Down With Abusive People!

There aren’t too many people that I dislike. Really. I try not to hold grudges and I also try not to stereotype people. But one group of people that I really despise is those that fall under the category of “abusive”. It saddens and angers me that people can be and are abusive towards those weaker than them – be it children, elderly or animals.

My little sister was abused by her biological mother. Thankfully, she was fortunate to be saved and adopted by my mom. However, over the years that she’s been with us (we didn’t get her until she was 7 she’s now 16) she’ll tell us some of the stuff she went through and it just boggles the mind. I can’t comprehend people who treat children like she was treated.

I work for a non-profit organization that advocates for elderly people. Through my job I’ve heard many horror stories about elders being abused by their own family members! Again, I have trouble understanding the how and why of it all.

I just don’t get any of it. But my current “pet peeve” (though it’s much more than that, I just wanted to sneak in some play on words) right now is animal abuse. Let me start with the background story.

Last Thursday, my Jango was attacked by a pit bull. My husband was walking him at 5pm and a pit bull came charging out of a yard and bit Jango on his neck and foot. My husband had to let go of Jango’s leash so that he could get away from the other dog. Thankfully, Jango came running right home (even though it was two streets away) and thank G-d, he wasn’t hit by any cars when he ran across the two streets to get home. My poor baby was bleeding and ran right into his crate as soon as I opened the door. We took him right over to the vet’s and luckily, it wasn’t too bad, though even a week later, the bite marks on his neck are still quite visible. At the vets, he received antibiotics, pain killers and a rabies booster to attend to his physical injuries. However, the psychological damage hasn’t been as easy to “fix”. He now cowers and tries to run from other dogs, when he was once very friendly and eager to meet other dogs.

After we took him to the vets, we reported the attack to the local animal control officer. My husband also went over to the house to give them the vet bill. The man that answered the door said that it was his son’s dog and that he’d give him the bill.

Now fast forward to Saturday afternoon. My husband was out walking Jango (we now both carry a baseball bat with us to protect our baby). Mark recognizes the pit bull that was being walked by a teenager (who is also walking another dog). So Mark calls out to him, “Do you live at 27 Madeup* St?” And the kid answers, “yes”. So Mark asks him, “Where is my money?” And the kid says “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” So Mark says, “Your dog attacked my dog.” And the kid says, “This isn’t my dog – it’s my brother’s.” So Mark leaves it as that and continues around the corner (poor Jango is flipping out wanting to get away from the pit bull, who is not on a leash, but just being led by a harness). However, Mark kept looking back, making sure the pit bull wasn’t going to run after them. Well, that’s when my husband saw it. The dog wasn’t listening to the kid, so the kid bent down and punched the pit bull 3 -4 times in the face!!!! No wonder why the dog was aggressive. When Mark relayed the story to me, I almost cried. That poor dog! So I called up animal control and made another report. I still can’t stop thinking about it. That just sickens me so. I don’t get how anyone can hurt an animal. As upset as I am about the pit bull attacking my baby Jango, I also know it’s not the dog’s fault. It’s the dog’s owners that are to blame. And I knew that way before I heard of him being abused. I’d like to punch the owners, myself. However, it’s not my place – I just need to trust that the dog officer will do his job and hope that karma bites the owner in the @ss real soon!

*Made up street name to protect the very not innocent.