[nagdu] Just catching up / Welcome / Shaman was attacked by a pit bull again

[Mardi Hadfield]

Hi every one, just catching up as I have been extremely busy. Welcome to
the new people on the list. I am Mardi from Tucson Arizona and working my
third owner trained guide. He is a Belgian Shepherd named Shaman. I use my
dog from a wheelchair.On Tuesday,June 5th, I went to the court house with
my friend Carla as a witness for her. When we got off the bus at the
Ronstadt Station, there was a man hanging around with a pit bull. The dog
barked and growled and lunged at Shaman as we passed by.Shaman ignored this
dog. There was no collar or license on this dog,just a belt that was being
used as a leash.
The dog also did the same to several people passing by it.When we left the
court house and returned to the bus station to wait for our bus,the same
thing happened.Again Shaman ignored it. All of a sudden the dog was on top
of Shaman attacking him. I was yelling and trying to pull my dog away from
the attacker and several people called the police. The man finally got the
belt around the dogs neck again and dragged it away.The fur around Shaman's
neck was wet and some of his hair had been pulled out,but there was no
blood.Because the man left the scene with the dog,the police refused to
come.Carla called the police back and told them that I wanted a report made
of the attack on my dog.They finally showed up after about 40 minutes,but
did not want to check out the library where the man and the dog also hang
out.They refused to enforce the service dog laws.They just don't care that
my guide dog has now been attacked 7 times by a pit bull each time.That
does not even take into account the harassment and attacks by other dogs.If
that wasn't enough, after getting off the bus and starting for home,another
unleashed,unlicensed dog ran out of it's yard and made an attempt to attack
poor Shaman.Twice in one day!! Shaman was so up set that he balked and
tried to run away from the situation but his leash was attached to my
wheelchair so he could not get away from me.The man in the yard called the
dog back and it went.I called Animal Control and they told me that the
police told them not to bother as the attack that had occurred earlier
BEHIND THE LIBRARY was already taken care of. The first attack occurred at
the bus station,not the library............They did not even give out the
right information. I informed Animal Control of the second incident,but
they refused to do any thing about that as the dog did not actually bite
Shaman.It just scared him.Nothing has come of either incident now.This has
affected my dog psychologically. I am at my wits end about all these
attacks on my dog. This time there were many witnesses and still nothing
was done.All 3 of my guide dogs have been attacked now and the law has
never been enforced. Please,if NAGDU could help resolve this problem,I know
that this has also happened to other service dogs with the same results.I
can not let this keep happening to Shaman.I don't want him ruined as a
guide,but I fear that is just what will happen if this attitude with the
Police and Animal Control continues and the owners of these dogs keep
getting away with breaking the law.    Mardi and Shaman and Tipton,future
GDIT.
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http://wolfsinger-lakota.blogspot.com/
http://wolfsinger2-thegoldendragon.blogspot.com