Narrow Escape (Pit Bull)

I was walking a Great Dane puppy in a local park when a woman lost control of the Pit Bull she was walking. The Pit ran up to my pup and first just stood next to it. I realized this was an aggressive move by the Pit. I grabbed its collar just as it went for my pup's throat.

Getting my hand under the collar, I gave it a twist to tighten and choke the Pit while pulling him up and away from my pup. I still had my pup's leash in the other hand. I started yelling for her to get her f-ing dog, but she was scared. With no hands free to reach for my carry, I had no choice but to hang on until my wife got the pup's leash and got him away. By now, the woman has realized that I'm going to kill the Pit. I twisted harder on the collar and the Pit was choking. She finally picked up the Pit's leash and I told her to get the f... away with it right now. She tried weakly, but finally after me yelling at her enough, she got the hint that she needed to pull harder on the leash.

My pup was shaking but unharmed.

Lesson learned by me... I started carrying pepper spray attached to the leash. I realized that a dog would be hard to shoot and the possibility of injuring someone behind the target is a major concern. I'd have a good chance with pepper spray with the bonus of being easier to say "I pepper sprayed the dog" rather than "I shot the dog" to the police.

I've had other encounters with Pit Bulls... The rest have been controlled by the owner enough that I didn't have to do more than tell them to get control of their dog. While I have seen some that are very sweet dogs, some are just aggressive towards other dogs. A bigger dog, like one of my Danes, seem to be a threat to them even though the Dane isn't even paying any attention. I blame the owners for having dogs that they can't or won't train and control.

I've had many different dogs, including some German Shepards and Rottweilers... Never had one act like that. I always spent some time with training and they understood who was boss... and it wasn't them.