The alleged serial cat-killing dog that the city pound won't take back.
Need Help ASAP
Corpus Christi, TX - On September 7, Crystal posted to a public Facebook group about her sister's unnamed serial cat-killing dog. The spayed American bulldog has "broken a window in the house to get out, she's torn up a door, she has ripped up the fence numerous times" to kill cats. Her sister has "redone the fence over 10 times even with metal barriers and the dog gets out each time." The dog even ripped off the bumper of a truck and bent the metal to reach a cat inside, Crystal alleges.
Crystal states the dog was adopted from Corpus Christi Animal Care a year ago, but the pound now refuses to take her back, and a veterinarian will not euthanize this 6-year old dog because "she's too young." She asks for any rescues "that can help her out." Many of the commenters are foolish and reckless, such as advising "calming treats" or "Trazodone" or "rubbing dead cat on the dog" and that "Cesar Millan has a video on dog preying on other animals." Just do not "surrender or euthanize!"
A sane commenter tells her: "Are you waiting until the dog kills a child, and you get arrested? You are so lucky you haven’t been sued or shot by an irate neighbor. Get the dog euthanized. There are vets that will do it ... you would never be able to trust this dog. Face reality." Another remarks, "You cannot train out an instinctive prey drive. This dog has broken out a window and fences? Genetics play an enormous role in this dog’s behavior ... The prey drive is off the charts and presents a huge liability."1
Crystal - September 7, 2024 - My sister is having a huge issue that needs help asap. She adopted a dog from the pound she was a sweet girl but her attraction to kill cats have turned into a disaster! She has broken a window in the house to get out, she's torn up a door She has ripped up the fence numerous times, got out and goes straight to kill neighborhood cats. She has redone the fence over 10 times even with metal barriers and the dog gets out each time and fast! She has tried only taking her out with a leash even though the yard is fenced but if a stray comes in the yard she charges at the cat (she's strong) ripping the leash out my sister's hands. It's gotten worst a cat went into the neighbors truck to hide and her dog ripped off the bumper and bend the metal of the car to get to the cat. Neighbor had to file a claim. My sister felt she needs to surrender the dog back to the pound before she attacks any more cats or worst people since she chases people on bikes but the pound said they can't take her back and suggested her get her euthanized but the vet said that she's too young so they probably won't do it and my sister is heartbroken because she doesn't want her put down. She's a sweet girl to people but very aggressive to other animals she doesn't aim to hurt she aims to kill. Is there any rescues that can help her out?!?
Crystal Reply 09/08/24: H.R. she was adopted a year ago at the Corpus Christi animal shelter. At first she was sweet and would just bark at the door when a cat would walk by at their apartment. Once they moved into a home and had a yard for her to be free to roam the yard that's when disaster hit and even keeping her in the house isn't an option because she broke through the window and through the door. My sister has to have someone watching rescue her while she's at work because God knows what she will do if she was left unattended.
Crystal Reply 09/08/24: J.A. yes she has, she has had 2 different trainers and neither one has been able to help.
Crystal Reply 09/08/24: K.D. corpus, 6 years old and yes she is fixed.
Crystal Reply 09/09/24: A.V. my sister has put in the work and a lot of repairs she fears for other animals and children since the behavior has gotten worse. She thought having a yard to run around in would be great for the dog but a little freedom turned into a nightmare. This isn't easy for her to try to find a rescue she loves the dog very much but she can't control her two trainers couldn't train her and she is having to battle neighbors who want to hurt the dog and sue my sister even though she tries every day to repair the fence over and over again, keep the dog on a leash keep her supervised ect. To assume she is just a lazy owner is completely wrong because she has literally done everything she can! She needs a rescue that will take her, not judgment from anyone who isn't willing to take the dog in.
Crystal Reply 09/09/24: M.M.F. it's not my dog it's my sister's dog she is looking for a rescue for the dog. Do you know any recur that can help? You aren't living this nightmare and you aren't the one who is liable for cats getting killed or someone getting hurt so your opinions mean nothing. My sister has done EVERYTHING and nothing works! Returning the dog was last resort but now they won't even take the dog back.
Major Liability Dog
According to Crystal, a neighbor has already filed a claim, and other neighbors "want to hurt the dog and sue my sister." So, she has some grasp of the term "legal liability." She also states, "God knows what [the dog] will do if she was left unattended." This major liability dog, has already allegedly had two trainers. But Crystal seeks a "miraculous" rescue that will "take her, not judgment from anyone who isn't willing to take the dog in." You know what they say readers, "Good luck winning the Lottery."
Social media is littered with stories about dogs like this one and owners like Crystal's unidentified sister. But how much of the story is true? A similar female dog, "Big Bertha," owned by her sister had a "cyst that keeps bleeding" back in January 2023. Funds were raised by her sister here and here. Crystal also raised funds for the procedure and stated that due to her "sister's living situation," she "volunteered to take Bertha in." Thus, Crystal became the new owner of 8-year old Big Bertha.
The fuzzy, muddy story of who owns either dog and where the dogs came from begin to make the cat-killing claims, and her sister having to reinforce "the fence over 10 times even with metal barriers and the dog gets out each time" seem exaggerated. But who really knows? Crystal is indeed trying to get rid of a dangerous dog. She also tells the story of a dog that she has no way to manage, has become a major liability and is "very aggressive to other animals; she doesn't aim to hurt she aims to kill."
At 6 or 8-years old, either dog is not "too young" to put down, and a serial cat-killing dog is never too young to put down. But she wants the serial cat killer to become someone else's problem, even after painting this appalling "unrehabilitatable" story of the dog's dangerous behavior. The dog has such a poor prognosis, according to Crystal's story, that no rescue would ever want the dog. Yet, she persists, as if she is seeking "permission" from 20 or more commenters that euthanasia is the only route.
The "Sickness" of No-Kill
The story of the cat killer -- whether true or not -- is the bi-product of "no-kill," which refuses behavior euthanasia unless the dog exhibits "offensive aggression to humans" or "unpredictable aggression to humans" or "uninterruptible drive." Crystal's story checks the last box. "Uninterruptible drive is when a dog has an uncontrollable/unstoppable drive to seek out conflict with other animals." If a human can't interrupt the predatory behavior, the dog qualifies for the no-kill behavior euthanasia protocol.
The "sickness" of no-kill is that people like Crystal may feel forced to "invent" extreme aggression stories because it is the only way to get "permission" from social media fans to euthanize for behavior. Many people do not have the financial resources for trainers. Many types of dog aggression -- far less extreme than the no-kill euthanasia protocol -- are unsafe in neighborhoods and cannot be properly managed by their owners. Euthanasia may be the only realistic form of owner management.
Managed Intake Shelter
Corpus Christi Animal Care Services (CCACS) is a "managed intake" shelter -- not true open admission. When surrendering pets, they "only accept owned pets when kennel space exists and by appointment only." Their website also states, "owned animals brought to CCACS can be immediately humanely euthanized if inadequate space exists, if the animal is not highly adoptable, or if the animal appears to be ill or injured." The cat killer is unadoptable. But euthanasia would not have been denied.
The problem with surrendering the cat killing dog to CCACS is that there is a $50 surrender fee, and it is $100 for a "bite" animal, states their website.
According to the city ordinance (Sec. 6-39), the cat killer should be a designated Level 2 Aggressive Dog (the highest), due to being unrestrained and killing cats. There should have been an Aggressive Dog investigation, impoundment, affidavits, a hearing, testimony by witnesses and more (Sec. 6-40). The owner also would have been required to obtain a $100,000 insurance policy. It was easier to claim CCACS "refused to take her back" than to face any consequences CCACS might have presented.
Cat Killer "Still" Unmanageable
Whatever grifting may be occurring is moot. What we are concerned about are the untruths, emotional manipulations, and virtue signaling used to pawn off a hazardous dog to a third party, all because (1) the dangerous behaviors cannot be managed (2) there is a refusal to euthanize through a proper channel, and to lie about this too, and (3) the possible invention of extreme aggression stories because it is the only way to get "permission" from social media fans to euthanize for dangerous behavior.
We are concerned about the unhealthy avenues fanatical no-kill advocacy leads people down when they are facing the only community safe option.
There is no debate that dogs are an emotional subject, and that people love their dogs. But when a dog exhibits what Crystal describes as an uninterruptible drive to kill animals, cats specifically, and the owner has "exhausted" all means of management, the conversation on social media should be an honest one. "We've made the compassionate decision to put down our dog because her drive to escape reinforced restraints to kill our neighbors cats is something we can no longer manage." 😢💔
The fuzzy, muddy story of who owns Big Bertha and where the dog was rehomed from.
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04/06/21: Shelter Dog Terms Targeting Unwitting Fosters and Terms Used to For Major Liability Dogs
Why don’t the city do something and put big bertha down.she is know to killed cats.like seriously it not that hard to get her in their custody in put her down.I don’t anything about that place law. Why aren’t doing something about it are they waiting for her to serious attack and injured a baby.
One of the cat owners could put a slug in the dog or the owners can take it outside town and do the same.
Or pay someone to.
SSS* comes to mind…
*Stands for Shoot, Shovel, and Shhhhh.
What do you bet there’s a “rehoming fee?”
You are probably correct about this!
I actually think there are two different dogs here. The black on the muzzles are different patterns. The “sister” after giving Big Bertha (who would be over nine by now) to Crystal apparently went and adopted another female white pit bull. If the story about Big Bertha is true, it sounds like “the sister” rescued her after she was abandoned, not adopted her from the pound. Big Bertha may be fine, albeit in a home that can’t afford to pay her vet bills. (I have to wonder if she’s spayed.) The danger dog is six years old the adopter is obviously financially unable to do what it would take to make her safe (if that is even possible). Rescues do not want to squander their resources on dogs like this. The only person that would take her is someone that would have nefarious motivations. The kindest thing for this dog is to put her down.
We considered this, along with the authenticity of the story. The (two) dogs are posted seven months apart by the owner. So, the dogs would not only be identical, but also the same sex and close to the same age. It adds to the intrigue of what’s true and what’s not true, while under the assumption the actual cat killer is the one depicted in her post. We have modified the post accordingly.
Pitbull nutters spewing bullsh*t for attention and minimizing the risk their beasts entail to everyone else
Who da thunkit?
She needs to shop around for a vet who will put it down.
These stories are sad, but where is the truth?
The average dog which shies to men usually isn’t well socialized with men.
It was not abused by men. I guess one could put her in pit fighting. She might do well. Realistically, there is no safe home for this dog. What if there’s a child between her and a cat? A child could be mauled or killed. BE is indicated.
She needs to find another vet. Not all vets are pitnutters. Behavioral euthanasia now.
Cats, children and other dogs are a part of every neighbourhood.
While some prey drive *can* be contained with good training–this pitbull is WAY beyond that level. Even some cat killers can be reformed but this dog, bluntly, is not worth the effort and these people are in no financial position nor even near skilled enough to even attempt that kind of training. It takes serious household management for life to work with such a dog.
Frankly, pitbulls are not worth it. Half are seriously dog aggressive by adulthood and like sociopaths, most are incapable of learning from their mistakes.
The vet is an idiot. The shelter is a horror show. Sue them for fraud and put the dammed dog, down.
Although this wouldn’t change the fact that, for safety reasons, Big Bertha should be euthanized, I wonder if she could be deaf or limited in hearing. She could be hearing from one ear. White or predominantly white dogs may not have the required pigment in their ears to have normal hearing. Note that this doesn’t affect all breeds. Breeds such as Maltese, Poodle, GSD, Samoyed, Bichon Frise, Great Pyrenees, etc. don’t have deafness associated with their white hair.
Some years ago a man had a small white one year old pitbull bitch in his car. She was insanely trying to attack me through the windows. I was younger and dumber then and offered to help him with her socialization. He opened the side door of his van. She proceeded to try to attack me in the face.
The owner had grabbed her collar which stopped the attack. This dog was not a normal dog. She had tried her attack without her paws hitting the ground. She had leaped for my face from inside the van. She was extremely dangerous.
From dogbitelaw.com:
Dogs that attack cats are also unreasonably dangerous. Despite what one will see on Looney Tunes, it is not natural for a dog to attack a cat. Dogs chase cats and anything else that moves, but do not normally catch them, kill them or eat them. When the cat stops running, turns around and hisses at the dog, the fun is over. A non-deranged dog will not commence fighting this fast, agile and determined creature with its 16 stilettoes and needle-sharp teeth. For more, see Merritt Clifton’s response to a comment dated April 6, 2016 at 7:16 PM. Any dog that lacks the sense to avoid fighting a cat is too risky and too dangerous to keep around people.
Dogs will chase and kill cats that are running away. As much as I don’t
like it, I accept that.
Beyond that, my friends and I do watch dogs with little cat experience when they are first together. My GSD SD wouldn’t hurt any cat so we correct any cat that goes after him. I don’t want him to have any reason to retaliate on cats. In fact, the bratty cat’s owner has now seen his cat in action. I don’t think it’s fair for a cat to be able to attack a dog without reason.
I had one GSD that killed a sleeping cat. Although she was fine with me, she was extremely bitch aggressive. She was severely limited the rest of her life because of it. She had “dry eye” starting at one year of age and very nearly died from intravascular autoimmune hemolytic anemia at four years of age. It was weeks before she could squat to urinate. She had to lie down. (Her red blood cells were being destroyed in the circulation, and her urine was red from hemoglobin.). This is the less common form of autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
For every rule I make, I can break it. Very little is 100%. A client’s old English sheepdog killed the owner’s Yorkie over a bowl of food. I thought the size mismatch was likely a contributing cause, and I never even saw the OES.
Dogs will go after cats unless A) they’re trained not to, in which case you must have a biddable dog or
B) a clever cat will trap a large dog under a car/table where they have less maneuverability and claw the snout off them. Some cats will leap from above like a tiger and land on the dogs’ head, dig in the front claws behind the ears and shred their face with the back claws. Then you wind up rescuing the dog before they’re blinded or maimed. Been there. Done all that.
In that case the dog will, if it’s not a complete idiot, realize that cats are not prey.
Sometimes a quick swat in the face by a hissing cat will do the job if the dog is fairly gentle by nature.
Or less often, C) the dog is wired “cat friendly”.
Bottom line here is: A dog that cannot learn from these mistakes in judgement towards cats is behaviorally impaired and very likely, unsafe.
We have lived in Corpus Christie twice (2012,2021), and it has the highest pit bull population we have seen anywhere. My husband is retired military, and we’ve lived all over the US and traveled extensively. In our experience, Southern California had many more dangerous breeds than rural southern locations, and Corpus Christie has far more than So Cal, even though CC’s population is far smaller. We saw pit bulls and Rottweilers on playgrounds, on base, walking the streets, everywhere. The owners also tend to be aggressively and proactively protective of their dangerous dogs, getting angry if we showed a reaction like crossing the street. This cat-killing dog and its owner sounds like it fits right into the Corpus Christie dog scene.
*Note: I’m not knocking CC itself, just sharing my family’s observation of the hefty pit bull culture there.
It’s so sad and concerning to see the continued change in what is considered normal dog behavior and dog ownership experiences. At least in this case, even with all the potential grift, the person is trying to do something and not just shrug it off.
But the comments are wild, and you see the same attitudes reflected on social media. TV personality “trainers” who push the idea that all dogs can be “rehabilitated” don’t help. And the no-kill movement, and the heartstring-tugging stories of rescuing poor abused bait dogs, also don’t help. What a mess. One might be able to suppress some behaviors with aversive training methods, to a point. The aversions might have to get stronger and stronger, and never let up. But this dog is never going to be rid of her obsessive prey drive, and won’t be safe no matter what. It’s not normal or acceptable.
Most of us remember when in general dogs weren’t killing things and people didn’t act like that was just the way dogs are. Of the dogs I grew up with and have owned in my life, one (a corgi) killed garter snakes. Another (Papillon) killed bugs crawling across the carpet. That was it. One of my springer spaniels in particular thought all living creatures were his friends. He and his mom encountered an opossum in the yard once which was playing dead. They circled and gently poked it with their noses. They did chase cats and squirrels out of the yard for fun, but they didn’t show aggression. None of my dogs had a need to kill other animals. This is the normal dog ownership experience. We shouldn’t accept some new definition of normal. So I say good for Crystal in even bringing up behavioral euthanasia as an option.
The staggering amount of “rescue pitbull sob story fables” I’ve heard would fill an encyclopedia.
Having worked in a shelter before BSL took hold here I can say with confidence that over 90% of large dogs surrendered are surrendered because they reached adulthood and the owners couldn’t managed the behavior.
This could be anything from jumping on Grandma to dragging the owners down the street, to unhousebroken or destroying property. Those are brat behaviours and easily fixable by an experienced handler. They’re confusion by the dog as to what is acceptable behavior and what is not. It’s not about abuse.
A breed with good temperament that’s been abused is pretty easy to fix. Consistent treatment, working on the fears that have accumulated takes work but nowhere near the work that it takes to have a vicious dog in the house.
That’s not what pitbulls are about. They are *genetically* dog aggressive and apex predators. They need to be handled as such and except for experienced dog trainers–most people neither own the equipment or the skills to handle them with even a marginal amount of safety.
Rescues selling them off with sob stories doesn’t do anyone any favours. Scarred face? Bait dog is the sales pitch. Nope–it’s a fighting dog and you’re being sold a loaded gun with a hair trigger. Bait dogs aren’t pitbulls because nobody is putting their prize-winning pitbull in the practice ring with a potential rival that could maim it. Bait dogs are dead dogs.
Pitbulls belong in the hands of experienced dog fighters, not the general public and dogfighting is illegal.