Posted on 06/24/2014 10:17:25 PM PDT by ransomnote
Pit bulls make up 6 percent of the dog population in Canada and the US, but they are responsible for 68 percent of dog attacks and 52 percent of dog-related deaths from 1982 to 2009, TIME Magazine reported.
So, how does Boston stack up?
According to data provided to Boston.com from Mayor Marty Walsh’s press office, there were a total of 661 dog bites in the city of Boston between January 2012 and June 2014, which included bites against animal, human and unknown victims.
Pit bulls make up a little over 3 percent of the entire dog population of Boston. There are 250 registered pit bulls, pit bull mixes and Staffordshires listed as registered in the 2014 list of dog licenses, as provided to Boston.com, with a total of 7,355 registered dogs in the city.
The data defines ‘pit bull’ as a dog having American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire, pit bull or Staffordshire as either the primary or secondary breed.
“Attacks by pit bulls are associated with higher morbidity rates, higher hospital charges, and a higher risk of death than are attacks by other breeds of dogs. Strict regulation of pit bulls may substantially reduce the US mortality rates related to dog bites,” according to a 2011 study conducted by the Annals of Surgery. After a young girl was recently attacked by pit bulls at her grandfather’s house in Mississippi and suffered a broken nose, jaw, cheekbone and eye socket, TIME Magazine looked at the “problem behind pit bulls.”
Much of the attention given to this story on social media was drawn to the claim that a KFC worker allegedly asked the girl to leave the restaurant because of the scars on her face, but TIME gave attention to the initial dog attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
The inability of many people to admit to themselves that there is a lot of a dog’s behavior that is hard wired is unreal.
I’ve seen it personally most notably with a lab who was swimming and fetching the first time she encountered water when only a few months old, and very little training other than chasing tennis balls. Anyone with any sense looks at the history of what pits were bred for, vs. labs.
Yikes, and black bears have been spotted a few towns over in IL now. I’m fine with the fox family that lives next door and the occasional Coyote running through the field, but I’m not looking forward to the bears reaching our backyard.
TIME Magazine reported.
That ended it for me.
What a beautiful little boy. Thanks for posting this because my daughter has a big ol’ lab with persistent allergies and she has stated he gets ear infections so I am going to show her this post because she has a 5 year old (another beautiful little boy) and I want to make sure they stay on top of it.
Btw, I understand your passion but even though of course other breeds of dog do attack, it is well-known that Pitts are known to deliver a more vicious attack, with more severe injuries, than most other breeds according to statistics.
My dogs are relatively small. Even if they were to bite someone, even if they bit a child, they would not destroy tissue and crush bone. They do not have the equipment. A big dog with a massive clamping jaw is a different story. I don’t know what I would do if I saw someone walking a pit bull through my neighborhood. If I saw it when my kids were small I might examine my options always keeping in mind that protecting my family is my first job.
Persistent ear infections are usually caused by yeast overgrowth which can be a symptom of hypothyroidism.
Couldn’t hurt to have him tested.
Hypothyroidism is epidemic in dogs, now.
FYI, in the 70s, Dobes were The Big Scary Dogs to be feared.
*However*, the exact same “segment of society” that tends to [irresponsibly] own Pits is scared snotless of Dobes so the hysteria died out when the DPCA made a concerted effort to change the image of the breed via heavy focus on responsible breeding, socializing and training.
A Pit will tolerate its owner “beating” it to “make it mean” since the breed was created to be docile to humans but ferocious to bulls.
Dobes are the only breed created specifically to be solely a guard dog and attack people.
[bandits and thieves intent on robbing a tax collector, specifically]
Most Dobes will not tolerate being beaten and will tear you up if you abuse them.
A Pit bites and holds.
A Dobe bites, releases and bites again, repeatedly, relentlessly and -extremely- quickly.
It’s nearly impossible to grab hold of it to try and control it during an attack.
If I ~had~ to be attacked by one of the two, I’d choose the Pit.
Please check the Lab’s thyroid and his food.
Ear infections and “allergies” can also be caused by food sensitivities, most often a grain but sometimes a particular protein source.
“Limited ingredient” dog foods are a good way to detect sensitivities by the process of elimination.
All dogs are dogs.
All dogs are capable of killing.
There are no exceptions.
http://amarillo.com/stories/100900/usn_pet.shtml
Not understanding that your dog is, indeed, a *dog* is a dangerous state of mind.
A Pug and a 6 week old Lab pup.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/29/dnt.ok.puppy.kills.baby.cnn
Both really small.
Both are *dogs*.
[and the parents were morons]
False analogy (and you know it) Guns don't have the ability to get up and do something on their own. Dogs do. Of the hundreds of millions of guns in the US not one has ever got up on its own and shot a child. OTO a great number of pit bulls (and other dogs too for that matter) have done exactly that. Peddle your BS elsewhere. It's kind of insulting that you think you can put something as dumb and as blatantly false as this and not get called on it.
“Exactly that” means in this context got up on their own and attackd a child it; does not mean that the dog shot the child.
As I mentioned, in case you missed it, do you suppose the families are overly comforted by the fact that the gun didn’t “up and shoot” their loved one of its own volition?
This issue is being pimped on the percentage of deaths caused by a certain dog breed.
That’s the ‘fact’ that keeps being quoted.
Statistics.
Percentages.
My “BS” bugs you because you know it’s not BS and I pushed your “don’t touch my guns!” button, precisely as I intended.
Sometimes I feel as though I’m talking to a mob of city dwellers who have no earthly clue exactly how dangerous *any* animal can be.
More people are killed by cows every year than by Pits.
Horses, too.
Does ~that~ analogy suit you better?
You can’t choose your favorite freedoms to the exclusions of others...at least not honestly.
““Exactly that” means in this context got up on their own and attackd a child it; does not mean that the dog shot the child.”
WTH did *that* even mean?
Good grief, you really are dense if you think anyone is saying guns are the same as dogs.
Of course dogs don’t expel bullets and guns don’t bite.
What you don’t or refuse to see is the common factor involved.
Think about it!
and higher incidence of hoaxes and shakedowns.
Nope!
Some folks are not adept at extrapolating.
I learned long ago not to argue with drunks and those whose mental state caused them to have only a tenuous grip on reality. Have a great day.
Geeze, people.
Google is your friend.
http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/2010/03/the-truth-behind-dogsbiteorg.html
It’s run by a woman who was [allegedly] bit by a Pit and went batshit.
She has slightly more credibility than pETA and HSUS and slightly less objectivity than the DNC.
Generalize much, Alex?
Aw....ad hominem rather than rational rebuttal.
How cute.
:)
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