Driver stopped to help pit bull, bit by another

Mark Miller

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 1997 | 10:56 a.m.

"It felt like being grabbed at light speed in a vice full of tenpenny nails," said Robert Deiro, describing the sensation of a pit bull's bite.

Deiro, a well-known Las Vegas auctioneer, was bitten by a stray pit bull Monday afternoon, after stopping to report another pit bull that was injured at 7200 N. Rainbow Blvd. near Elkhorn Road in the northwest valley.

"I was driving with my wife, Joan, going south on Rainbow to Elkhorn, when she said, 'Look, honey, there's a dog stuck in a gate,'" Deiro said.

"There were at least a half-dozen pit bulls behind the gate, but I could see that this dog was injured and trying to free himself, so I wanted to call animal control. I pulled over, and got out of my truck."

"I had the air conditioning on, and it was interfering with the cellular phone," he said. "Just as I got done talking to them (Clark County Animal Control), I got hit from behind.

"I turned to see a pit bull had my whole calf in its mouth. It almost knocked me over, and I'm a big guy."

The dog is being held by Clark County Animal Control until the owner claims it and rabies tests can be done, Animal Control Chief Joe Boteillo said Tuesday.

Deiro received stitches, and must now have the wounds irrigated twice a day with hydrogen peroxide. He also must take antibiotics, as the doctor who treated him told him that 40 percent of all dog wounds, treated or not, will become infected.

Despite the pit bull's remarkably strong jaws, Deiro was able to get the dog off him. "In fear and anger, I just kicked my leg out, and he flew for several feet," he said.

"He landed on his feet and charged me, but I'd read or seen a comedy about bushmen in Africa that said, 'Raise your hands and try to make yourself big.' So I yelled and charged him back," Deiro said.

"My wife had opened the truck door, and that gave me enough time to get in," he said. "Then the dog jumped up on the truck, and then he circled the truck."

Once inside, Deiro called Metro Police, but "firemen came first and they wouldn't get out of their truck either, because the dog was still loose and circling their truck," he said.

"When police came, the dog lay down, probably tired out or intimidated by all the people," he said.

"The firemen wanted to take me to the hospital, but I stayed to see that the dog was caught. All I thought about was rabies."

While this was going on, a school bus pulled up, Deiro said.

"The house is right adjacent to the rural bus stop and community mail boxes," he said. "It's fortunate it was me and not some little kid that was bitten."

The dog's owner is out of town, in Pennsylvania, said Mark Hahn, the property's caretaker. He didn't know that someone had been bitten, he said.

He knew "from a neighbor that police had been around" and "took two of the dogs," he said. He said Deiro may have been bitten by a "golden-colored pit bull that roams around" or by a "stray black dog."

He said couldn't comment further, but said his wife would later. She did not.

"The pit bull was black," Deiro said. He wasn't surprised about the alleged stray dogs. "The first thing they do is deny they're the owners," he said.

He was uncertain why the dog bit him. "Pit bulls just seem to have a propensity for biting people. I was just standing there," he said.

A dog's inclination to bite "depends on the dog, and how it's raised," Boteillo said. "There are a lot of variables.

"Dogs protect their property. I'm sure you've been to someone's house and they have the nicest dog. But if you came back later, when the people weren't home, it wouldn't be so nice."

Dog bites for the fiscal year ending June 30 totaled 942 in Clark County. German shepherds led with 130 bites. Chou Chou's were second with 111, and pit bulls were third with 76 bites.

Pit bull bites can be particularly damaging because of their "strong jaws," Boteillo said. "They really give no indication before they bite. They don't always bark."

In this case, the owner "will be charged with no licences (for the dogs), the high number of dogs (county regulations allow three dogs without a fancier's permit) and having a vicious animal at large, as observed by the officers," he said.

A District Court judge will decide if the dog is "vicious and then the dog will have to be kept in a pen, or muzzled when off the person's property," he said.

If the bite had been "particularly damaging, causing serious disfigurement or loss of a limb," the judge would decide whether to destroy the dog, Boteillo said.

"For this particular animal, I wouldn't have a problem with it being destroyed, because having attacked without provocation, it's dangerous," Deiro said. "I believe that animals imprint real easy, and he's had a taste of a human, and he'd have no compunction to bite again."

But Deiro does not believe pit bulls should be banned. "I'm a large dog owner myself," he said. "I think it's just like a gun. The owners are responsible. The irresponsible acts of others should not deprive the many of their rights."

A defender of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, Deiro was carrying a gun when attacked but did not shoot the dog because, "I would have had that on my conscience. It was on my mind to use the gun if I couldn't get away."