Struggle With a Pit Bull Leaves Dog Dead, Man Hurt

It all started when Abraham Rodkin heard a commotion at his front door in Oxnard and found a pit bull tearing into his 10-year-old spaniel mix, Kulo.

Two boys were pulling frantically on the pit bull’s leash, but they were unable to break up the fight. Nor could Rodkin, who finally raced back into his house for a 14-inch butcher knife that he used to stab the pit bull to death.

When Oxnard police responded to the scene Wednesday, they found a bloody mess. The pit bull was dead. Rodkin, 44, who suffered a broken hand and three dog bites in the fray, had collapsed, unable to breathe, and was taken to St. John’s Medical Center. His dog had to undergo surgery.

Rodkin, who was recuperating at home Thursday, said he had stabbed the dog as a last resort when he couldn’t break up the fight.

“He was killing my dog,” said Rodkin, whose dog underwent surgery for a ripped ear and a bite in the leg. The dog also lost a tooth in the fight.

The fracas exhausted Rodkin. He had suffered a heart attack two years ago and thought he was having another one when it was over.

“It was like going 15 rounds with a heavyweight,” he said. He received 12 stitches for wounds in his thigh, left arm and abdomen.

The owner of the dog was David Pedrazo, according to Oxnard police spokesman David Keith. Police had no other information on Pedrazo. He could not be located for comment.

Rodkin said he was visited on Thursday by the pit bull’s owner. Rodkin said the owner demanded compensation for the dead dog, since Rodkin’s dog was loose at the time.

Rodkin said he would consult an attorney as soon as possible.

“I want to find out if I have any legal liabilities, and I want to find out what his are,” Rodkin said.

Just before the fight, Pedrazo’s dog, identified by police as a pit bull, was being taken for a walk by his nephew and a friend, who are 12 and 13 years old, Keith said.

The boys, who were walking the dog on a leash at a school near Rodkin’s house, told police that Kulo was running loose in the schoolyard and made an aggressive move toward the other dog, then backed off.

The pit bull began chasing the other dog and the boys couldn’t control him, Keith said. Kulo ran to Rodkin’s front doorstep, where the two dogs began fighting.

“The boys tried to pull the dog away but were unable to do so,” Keith said. That’s when Rodkin entered the picture. After he had been bitten once, he went into the house to get a knife.

“I wasn’t going to just stab him,” he said. “I still tried to separate them. We started rolling around and I ended up in the street with both dogs.

“I finally got a shot at him and I stabbed him in the abdomen,” Rodkin said. Even after he had stabbed the dog once, the animal continued to fight, he said. By this time, Rodkin was hyperventilating, and neighbors called police.

Rodkin didn’t deny his dog was loose, even though Oxnard has a leash law. He said the dog usually stays in the yard but has been known to wander into the schoolyard.

Rodkin said he couldn’t believe that Kulo made an aggressive move toward the other dog.

“He’s never attacked anything,” Rodkin said. “It’s totally bizarre.”

Keith said the boys insisted they had not let the dog run loose just prior to the fight. In fact, they told police they never let go of the leash until Rodkin had emerged with the knife.

Keith said he wasn’t sure if police would investigate the incident further to determine whether Rodkin or the boys acted improperly. He said police would make that decision today.

Rodkin’s dog was back home with him on Thursday.

“I got him from the pound 10 years ago,” he said. “It was just before they were going to kill him.”