Keeping multiple dogs together can be a recipe for disaster. Within a very short amount of time, dogs will develop a pack. Within that pack comes a pecking order, and the food provider, Brittany Skoland of Fort Dodge, IA, did not rank very high in the pack.
Around 11:30 a.m. on November 24th, Skoland was attacked by her three pit bulls in her backyard. With neighbors hearing her screams for help, someone called 911. According to a statement from Chief Dennis Quinn, law enforcement arrived at an incredibly gruesome and chaotic scene. “The officer attempted to scare the dogs away to stop them from attacking the woman, but the dogs would not stop.” Left with no other recourse, the officer discharged his firearm multiple times, shooting and killing all three dogs.
Once the fur stopped flying, Skoland was rushed to a nearby hospital, but her wounds were so severe she was transferred via airlift to a Level 1 trauma center in Des Moines, IA. Despite multiple surgeries to try and save her mobility as well as her life, doctors couldn’t preserve her mobility. Skoland ultimately lost both legs, and parts of each hand, and will ultimately need multiple facial reconstructive surgeries.
In various ways over the last 50 years, people have been pushing to have pit bulls banned. Stats show that they don’t make up the majority of dog attacks, a point their supporters love to bring up often. However, when they do attack, they are the most damaging and the most ferocious. Simply put, this is due to generations upon generations of selective inbreeding. While it was once great for royal bloodlines and consulting power, in dogs it breeds massive brain issues like hyperaggression.
As Skoland’s attack shows, this might be time to stop the pit bull genetics train and put the breed out to pasture. While originally bred to be family-loving guard dogs, they are now too much risk and not enough reward.
