Letters to the Editor
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Title of my most recent posting should read:
"facts are stubborn things..."
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Awesome-o, my female cat is the lady of the house.
Even my wife admits that. My female cat's brother is quite the handsome gent, too.
I can't see what you're complaining about (you wrote, "I'm sure your pit is quite the "lady." (Really, ARE we equating dogs to humans now?"). Maybe when we stop comparing men to tigers or lions or bears or dogs or pigs or chickens or wolves or jackals, and women to bitches or cats or cows, or anyone as vultures or rabbits, etc., etc., you might have a point, but really, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, if you know what I mean.
If a pit bull or other dog that attacked someone can be rehabilitated and adopted out to a responsible and good home, why would you object to that? Is the death sentence for dogs meant to be revenge for a crime? Do you really want to open up that can of worms (ah, another animal metaphor)?
As for the relative importance of peoples' pets to other people, like I said earlier, depends on the pet, depends on the person.
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@ awesome-o
Of course you have a right to express your opinion here. However, I would like to point out something about disabilities. Many people with disabilities own service animals/theraputic animals/therapy pets. They have rights too. Two common breeds owned for their sevice dog usefulness are German Shepherd Dogs and Laborador Retrievers. You might rethink a bit when you understand that there are places which have tried and sometimes succeeded in banning these breeds.
To educate you a bit more, a professionally trained service dog can costs thousands of dollars. These are dollars that disabled people, who often live on $580 a month, simply do not have. Therefore, they will take a breed they already own -- IT COULD BE A PIT!!! -- and train it to provide the help that they need.
We have disabled people who own pits, we have families of good character who own pits, and we have children who love their pits. Why should these people be punished for the deeds of irresponsible dog owners? You HYSTERICAL people think you are in favor of banning a breed to solve a problem. In fact, you will not solve the problem (which in the greater scheme of things is not so large anyway) and instead you will punish decent people who love their pets.
Many disabled people suffer from debilitating depression, agoraphobia, and PTSD. Take their dogs (or cats) away from them and you may push them over the edge into suicide. Think I am exaggerating? I am not. I am probably ALIVE because of my German Shepherd. Remember people in New Orleans who would not leave a seriously dangerous approaching hurricane because it would have meant leaving their pets behind? That's right. People love their animals, so go ahead, punish them.
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Criminals and scumbags will always find a dog to use and abuse, even if they are left with using packs of chihuahuas trained to devour human flesh like little piranas.
Wedeman is missing a lot of the picture.
There are a few nuances here that the general public (novice dog owners or non-dog owners, generally) just isn't getting.
- Dog on dog aggression, which the bully breeds are susceptible to, is a completely different thing than human aggression in a dog. Any pit bull with human aggression is NOT an American Pit Bull Terrier, based on the standards of all of the bully breeds.
Think of it this way -- those of us that are hetero, we just don't do it with the same gender. Those of us that are homo, think it's almost impossible to do it with the opposite gender. It's all sex -- but the object of the sex act is different, and it's often a boundary we don't cross.
For dogs, many of them with dog aggression find it impossible to attack a person. I know of a staffordshire bull terrier (don't know the difference between this and other breeds? Look it up.) breeder and trainer that was attempting to train the dog in Schutzhund competition.
Schutzhund is what you see the german shepards doing, hanging off a man with a padded suit.
Well, the staffordshire bull terrier failed Schutzhund. The little guy could not figure out any good reason to grab onto a man's arm. They are just not wired to be people aggressive. Many staffy owners have been robbed blind while the staffords welcomed the robbers though the front door (yipee! late night visitors!).
Of course, there are some people that dabble in both sexes, and some dogs that hold aggressive tendencies for dogs and people.
This is not the case of the bully breeds -- the standard allows some level of dog aggression but absolutely disallows human aggression.
I do think that there are people that are not breeding the dogs well and this should be stopped. There are many people that are breeding fantastic dogs, though.
I also do agree that all dogs bite. Even a toothless dog will attempt to defend himself if the circumstances are right (he's being abused, is in pain, under too much stress). I am sure I could get any dog on the planet to bite me in 24 hours or less.
Wedeman also talks about getting dogs "to fight" -- is this person worried that other breeds will become dogfighters or that the general population of humans will be subject to dogs that fight? The tradition of dogfighting does not allow human-aggressive dogs. Those dogs are killed, only dog-aggressive and non-human aggressive dogs are used.
And dogfighting has been around for centuries. I don't think it is going away, sadly. There will be another flavor of dog used in the pits if the American Pit Bull Terrier is gone. South America and Japan have their own fighting dogs. They could replace the pit bull. Or, other breeds and crosses could be developed into pit fighters. It's history -- if people have a job for a dog, they will create a dog to do the job, even if the job is dying for the master's pleasure.
It is the street dogs we want to ban, not the pit bull. It is the poorly breed, poorly socialized, abused and neglected dog we see tied to a tree. It was dobermans, german shepards, rotts, and now pits. Criminals and scumbags will always find a dog to use and abuse, even if they are left with using packs of chihuahuas trained to devour human flesh like little piranas.