‘It’s pretty sad.?
That’s how Oakland County Sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Patterson, commander of the Oxford Township substation, summed up the six-hour ordeal that ended with him having to shoot and kill an aggressive pit bull running loose in the Waterstone development on Oct. 28.
It all began when Patterson and Deputy Jason Louwaert came across the dog on Dunlap Rd. around 1:30 p.m.
The sergeant estimated it weighed approximately 80 pounds and described it as ‘all muscle and teeth.? It was wearing no license or identification tags, only a thick leather collar with metal spikes on it.
‘It looked injured, like it was messed up,? he said. ‘It looked, to me, like this was a fighting dog that maybe somebody dumped off. Maybe he lost his last fight and they dumped the poor thing off on the shoulder of the road. It was in bad shape. It had a whole bunch of marks in its mouth area like it had been used for fighting.?
The dog was ‘shaking? and ‘initially acted like it wanted help,? Patterson said.
But when Louwaert got out of the vehicle and approached the dog, it charged him. After he backed off, the pit bull walked away.
Patterson tried to coax the animal inside his vehicle, but then it turned on him.
‘I thought it was going to jump up and bite my arm as I was leaning out the window,? he said.
An animal control officer was called to the scene and he attempted to secure the dog using a catch pole, which is a long pole that has a noose attached to the end of it.
‘We told animal control it’s very vicious; don’t get out of the car,? Patterson said. ‘So, he tries to lasso it through the passenger-side window with that stick, which he finally does . . . But the thing pulls the whole stick out of his hands. Now, it’s in this wooded area, running around with this noose around its neck.?
The animal control officer didn’t have another catch pole, so the decision was made to put the pit bull down.
‘He was going to hurt somebody,? the sergeant said.
Patterson fired a round with his handgun and struck the dog in the neck.
‘It tumbles, the noose comes off and it starts running up through the woods,? he said. ‘I shot at it three more times to try to knock it down.?
Those shots missed their target and the dog was gone.
Finding the canine became local deputies top priority because at that point, it was not only a vicious animal, it was a wounded animal, which made it even more dangerous, according to Patterson.
The dog was spotted again and a deputy shot it in the back in the shoulder area, but it kept going and ran into Waterstone, Patterson said.
Based on the blood trail, the dog crossed Market St. into an area by the Boulder Pointe golf course and crossed the fairway.
A deputy found the dog hiding in some cattails by a body of water. She shot at it, but the bullet struck the dog’s thick leather collar and failed to penetrate it, so the animal ran off again.
Another deputy shot it, but the dog continued to run.
Finally, Patterson used his rifle to bring down the dog and end its suffering. That was around 7:30 p.m.
‘It’s unfortunate because it’s not the dog’s fault it’s that way,? he said. ‘It’s a pretty sad deal, but I’m thankful it didn’t bite somebody.?