I am writing this letter in hopes people will read it and be able to make a decision for themselves as to what is right, and it is about pit bulls.

Last October, my roommate was taking my dog, Coyote, for his afternoon walk. They walked by a house with a pit bull tied up in the front yard. The pit bull went nuts and strained until it broke free and went straight for Coyote's neck with the solid intention to kill him. Neighbors came out of their houses to see what the ruckus was all about and one lady - we call her an angel of mercy - tried to help by beating the pit bull off with a board. My roommate wrapped the other end of the leash around the pit bulls neck and it was not until the pit was almost passed out that it let go, but even that wasn't good enough. The lady tried to separate the dogs by putting the board between them, but then the pit bull shredded Coyotes two front feet.

911 was called with no response from the police, and animal control was called but because they could not respond so quickly, we were already at the emergency vet clinic getting the care Coyote desperately needed for his severe wounds.

The guy who owns the (pit bull) dog finally came out of the house to get the dog, but he didn't live at the house where the dog was tied, he was merely staying there for awhile. That night the dog was supposedly crated and sent to Nevada, never to be seen again. The owner promised to pay all bills incurred by this attack, and he did pay $360 cash to me but then he too crated himself and sent himself to Nevada, never to be seen again.

The vets were not sure they could save Coyote but they miraculously did and he is alive. They had to take six inches of skin off of his neck and patch him back together and this took them three hours in surgery. Coyote is a Shar Pei and had he not been a Shar Pei with all of those cute wrinkles and extra neck skin they would not have been able to save him. One of the rips in Coyote's neck was so large you could put a fist in it. You can see the sheer violence of this attack from looking at the pictures the vets took that night during and after Coyote's surgery.

The total bill for Coyote's surgery is $2,700 and I have never heard from this dog owner again. The owner wasn't even cited for this, he just left.

Am I angry? You bet! Why should I not be? This dog owner caused several hardships here, financial one for sure, trauma to my roommate and to myself as well as Coyote. The aftercare for the severe wounds Coyote received was amazingly long and tedious, but it was a labor of love.

So I put this to the public. Why should I have to suffer because you have a dog that has the propensity to fight, and that has the strength to kill. Why should I be afraid to walk down my street because there are a 100 or so of these dogs around here? How would a pit bull owner feel if a German shepard broke free and almost kills his pit and leaves him with a huge amount in vet bills? Probably angry much like myself.

I am not saying ban the dogs. I think people should be able to own whatever kind of dog they want to, after all it is a free society. If you want to have a pit bull then fine by me but keep it out of my yard and keep it away from me. I don't own it so why should I have to put up with it? I shouldn't have to at all and all of you pit bull owners out there are outraged because people want to ban your pet? I live with the reason people want to ban your pet, every day. I paid for the reason people want to ban your pet, every day. Coyote is still paying for the reason, as this attack compromised his health and he has been given less than two years to live because of complications, and I have to look at this every day.

If you have to have a pit bull, then go ahead and own one. I don't care if you think this is the sweetest dog in the world to you and you have named it "Creampuff." If it gets loose and causes hardship to others then quit being a whiner and step up to the plate and take responsibility for it. I mean this for any and all dogs who attack others, not just pit bulls. This one just happened to be a pit bull.

To Coyote's credit he did get in one good bite and the pit had to have 9 stitches. Coyote had over 100 stitches. Gee, I am sooooo sorry your dog was injured.

Diana Gatlin

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