One thing I know, whether this is true or a hoax, is that dog attacks and fights *do* happen at dog parks. Most of what I do now is aggression rehabilitation, and a LOT of the clients have told me that they sought out training because their dog got into too many fights at the dog park, which their dogs started. Dogs weren’t injured in all of the cases, but certainly in a lot of them. People who owned the other dogs probably described them as ‘attacks.’ Note that the owners of the ‘attack dogs’ in my case are good people, who just happened to own dogs (of all breeds) with short fuses. If you do see a dog fight at the park, don’t jump to the conclusion that the people are bad. It’s just a dog thing. Help them work through this by politely saying, ‘hey, I know a good dog training place…want their name?”

Thanks very much for the info! I have one other observation. Our dogs, rat terriers all of 20 lbs and 10 lbs respectively, are always walked on leashes. They are also gentle and friendly. Often when walking through little or big Howe park on the top of Queen Anne, someone will have their large rambuncious dog off leash racing around the ball field. They call out, no worries that their dog is ‘Friendly’ and get insulted when we avoid them and walk a different way. Folks need to understand that an offleash large Friendly dog can cause injury – Without Meaning To- to a small leashed dog. In addition, dogs are dogs and No One knows how their dog will react in Every situation. We must each be respectful of one another’s choices.

I think Rosa might have missed the part where you say “Don’t assume that a pit bull at the park must be a fighter, as there are lots of good pit bulls” and acknowledge that most people simply assume (erroneously) that an aggressive dog is a pit. I *LOVE* pit bulls and related terriers; think they’re awesome dogs and wish people would get over their paranoia, but nefarious elements like these two dangerous people who appear to be using the dog park as a training ground for fighting dogs keep reinforcing the myth.

I hope the police apprehend these two lowlives soon, and take their dogs away from them for the safety of those animals and all the innocent dog park denizens just looking for a bit of fun and exercise.

I feel like it’s the right thing to do to mention what info we do have, so people can watch out and protect their dogs. Until we know for sure, we’re going to have to go based on the best information that’s available, and the description that best matches the dogs and the people. I also have a recent report from an attack in Edmonds from a Vet tech who is probably quite good at identifying breeds, and her descriptions matched what we already had.

Did I say ‘watch out for all pit bulls?” Of course not. Just the ones who perpetrated these attacks, and in particular, their humans, who are clearly terrible dog owners. When we say it’s the deed, not the breed, we also have a responsibility to acknowledge the deeds when they do happen. The most important feature of these attacks is not the breed of the dog. Any regular-sized dog can do this sort of thing, especially in a group of three. The key is that the owners should never have dogs again because of their blatant disregard for the well-being of dogs. The breed of the dogs, like the tattoos and the shaved head and the girlfriend, help us recognize the perpetrators, so it can’t be left out.

The real problem are the OWNERS not the dogs! The breed isn’t the issue – these dogs are being mistreated by their owners and are in need of help as much as the dogs that were attacked.

I understand this posting was done with good intentions but perpetrating the myth that pits are violent killers isn’t necessary.

What I would really like to see though, is the development of small, neighborhood-based parks – something the size of a soccer field or so, that would only be used by local residents.