Two days ago my friend who is the local law enforcement officer was called to a dog bite incident. A 1 year old mastiff had grabbed on to a 2 year old girl by the head and really tore her up. She has more staples and stitches than you can count in her head and face.
Come to find out it is my daughters babysitters niece, and that my one year old has actually played with this dog.What happened is they were having a barbecue and the dog was out. The little girl took off running with the dog in pursuit and he caught her by the head.The family ran over and this dog was shaking the little girl back and forth like a rag doll, the family starts to kick the crap out of the dog. In my opinion they should not have done this as all they did was get the dog all worked up, but I dont know exactly what to tell them as far as what to do when all you have is your bare hands against a dog that weighs as much as 150lbs.
This dog had no kind of training at all, but he had never bitten anyone and everyone there says that the dog was just playing.
What should have been done to get the dog to turn loose?

I forgot to add that after a 10 day hold the dog is going to be put down.

Eric,
Events like this is why I always have a folding knife clipped to my pocket. A good knife has a zillion uses. In a worse case scenario, I could injure a dog ( or human ) badly enough that they'd let go of *anything*.
Actually, truth be known, I'm usually carrying a .45 ACP anyway, that's why I went through the effort of getting a CCW ( concealed carry, for you non-gun folks, or those of you that live in pinko states like California or Wisconsin, where your elected officals won't allow you the means to defend yourself. Do yourselves a favor and vote those SOB's out, OK? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> )
I may not always have a firearm on me, but I always have the knife. Always.

A tiny bit of preparation can save your life, or the life of a friend or a loved one.

The above is an extreme answer, but the event sur seemed extreme....

Eric,

To answer your question, the best way to get a dog to turn loose is: grab the dog around the neck, by the collar if he has one, place your thumb and forefinger on the dog's throat, choke that scutter until he is unconscious. There are best places to place your fingers to choke the dog but it's a bit complicated. Anyway, the dog will release the bite, but when he does he's going to be pissed, so hang on. When he's unconscious, then you or someone can attend to the injured. It's a good solid way to remove a dog. a dog should never be yanked off a person as there will be more damage done from the tearing.

DFrost

David,
Good advice, especially if you're worried about not injuring the dog.

My advice is for a dire emergency where someone's life is at stake - just to clarify!

I guess this is a lesson for everyone, or at least me. I guess I never really put much thought into what to do if something like this happens to my child.
From what I gather with all of the yelling and screaming and fighting the dog actually was swinging the litle girl from side to side while most of her head was in its mouth.
This little girl is very lucky to be alive.Her scalp alone required over 70 staples, and the lacerations on her face undre her chin were also stitched up.
My daughters babysitter was present when this happened and she said it actually looked like the girl was a ragdoll in the dogs mouth and they thought her neck might be broken.
Will, in Illinois we are not allowed to carry concealed.

Hmmm. Reading this makes me think. I'm 110 pounds soaking wet, female. I really don't think I could physically choke out a large dog. If I didn't have a weapon, any other suggestions? I do carry pepper spray. What if that doesn't work?

My friend works in a vet office and the vet stuck his hand into a pitbull's mouth and down the dog's windpipe to make the dog let go of another dog. The vet got pretty bit up doing his, but the dog let go.

I'm really not too hot on the idea of putting my hand voluntarily down a dog's throat. I guess if a dog went after my child I would be willing to do anything. Gouging eyes, kicking, wrestling all come to mind. I would rather me get hurt than my child.

Eric,
Sadly, I knew that about Illinois. I'm sure that Illinois's very restrictive gun laws are directly responsible for the low gun crime rate in Chicago. :rolleyes:
Vote them out, brother!

Roz, I still think you'd be better off with a walking stick than pepper spray. A person ( or dog, likely) can work through the pain of pepper spray. A well placed stick blow, even with only 110 lbs. behind it, can still fracture bones. Fractured bones will stop most fights.

There are excellent schools that teach stick fighting. It's a great life-time skill to learn.

And politicians will have a tough time outlawing canes ( although I'm sure that they'll give it a shot, eventually <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> )

84 year old lady with a walker: " You can have my walker when you pry it out of my cold, dead, fingers!"
Sorry, a little NRA humor there.....

Roz, you can headlock a dog and it is pretty easy to hang on for the ride. Obviously this would only be for a big dog (that wasn't coming at you with teeth bared), because the little ones wouldn't be as hard to choke off. I'm about your size and have restrained 70+ lb dogs this way even without any sort of adrenaline rush.

I used to work for a vet and the first thing they taught me was to grab the neck and don't let go. A couple of well placed fingernails can work on the male dogs as well (the groomer had some fake nails at the time and was trying to grab a dog by the waist, should you get any ideas about what I might have done).

A really strong, well placed knee strike to the ribs will usually break one if a stick isnt present. Just be ready for a transfer bite.