. Humans that have been raised over 7 centuries to kill others. Many ROP'ers have been raised to be tolerant of others and friendly to infidels. But, as the DOPs, its the bent of their breed - to slice off the heads of others.

18 posted on 09/14/2007 5:35:58 AM PDT by C210N
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Don’t worry, “my dog doesn’t bite.”

ALL dogs should be chained or leashed so that they do not even inconvenience or annoy, let alone attack, people who are not their owners. People are more important than animals.

19 posted on 09/14/2007 5:36:29 AM PDT by Godwin1
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To: Godwin1
Don’t worry, “my dog doesn’t bite.”

I thought you said your dog does not bite!

That is not my dog...

20 posted on 09/14/2007 5:40:07 AM PDT by Last Visible Dog
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To: sensible centrist from NH

Here’s another story with more details — sounds like a pack of stray dogs was roaming the area.

Second dog attack leaves two

Dog pack mauls jogger, 56, man, 91, in Livingston, day after Rottweiler kills baby.

George Hunter and Valerie Olander / The Detroit News

Vicious dogs attacked and killed two more people Thursday afternoon, even as police were continuing to probe the of a 4-month-old child who died the previous day when a Rottweiler pounced on her during a party at a private home in Warren.

In the Thursday incident in rural Iosco Township in Livingston County, police said a 91-year-old man and a woman, 56, who was apparently a passing jogger, were set upon by a marauding pack of at least 10 dogs on Crofoot Road.

Alex Gierlach, who also lives on Crofoot, said Thursday night that it was his brother Ed Gierlach who died in the attack.

...

Police have not confirmed the breed of dogs involved in the attack.

A relative of Gierlach’s on the scene said the jogger’s body was found about 100 feet from the house where Gierlach lived.

State Trooper Jeff Frasier said the dogs were rounded up after the attack and taken to the Livingston County Animal Shelter. Police said the dogs were found at a residence in the area.

Kelly King, a neighbor on nearby Elliot, said she had seen two stray dogs, a Doberman and a pit bull, on her street several days ago, and was concerned for the safety of her own pets.

Thursday’s attack comes a day after the of Kylie Cox in Warren. The baby was attacked Wednesday in a private home by a Rottweiler.

The dog was put to Thursday afternoon while relatives grieved for the infant.

The baby’s 17-year-old mother, Alexis Cox, left the child in the living room about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday to go into the kitchen to prepare the baby’s formula, “and the dog came out of nowhere,” said Kimberly Sundman, Alexis Cox’s aunt.

...

Dog was aggressive before

Chopper, the 120-pound Rottweiler who mauled Kylie, was euthanized by lethal injection at the Macomb County Animal Shelter, Chief Animal Control Officer Susan Jeroue said.

After the attack, the dog’s owner told police Chopper had been aggressive with children on at least one other occasion. Sundman said Alexis Cox was only a casual acquaintance of the dog’s owner.

Police are considering whether to bring charges against Alexis Cox, or the dog’s owner. Detectives Thursday were re-interviewing people who were at the party, Warren Police Sgt. Louis Galasso said.

...

“What presents somewhat of a problem is, we don’t know exactly who knew what. We know there was a party at the house, but the mother of the baby didn’t live there, and neither did the owner of the dog. So we don’t know if the mother even knew there was a dog at the house.”

...

According to Galasso, Kylie’s mother, who was not identified by police, brought the baby to the party still strapped to her car seat. When the woman left the living room to make formula for the baby, the 2-year-old dog suddenly attacked the child, Galasso said.

The dog pulled Kylie from the car seat and began violently shaking her, Galasso said. The 15 guests in the home began kicking the dog in an effort to get it to release the baby. The owner of the dog was finally able to free Kylie from its jaws, and the was taken to St. John Oakland Hospital, where she was pronounced of massive head trauma.

...


21 posted on 09/14/2007 5:40:39 AM PDT by WL-law
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To: Brilliant

The lure of the Pitt Bull is that they are tough, mean and generate a ton of respect. They are typically owned by people who are neither tough nor generate any respect but desperately want to have those qualities.


22 posted on 09/14/2007 5:42:15 AM PDT by Eagles Talon IV
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To: Abathar

It is insane not to consider any pit bull a danger. It’s double insanity not to consider an unknown pit bull doubly dangerous.


23 posted on 09/14/2007 5:46:38 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain And Proud of It! Those who support the troops will pray for them to WIN!)
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To: Lucretia Borgia
She’s out of the hospital now, and the dogs are gone. Imagine that.

Good story.

24 posted on 09/14/2007 5:49:04 AM PDT by Aquinasfan (When you find "Sola Scriptura" in the Bible, let me know)
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To: Brilliant
Depending on whose statistics you takes there are between 500,000 and 800,000 dog bites annually that are severe enough to require ER treatment. Not all are cause by pit bulls; however, a study came up with the following:
"According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74% of attacks that were included in the study, 68% of the attacks upon children, 82% of the attacks upon adults, 65% of the deaths, and 68% of the maimings. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question. "
So while pit bulls aren't the only dogs that cause injuries they rank right up at the top. Other troublesome breeds were german shepards, chows, huskies, and dobermans.

One way to combat the problem is to charge the dog owner for the crime that his dog commits. If the dog bites someone charge the owner with aggrevated assault. If the dog kills someone charge the owner with murder. You can't just sue the owners, because most of them are judgement proof.



The study was http://www.dogbitelaw.com/Dog%20Attacks%201982%20to%202006%20Clifton.pdf

25 posted on 09/14/2007 5:54:06 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government, Benito Guilinni a short man in search of a balcony)
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To: DieHard the Hunter

Someone forgot to tell those two that pits are really gentle creatures who wouldn’t hurt a flea and have never acted aggressively before in their lives. They must have just snapped because these two dead people provoked them before the attacks.


26 posted on 09/14/2007 5:54:38 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Lucretia Borgia

Nothing like getting smacked upside the head with reality to make some people listen.


27 posted on 09/14/2007 5:56:33 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Godwin1
Keeping a dog chained is the surest way to make it vicious, even if it wasn’t before.
28 posted on 09/14/2007 5:57:00 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: xzins

If my neighbor brought one home, it’d be gone in a week.


29 posted on 09/14/2007 6:01:47 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Go Hawks !)
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To: from occupied ga

The problem is that a jury won’t convict an owner usually for this kind of thing, and also, in many cases the owner really did have little warning that the animal was dangerous. I do think that prohibiting the breed is something that should be considered. We don’t let people keep tigers or wolves. Granted that pit bulls are not tigers or wolves, but they are quite dangerous nevertheless. People who like pit bulls should just get used to liking a different breed. There are plenty to choose from.


30 posted on 09/14/2007 6:03:00 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Eagles Talon IV

> The lure of the Pitt Bull is that they are tough, mean and generate a ton of respect. They are typically owned by people who are neither tough nor generate any respect but desperately want to have those qualities.

I understand they are particularly fond of radiator Kool-Aid...


31 posted on 09/14/2007 6:03:14 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: KarlInOhio
when done with that do some volunteer work at the church.

That's what it wanted you to think. All that time it was boning the pastor's prize french poodle!

32 posted on 09/14/2007 6:05:22 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Hunter 2008)
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To: Aquinasfan
Good story.

Not while it was happening, according to my other neighbor who witnessed it. There was a lot of screaming and blood, and the daughter who found mom being used as a chew toy is probably going to have some issues.

33 posted on 09/14/2007 6:06:10 AM PDT by Lucretia Borgia (Who ever said the pen is mightier than the sword never met automatic weapons.)
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To: WL-law

OMG....how sad. Pit Bulls should be OUTLAWED.


34 posted on 09/14/2007 6:06:32 AM PDT by Suzy Quzy (Hillary '08...Her PHONINESS is REAL!!!)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Not necessary. Just send a dog you want to get rid of over to visit with the neighbor’s dog, and when the pit bull tears him to bits, call animal control.


35 posted on 09/14/2007 6:07:14 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant
This must be a mistake, I have it on good authority from many of the members of this forum that pitbulls are just big cuddly pets and wouldn't hurt a fly. Society must be to blame here.
36 posted on 09/14/2007 6:08:10 AM PDT by tupac
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To: Abathar

Sounds like another dogfighting ring.


37 posted on 09/14/2007 6:10:57 AM PDT by popdonnelly (Our first responsibility is to keep the power of the Presidency out of the hands of the Clintons.)
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To: Lucretia Borgia

I am glad she survived, and the story is a familiar one.

In an English journal, a writer commented that people get a Pitt Bull, and find them to be likeable and normal. “But then one day the dog’s eyes go glassy, and it springs its big surprise.”


38 posted on 09/14/2007 6:11:44 AM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: Brilliant
The problem is that a jury won’t convict an owner usually for this kind of thing, and also, in many cases the owner really did have little warning that the animal was dangerous. I

They won't convict if the owner is never charged which seems to be the pattern. They should be charged and brought to trial every time. If they get off, then they get off, but I suspect that someone whoe dogs mauled a person and was facing 5 years in prison even if he/she wasn't found guilty would think twice about owning that sort of dog again, and it might just put a damper on other vicious dog lovers as well

Read the link to the pdf file about how pit bulls are far and away the worst about injuries. I would think that just the fact of ownership of a pit bull would be enough to legally say that the owner knew the dog was dangerous.

39 posted on 09/14/2007 6:12:27 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government, Benito Guilinni a short man in search of a balcony)
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To: Lucretia Borgia

great story


40 posted on 09/14/2007 6:13:50 AM PDT by SunnyUsa (I'm not one of those "who are we to judge?" people)
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To: tupac

I have to wonder a bit about the mentality of people who keep these plug-ugly sticks of dynamite as pets.


41 posted on 09/14/2007 6:13:55 AM PDT by popdonnelly (Our first responsibility is to keep the power of the Presidency out of the hands of the Clintons.)
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To: KarlInOhio; dennisw; aculeus; dighton; martin_fierro; Lijahsbubbe
My pit bull is so gentle. It would nurse my children and when done with that do some volunteer work at the church.

When he's not babysitting the children, he's volunteering his time at a local charity.


42 posted on 09/14/2007 6:15:46 AM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
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To: from occupied ga

Nah, I don’t think so. The problem is that despite all the chatter about it not being the dog’s fault, but rather the owner’s fault, you really can’t convince a jury of that.

And any smart lawyer is just going to point out that yorkies and labs don’t often kill, so that it must be the breed’s fault. And it’s not illegal to own the breed, so if that is the only thing the owner did wrong, how can he be convicted?


43 posted on 09/14/2007 6:16:34 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: xzins

I agree with you completely.


44 posted on 09/14/2007 6:18:15 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: KarlInOhio
My pit bull volunteers at the homeless shelter, and also makes time to counsel troubled teen runaways.

/sarc

Then he eats them.

45 posted on 09/14/2007 6:22:14 AM PDT by -=SoylentSquirrel=- (Coffee: My lower digestive system will not toil without it..)
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To: Brilliant
Nah, I don’t think so.

You might not think so, but they're rarely charged. The one exception around here that I remember happened last year when a pair of pit bulls attacked a child. The woman who owned the dogs wasn't doing anything until a neighbor ran into his house and got a gun and shot the dogs. She then attacked him screaming "don't hurt my dogs - don't hurt my dogs" he shot her too. She was charged with attacking him.

46 posted on 09/14/2007 6:22:25 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government, Benito Guilinni a short man in search of a balcony)
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To: from occupied ga
Other troublesome breeds were german shepards, chows, huskies, and dobermans.

I have heard that cocker spaniels are one breed that is likely to cause problems for mail carriers. They also look like they have strong jaws.

47 posted on 09/14/2007 6:23:36 AM PDT by stayathomemom
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
I will give the dog the benefit of the doubt as long as it is on their property and penned in somehow. If the dog showed aggression towards me or mine, then it will be gone.

I will never trust my kids around it if all that is keeping it in their yard is a invisible fence either, if not a tall sturdy fence then I consider it running loose when children are involved.

48 posted on 09/14/2007 6:23:50 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Abathar

49 posted on 09/14/2007 6:24:26 AM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: The Ghost of Rudy McRomney

my wife was attacked by a rott.
one of my friends was attacked by a german shepherd.

don’t know anyone personally that’s ever had a problem with a pit bull- more likely rotts or german shepherds.
we’ve got a number of pitbulls in my neighborhood, and my daughter can walk up to any one of them and pet them. its the black lab across the street that scares me.


50 posted on 09/14/2007 6:24:54 AM PDT by absolootezer0 (stop repeat offenders- don't re-elect them!)
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