Local pet pit bullied

Veterinarian Joel Pasco could hardly believe his eyes when Costa Mesa resident Abel Octaviano brought Angel, his 3-month-old, hen-pecked pit bull pup, to All Creatures Care Cottage.

Angel sustained scratches and pecking wounds across the top of his head and on his ears from being attacked by the family’s pet chicken, named Peww.

While kids in Octaviano’s neighborhood love the friendly dog, they call the aggressive chicken a menace.

“Everyone loves Angel, but Peww might end up as dinner in December,” Octaviano said. “My mom is getting tired of him.”

Angel is a gentle giant.

He wags his tail when he spies children around his west Costa Mesa neighborhood and enjoys napping on the balcony of the apartment in which Octaviano, 20, and his family live.

“Angel is a sweet, gentle pit bull puppy, the exact opposite of what you so often hear about with these dogs,” Pasco said. “Many chickens like to establish what is called ‘the pecking order’ with other animals.”

Peww likes to sneak up on Angel while he dozes on the balcony and attack the dog’s ears with his sharp beak.

Although Angel already weighs 50 pounds and has mammoth paws that could turn Peww into chicken salad in one swipe, the pit bull is afraid of the bird and whimpers and cries when pecked, Octaviano said.

“I don’t think he knows he can fight back,” Octaviano said. “He just cries. I think he doesn’t know what to think about the chicken.”

Pasco said this is the first case of pit bull pecking he has seen, although he remembers a case several years ago of a rabbit named Butterscotch who would continually try to “sexually assault” a pit bull pup.

He later heard from the owner of the dog that the pit bull, once fully grown, had Butterscotch for dessert after one attack.

Octaviano, who got Angel from a friend’s litter of puppies, said he knew the dog was destined to be a kind and loving animal from the first time he saw him.

“My girlfriend wanted to name him something tough, but I said Angel would be a good name,” he said. “We have this picture of Jesus and he just stared at it, so I thought of an Angel.”

When Octaviano walks Angel down the street, the kids in the neighborhood smile and laugh, but Peww, who belongs to Octaviano’s 8-year-old brother, Daniel, strikes terror in the hearts of both man and beast.

“I walked him past the bus stop and all the kids go ‘It’s Angel.’ They love him. And Angel just wags his tail,” Octaviano said. “I’ve had kids come up to me and say the chicken is a menace. ‘Your chicken is a danger to society,’ they said.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.