Child bitten by pitbull on school bus in Phoenix

KTAR ^ | February 24th, 2012 | Clayton Klapper

[george76]

An eight-year-old boy was bitten Friday by a pit bull that climbed aboard a school bus near 67th Avenue and Thomas.

The dog had made its way through the neighborhood running loose and had followed a group of students onto the bus. The driver attempted to close the door on the dog but it forced its way through the sliding doors. Around a dozen students were aboard when the first grade student was bitten in the leg. The teacher was also bitten by the dog

[Silentgypsy]

They also appear to be affected by excessive happiness!

[cripplecreek]

Followed by bouts of extreme drowsiness.

[SRBConservative]

For a conservative community, I am surprised by how many Freepers buy into the media spin on pit bulls and see them as demonic animals. They are dogs first, and like any dog they are a reflection of their training, management and living conditions.

Dogs of ALL breed bite and attack. But when a lab or poodle is the attacker, it is either: A) NOT reported by the media at all, or B) IF it is reported, the breed name is never mentioned, it is simply called a “dog” attack. “Pit bull attack” is a salacious headline that the media jump on, and as conservatives who have watched so many of our representatives dragged through the media mud, we should all be familiar with (and disgusted by) this biased media tactic. Additionally, most people (animal control officers included) cannot properly identify an American Pit Bull Terrier; so often they are misidentified in media reports (American Bulldogs, Dogo Argentina, Cane Corso, Boxers, etc. are just a few of the breeds commonly mistaken for pit bulls), without ever recieving retractions for the error.

Dog bites and attacks occur due to a variety of circumstances (an unsocialized, unaltered dog, a sick or unhealthy dog left to roam, a provoked or frightened dog, etc), none of which can logically or scientifically be explained by or blamed on the dog’s breed alone. A dog managed improperly, abused, unsocialized, or raised to fear humans, is ultimately a victim too.

I could go on and on about this because as an owner of an American Pit Bull Terrier, I often face criticism and discrimination, despite the fact that I am a RESPONSIBLE owner, whose dog is a member of the family and is trained, socialized and always well-mannered and on-leash in public.

I despise the shady individuals who have done so much damage to this fantastic breed with such unimaginable cruelty and mistreatment, and I deplore the media who have maligned the breed with their inaccurate and sensationalized reporting.

They are AMERICAN Pit Bull Terriers. How entirely UN-AMERICAN to attempt to ban an entire breed, and tell me what type of dog I can and cannot own. And for people to demonize an entire breed based on falsehoods and media-infused fear, is just absurd and sad.