Posted on 04/26/2006 9:14:27 AM PDT by Wristpin
GLOVERSVILLE - Michael Ward, the owner of the 2-year-old pit bull that attacked a small bichon frise March 31, will be taking the dog back to its breeder Saturday to fulfill his court obligations to remove the dog from Gloversville without having to euthanize him.
"I called [the breeder] and he didn't want the dog to go to someone he didn't know and he wanted to make sure the dog had a safe home," Ward said. "Everybody thinks that he's a vicious dog because of the breed. Everybody is being discriminating against it. [The breeder] breeds them and he knows better than that." Ward said he plans to meet the breeder halfway between New York state and Virginia. Ward is giving the dog, named Blitz, back to his breeder, but is not charging the breeder any money.
"I had two years with the dog that I wouldn't want to trade for anything," Ward said.
On April 7, Gloversville City Court Judge Vincent DeSantis ordered Ward to study alternatives to euthanasia for his dog after the judge determined the dog was too dangerous.
Ward said the dog had been neutered prior to the incident and a microchip has been implanted in the dog.
Everyone keep their frikkin dog contained. Anyone that doesn't, gets stomped on and is criminally responsible for their dogs actions. End of story.
Would that be before, or after the funeral of the dead child or old lady? Before or after the maimed person is released from the hospital?
Look, I think banning breeds is a bad "solution." I agree with you that of course the problem is due to the dogs being improperly contained, but to quote Dirty Harry, "Your mouthwash ain't cuttin' it." Saying "Keep your frikkin dog contained!" to people who firmly believe that pets are people, too, and besides, their little Spike Rottweiler or Fido Pit Bull would never hurt anyone, is about as useful as asking that nice young man next door to please stop spraying graffitti on the fence. He thinks it's art and freedom of speech -- in the same way that most of these dog owners think their dogs are angels and their right to own them as they please is sacred!
There must be a sensible solution other than banning breeds or more government interference. I don't know what it is, but I DO know that there is a problem, yet most of the folks responsible for it, and an uncomfortable number of folks who aren't, either deny that the problem exists or become so defensive that one starts to smell something a bit stinky, like there's more to this than meets the eye. Maybe a blind love for dogs in general, or an unwillingness to take responsibility for making tough-calls ... your guess is as good as mine.
You UNDERstate it!
There is a groundswell to eterminate the entire breed, similar breeds, and their owners. (Well, the owners are not to be exterminated, per se, merely asked politely not to breed.)
I guess the fact that they were developed for blood sports is a sensitive matter, but directly pertinent to the deaths, maulings, shootings and mass euthanizations.
Breeding more of them and pushing them as sweet and normal dogs is irresponsible.
That was certainly NOT my intention.
Warden not surprised: 'They stand their ground, those little dogs'
04/22/06
WAUKEGAN — Animal Warden Tina Fragassi said she was not surprised when her office fielded a report Thursday about a 10-pound Pomeranian attacking an 80-pound pit bull.
"They stand their ground, those little dogs," she said, describing how one of her relatives has a small mixed-breed dog that charges her own pit bull and Labrador every time the three dogs cross paths.
That's basically what happened Thursday afternoon at a Sunset Avenue apartment complex, where Garry Laffredi said he was walking his 2-year-old pit bull Capone when a neighbor's Pomeranian came running at them.
"(Capone's) not a bad guy. He's real friendly. He's people friendly," Laffredi said. "He loves other dogs. (But) this little Pomeranian ran out and starts biting him on the foot."
Pomeranians, which are classified as Toy dogs by the American Kennel Club, can be as small as three pounds and resemble a fox in appearance, generally having a bushy orange coat and pointed ears.
Laffredi said the Pomeranian bit Capone's foot hard enough "to draw blood" also managed to nick Capone on the top of the head as he tried to pull the pit bull away on a leash.
Eventually, Laffredi said, Capone "grabbed the dog and more or less set him off to the side" before the two dogs were separated.
Each citation comes with a $25 fine if paid within 30 days. Fragassi said in cases of a first-time animal-to-animal bite with no current rabies shots, the animal is not seized but the owner must have the dog checked by a veterinarian for rabies after 10 days.
The owner of the Pomeranian declined to speak about the incident, describing it as an unfortunate episode that she wanted to put behind her.
Let's talk about experience rather than what I've read or heard. I've been a big-time walker of neighborhoods, streets, beaches, and trails since I was about 8 years old. I love to walk. It's good exercise and restoring of the soul. When I was a kid it was in small towns. As an adult, it's been in cities. In all those years, all those miles ... I have been threatened three times. Once by an old-fella German Shepherd who was clearly bordering on senile but trying to do his job guarding his home, as I made the mistake of saying "hello" to him (though I didn't approach him). He tried to bite my leg, but only managed to tear a hole in my jeans. I was on a public street in a neighborhood of nice homes. I felt kind of bad for him because I'd been past that house many times and he'd never bothered me. Live and let live.
Second time was on a public street in a similar neighborhood. This dog was usually indoors, but this time was out. He didn't attack me, but was sure barking like he meant to .. his owner was in the garage and called him, and even if the dog HAD tried to get me, he couldn't have killed me and would have had a hard time mauling me or doing serious damage. He was kind of like a small, white husky. Cool dog, really, doing his job and minding his owner.
Third time was on a dead-end street in a semi-rural residential neighborhood, not real high end, but no slum, either. Walking up the street, I passed a Rottweiler, unleashed, but with his family, who were getting out of the car. On the way back down the street, the Rott was still there .. the family was nowhere to be seen. I walked on the otherside of the narrow street. The Rott growled at me menacingly as I walked past, and within seconds of his growl, the brush in the hillside next to his house rustled, and down came an unleashed pit bull, hurrying, as if alerted by the Rott's growl. These dogs were maybe five feet away, unleashed. I pretended I didn't know they were there and kept walking, fully expecting to be attacked. I am conviced that if I had looked at them, they would have jumped me. If they had jumped me, no one would been able to control them and if I wasn't dead after they were through, I'd be seriously and permanently disfigured.
Don't insult me by telling me that the only reason I was afraid was because of what I'd read. I was afraid because any person of sense knows that a pit bull and a Rottwelier are deadly in jaw power alone, as opposed to, say, an australian shepherd and a labrador. I was also afraid because of all the miles I've walked, all the neighborhoods I've cruised, and all the dogs I've seen on these excursions, an old decrepit German shepherd, an uptight small Huskie, a Rottweiler, and a pit bull were the ONLY ones that had acted aggressive. You tell me, which do you think caused the greatest risk? Puh-leese.
I'd like to pepperspray Capone in his face to immobilze hime and then give him a real blast right up his butt! (Really, I'd like to do more.)
Now, now, logic and reasoning is not allowed on these threads, didn't you get the memo?
Would you care to explain why the dog that was attacked is the dog you would like to pepper spray? Please explain the logic in that. Capone was not the dog that was the attacker and he did not attack back. This should be interesting. Make it another one liner, please?
Ah ... er, wait a minute. Did I say pomeranians? I meant pit bulls. And guess what the owner said? "My dogs would never hurt anybody!" Well, that's a relief!
Your pomeranian story, while interesting if only because the person with the pit bull being attacked didn't boot that little asshole pomeranian as if it was a football in search of a field goal, has nothing to do with people and livestock being maimed and killed by large dogs with powerful jaws, disporportionately Rottweilers and pit-bull breeds. And again ... I AM NOT FOR BANNING ANY BREEDS. What I am for is for "power" dog advocates to own-up to the fact that there is a problem. Hasn't happened yet. Which makes it ever more likely that the worst-case scenario of breed-banning will come to pass.
I'd like to have a keycain (or a NECKLASS) with dozens of Pit paws. Each paw for a different Pit...ideally, mostly puppies so the paws would be small and I could have lots without too much weight.
Irresponsible owners of ALL breeds say their dog would never attack anyone. I am not an advocate for any particular breed, but I do work as an animal trainer and see agression in many breeds. Common sense tells us that any large breed of dog has the potential to cause damage. Unfortunately, the only breed that makes the news in dog attacks are Pits. Wait, please tell me that only Pits attack. Don't waste your breathe.
So you're afraid of bulldogs too then?
I am thinking that if the real young ones were marinated for at least 24 hours and then slowly BBQ'd, they'd probably taste a lot like chicken!
And I don't think a single person here has promoted, advocated, or extolled the virtues of dogfighting. Just as the pack hunting instincts of wolves have been developed and refined to make shepherds useful herding dogs, the combative instincts of pits, mastiffs, etc., have been put to use by many as defensive dogs in municipalities and nations that have otherwise left their citizens unarmed. Do pit bulls attack people? yes...and frequently with regrettable circumstances. Do gangbangers use AKs and ARs with equally regrettable effects? You're damned straight they do. Should either be outlawed, banned, confiscated, destroyed wholesale? I guess that depends on who you ask.
I've been around dogs my whole life, and bitten, slobbered upon, licked and nuzzled by virtually every recognized breed, wolf-hybrid, and mutt. Admittedly, I've never been 'mauled,' but I've taken some stitches courtesy of a big gray husky. I'm not an especially big pit bull fan, and in fact the only person I know who even owns (two) pitbulls is a single mom(widow) who resides in the country with a teenaged daughter. IMHO, denying them that level of deterrence, early warning and protection would be reprehensible. Quite literally, the dogs pose a threat only to those that would threaten them.
My point is, as with so many other distortions in the media, the irresponsible use and ownership of these dogs by those who abuse their instincts and abilities have completely obscured the fact that there are others who have responsibly put those instincts to legitimate use. It amazes me how people that decry the mainstream media's slantedness toward politics, firearms, the welfare state, taxes, second hand smoke and global warming will buy into their expertise and truthfulness when the issue turns to the canine realm.
Although I'm hesitant to draw even remote parallels to inanimate objects because so many seem incapable of grasping the larger point, I think you're capable of more serious deliberation than simply firing back, 'but guns don't have brains.' Many firearms and edged weapons are designed, marketed and built for, 'tactical purposes,' in other words, to kill or incapacitate another human. They may be used recklessly or responsibly, the object themselves have no moral quality themselves. Fire likewise, (which many argue, 'can have a mind of it's own') has historically been used for good and evil. Those that deliberately breed, cross and cultivate pitbulls with the intent of dogfighting, intimidating rivals, or using as offensive weapons are the morally flawed component; those that take and refine, and channel the dog's natural instincts for their own protection, and bridle the animals to minimize their threat to their fellow man frankly, in a free society, deserve to be left alone if that's what they choose.
No, not saying that only pits attack. My understanding is that there is considerable confusion as to the true identity of a "breed" known as pit bull, and that it is a variety of dog mixes that are, correctly or not, commonly called "pit bulls." Then there are Rottweilser. And in the days when Dobermans (I think those dogs are cool) and German Shepherds were in vogue, those were the dangerous one. The point is that certain kinds of dogs, when they attack, can cause a hell of a lot more damage than most other dogs who are just as aggressive. Just because a dog is aggressive doesn't mean it has the same deadly potential as another aggressive dog.
I'd actually like to see the maximum number of Pit-on-Pit fights to the death.
A fifty per cent reduction in the Pit population would be a good thing.
Then we could have the winners fight. The eventual, ultimate winner could be dipped in molten bronze and preserved forever!
You are correct that it can be hard to identify the breed. Click on my screen name and play Pick the Pitbull.
Have a nice day, moron.
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