Pit Bull Grabs Baby by Diaper, Alerts Owners to Fire

Pit Bull Grabs Baby by Diaper, Alerts Owners to Fire
A stock photo shows a pit bull Stock photo of pit bull / CC0
Jack Phillips
Updated:

A heroic pit bull helped save a family from a house fire and carried a baby outside in Stockton, California.

“I open it and she runs in and starts barking at me like crazy and I was like, ‘OK, this is weird. This is not like her,’” owner Nana Chaichanhda said, Fox40 reported.

As the fire began to rage on the fourplex, 8-month-old pit bull Sasha banged on the back door.

Chaichanhda noticed the building was on fire and went to the bedroom to get her 7-month-old daughter.

Sasha was with her, she said.

“She had already had my baby by the diaper and was dragging her off the bed,” she told the Fox affiliate. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what are you doing?’”

“My neighbors home was totally destroyed, and the fire was quickly spreading to my unit,” the mother also wrote, CBS News reported. “[Sasha] was trying to warn us of the fire. I got out of bed to see what was going on. At that moment I opened the back door and Sasha ran into our home, straight into our bedroom.”

Overall, she said, “Thanks to Sasha we were able to get out safe and call 911.”

Chaichanhda said that while she lost her home, she is thankful for the dog’s heroics. She hopes it will change people’s perceptions about pit bulls.

“It meant a lot. I owe her everything. If it wasn’t for her, I would have still been in bed and things could have taken a worse turn,” Chaichanhda said.

‘Most Abused Dogs on Earth’

Animal rights group PETA has said that pit bulls are “the most abused dogs on Earth.”

“Pit bulls are left at shelters in record numbers—and since they are difficult to adopt out, reputable shelters (that don’t slam the door in the dogs’ faces) are finding that they must euthanize more pit bulls and pit bull mixes than all other dogs combined,” the group said.

(Illustration - Shutterstock)
Illustration - Shutterstock

Karen Delise, research director for the National Canine Research Council and author of “The Pitbull Placebo,” has investigated hundreds of dog bite incidents.

She wrote in a now-taken down article: “My study of dog bite-related fatalities occurring over the past five decades has identified the poor ownership/management practices involved in the overwhelming majority of these incidents: owners obtaining dogs, and maintaining them as resident dogs outside of regular, positive human interaction, often for negative functions (i.e. guarding/protection, fighting, intimidation/status),” according to a prior report from The Epoch Times.

Dog Bite Statistics

However, website DogsBite.org says that “each day, about 1,000 U.S. citizens require emergency care treatment for serious dog bite injuries. Annually, about 9,500 citizens are hospitalized due to dog bite injuries.”

In a 13-year analysis, the website says that of 433 fatal dog attacks in the United States, pit bulls contributed to 66 percent, or 284 deaths.

Rottweilers, the second on the list, inflicted 10 percent of attacks that resulted in human death, the report says.

German shepherds accounted for 4.6 percent of fatal attacks.

Mixed-breed dogs accounted for 3.9 percent and the American bulldog was next at 3.5 percent, the report said.

The Mastiff and Bullmastiff accounted for 3.2 percent of deaths.

Last on the list were huskies, which accounted for 3 percent of fatal attacks.

The report compiled fatal dog attacks between 2005 and 2017, showing that 48 percent of the victims were children aged 9 or younger.

Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips
Breaking News Reporter
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter who covers a range of topics, including politics, U.S., and health news. A father of two, Jack grew up in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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