Dogs likely to be put down

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. -- WCNC got to see the two pit bulls under quarantine after Thursday's biting attack on two 10-year-old boys. Both dogs will be kept at Lancaster Animal Control for 10 days and most likely will be put down after that, even though officers believe only one of the dogs is guilty of the vicious attack.

It's easy to tell which of the dogs neighbors say attacked the boys in their own yard. It's the white one that growls into our microphone through the fence.

Neighbor Brenda Harrison said, "the brown one was sitting there calm as can be, but the white one was bucking and growling trying to get up the fence at us."

Harrison worried about the pit bulls when she moved in next door because she has four small dogs. She introduces them by saying, "That one's Spot, this is Junior, that's Princess, and that's Cricket."

But she had never seen the pit bulls act violent until Thursday when her fiancé came in from putting out the trash.

"He came in hollering that the dogs were attacking the little boys next door," she said. "(He) went over there and picked up the little boys and tried to get them over the fence away from the dogs."

Animal control believes the dogs were considered family pets but they add that they've seen pit bulls turn on their owners before.

"Pit bulls have been bred for hundreds of years as catch dogs and sometimes breeding will come back out on a dog," said Animal Control Director Joel Hinson. "Retrievers are gonna retrieve, it's not something you teach them, it's something that's been (burned) into them."

And that's why officers say both dogs will most likely be put down after 10 days. Even if the brown dog did not attack, animal control can't take a chance on adopting the pit bull out to another family.