Pit Bull Apologists, Wake Up

SFGate.com ^ | June 6, 2004 | C.W. Nevius

[Shermy]

Eighty-eight year old Mabel Wong was still in critical condition in John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek on Monday. She's been there since a week ago last Saturday, battling for her life, after a horrible mauling by a neighbor's pit bull near her Concord home.

In the aftermath, people wondered how it could happen. What did this little elderly lady do to trigger such an attack? The answer is simple and blunt. Nothing.

"This lady had interacted with this dog hundreds of times,'' said Lt. Abe Gamez of Contra Costa Animal Services. "She was just trying to get from one place to another.''

Whenever there is an account of a mauling by a pit bull, there is a howl of protest from those who love the breed. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners, they say. Or they ask how the media reporting the incident knew the dog was a pit bull. Pit bulls, they insist, are no more inherently dangerous than any other breed of dog.

That's not true.

"What I usually say is that it is not uncommon to spend thousands of dollars breeding a good hunting dog,'' says Gamez. "With a good hunting dog, that is not something you teach -- he's got it in his genes. The pit bull is bred for fighting.''

"You can't make a German shepherd stop herding,'' says Merritt Clifton, editor of the Washington-based Animal People magazine. "You can't make a Chihuahua stop barking.''

It is at this point that everyone starts yelling at each other and pointing fingers. My pit bull, someone says, plays with my children every day. He's the cutest, most affectionate pet we've ever had. Pits are no more aggressive or dangerous than beagles.

That's not true.

...

...

[Xenalyte]

Definitely the beagle in her. I don't recall ever meeting a stupid beagle, but they're a chatty bunch, aren't they?

[Mamzelle]

The Jack Russell is the fashionable dog of last year. I know a few kids who got bit. I think it's a nasty little dog--there aren't too many breeds that I like, really, beside the sporting breeds and gun dogs. Goes to show that you shouldn't choose a dog by his cuteness.

But those kids didn't have a hospital stay.

Look at the jaws on those mean breeds. It's beside the point to lecture on Jack Russell's when the breed is so small. The damage it can do is limited by size.

[Xenalyte]

This is very true. They're friendly and stupid. And they have GORGEOUS hair!

[mvpel]

I think part of the problem is that there's so many people out there who don't understand Doglish.

For example, a Vietnamese family who lived down the street from us had a little min-Pin named Be'mi, but when Heidi made a friendly approach to William (Americanized name), he reacted by trying to scare her off, and Heidi took that as a threat and growled a little before retreating behind me.

We teach kids to swim, we should teach them how to understand dogs too.

[Xenalyte]

Look at the jaws on this mean breed. I promise, if Salty decides to bite for real, you will NOT get loose easily.

[HairOfTheDog]

Thank God you found his owner! ... I adore happy endings.

Yeah.... I have always wanted a border collie, but with my two old dogs and my Dalbrador still being a puppy, I had decided it would be too much, as intense as this dog was. I had already made contact with a border collie rescue outfit in case the owners didn't appear.

This was a highly trained dog, and a very well cared for one. I knew something must have gone wrong for him to be loose. The people saw my flyer on a post when they came home to find the yard empty. Said in the future they'd just have to take the dog on all vacations!

I took home another dog once, that was wandering a school, his owner was never found, but I also found a good home for him. I actually have vacancy in the dog dept now...

[Xenalyte]

Are you within driving distance of Houston? We have a few rescues down here who need good homes!

[AnAmericanMother]

If a dog starts to menace me, I'm reporting it IMMEDIATELY, and getting a complaint on the record, unlike the neighbors in this incident. The neighbors who did NOT report the earlier problems with the pit bull in question have to shoulder some of the blame in my book.

Words to live by. Aggressive dogs should always be reported, because you may save the life of a child or an elderly person (or somebody's beloved pet.)

If neighbors unite to squash this sort of thing in the bud, then the number of incidents will be reduced. We'll still have to deal with the folks in the Valley Vista Trailer Park, though . . .

[HairOfTheDog]

Definitely the beagle in her. I don't recall ever meeting a stupid beagle, but they're a chatty bunch, aren't they?

Half the beagles I have ever met have been really bright, the other half, plumb nuts!

[HairOfTheDog]

Washington State....

Sigh.... I know there is someone right close to here that needs rescuing if I looked....

[annyokie]

Most bad dogs have bad owners, IMO.

[AnAmericanMother]

They may not have an intelligent bone in their body, but they usually don't have a mean one, either.

I disagree, sorta.

American Cockers aren't aggressive, but a lot of them are fear biters. When they aren't peeing on themselves.

The AKC has a lot to answer for in the destruction of that breed. The English Cockers still have plenty of sense and are good small bird dogs.

[jdege]

I'd be interested in knowing what a lab would do with a squirrel.

A terrier will grab the animal by the spine and give it a fast, violent shake, then throw it away and start looking for the next.

Rat-pits

Billy, a very famous dog of his time, was matched to kill 100 rats against, The Kentish Bitch, which was almost equally famous. On this particular occasion the official rat-catchers for the pit had failed to provide the requisite 200 adult rats so that the match had to be declared "No-Go". The result with the rats available was that Billy disposed of 90 in 7 ½ minutes and The Kentish Bitch killed 65 in 8 minutes 45 seconds. Which was a pretty good performance.

[ellery]

I have a border collie mix and a rottie. The rottie we found alongside the highway -- she turned out to be the sweetest, most gentle dog we've ever known. Our border, on the other hand, has some mental problems, and has to be kept under tight rein at all times around people he doesn't know.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I did a google search. Ugly looking dogs, but apparently they are useful in farming enviroments. I've already made up my mind to adopt a mixed breed from a shelter when we are situated.

[AnAmericanMother]

Washington State....
Sigh.... I know there is someone right close to here that needs rescuing if I looked....

Here ya go: Washington/Oregon Border Collie Rescue

There are always tons of BCs looking for a new home, because as puppies they are so darn cute and lots of people don't understand their need for LOTS of work and activity.

[annyokie]

We have a pile of squirrels that our lab has dispatched. I feel your pain.

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh..... thanks alot!

[Eaker]

They were NOT that small, they were suprisingly quick and as attack dogs go they were real sleepers!!!!

[Xenalyte]

Well, this is what happened on Good Friday, when a squirrel bailed into our study.

We had a pair of squirrels shacked up in our chimney for about a week. Jon rattled the flue for about half an hour last Wednesday morning at around three, captured one of 'em in a big tub I had in the study, and dumped it outside. The second one was holed up good.

I checked Websites, all of which told me that we should build a trail of boxes and books from the fireplace to the nearest door, shut the room off from the rest of the house, and wait a day until the squirrel bailed. The study, in which the fireplace resides, has one large door - actually a double-door-sized opening in the wall, so it can't exactly be cordoned off.

So Friday afternoon, I'm minding my bidness, totally heedless of lurking rodents with ill intent. I started down the hall from the living room toward the bedroom. I was in the entry right next to the stairs when I heard commotion from the study. I look up and see a squirrel heading for me at top speed, with the Dread Boston Salty in hot slavering pursuit. I dropped my book, jumped three steps, danced in place, and started screaming for Jon, who was painting the upstairs bathroom. (I am fairly certain I wrung my hands while doing so.) Salty and the squirrel went around the entry twice, and the walls are covered in soot to knee-high as testimony to the ferocity of the battle.

Jon barreled past me into the study, me running in place and screaming "Squirrel squirrel SQUIRREL!" the whole time, and disappeared from view. I continued to yell, and he hollered, "Get a blanket or a towel!"

I grabbed a towel off the living room sofa, noticing for the record that my 13-pound tomcat Dennis was sleeping through the whole damn brouhaha, and pitched it at Jon's head. That gave me a second to re-evaluate: Jon sprawled on the study floor, the Dread Boston Salty in one hand and a huge wad of blue blanket in the other. He yelled, "Get me a glove!" So I danced over to the fireplace (scene of earlier squirrel depredations and quite a bit of leftover machinery), grabbed a garden glove, and lobbed it at his head.

He said, "Hold Salty RIGHT THERE." I got Salty by the neck and held him where he was, about three inches from the furious trash-talking squirrel. Jon got the glove on with one hand and scooped up the squirrel, which promptly tried to take a chunk out of him. He took the squirrel out the back door while I took Salty to the bathroom and hosed him off. We called Dr. Sawyer, who said Salty's rabies shot was still good and frankly he was more worried about us.

The squirrel did not survive the events of the day; its injuries were consistent with being sustained in the skirmish. Salty thinks he's the shiznit now and keeps prancing by the fireplace, and stops to eye it as if squirrels are just bustin' to come out.