Letters to the Editor
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Disabled? Isn't that just one more reason to properly lock your doors?
@ Linear Chaos
hey asshole,
the woman was disabled.
What difference does that make? Being disabled is even more reason to lock your doors. I guess being disabled allows one free reign to neglect even the simplest of measures to prevent prowlers? Like lessons taught to school pre-elementary school children?
Have you ever seen the Episode of Family Guy where Peter is declared mentally retarded? Just replace retarded with disabled. "oops retarded, don't know any better".
Show me a pitbull "breaking" into someones house and you've discovered the smartest dog on the planet. I mean, my Border Collie can pick a simple lock but a deadbolt is usually too much for her to muster without an opposable thumb. You blame the dog for "breaking in", how did the dog break in? Maybe the Kool Aid man broke in through a wall and the dog snuck past, because I've never seen a pit powerful to break bust through a wall and give everyone Kool Aid on its own.
Have you? What is your favorite flavor of Kool Aid? Mine is Berry Statist.
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No bad dogs, just bad owners
Thank you for writing this. Pitties get a bad rap.
I was a 3 year old in Louisiana when I got my first dog - a pit bull mix. We had the full run of the neighborhood - off leash and without incident - for 9 years. She was a totally devoted and gentle companion until an unfriendly neighbor killed her with a poisoned bone when I was 12.
There are no bad dogs, just ignorant, lazy and bad owners.
Pamela Picard
Austin, Texas
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It puzzles me that there are people who always want to kill SOMETHING.
I am outraged at dogfighting. I intensely dislike the occasional gang-type I see hanging around with a pit as an accessory. I am infuriated by the callous treatment and brutal abandonment of these animals.
However, I am beginning to wonder how much REAL difference there is between people like Micheal Vick and people who are eager to see pit bulls killed -- because that is what a breed ban would mean. More animals killed than the appalling number we already see euthanized at our local animals shelters. When I lived a a city of forty thousand plus, I once heard someone explain that from 2,000 to 3,000 dogs and cats were put to death every month because they had become lost and not reclaimed or abandoned outright.
I know that there are people who claim that dogs do not have "souls." Frankly, I am not sure people do. However, if we were comparing canine decency to human decency, I would vote for the dogs every time.
Where is the decency of adding thousands more dogs (pits) to the number of destroyed animals in our nation -- especially when death and injuries by pit bulls is a statistically minor problem compared to many others that plague us?
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A lot of pit ownes pick pits because of cool factor
pitbulls are considered "cool" because they are perceived as violent and tough. Ever think that making them illegal will just increase this perception and make them even more attractive to the personalities who seek such traits in their dogs?
It isn't like the people using pits to fight are going to be walking them out in public or getting them registered. Is the dogs that is fighting a full-blooded Pomeranian with papers? No. Dog fights are already illegal, and it seems a little naive to think that the legality of the breed will make people change their minds regarding the illegal activities that said dog will be used for. If the entire operation is illegal, what would it matter if the dogs participating in them are illegal too? It seems like it would probably make the whole thing more intriguing and the use of illegal dogs perceived as the "baddest of the bad" more marketable, providing a new niche to dog fighting. "Illegal Pits in Illegal Dog Fights", man, if I were a scumbag who liked betting on dog fights then that would be right up my alley, a stroll down memory lane to a time when real dogs fought illegally.
To me it is like making pickup trucks illegal because people use them to transport drugs. Making the trucks illegal won't stop people from transporting drugs, they will just use the trucks in private or get a different kind of car.
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Locked doors
I'm not for banning pits or any form of BSL. The sort of people that want to have bad ass dogs to use in fights or to intimidate their neighbors will easily find another dog to torment into being psycho. The Akita would be perfect.
That having been said, the pits that attacked the disabled woman came through her pet door that was for her own animal. These dogs somehow managed to access her yard and then her house. She is blameless....and frankly, even if she left her door unlocked, she is blameless. An unlocked door or open window does not excuse ANYTHING...it's not an invitation to dog mauling, burglary, rape or murder.
I had neighbors once with "street dog" pits and they broke through my fence and ransacked my backyard. My fence was a well built, sturdy wood fence, it did nothing to stop them from coming through. Big, determined dogs can do some pretty amazing things. My old boxer could easily clear our 6 foot fence if she had a running start, I had to get creative in preventing her escape.
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@ Linear Chaos
Your ignorance is showing. The pits in this case apparently entered though the dog door. Perhaps the woman had a dog door so that her own theraputic animal could exit to use the bathroom. I know a disabled couple who use their dog to turn the lights on and off.
In your eagerness to support your point of view, you are insulting to disabled people. Yes, people who are mentally retarded are classed as disabled. So are some people with seizures, fibromyalgia, a myriad mental health problems (some of which an amazing percentage of American will suffer at least temporarily), blindness, deafness, and many other physical disabilities. Many people who are terminally ill receive disability.
For all we know, this woman did not lock the dog door at night because she was not physically able to reach down and do so. We simply do not have enough facts in this instance to make judgments. However, your eagerness to pile on someone who has just been seriously injured speaks volumes about the disability you may be suffering from.