Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Pit bulls fight off invaders

In the Ottawa Sun came this great story how the new year turned from disaster for this 68 year old man thanks to his two dogs.

Pit bulls fight off invaders
Tue, January 2, 2007
By CP

LONDON, Ont. -- A 68-year-old London, Ont., man has his two pet pit bulls to thank for thwarting an overnight home invasion.

Tony Therrien says was working at his computer around 1 a.m. New Year's morning when he heard a knock at the door to his apartment.

He was surprised to see a stranger in a mask, along with a second man waiting in the hallway.

The attacker knocked Therrien to the floor, but that's when Phoebe and Rusty came to the rescue, attacking the two men.

The surprised intruders then fled on foot, leaving Therrien with minor injuries.


Police say they are looking for two men, both believed to be in their 20s.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course this should be a great story. And it would be if the dogs were retrievers or something. But I'm sure the pitbull hysterics will say this only goes to prove how dangerous pitbulls are. "It could've been a child knocking on the door at 1AM. Won't anyone think of the children?"

Anonymous said...

Children knocking on the door of a mans house at 1 am? Not likely.. But still, you're right. I'm dissapointed that this was nothing more than just a blurb but that's the media for you. Go Rusty and Phoebe!

Conners said...

It wasn't because of the knocking of the door. Read it again. It says, 'The attacker knocked Therrien to the floor, but that's when Phoebe and Rusty came to the rescue, attacking the two men.'
That shows me the dogs came running to protect their owner 'after' the fact and I thinks that's pretty awesome.

Anonymous said...

Uh.....my point was that the people who hate pitbulls would say these dogs are vicious, and this only proves it. They'd ask what if a child had been at the door, then they'd leave it at that. [I was pointing out the silliness of that argument by mentioning the fact it was 1AM.]

Maybe I'm so jaded I can always hear the sarcastic jabs from dog haters playing inside my head? Of course this is a terrific story of loyalty and bravery on the part of those dogs. I'm confident my own dog wouldn't have had the moxy.

Anonymous said...

It is hard to stay positive some times. When I told my friend I was going to get a bully she was like "May I suggest a different breed? Why don't you get a nice retriever or something? My aunt was attacked by a Pit Bull." And it didn't matter to her how much good there was about bully breeds, she didn't even recognise that there were different breeds - to her they were all "Pit Bulls" and they were all vicious. *sighs* I wish people were made responsible for their actions. They're destroying these breeds.

Conners said...

Don't I know it. I went to ACC to get Shasta's 2007 dog license and brought in my papers. Owners of Pit bulls have to appear in person with two recent mug shots of their dog(s), up-to-date rabies statement, plus they send bullie owners a form to fill out with full discription, age, etc. and you fill it all in and sign it.
Once that was all processed, I then brought out all her certified service dog papers and certificates. Service/Guide dogs are N/A.
Well, that is unless ACC is totally stumped and never came across that situation before. I did pay, but the told me to contact a certain person at London City Hall and check with him if I should receive a refund.
Naturally, I had to wait until after the new year when City Hall finally opened and rather than phone him, I took my chances of going right there and seeing if I could see him then.
Within seconds he came out and I explained the situation to him noting that I was NOT trying to get out of the leashing and muzzling of her as the law requires, but only wanting what we rightfully should have and that was an exemption same as any service/guide dog.
I'm still waiting to hear from him. Why? Because my certified service dog happens to be a restricted dog in Ontario.
If she's earned all that is required for a certified service dog regardless of breed, we shouldn't have any problem getting the N/A with the license...so why am I still fighting for it? Because of BREED! grrrr...

Anonymous said...

Conners! You freaking go, girl!!!!!!!!!!

Sock it to 'em!

Conners said...

Yeah, what a way to ring in 2007... fighting for my rights AGAIN!!! ROFL
The truth is I could fight for an exemption from the muzzle with my doctors because of some of the jobs Shasta does for me, mainly in Alert and Responce, but I don't want to go after that and the reason being, it's my way of fighting against the breed ban.
How much more effective it is for people to see a restricted dog muzzled and in a service vest where ever we go.
We get so many POSITIVE remarks towards Shasta and a lot of angry remarks about the stupidity of the breed bans and how the recourse should be on irresponsible owners and not the dogs.
I believe that Shasta working with her muzzle makes a HUGE STATEMENT. This is what we need for an eye opener.

Anonymous said...

Yes! I agree!! How stupid is it to force certified therapy, assistance, and service dogs to be muzzled, when most agencies that certify such dogs put them through rigourous testing?

That reminds me though, that I no longer support org's like St. John Ambulance and Superdogs. Both turned their backs completely on their members with pitbulls. It would have been so much more effective to say either we conduct our business according to the standards we've put forth to date, or we don't do business in those areas that obviously don't want (all of) us there.

Imagine a big press release from St. John Ambulance cancelling their therapy dog visits because of Ontario's law or the laws of any inidivual city. Imagine Superdogs organizers taking a public stand against performing anywhere they can't include all their members. That would have been so helpful and simply the right thing to do. But they didn't. They dropped any dogs that looked like pitbulls so they could keep doing business. So while I'm sure the individuals in those organizations with the pitbulls were understanding, I am not. I'm angry at the lack of concern. The betrayal. I even sometimes feel hurt that my friends and family don't seem to really care that I no longer have the same constitutional protections that they do. They think it's just a dog thing. But it's a constitutional thing.

Conners said...

Yes, I know. I wanted to share Shasta with the community from all she had given and taught me. I contacted St Johns and they thought Sasta and I would make ideal canadates, but first I must put her through their training at my expense.
Although I couldn't afford it being on disability, it was like a dream come true and I decided I would get her in the training somehow.
It wasn't much later that I received an email advising me that all the bullie breeds were being pulled out of the program due to Bill 132 and it hadn't even passed yet. A dream shatter by a bill that still wasn't even passed.
During the hearings where they there to fight against Bill 132? NO!
A couple months later I received an email asking if we would visit with a woman at her home that was requesting a larger dog. I was stumped since we had never completed training plus because of her breed so I emailed them back asking.
The responce was short. "This was sent to you accidently." That was it. No appology, only an abrupt email.
Prior I was disappointed, but now I was angry. These same people who were emailing me constantly suddenly stopped and the one email I did get made me feel like I had suddenly contracted a dangerous disease that I shouldn't even be spoken to.
I did take Shasta into a seniors home in a small town and the retired local dog catcher couldn't believe his ears when I told him she was on the restricted list. This was before she had to actually wear her muzzle. He fell head over heal in love with her and asked if I was ever in town again would I bring her back. I didn't think he was ever going to give me back her leash as she sat calmly by his side. LOL
She would have made a wonderful therapy dog and it's their loss.