Pit Bull Attack (3): Confrontation

3:00 pm, Tuesday December 9

So I'm alone at the dogpark in the storm. I haven't brought the two Poodles Gracie and Hutch because they can't find the tennis ball in the snow and chasing the ball is all they care about. Maggie, the Great Dane, is roaring around. Then a silver pickup pulls in and a tall man in L.L. Bean outdoor wear gets out with a caramel-coloured Pit Bull. I recognize the man as the owner of the dog who attacked Gracie several days ago. The Pit Bull, as on that day, is not leashed. My heart lurches. What if I had had the Poodles?

The dog races to the gate and Maggie runs up to greet her as she does with every arriving dog and the Pit Bull snarls and lunges at the fence.

"Roxy!" the man yells and lets Roxy in. Roxy snarls and lunges at Maggie again and Maggie goes into play stance. Roxy doesn't respond and trots off. I approach the owner in nice-as-apple-pie mode. He's as nice-as-apple-pie back.

"That's the dog who attacked my little Poodle on Monday, " I say.
"Really?" he answers.
"Yes. In the parking lot. Such a vicious dog should be on a leash."
"She's not vicious."
"What do you call what she did to my dog?" The man says nothing.
"She could have killed her. Pit Bull's jaws clamp shut." The man again says nothing.
Then, he offers, "You should have seen Roxy two years ago. She was a rescue and she'd never been socialized. I work with her everyday. Her former owner mistreated her."
"That's why she should be on a leash."
He asks, "Was your dog hurt?"
"A little. There was a mark but no blood."
"I'm very sorry."
"You should keep an eye on that dog," I reiterate, still pleasant, silently cursing my "proper" upbringing. Never create a disturbance. Migawd. The man's Pit Bull...his PIT BULL...had my little dog by the neck, pinned. She was screaming. I should be raging at him.

The man turns from me, calls "Roxy!" and they go off down the path. I let them get ahead and then I follow with Maggie. She's a dawdler sometimes. There are lots of new smells in the snow. Now I am enraged. "Will it take a mauling, a death?" I think. I hear barking back on the playground and I half-hope Roxy will attack again and I'll have some reinforcement.

By the time Maggie and I have gone around the loop there's no sign of the Pit Bull or the owner. His truck has gone. But I run into a woman with three small dogs who was in her car as he and Roxy were leaving. She tells me Roxy threw herself at her car.

If Roxy's owner returns I'm going to get his license and report him to the Forest Preserve. There's a $75. fine for an unleashed dog in the parking lot. He's done it twice now. And I'm going to say this Pit Bull is dangerous.