Just out of the hospital and I had vowed to not go in there during Covid. It was not up to me.

Killer canine came from out of nowhere. It was loose. A collar but no leash. The dog only wanted to kill. In order for an animal to be that murderous, it has to have been deliberately beaten. Normally, terriers are loyal, fun, spirited. They can only be turned into a machinery of teeth if the dog is abused. Any dog as abused as this one will bite and fight. This was the owners fault. This dog was huge. Not only was this a dog who had been horrifically abused, but it had also been horrifically bred.

It was a kill machine, created by humans for exactly that purpose. People who do this hate animals and themselves. Breeding is not a weapon. This pit bull was running around attacking anything that moved. He hit Tina full on and she fell. He grabbed Jack and tried to snap Jack’s neck. He did not get to Isabella before I landed on him and started beating his snout with my fists. We carry bear spray. We have whistles on chains. But it was so fast there was no time to grab the spray out of a pocket. The dog was so quick, he was not much more than a brown blur against the sky.

His teeth slashed my hands. We were across the street from a school. We were just the people who had always walked their dogs frequently in the same spot. The neighbors were fantastic people and called the police who called an ambulance. I was just a guy across the street walking his two dogs. For years. My dogs did not know what hit them. I dived on the pit bull. Hoping that he would be distracted. He was. It was a fight to the finish. I knew I would lose, but I was compelled to give it my all. I was choking his neck. It would either be me or the pit bull.

I was damn hard focused on preventing this dog from mauling another living thing. He had teeth, muscle, strength, and a bloodthirsty viciousness. He pulled my face to the ground, and then it dragged me through the dirt. I still have stones embedded in my skin. All I had was determination and fists. It was pounding the animal with my fists that I fought that dog as hard as I could. I grabbed his leather collar and held his head to the ground. I beat him and pounded him relentlessly. I would probably only be able to get to the animal in a short timeframe so I had to think fast. He was Mister Slashing Mouth Big Head. This had to end. Another hand reached in, grabbing the collar, to take the pit bull away. It was the owner. The cops said they knew him well. Jack has puncture wounds. Isabella was just terrified, but not physically hurt. I am truly banged up. I can only use one leg for now. Shots. Pills. Bandages. The hospital itself was crazy. Now is N-O-T a good time to go to a hospital. They do not want you there, and who can blame them. But the hospital folks are numb. It was crowded, dirty, stressed, and they had an obviously angry staff that is not stupid, and knows that they are at high risk. They are working double shifts.

Two hours before the attack, I had just been to a surgical ophthalmologist, and a laser beam surgery regarding both glaucoma, and cataracts. A little pred and I was fine. Glad to get outside with my cow dog and Jack Russell. Then, WHAM. During the attack, what I see is an army of black floaters swimming around like a storm of crows. Life just comes at you out of nowhere. YOU FIGHT THE DOG OR YOU DON’T. It’s not brain surgery. We go foward or you don’t. I am fighting this. I have been in exactly such kinds of situations before, and I am a bitch to kill.

Dragging my face through the dirt. My skin has more ways to go digging out the stones in my skin. Tomorrow, they will take out more. I cannot even locate the pain. I am all banged up. Crazy antibiotics. One finger typist. Jack will only sit in a corner and shiver and cry. They had to go in his puncture wound and clean it. My butt hip artificial joints are in screaming mode. My shoulders want to hide under rocks. I was sitting in a wheelchair in the ER and blood was pouring onto the floor. There was no one to clean it up. There was no one to stop the blood. I have a pacemaker and that means bloodthinners. I had no idea the hospital had grown this bad. If it can get a break from the pandemic, it can rebuild. The State says we are still in a dangerous geography. I feel for those people in the hospital and their families. I saw wide-eyed mothers, holding their child’s hands while the kid is coughing and cannot breathe. I want to be home with my family and I am very lucky.

Tim Barrus

Tim Barrus Blog

Posts tagged with pit-pull-attack

I Was Attacked and Mauled by a Pitbull