Posted on 04/01/2009 2:58:46 PM PDT by Chet 99
Kerry Dougherty
Kerry Dougherty's column appears in the Hampton Roads section of The Virginian-Pilot every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
Pit bull carnage continues
Tired of hearing about pit bulls?
Me too.
But as long as people are allowed to keep these animals in residential areas, we're going to keep a body count.
Two.
That's how many children have been killed so far THIS WEEK by pit bulls.
The most recent attack was this morning, in San Antonio. A seven-month-old baby was shredded by two pit bulls who breeched a baby gate and killed the infant in a bed.
Last Thursday an 18-month-old Texas boy was killed when he wandered outside and approached a pregnant pit bull his mother was dogsitting.
You know what's coming. Protests from pit bull owners insisting that their dogs are pussycats. Then they'll blame bad breeders, bad owners and bad kids.
Never bad dogs.
So how high must the death toll go before we outlaw these dogs in residential areas?
Numbers, anyone?
If people would just admit to themselves what a pit bull is really capable of, and then take the necessary precautions, these accidents would not happen.
yep... it’s always: not enough training.. those same people would say that chimp went crazy for the same reason, not trained well..
lol. Yes I own one. The cat put his eye out when he was a baby,and he still treads lightly around that same cat 7 years later. The vet recorded him as a “bull dog”. He quivers and sits perfectly still no matter what they do to him. He doesn’t just sleep with me, he lies up against me. He is he smaller sized brindle with ears and tail intact. If the cat hadn’t ruined his eye the day he arrived I would not have let the son keep him.
That said, I would NEVER trust any dog I don’t know, pitt bulls,dobermans, shepherds, whatever.
It's interesting that you would focus on the two fatal attacks by pit bulls this week, yet ignore the 3 year old child that was outside, unsupervised by an adult and was killed by a neighbor's Husky.
http://www.thepress-sentinel.com/articles/2009/03/24/news/doc49c93e4ab336c841316124.txt
It's even more interesting that you ignore this story given that it is closer to home for you than the other two attacks. But it's not surprising, the Husky fatality ran in only one small newspaper while the other two have run in well over 300 media outlets worldwide. Wonder why.
There have been 11 fatal dog attacks this year. 9 involved children under the age of 8. There are 5 different breeds of dogs implicated in the attacks -- yet all of the children were left unsupervised around the dogs.
At some point we're going to have to talk about the responsiblity of dog owners and parents, and quit trying to stir up a pit bull debate by ignoring the attacks by other breeds.
I used to help train dogs for Search and Rescue but I am no expert. But in talking to people in the trade, they almost all believe that Pit Bulls have been taking a bad rap thanks to inner city thugs and nere do wells who train these dogs to attack.
If you take the best dog, beat the hell out of it, abuse it and treat it poorly, then that dog, regardless of the breed or bloodline, will turn out to be a bloodthirsty beast.
I think Labs have more dog bites than anyother breeds.
I don't think it's a fair analogy. Chimps are wild animals. With all wild animals, there actions are much less predictable, more susceptible to instinct. The American Pit Bull is a domesticated animal, and has been for thousands of years.
Sure, like any dog of any breed, some have higher prey drives than others. But in the end, it does come down to how well the dog was socialized as a puppy and how well it was trained as an adolescent and adult dog. Like any domesticated animal, without the proper socialization and behavior reinforcement, the pit bull can revert to a feral state. The chimp, no matter how well socialized or trained, will always be a feral animal.
Of course you are right - you can make any dog into a vicious one by bad treatment on purpose.
What the problem is, is that in the large majority of these stories, these pit bulls have NOT undergone that kind of abuse and maltreatment. They are family dogs, people are ‘shocked’ that they did it, they never thought thier dog would do this, etc.
So with respect to this particular breed of dog, it appears they do not have to be abused and beaten up in order for this kind of unpredictable dangerous behavior to occur.
I agree that Pit Bulls get something of a bad rap, because of idiot, thug owners. A well trained, well socialized, well bred, well cared for pit bull is a great dog.
However, they are just so incredibly powerful and tenacious, that when they do attack the outcomes are too often horrific.
Also, I don’t think comparing the number of bites by Labs is all that relevant. Labs are a very popular breed, so the bite numbers will be higher. More importatnly, the damage done by the average Lab bite, compared to the average pit bull attack is likely much smaller.
We really need statistics on maulings, as opposed to bites. Bites are painful, but rarely cause permanent damage, much less death. Maulings are a much more serious matter.
This is true. But what shoudl really bother all of us is the fact the goverment could end up tell people what kind of dog they are aloowed to own.
Rottwielers are mean looking dogs, but I have worked with them and found them to be very friendly.But they are classified as a Dangerous dog because they just look deadly. Just like so called “assault Weapons”, they are condemed because certian people dont like the look of them.
What galls me in re reading this trash is the fact the writer has her panties in a knot about how many babies died because of Pit Bulls. Why dont she write about how many babies died because of abortion?
Exactly right!
This is easier.
So what? That’s a separate subject.
I know how to cure him. A lead capsule, right in his mouth.
Yup.
If abortion were like any other issue, the libs would have demanded it be banned a long time ago.
Doctors want guns banned because of the ‘high’ numbers of gun deaths. But they never talk about banning alcohol because of all the drunk drivers who cost society far more in terms of damage, injury and death and gobble up so much more medical care. Course, since lots of doctors are alcoholics, they may not really want to ban alcohol...
It seems that everyone is a hpyocrite nowadays. Because they have lost the ability to put things in perspective and they have lost the ability to be introspective and honest about their own beliefs.
One of the problems I see with pit bull owners is that they don’t seem to have them spay/altered or keep them contained. If you look at the adoptable dogs at almost any no-kill shelter, probably 90% are pit bull mixes. Given the reputation of the breed and the problem of getting homeowners’ insurance if you own one (due to their reputation), these dogs are very hard to re-home.
there are all sorts of dog attacks but the media only reports pit bull attacks it seems
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.