Pit Attacks Shih Tzu, Owner in MT

GREEN CREEK – A resident of the Delsea Woods Mobile Home Park said dogs from a neighboring lot came in his yard and attacked a shih tzu and its owner as he tried to rescue his dog.
Michael Danks said the attack came at around 1:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day, as he and a friend visiting from Virginia left Danks’ residence. Danks, who is disabled from a 1985 accident uses crutches, said he had gone out the gate when he was approached by three dogs – a German shepherd and two pit bulls. He said a large pit bull and a smaller pit bull ran around him, went into the yard. The larger dog, he said, took Gus, a 5-pound shih tzu mix, in its mouth and began to shake it. Danks said his friend, Greg Pote, grabbed his dog and tried to free it from the pit bull’s mouth. She said the pit bull ended up biting Pote on the arm, and with the other began pulling and dragging Pote on the ground.
“The one dog had him by arm and they knocked him down and were dragging him,” Danks said.
Danks said he started shooting the dogs with a water pistol he obtained to chase cats off his property, but the water pistol was ineffective.
“I never want to hurt an animal, so the only thing was to try to scare them with water,” Danks said.
When it was apparent the dogs were not going to release Pote, Danks hit them with crutch and the dog released the shih tzu but grabbed Pote’s arm in its mouth. He said after they got the little dog away the other dogs left the yard.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never seen a dog I couldn’t control. I am convinced that these dogs have done this before,” Danks said.
According to Danks, the Middle Township police came to the scene and while they were waiting for Middle Township Animal Control to arrive, the smaller pit bull wandered into the yard and they closed the gate. Danks said the larger pit bull was put in a crate and ceased to shown any aggression. He said the dogs’ owner arrived, asked what had happened, and apologized.
Gus the shih tzu mix was taken to Ocean View Veterinary Hospital for treatment, and Pote went to the emergency room at Cape Regional Medical Center for his injuries. Danks said he saw the pit bulls’ owner’s grandchildren playing with the dogs the next day.
“I don’t know why they would just return the dogs to the owner. I think people ought to be warned,” he said. “There are not too many things bother me but the fact that I couldn’t stop this dog in my yard bothers me.”
Danks said he owned a pit bull for 15 years.
Lt. Tracey Super of the Middle Township Police Department said ownership is one reason the dogs are returned to the owner. He said animal control is hesitant to seize a dog because they are property, which is protected under the Fourth Amendment. The exception is if the dog has a history of aggressive behavior; otherwise, “State rules require the impoundment of stray dogs, or dogs or other animals observed by an ACO to be ill, injured or creating a threat to public health. Impounded animals must be held for seven days at a facility licensed as a pound prior to adoption or euthanasia.”
Super said the biting dog did not have a history of being aggressive. He said Middle Township Animal Control issued a summons for a dog running at large and for an unlicensed dog. The summons will go before a judge who will make a determination in the case.