How come we never hear about viscious Retriever attacks? Newfoundlands? Saint Bernards?
I know, I know....it’s the owner. It’s always the owner.
“How come we never hear about viscious Retriever attacks? Newfoundlands? Saint Bernards?
I know, I know....it’s the owner. It’s always the owner.”
How many retrievers are chained up their whole lives? How many are encouraged to fight other dogs or to behave aggressively? How many are simply left intact, untrained, allowed to roam, or brutally abused?
How many people should have pit bulls? Not many, for that I am certain. However, they are the most popular dog in many places. They number upwards of ten million in this country alone. If it were a breed issue, more than a half of a half of a percent of them would be involved in fatalities. As it stands now, they have yet to surpass even a 1% mark, so over 99% of the dogs have been living their lives without incident.
For the record, Newfoundlands and Saint Bernards have both had their time in the spotlight as vicious, as well as bloodhounds. Each time this has happened, the dogs have been seen in plays, or in movies, or in writing as dangerous mankillers, prompting a following of the worst crowds.
FYI, 19 people died last year from dogs that were not pit bulls. Two of them were weimaraners, which are not an extremely popular breed. I’m sure it’s not because the breed is inherently bad, though.
If we could all just come to an agreement and pass the right laws, we could benefit from a huge reduction in dog attacks and fatalities. Banning pit bulls has not helped at all in any place that has passed bsl. In fact, in the UK, attack numbers have risen at an alarming rate. Denver has had a ban for twenty years, and they still have the same attack rates, as well as a whole bunch of illegal pit bulls that they regularly euthanize by the hundreds. These kinds of laws do not work, obviously, because they only affect the law-abiding, responsible people that were never the problem in the first place. All that is left in Denver is a population of illegally-owned, possibly dangerous dogs that are still running the streets and being abused and chained up.
There is a solution that has worked, however. Calgary, a place I often bring into these discussions, boasts an over 90% dog licensing rate, which is unheard of, as well as having reduced their serious attacks by a huge margin after implementing and enforcing responsible ownership laws. Pit bulls are still allowed there, and they are treated as any other dog would be. All dog owners, no matter what breed they have, are held to higher standards. The numbers are proving Calgary a much safer place because they passed laws that actually address the issue instead of providing a false sense of security to those unwilling to understand the cause of the problem.