Letters to the Editor
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bred to kill
sarassheena writes : "Bred to kill what? Do a little research first before posting.
Bred to kill...other animals that might threaten the owner or owners property."
100% wrong, sarassheena. Practice what you preach: do a little research before posting.
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Beagles are too dumb to hurt you
Mine is usually busy eating bugs and feces and rolling around in dirt.
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Let's see....
According to stats, pit bulls and pit bull mixes are responsible for about 20-30% of all dog attack fatalaties.
According to pit bull lovers, pit bull attacks happen because their owners are irresponsible and ignorant.
Just when are these owners suddenly going to change?
They aren't.
So why allow the ownership of unpredictable killers who are known as great escape artists and often come from abusive pasts?
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Can't we just enforce leash laws?
Rather than having police raid your neighborhood to take away your neighbor's family dog to euthanize it because you are scared of the breed, can't we just enforce the leash laws that exist in nearly every community? Heck, add muzzling laws across the board if you are still worried. I'd like to see the nasty Lhasa Apso in my apartment complex muzzled, since it tries to attack my beagle every time we meet it on a walk. However, it's owner keeps it on a leash, so we just pull them apart and continue on our way--no harm, no foul. Why would people prefer to see other's pets killed than to be serious about requiring owners to responsibly restrain and handle their dogs in public?
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@jebldmm
When I was five, I was attacked by a German Shepherd. I was skipping home from kindergarten with my papers with smiley faces in my hand. The dog ran from its yard across the street to bite.
At the time I was terrified, screaming, and my mother so angry! (this was about a block from home) I weighed about 40 pounds at the time.
However-however. The dog probably weighed close to 90 lbs. If it had decided to kill me, I would have been dead before anyone could have done anything. What it did was bite me on the butt, tearing my dress and bruising me (but not breaking the skin).
The dog was usually kept in the back yard and neighborhood kids (not me or my siblings, my mom was scared of dogs and we couldn't go over there) would tease it, waving papers and things into the yard, then jumping back screaming. I think, now that I am an adult and have had dogs, that that dog came over to nip the "puppy" and teach it not to do that. But I think they put it to sleep over the incident.
That, I think, is the difference between a German Shepherd and a pit bull. The shepherd wanted to teach, and in truth was quite protective of children. If the dog had been a pit bull, I would have been dead.
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Terrified Morons
Some things in life have risks. One thing is for sure: whether you live in a safety bubble or not, you're going to die at some point.
Dog haters and safety zealots use this kind of stereotype as fuel. Remember when we tried breed-specific legislation with people in the U.S.? Like, when blacks were considered fractional human beings? That was a bad idea. So is hatred of "pit bulls" whatever that means.
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Animals are the victims, not the criminals
When I was a sophomore in college in Washington, DC, I visited the Washington Humane Society on Georgia Ave for a story in a low-level journalism class. Downstairs at the Humane Society was crowded with dogs. Most were good dogs, at full attention when someone walked in the room. But I was appalled to learn that most of them would be put down because of food aggression. And for the few pit bulls in the room, all hope was lost, regardless of temperament. WHS had a policy of universal euthanasia for any pit bull who ended up there. The policy wasn't directed out of hatred or prejudice towards pits, but because people were more willing to rehabilitate an abused black lab than an abused pit bull.
The staff, however, were more than willing. Upstairs on a doggie bed in the middle of the reception area, was the sweetest dog I've ever met. I can't remember her name (I believe it was Lucy), but I do remember the way this giant pit bull jumped on my legs, eager to play. After a short game of fetch, she was content to sit beside me and have her head scratched. The staff said that she was like that with everyone, full of love and ready to shower everyone with it.
Lucy was a breeder female for a dogfighting ring in DC. When she was rescued, she was in horrible shape. But the staff recognized her tenacity and spirit and committed themselves to rehabilitating her. They technically weren't allowed to adopt her out, but they refused to euthanize her. So, Lucy became the Washington Humane Society's mascot, a symbol of how a good home can change an animal's life.
It really isn't the dog. It is the owner.
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Sorry, but
Ask any judge or police officer - the dogs that end up mauling people are overwhelmingly pit bulls. I can accept that they can be trained to overcome the aggression that's built in, but WHY BOTHER? And most people don't. Why not just pick a breed you don't have to work so hard with? Or better yet, pick a mutt, because all breeds have problems.
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Everyone and everything is unpredictable.
The truth is that dogs, like humans, can be infinitely varied in temperament, manners, etc., regardless of how they were raised or trained or socialised, or to which breed they belong. Statistics show incidence rather well. But the causes behind these incidences? Not so much, in my opinion.
Dogs as a whole are just plain unpredictable. My parents have been Golden Retriever owners for a dozen years now, and the four Goldens they have owned have all been equally trained, loved, disciplined, and socialised. Out on a walk with them one day, the female spotted someone in the cab of a truck and proceeded to drag me over so fiercely that I nearly fell onto the pavement, and then she actually jumped up, barking herself hoarse at the person inside while scratching the hell out of the truck's driver-side door. The poor woman inside the truck was merely waiting for her child to get out of class for the day (my parents live very close to an elementary school with a huge yard and nearby baseball and soccer fields).
How to explain that? Well, you can't. This dog was never treated badly a day in her life, was of what many would call 'a great breed', was well trained and socialised with many other dogs and people, both the familiar and strangers, had never before exhibited such behavior, and did not appear to have been provoked in any way. Thankfully it was the only such incidence in that dog's life, and the woman in the truck was shaken, but unbelievably understanding.
It's a very slippery slope when we start banning specific breeds of animals based upon poor word of mouth.