Dang pitbulls...

Gridwalker306

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Nov 10, 2010
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So today was my last chance to do some detecting, as of tomorrow we will be below freezing until the spring. I have detected the tiny village where I live to death, so I crossed the border to detect the American side of our town. I was having zero luck, digging only memorial cents at the three spots I hit. Then I noticed a mowed open area with an old trail and possibly the impression of where an old building once stood. I detected for a few minutes, still finding nothing great, and when I was down digging, I noticed a loose young pitbull watering the grass maybe 20 yards from me. I stood up, he noticed me and was interested. I stood up and slowly turned and walked through the area, across the road, and onto the porch of the nearest house. I knocked, nobody was home, the dog stared at me from the street for a few minutes. I heard another dog bark in the distance, and the pitbull trotted down the street. I was a little freaked, as I had a much worse experience last weekend.

Last Saturday I got permission to detect an old family farm from a sweet 90 year young lady. She had to leave while I detected, so I was happy to have some uninterrupted detecting time. I heard what I thought was someone calling me, I removed the headphones and hollered "hello"? No response, so I continued. Then, through the bushes, right beside my truck, I see a huge pitbull, and he looked annoyed. There was nobody around, and I was a good distance from my truck, and the dog. I figured he was going to check me out, and I'd rather face him close to the house where someone may come along, rather than in the garden behind the house and bushes. I removed my headphones, gripped my Lesche, and walked to my truck...and the growling pitbull. The truck was locked, no time to fumble with keys, I kept walking until I ran the last eight or nine yards and leaped into the box of my truck. I know it's better to stay calm and not show fear, but I believe the dog was inevitably going to engage me. So there I am, standing in my box, the dog growling on the ground, and nobody around, and only distant farmhouses on the flat prairie horizon. Great. Then I see a tractor out in a field, the driver waving his arms, and I could hear a faint whistle. The dog looked at me before turning to run across the field to the tractor, and whom I assume was the dogs owner. Sigh of relief lol!

Now I'm not a chicken, I'm nearly 6'4, and 235 lbs. I also LOVE dogs! However, these particular dogs are unpredictable, and I don't trust them. A seven year old boy that I know was bitten on the face a couple of weeks ago by a pitbull, in the dogs house, right in front of the dogs owner. I know they can be a good dog, but the erratic behaviour makes me wish they were better controlled and restrained by the owners.

Anybody else have close calls with dogs while detecting? I'm going to carry my knife with me from now on.
 

Upvote 11
Didnt have a close call while detecting, but I was bitten by one when I was an active UPS Delivery Driver. Luckily he came at me from the front & bit straight down my shin causing more of a very bad scrape than a bite. If he would have turned his head sideways, I would have been screwed. I was the second person he had bitten in 2 months. A few months after my incident the dog bit a 3rd person, & the county put him down, according to vicious dog laws.
 

I HAD A BOXER WHO WENT WITH ME DETECTING FROM TIME TO TIME AND PASSED AWAY 6 YRS OLD FROM CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE 2 YRS AGO , LOYAL , LOVING COMICAL AND PROTECTIVE . ONE DAY FREIND DROPS BY WITH HIS BUDDY AND I WAS OUTSIDE WITH MAX AND FOR SOME REASON HIS BUD KNEELS IN FRONT OF HIM AND MY FREIND SAID GET HIM AND TAPPED THE GUY AND THE DOG BIT HIM IN THE FACE AND HE HAD NEVER DONE ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE. FREAKED ME OUT AND HE DID LEAVE MARKS LUCKLY NO SERIOUS OPEN WOUNDS BUT FEW NASTY SCRATCHES . WHAT IM SAYING IS THAT ANY ANIMAL AND EVEN PEOPLE ARE UNPREDICTABLE AT TIMES. I WAS BIT BY A BIRD DOG WHEN I WAS 11 AND HE WAS OFF LEASH AND I WAS WALKING BY AND HE CHARGED ACROSS THE LAWN AND BEFORE I COULD RUN HE LATCHED ONTO MY CALF AND DOWN I WENT .2 NICE PUNCTURE WOUNDS THAT TO THIS DAY I STILL HAVE . I THINK THE MOST AGGRESSIVE DOG IS THE SMALLER ONES NOW THEM GUYS AND GALS CAN MAKE YOU NERVOUS . I WOULD HUNT WITH MACE OR SOME KINDA SPRAY .
 

You may want to look at buying the Lesche 38D.
Not only is it a great digging tool, but it is also a great self-defense tool.
 

I had an encounter a month or so ago. I was detecting in a field where I have gone for a couple of years now. I was near the property line where the plowed cornfield turns into a tree line of someone's backyard. I just happened to look that way and there was a dog just standing there in the field staring me down. It looked to be a pit-boxer mix possibly. I talked nice to it while still swinging my coil to look for any tail wag or signs of friendliness. Nothing. I just casually put some distance between us as I kept an eye on him. He never moved during this time, just stood there and stared. Finally, when I was about a couple hundred feet away, he turned and went into the tree line towards his house.

I wasn't carrying that day, which I only do a small amount of the time I detect, but I'm very confident in my ability to dispatch an animal if needed with my modified and sharpened spade. I definitely don't fear dogs and that may have helped that situation that day.

I encountered a growling Rott that came out of the bushes on another occasion, but I stood my ground and remained calm. I was the one who just stood there and stared that day. He barked at me a few times and then got bored after a few minutes and left.

When I was younger, about 15 at the time, I was riding my bicycle out in the country. Suddenly I heard a loud growl and a very large German shepherd came barreling down a driveway towards me. The instant he met me on my right side I kicked hard into his jaw. I then pedaled as hard as I could to get away. Unfortunately, I had to eventually come back that way, but thank goodness I didn't see him again.

The one time that a dog DID get its teeth into me was just out of the blue. It was a stable dog, an Australian sheepdog, at a stable where you can ride horses up to a great lookout spot at a popular camp site. This dog was around dozens of strangers every day. As a group of us walked through the stable to sign up for the ride, the dog was following behind us. Out of nowhere, she latched onto my calf for a split second. The stable hand was not the owner, but said she had never done that before and must be because she just had a litter of puppies or something. I never did get an apology from the owner and we haven't been back to that campground since.
 

Never had a problem with dogs while detecting but I carry 24/7 and also have a HD knife on my belt when detecting. Should one bad dog attack I will feed him my left arm and at the same time thrust the knife into center chest with the right hand. Should two dogs attack the first HP goes to the lead dog and the second shot to the second dog. Should the dog owner Attack me to the point that I fear for my life then he will get HP #3.
I am pretty set on the idea that it is better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. At my age I know my limitations.
Marvin
 

Never had a problem with dogs while detecting but I carry 24/7 and also have a HD knife on my belt when detecting. Should one bad dog attack I will feed him my left arm and at the same time thrust the knife into center chest with the right hand. Should two dogs attack the first HP goes to the lead dog and the second shot to the second dog. Should the dog owner Attack me to the point that I fear for my life then he will get HP #3.
I am pretty set on the idea that it is better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. At my age I know my limitations.
Marvin
Lol GA Boy, i heard dat. im same way, born with a knife on my side and would use it in a heartbeat if need be.
 

If you are in the woods and a dog comes at you a good choice is to attempted to climb a tree near by, chances are there will be some climbable trees nearby. You may look like an idiot climbing a tree, but atleast you won't get mauled by a dog when you are in a tree :)
 

Not a big fan of them either.This one old place I go to,nobody lives there but someone has one housed in a kennel around the side of the place.Its a female and she seems like she would like to take a piece out of my tail.every time I go over there I take her a piece of cheese and talk to her,sort of a little insurance policy in case some how she ever gets out.Her tail wags when I feed it its cheese,but I don't trust that thing as far as I can look at it.oh yeah,and she doesn't like the high pitch my metal detector makes very much either.
 

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Didn't realize I posted that story twice. Anyway, one is gone now......
 

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I'm with you on those pit bulls. I've heard all of the arguments about bad owners, bad training, etc., but I had two encounters with a pit bull that forever changed me. BTW, I've had at least 8 dogs of my own throughout my life so I'm definitely not biased against dogs at all. I also care for two Labs (used to be three but one died) on a regular basis for my employer.

Back in 1995 when my oldest son was three, we were living on a rented farm with about 50 head of black Angus cattle. I was awoken very early one spring morning to a HORRIBLE sound coming from the barn. I bolted out of bed, grabbed a .22 9 shot revolver and ran out the door to the barn.

The closer I got the worse the sounds became. I turned the corner and saw three cows with their ears completely chewed off and bleeding and the fourth was trying to get away from an extremely nasty pit bull that had the poor animal by the tongue and would not let go. I have no idea how long this had gone on.

Both of these animals were going around in circles and I couldn't get a clean shot at the dog without risking the cow. I finally fired one shot and just missed the dog but the noise was enough to make him let go and run. I fired one more shot and missed again. That particular pistol was kinda' cheap and had a pretty short barrel so it wasn't exactly the most accurate gun I've ever owned. Plus I was pretty shaky from the adrenaline. I didn't aim as well as I would have just shooting targets. It all happened really fast.

So the vet was called and the animals were attended to. The bill was over 1200 bucks. I tracked down the owner and explained what had happened and he apologized and did pay the bill. I told him to PLEASE keep that animal restrained because I had three young kids at the time.

Maybe a week or so later my landlord was over at the barn feeding the cows and when he was finished we were hanging out and talking. The next thing you know the cows started going crazy and about 6 of them literally stampeded right through the fence. Then we saw that pit bull chasing them.

My landlord had a 12 gauge shotgun in his truck and grabbed it in maybe 15 seconds. He yelled and the dog turned and looked at him and then came barreling directly toward him, snarling and growling the whole time. When he was maybe 8-10 feet away he lunged at the man and received a single shotgun blast directly in the chest. Thank God he had that gun.

That animal turned and ran almost 1/4 mile before it dropped. I couldn't believe it. It took a direct hit at almost point blank range and ran away. It had been in a state of complete rage. That dog was just crazy.

I called the cops, they came, we told the story and a report was filed. We then had to go round up the 6 cows that had gotten loose. Two of them had traffic blocked not far away and it was a complete nightmare trying to get them into the trucks and bring them back. We could only get two in at a time and it took quite a while. Eventually we managed to get them back home and safe.

We later found out that the owner wasn't exactly an upstanding citizen. We could never prove it but we had reason to believe that this guy may have been involved in dog fighting. Either way, that pit bull was absolutely ferocious and this world was much better off once it was dead.

I was later thinking that instead of those cows being attacked it could have easily been my young son (or any of the kids for that matter). He was so little at the time and was always playing outside. He never would have had a chance had that animal ever attacked him. I thank God that nothing like that ever happened and I pity anyone whose ever been attacked by an angry pit bull or any dog for that matter.

Never in my life before or since have I seen any dog as crazy and mean as that pit bull. It was completely out of control. Sadly, the owner blamed me for his dog being shot and killed and unfortunately, the black lab that I had at the time mysteriously vanished not a week later. I have no doubt that the owner of that pit bull took my dog as an act of revenge even though I didn't kill his dog. That being said, I would have killed it a heartbeat under those circumstances. I'd do it again today without batting an eye.

My poor son was HEARTBROKEN over the loss of our dog. I got that dog 3 days before my son was born as an 8 week old puppy and they had grown up together. They were SO close. That dog slept under my son's crib every night and was always really protective of him. He was a great dog and we all loved him; especially my son. Unfortunately we were never able to get him back in spit of trying for at least 6 months.

We even stopped our wedding ceremony because my mother in law got a call from a neighbor who said they had our dog. I left my own wedding to go and get him but it was not to be; it was another dog that looked like him. I was SO disappointed But, you gotta' do what you gotta' do so I went back and got married.

I'm a forgiving person. There are two things in my life I have not forgiven. I won't mention the first but the second is the theft of that dog; especially because it hurt my son so badly even though he had nothing to do with any of it.

The moral of the story for me is that I will NEVER trust a pit bull. I'm aware of the semantics and the arguments. I'm aware that many of these animals are wonderful pets and I know that ANY dog can go bad and turn on anyone. I'm also aware that this dog may have very well been trained to be mean and probably was.

What's scary is the method of attack that pit bulls employ. They were specifically bred to be aggressive fighters/killers. All Terriers were; the small ones to kill rats and snakes and the bigger ones to fight bulls and bears. To see it up close and personal in all it's blood and gore was truly an eye opening experience that I'll never forget.

Once they grab hold of their prey, they just don't let go until they're good and ready and that can take a long time. They also shake their heads violently while they're at it. I've seen video of a postal worker; a woman, delivering mail and was attacked by a pit bull. That thing grabbed her by the hand and just wouldn't let go even though she was beating it in the head and doing whatever she could to get loose. It took two grown men to help her break free from that thing. It may have ripped her hand completely off had she not been been rescued.

I can also still see those poor, bleeding cows with their ears ripped and eaten down to their skulls and I can still hear the shrieks of the the other one who ended up having to have the two halves of it's tongue sewn back together. It was horrendous; believe me; one of the nastiest things I've ever witnessed.

Ever since that day I will NEVER never trust any pit bull for any reason.

So that's my mother of all pit bull stories. Sorry it didn't have a happy ending......
 

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Wow Garrett, that's intense. I'm sorry that your family dog was taken, that really sucks. I love dogs too, but I never feel comfortable around any pitbull, ever.
 

That is hilarious I would be freaked out too. Its like when someone tells you if a Bear is chasing you play dead REALLY Id be shaking like crazy that would be hard to do. I don't trust pits either
 

That is hilarious I would be freaked out too. Its like when someone tells you if a Bear is chasing you play dead REALLY Id be shaking like crazy that would be hard to do. I don't trust pits either

I just saw the movie "The Revenant" a few nights ago. The way they made the Grizzly attack in that film was incredibly realistic. It was pretty intense and it really made me think.

If a Grizzly ever gets you under it's power when it's in hunting mode and sees you as prey, you're pretty much done. There is very little you can do. I don't know how you could play dead when it's tearing you to pieces. Of course, that's what the guy in the movie tried to do.

They're just SO powerful and those claws cut through flesh like butter. Hope I never have the misfortune of running into one. The only bear I've ever seen in the wild was a black bear in VA. They're just not common where I live although I understand that they used be a few centuries ago.
 

Heres my Plott hound / Pit bull mix Nuttah which means (my heart)
She wouldn't attack anyone.... unless I told her to :tongue3:
The owner is almost always to blame.
IMG_20150906_082736.jpg
 

I've never been afraid of dogs, but I am cautious around them when I don't know them. The last one that I had charge me got a size 11 steel toe to the mouth and apparently decided to reconsider and think about the error of its ways. That's been quite a while ago though, and luckily I haven't had to deal with any aggressive dogs since then. I do carry a large can of bear mace with me when I'm out though, it's good for keeping anything aggressive away whether it has 4 legs or 2....
 

Garrett, what a nightmare that must have been. Thank God that dog was killed. Those poor, poor cows.
 

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