QUEENSBURY, NY - On Thursday a man shot a pit bull to death after it allegedly attacked his own dogs.
The Queensbury woman who owned the dog that was shot says she is devastated after her pit bull, named Boo, was shot and killed by a neighbor. The neighbor, Charles Lombardo, says he was trying to defend his own dogs that were allegedly being attacked by her pit bull.
The incident happened outside of Lombardo’s Meadow Brook Road home. Boo, a four-year-old pit bull, broke free from it’s leash and ran into Lombardo’s yard. The Lombardo family said they could not stop the attack on their own. Charles Lombardo told sheriff’s deputies that he tried to separate the animals by yelling, kicking and hitting them with a cane before be grabbed a 12-gauge shot gun and shot the dog twice, then called police.
The Lombardo family says one of their dogs, named Brownie, suffered scratches to it’s face. Brownie is a rescue dog that was featured on NEWS10 ABC’s Pet Connection. Police confirm that Brownie’s injures seemed to be from the pit bull.
Boo’s owner, Paige Sidler, wrote on her Facebook page about the incident. She wrote, “His name is Charles Lombardo (Charlie) he took BOO away from all of us. I am getting a lawyer and making sure he can’t ever own a gun again!!! and hopefully he goes to jail! uggh soooo soooo soooo devastated!”
Sidler says that Boo has never showed aggression before. She says once she noticed that her dog was gone, she immediately began searching for him. Within minutes she says she heard a gun shot and found out that her dog had died.
A next door neighbor says this isn’t the first time Boo has gone loose in the neighborhood. The neighbor also said that Lombardo would never hurt an animal unless it was completely necessary. He went on to say that Lombardo is a “dog lover and doesn’t dislike animals at all.”
At this point the investigation remains ongoing and no charges have been filed in this case.
I likely would have killed the dog as well if it was attacking my dogs, and I’m likely the biggest dog lover on this site.
Sad that it had to be put down in a manner like that, but if the story was true he’s 100% in the right(unless his neighbors house is less than 500 feet away…)
I would have shot the dog to if i couldn’t yell at it to stop to stop it with a cane. I sure as fuck wouldn’t get myself in there. Someone should tell the pitbull owner that if she was a responsible pet owner and kept tabs on her dog when it was out she might still have a dog. She needs to get kicked in the cunt.
sounds like the pitbull was unfortunate and had a lousy owner. I would have done the same thing if somebody else’s dog came into my yard and attacked mine and I couldn’t seperate them.
They are more easily available and anywhere from free to cheap to get. Then these broke lousy pet owners realize how expense it is to feed a dog of that size and how much attention and exercise a pit would require and the dog starts going with instinct to feed and exercise itself.
as a pit owner i hate these stories. but if another dog cane and attacked my dog id shot it if there was no option. im sure this will only hurt the pitbulls image around here
I agree. If my dog was getting attacked by a neighbors dog and all other options to stop the attack had been exhausted I would have done the same.
And if my dog was the one that got loose and attacked a neighbors pet I wouldn’t blame them for doing the same. I would be upset but I could only blame myself for allowing my dog to get loose in the first place.
The whole situation sucks , I would do the same but we don’t impersonating how the “attack” was . He could be over dramatic about to justify shooting as well .
Leash law will apply here in this case likely. If the dog was in/on you property attacking your own dog/persons/etc you have the right to defend. The dog just shouldn’t have been there, period. Owner should have had a better collar/harness and/or better control over their pet.
what I guarantee will likely apply against the shooter is how close his neighbors house is to his, as discharging a firearm within 500 feet of another house is against the law unless given permission.
Here’s my take on the situation… Granted I don’t know all of the circumstances, but I was a trainer for a couple years and have trained my fair share of pitbulls. From what I can see, it didn’t list what type of dog the “attacked” dog was, but if it were anything smaller than the pitbull then it would have been dead in less than a few seconds. I find it very hard to believe that the owner could not break up the fight without lethal issues yet the “attacked” dog only had a few scratches.
Either way, it is a shitty situation but I know that I am a very responsible pet owner and my dogs have gotten out plenty of times… no matter how good you are as an owner dogs will almost always find some way to escape for some freedom… even those that are extremely well trained. I don’t think that the fact that the dog got loose was any indication of the owner being responsible or not.
Maybe its just me, but something just isn’t fitting right… just my .02
I think I would probably take the ultimate dog lover title here, I have 6 dogs that I love to pieces. I could never take a dogs life unless he was harming a human. Even then, I’d do everything I could to stop it from happening before I took a lethal step. It really sounds like the guy was a big douchebag that was overreacting. Judging by the description of the dogs “injuries”, I’d say they were either playing rough or the guy didn’t even hesitate to take a shot at the animal. I watched my cousins 90lb pit try to take out my old lab mix due to a territory issue… blood everywhere, but guess what? We restrained them and all was well (aside from the 9 staples that the pit required to his face). The point is, if it was a real “attack” – both dogs would have more than “scratches”.
A very good point, however an attack is an attack. The dog was on this mans property and it was fighting his dog, (the scratches are consistent with the story). What I agree with about your point, is that the man exaggerated the events to justify the shooting for fear of persecution. Should he have waited until the attacking dog shredded his dog or was he right dispatching the dog as quickly as possible? I have seen stories of dogs being shot for far less by the police for just threatening to attack. I still side with the property owner.
I’m not saying he was right or wrong… I just think that he could have broken them up with non-lethal means and probably went straight to the gun. If the pit bull were truly 100% attacking the other dogs, they would have been dead LONG before he could have gotten his gun. Also, a pitbull tends to play very rough… its in their nature. And anyone who doesn’t know any better could think that it was an attack. I’m not saying that is definitely was rough playing, but anything is possible.
Perfect example, I have an American Bulldog and when I was a trainer the other trainer and I decided to let our dogs play in the training area between classes because his dog (rottweiler) was a rescue and needed to get accustomed to playing with other dogs. The 2 of them were getting very vocal and were playing VERY rough… but they were playing. Both tails were going and were not in the typical defensive position. Also, both dogs would immediately respond when called because they were both well trained (where-as an untrained dog may not stop playing when called). We ended up having to end the play session because the manager got multiple complaints from customers that we were allowing dog fighting in the back… case in point; most people cannot tell the difference between 2 dogs playing and fighting.
Again, I can’t say that the guy was right or wrong because nobody will know the true circumstances, but I just find it hard to believe that the guy had to go and get his gun, then shoot the dog, yet his dog only had a few scratches. Sorry, but I don’t buy it…