Posted on 04/30/2018 1:06:01 PM PDT by Norski
While we here at Today in Fort Smith recognize the passion and depth of individuals who recklessly own, breed and champion the pit bull breed, the harassment, anonymous attacks and yes, even death threats, we have endured in the past week does nothing to change the facts of the dangers said animals present to society.
This chapter started about two weeks ago when we detailed the attack of a child in Washington County by a pit bull that resulted in the mauling of the the toddler.
The bottom line? We posted a cautionary warning for people not to comment on the story with excuses and/or defense of the breed and we were immediately hit with a blitzkrieg of exactly that.
-"It's not the breed, it's the way they are raised."
-"We have had Fluffy for three years and he's just a big baby that wouldn't hurt a fly!"
-"I wonder what the little brat kid did to provoke that poor puppy?"
I ended up banning nine people but then I wrote a column laying out all the facts about the dangers of pit bulls--and the attacks continued.
But something else happened as well. We started getting encouraging messages from across the county congratulating us and championing our efforts.
One of the people who contacted us was a doctor with the Wisconsin Children's Hospital and she has linked us to others across the nation that specialize in and research dog bite statistics and fatalities across the country.
The good doctor pointed out a couple of things and since I tend to take my medical advice from those with degrees instead of meth labs. I concur.
Myth #1: It's the owner not the breed . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at todayinfortsmith.com ...
https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/
Whoops, here we go with a massive can of worms... Hope you’re donning your flame retardant gear.
he outdated debate, “It’s the owner, not the breed,” has caused the pit bull problem to grow into a 35-year old problem.
Designed to protect pit bull breeders and owners, the slogan ignores the genetic history of the breed and blames these horrific maulings — inflicted by the pit bull’s genetic “hold and shake” bite style — on environmental factors. While environment plays a role in a pit bull’s behavior, it is genetics that leaves pit bull victims with permanent and disfiguring injuries.
The pit bull’s genetic traits are not in dispute. Many appellate courts agree that pit bulls pose a significant danger to society and can be regulated accordingly.
Some of the genetic traits courts have identified include: unpredictability of aggression, tenacity (”gameness” the refusal to give up a fight), high pain tolerance and the pit bull’s “hold and shake” bite style.
According to forensic medical studies, similar injuries have only been found elsewhere on victims of shark attacks.
Purveyors of this myth also cannot account for the many instances in which pit bull owners and their family members are victimized by their pet dogs. From 2005 to 2017, pit bulls killed 284 Americans, about one citizen every 17 days.
Of these deaths, 53% involved a family member and a household pit bull.
I brought my asbestos union suit, thank you.
Not a fan of the breed, at all.
It almost seems that after every serious pit bull attack, claims are made that the dog “never before attacked anyone.”
Kind of proves the point made in this article that they’re both unpredictable and inbred.
My own experience is that I own a dog who truly would not hurt a fly. She is a shelter mutt, and just from looking at her I can tell you there is a good bit of pit bull in her bloodline.
Aside from that I can’t really say.
. . . “Myth #3: Human-aggressive pit bulls were “culled”
Historically, it is believed that dogfighters removed human-aggressive pit bulls from the gene pool. “Man biters,” as dogmen referred them, were “culled” to prevent dog handlers from suffering vicious bites.
However, dogmen themselves and pedigrees show a different story. As far back as 1909, George Armitage shares a story in, “Thirty Years with Fighting Dogs.” He describes Caire’s Rowdy as not a mere man-biter, but as a “man-eater,” the most dangerous biter of all.
In more modern years, a substantial number of champion (CH), grand champion (GR CH) and register of merit (ROM) fighting dogs carry the title of a man-biter or a man-eater.
“These pit bulls were championship-breeding stock, whose famed owners never for a moment considered culling the dogs.
Some of the most well known dogs include: Adams’ GR CH Zebo, Indian Bolio ROM, Garner’s CH Chinaman ROM, Gambler’s GR CH Virgil and West’s CH Spade (man-eater). . . .”
I am sure that you have your reasons.
. . . “In 1974, after a series of high profile news articles written by Wayne King and published by the New York Times, the image of the ferocious fighting pit bull moved from the shadowy world of dogmen into the mainstream.
This period, between 1975 and 1979, is known as the “leakage period” when the breeding of pit bulls drastically increased through gang members and drug dealers, who wanted the “toughest dog” on the block, as well as by pet pit bull breeders.
While some dogmen of the past may have culled human-aggressive dogs to keep their stock free of man-biters, once the leakage period began, there is no evidence that similar selective pressures were maintained.
As early as 1980, pit bull attacks begin headlining newspapers, “Another Pit Bull Attack Reported; Boy, 8 Slashed (1980),” as well as reports of pit bull owners trying to bolster the breed’s “deteriorating” public image, “Pit Bull Attacks As Owners Fight Image (1980).”
About 30 years ago, I was working in a ghetto home doing some renovation. The welfare rat grandma got all freaked when her drug dealer son’s pit bull killed a stray dog in the back yard and proceed to the upper porch to sleep.
She asked us to kill the dog because there were toddlers in the home.
I told her that her drug dealer son had a rifle in his room. If it was loaded, we’d dispatch the dog. Drug dealer wasn’t home.
My boss shot the dog in the head and we dragged him to a dumpster.
I’ve done a few things in my life I regret. That wasn’t one of them.
I understand it is very fulfilling to be able to watch a show from the beginning.
https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-fatalities-2016.php
71% of fatal dog attacks are by pit bull.
Last time I posted this, some yahoo dredged up that it was bad data because they only used news reports. I’m not really sure what else a private organization is supposed to do. A deeper dive shows backup links for every single attack.
“Part of being a man is being able to shoot your own dog, should the need arise.”
It does not actually apply here, but this is the quote that came into my mind as I read your anecdote.
From the article excerpted above:
“Myth #4: Fatal attack statistics about pit bulls are false
Pro-pit bull groups argue that the 20-year fatal dog attack study (from 1979 to 1998) issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September 2000 is inaccurate because the study relied “in part” on newspaper articles.
Pit bull advocates say that pit bull fatalities are more extensively reported by the media, therefore the authors of the study (most holding PhD credentials) must have “miscounted” or “double counted” the number of pit bull fatalities.
As stated in the CDC report, the authors collected data from media accounts and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) registry of fatal dog attacks.
Also, all five authors, Jeffrey Sacks, Leslie Sinclair, Julie Gilchrist, Gail Golab and Randall Lockwood, openly oppose breed-specific legislation. This bias is clearly reflected in the CDC report.
If discrepancies were made in the report, it seems more likely that fatal pit bull attacks were underreported not over reported.”
Norski:
We understand - you have an abnormal hatred of pit bulls.
I invite you to watch this highly informative video on pit bulls as rescue animals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLpeX4RRo28
After viewing this, we pit bull owners hope you will understand how we feel.
That’s an interesting quote.
I’m not a dog guy but my brother is. One of his dogs was great and if I knew I could get one like that, I might consider it. The dog finally got old and was clearly dying. He spent a wad at the vet to get the dog put down.
I told him I wished I knew he was going to do it. It would have been difficult but I would have dispatched the dog for him.
When I was a kid, I overheard two men at church talking. One was a serious, serious Fred Bear type outdoorsman. (About the same age and likely knew each other)
Anyway, they had a pact that when it came time to dispatch the dogs, they would take each others out for the last walk in the woods. These big, tough manly men couldn’t do it to their own dogs.
Even if you 100% believe “it’s the owner, not the breed”,
For the most part, What kind of people seek out to be owners of this breed?
Exactly.
Yes, inbreeding, or “line-breeding” as it is called (Mother/son, Father/daughter, etc.) is very commonly done in order to manifest a desirable trait.
“Unpredictability” is a trait which is desirable in dogfighting dogs. The dog has been essentially bred to lie about its intent. Fascinating - and deadly - to the dog’s target.
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