Hero dog dies in pitbull horror
An Antrim family have said they owe their lives to their pet labrador who died trying to protect them from being savaged by another dog.


Cole survived the attack in which his father, Troy, died
Sean and Deirdre Doherty escaped with only minor injuries after an horrific attack by a pitbull-type dog in Randalstown Forest Park.

The large dog attacked the couple, who live at the Folly, as they took a stroll with their two children, four pet labradors and an exchange student.

Deirdre said it attacked their largest pet, Cole, first.

"His leg was being chewed, I was on top of him trying to pull the leg free. My husband had the dog from behind, the children were beating the dog with leads," she said.

"Eventually, Cole passed out with pain and the dog turned on me. It had me by the arm and flipped my whole body over. Luckily, I had a big padded coat on so the coat took the brunt of it.

"We screamed at the kids to run and my husband wrangled the dog off me."

It beggars belief that somebody would let a dog run loose in a forest regularly used by families

Her husband, Sean, explained that the dog then ran towards the children, Ben, 10, Lauren, 13 and a Marcela, an 18-year-old Argentinean student staying with them.


Sean said when their four-year-old labrador, Troy, saw Ben was in danger, it dived to his aid.

"My son is only 10, he was at the back, his dog was beside him. Troy turned when he heard me screaming and realised he was about to jump on Ben, he was right on Ben's heels.

"The minute he saw Ben was in danger, he saved him. Troy sacrificed himself to save the kids," he told the BBC News Website.

The large dog continued to fight with Troy until police arrived and shot the dog.

Sean Doherty sustained leg wounds in the attack


But the much-loved family pet, the father of Cole, later died from his injuries.

"We are just devastated by Troy's death," said Sean.

"He always gave hugs, put his head on your chest.

"We have cuts and bruises from the attack. This other dog was let off to kill. You could see it in his eyes.

"But the children are okay. We are so thankful to Troy for saving our lives."

Deirdre said there was no sign of a dog owner, and no collar on the pitbull.

"It just beggars belief that somebody would let a dog like this run loose in a forest that is regularly used by families," she said. "We can't believe we are still in one piece."

source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6127688.stm)

I'm against pitbulls, and this is why.

Because obviously, every pitbull acts like that whenever it's owner turns it's back on it. :rolleyes:

No, I hardly think it's the pitbulls fault, more than it being the owners fault. Pitbulls are generally more agressive yeah, but with proper care from the owner, there's no reason why the pitbull should behave any differently than any other dog.

On the other hand, the story is indeed a sad one though. :(

I just saw this on the news and the little boy's face made me cry.

What makes everyone think this pitbull had an owner? There's no evidence of one; it could very well have just been a wild dog.

In County Antrim? This isn't Africa we're talking about here mate. The poor thing will have an owner somewhere, and it will have been neglected and probably mistreated. Dogs don't turn nasty on their own.

Dogs don't turn nasty on their own.But that also doesn't mean the dog had an owner. My first thought reading what was posted was: who teased the dog? I do agree with you, Barmy, that dogs (and animals generally) don't attack without cause. If this pitbull had taken that section of woods as his/her territory, 4 strange dogs waltzing into it would probably put him/her on defensive mode.
Deirdre said it attacked their largest pet, Cole, first. Hamstring the leader and the rest will flee.

Because obviously, every pitbull acts like that whenever it's owner turns it's back on it.Fair enough. Properly bred Pit Bulls are docile and friendly to humans and are, in fact, a poor choice for a guard dog for that very reason. But not all breeders breed them properly. More than a fifth of the 279 US dog bite fatalities between 1979 and 1996 were attributed to Pit Bulls (60). Rottweilers, by comparison, were responsible for just a little more than a tenth (29). The Pit Bull has it's reputation for a reason.

Pit bulls and rottweilers suffer from bad publicity which is primarily the fault of their owners. Both breeds REQUIRE training at a young age and constant attention. Without both of those, these dogs are the animal version of Russian Roulette. The biggest downfall of both of these breeds is lazy or neglectful owners. Most dogs develop neurotic tendancies when not given the right attention (which is very breed specific) -- this is extremely dangerous for powerful dogs.

I'm not against the dogs themselves, but rather the owners who do not have a clue (or even care about) the requirements of the breed. Unfortunately, too many owners of these types of dogs take pride in that they have a 'dangerous animal' and treat the poor dog in a way to accentuate those tendancies.

Back to the article: Heroism can sometimes be sad, but nearly always touches the heart. There was a lab out here in the Chicago area that saved some children from a Rottweiler last year. The kids were walking home from school, a loose Rottweiler attacked (one of the kids made himself a target so the others could get away). The attack occured in front of a house and the owners (who didn't know the rott or the kids) went out to save the boy -- their lab beat them to it. The lab was quickly overpowered and dragged around like a chew toy, but the boy escaped. The rott was put down when police arrived at the scene. Good ending though -- the Lab survived and was given a heroes welcome from the school (the teachers even pooled their resourses to pay the vet bills).

[ November 09, 2006, 16:38: Message edited by: T2Bruno ]

No, I hardly think it's the pitbulls fault, more than it being the owners fault. Pitbulls are generally more agressive yeah, but with proper care from the owner, there's no reason why the pitbull should behave any differently than any other dog. And what kind of people are usually the owners of pitbulls? From what I have seen, young men, exclusively. And what do many of these do? Train the dogs to attack, some owners even giving the dogs anabolic steroids to make them even stronger and more aggressive.

Sad. I remember our family having a huge rottweiler when I was about three. The nicest dog you could ever find. Me and my sister pulled her tail (or what was left of it, seeing tails were still cut during that time), took rides on her - heck, we even took her food. And nothing ever happened. Nicest dog ever, seeing what her breed was...
But I agree, some dogs are just more aggressive than others, and even bred for that. This was all good and fine back then when dogs were very effective guards, when there were no cameras or such to protect property. Then, having a few aggressive dogs to guard property was nothing but a common alternative to trained, expensive guards. But now, the old rules don't apply that much any longer...

It's sad, really.

It's sad that the more agressive breeds are always the toughest as well. My nan used to have labs and they aren't a push-over by any stretch.

Arguments based on the training of the dog strike me as weak. You can train a lion to perform tricks in a circus. Does this mean we should let lions wander through parks full of children?