Please donate to support our work

DogsBite.org is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity organization. Learn more »

29 thoughts on “The Vicious and Dangerous Dog Hearing of Elijah, Attacks Dog Tied in Garage, and the Statement of Decision

Please review our comment policy.

  1. If you ask me I think this whole thing is pointless. Elijah is still going to live and he not going to put down for a long long time.it doesn’t matter if he hurt a infant toddlers young people elderly the pitbull lobby and pitbull defender is more powerful and always win.alot of people is still going to died by these beast of a dog and nothing going to be done of.

  2. People need to know how to get a pit to release since the gruesome maulers are everywhere. Punching and kicking will do nothing.
    Slitting its throat may have helped.

    • Anyone who walks a pitbull needs a garotte in their pocket or extra thin lead they know how to use to strangle the dog from behind. The only way to get a latched-on dog that does not obey “leave it” commands is to choke the dog out.

      They need to learn this over and over until they can do it by rote in a panicked state.

      Nobody with half a brain is going to use a break stick and get bitten before they get anywhere near using it except for complete nutters.

      None of these tactics are useful for anybody who can’t lift 80lbs of thrashing dog clear off it’s feet for four minutes until it passes out.

      With a 50%+ aggression rate towards other dogs and thus–any humans who are forced to break up a dog mauling, the permanent solution remains the same.

      Pitbulls are fighting dogs. Dogfighting is illegal. Therefore, ownership of pitbulls should be illegal because their primary use as a breed is over.

      There is no longer any legitimate reason these dogs should be owned by anybody

  3. He’s still alive because he didn’t kill a person.
    Besides, if the judge orders the dog to be euthanized, the pitbull people will be after him.

  4. I wish I could have seen the people as they testified. I wanted a clearer image of the people I was feeling scorn for. On a positive note, they sounded very young, so maybe there is more chance they will learn and change their ways… everyone makes mistakes, and facing legal action is a great prompt for examining one’s behavior and maybe changing one’s ways. I’m grateful that the SFPD has resources dedicated to dangerous dogs and their owners.

    I’m looking forward to learning what the judgement will be. Somehow I doubt the dog will be put to sleep as it ought to be, or that the owner will be barred from owning or caring for dogs in the future.

    • The statement of decision (top link) has the judgment. The dog was declared “vicious and dangerous” in the city and county of San Francisco and must be muzzled when in public. If the dog attacks unprovoked again … and has a new hearing, that’s probably the end of the road for the dog. At that time, the hearing officer can also bar the owner from dog ownership for a certain amount of time.

      • Oh, thanks – I will look more closely at that. This is happening in a neighborhood I actually walk around in, so being able to recognize these people and the dog could be helpful… is video of these hearings available to the public? I don’t know how to find it.

        • Although San Francisco City Hall is set up for videorecording in its hearing rooms (the dog hearings take place in room 408 and are open to the public), the City does not videorecord the dog hearings.

          There are always audio recordings of the hearings available upon request.

          • I should probably have noted that the hearings are almost certainly recorded as part of City Hall’s security system — there are multiple cameras in room 408 — but they are not recordings generally made available as “public records.”

  5. I agree with the consensus, all this time and energy for a hearing, and effectively nothing was done. The mauler lives to maul again, the owner, as irresponsible as she’s shown herself to be will probably just move somewhere else and continue on being her lazy, careless self. I just pray it’s not a child next time.

    • I’m willing to bet that the Animal Rescue Industrial Complex is behind this epic fail of a system.

      It’s like the Homeless Industrial Complex. Billions of dollars spent on the problem, but the problem keeps getting worse.

      • I’m with you there. Billions of dollars that could have built housing–lining pockets instead of building housing.

        The way out of the pitbull problem is simple. Owning a pitbull should be illegal. It’s more pocket-lining for a problem that’s easily solved and *has been* in many countries.

        In many of the world’s countries–owning a pitbull is illegal because dogfighting is illegal. Importing them is illegal, breeding them is illegal, fighting them is illegal and just owning them is illegal.

  6. The solution to the pit bull problem lies in discouraging people from adopting and breeding these dogs. Many well-meaning individuals adopt pit bulls without understanding the risks. They often don’t know that pit bull owners and their families are the most frequent victims of attacks by these dogs. (See “Pit Bulls: Facts & Figures,” https://www.dogbitelaw.com/vicious-dogs/pit-bulls-facts-and-figures/.)

    To help adopters choose safer dogs, every state should enact a Truth in Pet Adoption Law. This law ensures transparency about a dog’s history, helping adopters make informed decisions. I used it to secure millions of dollars in compensation for my client after she was attacked by a pit bull rehomed by the City of Los Angeles. (See “Truth in Pet Adoption Law Compels Disclosure of Dog Bites,” https://www.dogbitelaw.com/truth-in-pet-adoption-law-compels-disclosure-of-dog-bites/.)

    If you support rehoming safe, friendly dogs and ensuring dangerous ones aren’t placed with unsuspecting families, please urge your local and state lawmakers to adopt the Model Truth in Pet Adoption Law detailed in my article. Together, we can protect both adopters and dogs.

    • Kenneth, thank you for your tireless and courageous work. As a retired member of the press, we spoke several years ago. Your point about educating the public of the dangers of owning pit bulls is paramount for public safety. Educating the public is the primary purpose of the press. And, yet, while local news will cover some attacks, national media rarely will. (Even the death of the two Bennard children did not make network news.) The behemoth pet industry buys tons of airtime. As always-follow the money. The vast majority of people I speak to about pit bulls still cling to the tired excuses we hear all the time. And, as you said: well meaning individuals adopt pit bulls without understanding the risks. No national news outlet (e.g. 60 Minutes) will cover this public safety crisis. Meanwhile, the bodies pile up. Innocent beautiful children dead or mauled beyond belief. Please keep up the good fight!

    • Kenneth, I truly appreciate your hard work on this but I have to disagree here.

      We have BSL up here. The pitbull crowd ignore it. They’ll ignore any measures put in place. It’s a waste of time, money and effort. No Animal Control or governmental body is big enough to chase down all the breaches. Pitbulls must be muzzled here. ALL of them. ALL the time.

      I’ve yet to see a muzzle including the one next apartment building over that’s under a dangerous dog order. Add in that once a pitbull bites it is supposed to be immediately euthanized and that’s not happening, either. Presently, the population of pitbulls is exploding.

      Going for half-measures means time, money, human resources that will, in the end, fail–because the people you are trying to convince to be more responsible will never comply. There’s no convincing them because for whatever reason no logic or legal measures, convinces them.

      It’s like people caught up in a cult–they can’t see reality until they are removed into another environment and can look back on how they got into that mess. Most will not leave of their own accord until something life-destroying, happens.

      The problem with the pitbull situation is that it’s not just the cult paying the price for it–it’s everyone else (and their dogs) paying it.

  7. The details of this attack are very familiar. Most pit attack survivors can say the same.

    YQN is correct, this system-wide failure is organized, and the safety of the peaceful public is not considered.

  8. Excellent wrap-up of this case, Colleen — and insightful review of how it exemplifies a lot of the recurring themes in dog attacks.

  9. Besides the stupid dog getting to remain alive, the other injustice is how one can lie under oath and not get slapped with perjury. The testimony of the “handler” that the victim dog was unleashed and the aggressor is clearly an outright lie, as evidenced by the video. There’s no way that can just be a different “interpretation” of what was witnessed. It’s an outright lie.

  10. At what point are cities going be responsible? Five months before a trial and a video showing clearly the mutant is dangerous and the dog walker totally unable to control it. The owner has shown she is not concerned about her monster and should not own it.

    “Exhausted cliches” and exhausted concerned people.

    But thanks again for tirelessly educating the public. I have recently checked into some Facebook Pit groups and must say their sadness over so many pits in shelters leads me to believe that the message is getting out.

    • Same thing’s happening here in Tucson on Dogdoor, oops, I mean Nextdog, no, it’s Nextdoor.

      The mewling about pits about to be put down at Pima Animal Care is nonstop.

      And why not? Don’t you want to be that special angel who will rescue Maulie from death row?

  11. I got into an argument with an ex pitbull owner. Her bitch was a wonderful pitbull but was euthanized for biting a policeman. Her wonderful dog had delivered a litter of puppies. Apparently a bunch of the puppies had died of parvo bacteria. Did you not know that parvovirus in dogs was caused by bacteria? And this woman said she was a scientist!!! She then blocked any discussion. Although I have a DVM degree, things do change. Parvo was first identified in the world around 1978. Let’s do IQ testing on pitbull owners.

  12. In a country where the president owns a rescue dog that attacked people working at the White House fourteen times and is still alive, what are the odds authorities are going to put humans’ right to be and feel safe above the sophistry of woke animal rights idealists? One of the signs a civilization is “going to the dogs”. Many are starting to realize the meaning of this adage that reflects historic experiences.

    • Newsflash: plenty of conservatives and trumpers value pets over people. Go look at a local shelter Facebook page and the comment profiles show a wide range of political stances, not just “woke”. If you followed presidents’ dogs, you’d know that presidential dogs from both parties inflicted bites over the decades. Well, excluding the spaniels. 😀

      • This forum is dedicated to people wishing to achieve freedom from deluded, inconsiderate people imposing dangers on others. When I used the term woke I did not say left wing or right wing. I fully realize deluded idealists come in many different flavours.

        Owners of dangerous dogs hold beliefs that cause them to believe in things that are not true and deny things that are. Ideological enthusiasts. Not rational empiricists who are skeptical of beliefs and value evidence.

        I do not know why you would assume I meant left wing when I said woke. I do not associate one with the other. I evaluate people by their epistemological behaviour. Do they identify with ideologies or empiricism? Would they accept or deny evidence that is an anomaly to their beliefs? Will they impose their beliefs and lifestyle on people who have valid reasons to resent those impositions?

  13. Ying Yang’s owner being questioned about his dog being intact and being “tied up” are such bs diversion tactics. The POS pit would have attacked regardless and the home owner was keeping his dog confined (on a tether) as per city law. I got something for Elijah and any other dog that attacks on my property including any tool I can find.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *