Pit bulls kill south Jackson terrier - MSNewsNow.com - Jackson, MS

Pit bulls kill south Jackson terrier

By Roslyn Anderson - bio | email

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - For the fourth time in a month pit bulls have reportedly attacked and killed another dog.

This most recent incident happened Sunday in a south Jackson neighborhood.

Don Bowen said that not only did two pit bulls mauled his Jack Russell terrier, but even more upsetting was the fact that they ran into his home.

And they were dogs that he had never seen before.

Sunday afternoon Bowen was watching tv when he heard horrifying sounds coming from his small dog Jack.

"The dog was laying down there with one pit bull on his neck and one on his groin," said Bowen.

The 63 year-old said he could only take off his sandal and try to beat the dogs in hopes they would let go.

When suddenly a black man in a blue SUV pulled into his driveway.

"Must have been his dogs so he just reached down and pulled them off then they got away from him and run inside the house," said the south Jackson resident.

Also inside was Bowen's two month old grandson and the terrier who had limped into the house and hidden under the coffee table where he died.

Bowen's wife Vivian said, "All we could think about was get to the baby because the baby was right close where our Jack was laying."

Their granddaughter scooped up the baby and ran to safety.

The family dog of two and a half years lost too much blood.

Jackson police and animal control responded and searched the neighborhood to no avail.

Now Bowens want pit bulls banned in the city.

Lafamilia Pits co-owner Glen Foster said the incident is unfortunate, but the dogs are ultimately not responsible for the attack.

"Blame the owner not the dog," said Foster.

The retired Air Force recruiter said that if all the dogs owners had obeyed Jackson's leash law this incident could have been avoided.

"If you ban pit bulls you should ban a rotweiller, german shepard, boxer. As owners you need to be more responsible," said Foster.

Foster owns a kennel in Terry.

He is also a member of the United Kennel Club and the American Dog Breeders Assosciation.

Foster says because he enters his dogs in shows which do not allow aggressive animals, he does not raise them to be vicious.

According to the 20 year breeder, dogs are territorial and even the smallest ones can be aggressive while a pit bull can be trained to remain calm.

He showed us an example involving his toy poodle Majir.

When the breeder took pit bull Smokey out of his cage, the poodle approached the larger dog , barked and began biting at the pit bulls legs.  

Smokey hurriedly and repeatedly moved away from the poodle.

"Dogs are territorial. It's in their nature to be aggressive if they're bred that way," Foster added.

Jack may have been defending his turf when he was attacked.

"He wasn't scared of anything. He fights with coons and possums all the time, but I reckon when the bull dogs came up, he tried to stand his ground and that was it," Bowen said."

The Bowens will now bury Jack in the back yard beside another beloved pet.

JPD officers and animal control  have not yet located the owner of the pit bulls.