First, I'm very glad that Mr. Pardue is ok. But second, no, pit bulls, pit bull types, etc. should not be banned...irresponsible owners should be! People should be responsible pet owners whether they own a pitbull or a chihuahua! Why was that dog running loose? It should have been in a fenced yard and it should have been properly trained and socialized. All dogs large and small should be trained and socialized to be around people, other animals, etc. If people would do that and spay/neuter their animals, I believe there would be a lot less that end up in shelters or dead, and less injury to people.

It seems the pit bull problem is getting worse. The sad part about it is that most owners that buy the dogs, get them for their agressive ways. There are a handful of those owners that really love thier pets, but lets face it, most of the owners get them because they are mean and good watch dogs. In my opinion, they are too dangerous, especially in neighborhoods with alot of children.

I too am very glad that Mr. Pardue is ok. However, a dog is a dog is a dog. It is irresponsible owners who create bad dogs. I have a Pitbull and a Bichon Frise, (and a cat)despite popular belief the pit and the cat get along the best. My pitbull is very obedient and loving. It is all how you raise the dog. I live in a neigborhood with children and have one of my own, my pit loves kids and lets them pull her tail, wrestle, and play. All dogs need to be socialized and trained, not left to run free or be tied up in the yard.
As for someone who puts people in the class of "most people who get pitbulls" they need to do a little research before posting comments that are completely absurd. It should be restated that most owners who have pitbulls who attack are irresponsible, or who have got the dog for the wrong reason. There are many websites out there that will inform the uneducated about pitbulls. Try bullypridekennels to get started!!!!

i dont belive the breed should be banned, the people who train them, should be. any animal can be aggressive especially if they were intended for that purpose. most of these dogs seem to be trained to fight and it is the owners of these dogs who are responsible for their outcome. the man that killed the dog was absolutely justified in what he did any of us put ,in that situation would do the same.

I'm glad mr pardue is ok but i think pitbulls should not be banned you can't blame the dog blame the owner.I have been raised around pitbulls since i was 2 and we never had any kind of problems like this

It is sad what happened,but any breed of dog can attack like that. It is the owners of the dog that should be held responsible. It is our role as humans to take responsiblity for these incidents and not blame the breed as a whole. Each dog has to be evaluated individually.

Pit Bulls are naturally aggressive and dangerous - they were bred that way. Like an animal of the wild, you can't tame a pit bull, it will always be more unpredictable and dangerous than other dogs. My friend thought his would be different, he raised it as an indoor pet. For a while it was sociable, loving, etc. He said around 3 yrs of age the dog starting becoming more independent, reclusive. Nothing had changed, the dog changed. After a close call with a neighbor when the dog got loose, and other obviously aggressive tendencies showed up, he had the dog put down. A pit bull is not a pet, it is a weapon bred to be that way.

For anyone who says Pit Bulls are naturally aggressive and dangerous and bred that way simply shows his ignorance of Pit Bulls specifically and dogs in general. No breed should be banned or villified in the news like Pit Bulls are - the owner is at fault 99.99% of the time - as it was here since the dog should not have been running loose - and the owners never get any punishment for it. They just go get another dog. According to the article, it seemed that once this guy saw it was a Pit Bull his demeanor and plan of action changed. What he did to scare off the dog would have gotten the same reaction from any breed. The guy is not a hero for slaying the mean Pit Bull and I hope others who hear about it don't decide this is a good plan of action even if they were not provoked, which this man was. He is justified in protecting himself, but wonder if another big dog had done approached him in the same manner and caused the same damage, would he have taken that same action. It seems unnecessary to show a picture of this dead dog. If it was a Lab or Golden that did this (which is not uncommon, but not publicized or newsworthy according to society), they wouldn't have put a picture of that dead dog on the news. I do understand gore and bloodshed sells papers, though. It is very sad how prejudiced society is about this and other breeds. It just shows ignorance and an unwillingness to become educated. 30 years ago this breed was reveared. We need to look at what has changed - it isn't the dog - the dog is the same loyal, dependable, yet strong dog it has always been. We need to look towards the change in society for the answers and unjustified hysteria.

On the 6 o'clock news when I saw this story, it said that of 1300 bites in harris county, pit bulls were responsible for about 200. Why dont any of these other bites make the news? We have leash and license laws, and dangerous dog laws, if they were enforced we would not have this problem, with any breed.

I totally agree with the owners having 99.99% the fault of what these dogs do. I they would a safe place to be all these accidents would not be happening. No dog should be roaming the streets alone.

Oh boy here we go again...For those of you who think all pit bulls are bad, you are wrong. Dead Wrong.

This gentleman that killed the dog made several mistakes. He basically did all the wrong things when the dog approached him. Lunged at the dog was the absolute WORST thing he could have done. (Noticed I called him a dog and not a weapon! However if you would like to refer him to a weapon, just like any other weapon it is the handlers fault - not the weapon's).

I would like to suggest that he and anyone else read "For The Love of A Dog" by Patricia McConnell and "The Other End of the Leash" by the same author. She describes several warning signs a dog might give that by the untrained eye we wouldn't even recgonize it. These books are filled with wonderful information. I think they should be required of all dog owners to read.

I have grown up in a house that has had both dogs and cats and though I, for one, will never purchase a pit bull due to its known agressiveness, I do have to admit that jumping at a dog that is already approaching you, no matter what dog, can be seen as an act of agression. The dog will go on the defensive, thinking it will be attacked so, acting on instinct, it will defend itself. It is sad to see any animal killed in any way. I have agree that usually the fault would lie with the owner and how the owner has trained the dog. If you train it to be agressive, you will have a dog that will bite or attack at whim. If you train the dog responsibly and sensibly, then you will have a wonderful pet that will protect and comfort you. I have to agree with ignorant owners being banned over banning a breed of dog. It's borderline discrimination to name a single breed of dog as a problem when there are many many more that are just as fierce if not worse.

To all the people that keep on saying that pit bulls are aggressive and 'weapons' are extremely ill-informed. AmStaffs, are extremely loving and affectionate animals that want only to please there humans. Bad up bringing can bring out aggressiveness in any dog. As response to Bob and his 'friend' bad breeding and genetics also cause dogs to 'turn'. This also happens is every breed. the problem is people are ignorant to the breed and continue to make bad decisions with them thinking it is the right way to raise this breed. Banning the dog will not solve the problem same as banning drugs did not get them off the street.

You know what banning dog breeds does? It gives people a false sense of security. Laws and bans only affect law abiding citizens who aren't doing anything wrong and who's dogs aren't causing any problems. The criminals who choose to own and ruin a breed by encouraging aggressive behavior or breeding unstable dogs will continue to own these dogs or move to a breed that isn't banned, but will be once they too have been ruined.

I watched this story on several channels last night and managed to find several discrepencies in this guy's story.
From the channel 13 footage:
-they show his arms bandaged up with gauze from his elbows to his knuckles
-in this story he tells how he was out walking and the dog barked at him and jumped up going for his throat
-he says the dog grabbed his hand so he punched the dog in the ribs which made it pop open it's jaws he said he grabbed the dog by the collar and ear and pulled it back to his house where he wrestled it to the ground held it by the throat and knocked on the door
-as he is reinacting this in front of the camera he shows how he had a hold of the dog's collar by making two fists (what's odd about this is that his middle finger is the one he is claiming was almost chewed off yet he's able to bend it and make a fist). He also showed how he knocked on the door (with his knuckles that were bandaged).

From channel 26 Footage:
-they show his arms with minimal damage, one puncuture on his right forearm and two on his right middle finger
-when he tells them his story he says he had to get down on his knees to pry the dogs jaws open and get his hand out he claims he then grabbed the dog by the collar and started dragging it home, that's when he noticed it had died
From channel 11 Footage:
-he claims he pulled the dog 2 blocks back to his house and didn't mean to kill the dog, but it choked to death

This guy's story isn't adding up and the fact that he is spewing a whole lot of anti-Pit Bull propoganda doesn't give him much credit.

My conclusion: This guy already had a problem with this dog just because it was a Pit Bull and because it had already been out running loose before. I think he came across the dog on his morning walk/jog and thought he was going to deal with the "Loose Pit Bull Problem" by grabbing the dog and taking it back to his house. He possibly did something that either hurt the dog or scared it and the dog bit him in self defense. If the dog had actually intended on killing this man, he would have a lot more than just a few puncture wounds on his hand!! I believe the owners when they say this dog was sweet, but I also believe they were irresponsible for not properly confining their dogs, as in, keeping them in the house with the rest of the family.

Reply to --Posted by: Karen at February 1, 2007 06:48 AM
"A pit bull is not a pet, it is a weapon bred to be that way."
I will have to strongly disagree with her. As said early this morning I have owned Pit Bulls for the past 14 years. The first was my wife's female which lived to 13 years old and never even attempt to bite anyone even when a small child was jumping across her and fell back onto the dog. All she did was yep. Got the second pit bull male from an East Texas Game Warden when he was two. The dog had been on a 1/4" chain before we brought him to our home. He turned out to be an excellent pet, never bite anyone and all the kids played with him. Now we own a 4 year male and he is the best of all that we have had. Three and six year old grandkids come in ever couple of years from out of state and he acts as if they have been with him since he was born. Follows them around the pasture and they love it as well as he does. The bred gets a bad rape. I would never fight or hunt hogs with any of my dogs. They are for pets and to help working cows. And none of our dogs are ever put on a chain. While traveling we have a leash we use to let them out of the truck to go natures business. They are not even tyed in the truck. We had a Crocker Spaniel onces that was meaner than any dog I seen.

This case perfectly displays what the true problem actually is; irresponsible owners and ignorant, uneducated, cruel citizens.

This man just killed a beloved family pet for no reason... I think he should be charged for animal cruelty. Yes, it is the owners fault that the dog was not properly contained but if the dog had been a lab or a collie, I highly doubt that this man would have reacted in a similar manner.

The man "lunged" at the dog to scare it away?? Wow, stupidity at its best. Any dog, regardless of breed would have bitten him out of self defense. I don't believe that the dog was approaching the man to attack him, because if that was the dog's intention, he would have done a much better job than just a few puncture wounds.

Think of any friendly dog you know, regardless of breed, if they saw a person walking down the road, would they approach them? probably. Would you assume the dog was trying to attack you? maybe, maybe not, but I highly doubt you'd lunge at it.

The government shouldn't ban pit bulls or any specific breed for that matter, they should educate the public about dogs and the proper way to react if approached by one. Regulations should be placed on all pet ownership and animal bylaws should be strictly inforced and the owners held responsible. Banning a specific breed only causes another breed to become a "problem"...

For those of you bad mouthing pit bulls in your comments, have you ever actually met a pit bull? Talked to thier owner? Done some research on the breed? or do you just allow yourself to be brainwashed by the media? Do you realize that newspapers and newschannels are for-profit organizations that have agendas other than providing unbiased information? They worry about ratings and newspaper sales, not about how they are impacting society or if the message they are sending is fair and truthful. Think about it.

I invite any of you to meet my pit bull and try to tell me he's a monster while he's wagging his tail and showering you with kisses and more love than you can handle.

IF A VET EXAMINED THE DOG PAWS, THE PAWS ARe CLEAN, AS SHOWN IN THE PICTURE. AN AGGRRESSIVE DOG BEING DRAGGED 2 blocks WILL PUT UP A FIGHT. THE PAWS WILL HAVE CUTS FROM ROUGH SURFACE OF THE ROAD AND PARDUE WOULD HAVE SUSATAINED MORE SEVERE INJURIES. The INJURIES claimed by Pardue was sustained by him attacking and chocking that poor dog, which is the reason why he dragged the dog to his home to make sure the dog is DEAD. I do not believed that he had tried to free his hand from the pitbull mouth. He claimed the dog attacked him and that the dog was aggressive. Had the dog been aggressive there is no way he would have unlock those jaws, just NO WAY! He attacked that dog.

It was all an ACT of CRUELTY to ANIMAL and a DESPERATE 15 seconds FAME with the NEWS MEDIA. He should be charge with ANIMAL CRUELTY.
I believe the owners when they say this dog was sweet. The owner of the Pit should pursue animal cruelty against Mr. Pardue. The City should should act on this appropriately and professionally.

Banning a Pit does not resolved anything but rather put a message out there to say "it is okay to beat up or even kill an animal at your own pleasure".
It has become so annoying to hear banning of PIT from one City to another where in all actuallity research showed Pitbull biting was not in the top list. Hey, City officials lets be resourseful and educate ourselves, have you looked at the statics? And yes if I were to moved to a City who will prevent me from keeping my dogs. I will take the case all the way to the supreme court.

The City, County neither Government should not ban pit bulls or any specific breed. Regulations should be placed on all pet ownership and animal bylaws should be strictly inforced. Whatever happened to educating the public about dogs and putting people behind bars for cruelty to animals. It is beyond me how a City tolerate people like Mr. Parue with an anti-Pitbull is written all over him.

And my Reply to
--Posted by: Kren at February 1, 2007 06:48 AM
"Pit Bulls are naturally aggressive and dangerous - they were bred that way"
Please do not bad mouth Pit bull. As with every breed there is one likely to be "different".

If pit bull terriers are banned successfully (doubtful) there will be a new "status" breed ruined by irresponsible humans. When are we going to stop blaming innocent animals and start punishing the idiots who ruin wonderful dog breeds? Owners of dogs are responsible for their dogs' actions. Punish the owner.

I have a Pit and he is sitting next to me with the kitty snuggling with him....as to the guy that got attacked just take a look at how he talks i think that says it all.

When I first heard this story the first thing I thought was this man is not telling the truth! This man attacted the dog and that is how he got bites on his hands becasue his hands were around the dogs neck next to the dogs mouth and the dog had to fight for his life. If the dog would have attacked him then show me the proof.

My thing is this I have owned many breeds of dogs from chows to hound dogs to mixed breeds and out of all the dogs I have owned sense I was a small child the best companions I had and that really stand out is a male chow and a female red nosed pitbull the chow ended up dying of old age with no unsettling memorys or accidents the pitbull I had was the best companion I have ever had no ill will towards anyone always playfull and happy but I decided to drive a truck over the road my buddy begged me for the dog I thought he would be a responsible owner instead he left him on a 6 foot chain in the yard with no dog house didn't feed her consistantly forgot to feed her for 2 or more days once I found this out from a mutual friend 6 months later I came by his house seen the dog she didnt want anyone near her except me her whole demenor changed just off the cruelty of how she was treated I compare this to an innocent man who lets say got convicted of murder and spends time in maximum security prison and stripped of his man hood and basically sentenced to waste away in a prison cell for a crime he didn't committe now wouldn't that drive you crazy I know it would me and I know for sure I wouldn't be the same person that is basically what my dog went threw no room to play no socializing with humans or other animals wasn't feed properly so it drove her insane in my eyes not at all the dogs fault the fault layed in the hands of the owner. As for the fate of the my old dog I immediately started looking for a new home for her but I was to late by the time I found a place 3 days later the animal shelter had heard how she was treated and seiuzed the dog sad to me that such a well mannered playfull dog paid for my friends laziness and cruelty to an animal I think this situation would have drove almost any dog crazy and changed there demenor don't you ?