Posted on 11/24/2023 11:31:33 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
At least 246 XL bully dogs will be euthanised when a ban on the breed comes into force at the end of the year, Sky News can reveal.
The dogs currently live in rescue centres run by the RSPCA, Blue Cross, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Dogs Trust and Mayhew, among others.
Under the ban, which comes into force in two phases, XL bullies cannot be lawfully rehomed or sold after 31 December.
It follows a spate of recent attacks and deaths involving the breed.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
Yep, save your breathe, no amount of evidence or statistics will convince an idiot or a pit bull lover.
They are called cynophobs.
You cannot debate this with them because it is a mental problem.
I recommend the book “Pitbull,battle over an American icon”.
It does a good job of explaining the bully dog situation in the US and how it got that way.
If they can’t read the book, I have no time to argue with them.
No, there are bad dogs bred to be genetically suited for killing
The breed of choice of bad people, too
This breed should be sterilized out of existence
When in the right hands.
You know that from Waco, spook.
I’ve been bitten by a Collie, a little yappie dog and a Great Pyrenees.
The Collie was protecting his carnival worker’s trailer and I stumbled to close, dizzy from a dozen back to back rides on the Round Up when I was 12 or so. He was on a cable which makes them defensive in the first place.
Little yappie dog was just a little yappie dog. Many tend to be mean. Sharp little teeth too.
Great Pyrenees was known to have been abused, beat with large sticks. He got put down after he bit me. Too big of a dog to live after biting someone who’d been treating him nicer than anyone else. Assholes ruined him.
I’ve owned a Chow Chow(one man dog?) who ran across the yard and kicked the butt of my neighbor’s dog for getting in the face of, baring teeth and growling at two kids my dog hadn’t seen in 5-6 years but had lived with. Ingigo(purple tongue) never bit a human. When the kids were little and pulling on her tail, she sat down and let out a single bark. I think she sensed that the female human would kill her if she bit one of those toddlers. Kicked that bigger half dobie, half shepherd’s ass though. That dog had never seen a child before and my neighbor was always worried what she’d do when she did see one. Glad my “one man dog” was there. Schatzie was good with kids after that. Just kind of ignored and stayed away from them.
Indigo had pups, half black Chow Chow, half pure white shepherd and probably full black Chow too because there was one of each coming around. Puppies ranged from light tan medium haired to full black and fluffy. Puppies all turned into good adult dogs. My sister got one but I got it back because my bro-in-law didn’t like it and would kick it. Luckily I got him back early enough before he got mean.
A buddy of mine got Indigo’s brother and my buddy was a little ignorant so he raised it to be “a bad ass dog” and ended up having to warn everyone about his dog. Some people just want a dog that “will tear you up”. Ignorant bastards. There’s a place for that but it’s not in a residential area or subdivision.
We owned a half Pit Bull that we got when she was four which is a little risky due to the unknown history. Liked to fight other dogs but never harmed a person. If a person has tried to harm me, the wife or one of our kids, I’m quite sure Mollie would have gotten mean. Other than that, no dog to human aggression. I did finally get her to get along with another dog, with the help of that patient, harmless dog.
Male stray that I later heard through the grape vine, was being raised as a coon dog but wasn’t very good at it, so they dropped him off in the middle of Winter. I looked out and there was a brown, obviously underfed dog standing there getting snowed on. His spirit was close to broken so I’m guessing he got beat when he didn’t perform as a coon dog. He loved it here though and was a sweetheart. Loved Mollie because she was a female, even though she was fixed.
Pit Bulls do tend to have dog to dog aggression because after taunting cattle was outlawed in England, they started using them in dog fights(in a pit). They were originally bred to wear down a bull until the butcher could get in close and kill it. When that ended up becoming a spectator sport, it was outlawed and the dog owners took to pitting them against each other.
I’ll never get a grown dog again. Puppy only that I know I can raise to be a good dog. I’ll also never give another dog or puppy away.
My conclusion? Some people are going to meet the hounds of Hell.
IMO those are the types of dogs, exclusively, that should be put down at shelters.
99% of the owners of such breeds shouldn’t have them, either.
PETA believes that humans should ultimately not own dogs or cats as pets and are absolutely against keeping fish, reptiles, birds, and other small animals as pets as they see it as unnatural and akin to slavery and want all animals returned to their “natural” and self-sufficient state.
They want all pure-bred breeders to be shut down along with all pet stores and “puppy mills” and for only “qualified people” allowed to adopt from shelters (OK, I agree with the last three to a bit of a degree, and even to a much lesser degree the former as there are some bad and irresponsible purebred dog and cat breeders although most are not) and that all dogs and cats are to be spayed and neutered with their ultimate goal being that no animals are “bred to be dependent on humans”.
FWIW, PETA run animal shelters have an extremely high “kill” rate.
Owning pit bulls are like having Muslim immigrants in your country. “They’re fine until just now.”
I could say the same thing about people like you.
Pit Bulls: Facts and Figures
Americans believe that pit bulls are at least somewhat dangerous and that a family with small children should not harbor a pit bull. (YouGov.us, Poll Results: Pit Bulls, July 24, 2014, https://today.yougov.com/news/2014/07/24/poll-results-pit-bull.
By Attorney Kenneth M. Phillips, author of Dog Bite Law (dogbitelaw.com)
More than 50% of all pit bulls in the USA are up for sale or adoption. (Merritt Clifton, Breed Survey 2019, cited above.) !”
Most of the pit bulls offered for sale or adoption have been given up by their former owners. (Merritt Clifton, “Rescued” pit bulls now outnumber pit puppies, http://www.animals24-7.org/2017/06/14/rescued-pit-bulls-now-outnumber-pit-puppies)
!
Between 19% and 32% of all dogs taken to shelters are pit bulls. (Emily Weiss, Rising from the Pitt [19%]; Merritt Clifton, “Rescued” pit bulls now outnumber pit puppies [32%], cited above.)
Pit bulls remain in shelters approximately three times as long as other breeds. (Lisa M. Gunter, Rebecca T. Barber, Clive D. L. Wynne, What’s in a Name? Effect of Breed Perceptions & Labeling on Attractiveness, Adoptions & Length of Stay for Pit- Bull-Type Dogs, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0146857).
Forty percent of pit bulls in shelters are euthanized every year. (Emily Weiss, Rising from the Pitt, ASPCAPro, https://www.aspcapro.org/blog/2017/05/19/rising-pit).
Pit bulls are less than 6% of all dogs in the USA
There are approximately 4.5 million pit bulls in the United States, making up approximately 5.8% of the country’s canine population. (Merritt Clifton, Breed Survey 2019: More Puppies Yet Fewer Homes for Pit Bulls, https://www.animals24- 7.org/2019/07/09/breed-survey-2019-more-puppies-yet-fewer-homes-for-pit-bulls/.)
Pit bulls bite more humans than other breeds
From February 2013 to the present, animal control agencies and health departments in 19 U.S. states report that pit bulls are leading all breeds in biting incidents. The studies are summarized and linked at Dogsbite.org, Pit Bulls Lead “Bite” Counts Across U.S. Cities and Counties, http://blog.dogsbite.org/2009/07/pit-bulls-lead-bite-counts-across-us.html.
In the 10 years from 2009 to 2018, pit bulls killed or maimed 3,569 people in the USA and Canada. (Merritt Clifton, Dog Attack Deaths & Maimings, U.S. & Canada, 1982-2018 Log.) They killed over 80% of all Americans who are killed by dogs. (Colleen Lynn, 2015 U.S. Dog Bite Fatalities, at http://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-fatalities-2015.php.)
In the 13-year period from 2005 to 2017, pit bulls killed 283 Americans. (Colleen Lynn, 12-Year U.S. Dog Bite Fatality Chart and Colleen Lynn, 2017 U.S. Dog Bite Fatalities.)
Pit bull bites are more deadly than those of other breeds
From 2011 to 2019, 14 peer-reviewed retrospective medical studies from Level 1 trauma centers spanning all major geographical regions in the United States — Northeast, Southeast, South, Southwest, Midwest, West Coast, and Northwest — all report similar findings: pit bulls are inflicting a higher prevalence of injuries than all other breeds of dogs. The majority of these studies (12 of 14) also report that pit bulls are inflicting the most severe injuries, requiring a higher number of operative interventions — up to five times higher — than other dog breeds. Four studies from this period — all from Level 1 trauma centers in the Denver metro area — show a mixture of results, possibly due to Denver and the surrounding metropolitan regions enforcing pit bull bans for the last 3 decades. (See a compilation of studies with citations by Lynn, Colleen, Level 1 Trauma Center Studies, https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-studies-level-1-trauma-table-2011- present.php.)
Studies by health care providers establish that pit bull attacks are associated with higher median Injury Severity Scale scores, a higher number of hospital admissions, higher hospital charges, and a higher risk of death. (Bini, John K. MD; Cohn, Stephen M. MD; Acosta, Shirley M. RN, BSN; McFarland, Marilyn J. RN, MS; Muir, Mark T. MD; Michalek, Joel E. PhD, Mortality, Mauling, and Maiming by Vicious Dogs, Annals of Surgery: April 2011, vol. 253, iss. 4, pp. 791–797, cited
at http://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery/Abstract/2011/04000/Mortality,_Mauling,_and_Maiming_by_Vicious_Dogs.23.aspx.)
Another study authored entirely by physicians concludes that injuries from pit bulls are both more frequent and more severe. (Essig Jr., Garth F., et al., Dog Bite Injuries to the Face: Is There Risk with Breed Ownership? A Systematic Review with Meta- Analysis, Int. J. of Ped. Otorhinolaryngology 117 (2019) 192-188; accessed 3/25/2019 at https://bit.ly/2HShg80.)
Similarly, an additional study found that pit bulls inflict “more complex wounds, were often unprovoked, and went off property to attack” and that “[t]he probability of a bite resulting in a complex wound was 4.4 times higher for pit bulls compared with the other top-biting breeds.” (Khan K, Horswell B, and Samanta D, Dog-Bite Injuries to the Craniofacial Region: An Epidemiologic and Pattern-of-Injury Review at a Level 1 Trauma Center, J Oral Maxillofac Surg, November 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31816277.)
Pit bull owners are more likely to be irresponsible
In nearly all of the cases in which I have been consulted, where a pit bull killed a person the pit bull owners had no insurance, and therefore the victim’s family received no justice in the form of compensation.
Published, peer-reviewed studies in authoritative journals of psychology and forensic science establish that pit bull owners as a whole — statistically — are more likely to be socially deviant, engage in crimes involving children, domestic violence, alcohol abuse, and violent crimes against other persons. (Jaclyn E. Barnes, Barbara W. Boat, Frank W. Putnam, Harold F. Dates, and Andrew R. Mahlman, Ownership of High-Risk (“Vicious”) Dogs As a Marker for Deviant Behaviors, J. Interpersonal Violence, Volume 21 Number 12, December 2006 1616-1634, abstract at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17065657;
Laurie Ragatz M.A., William Fremouw Ph.D., Tracy Thomas M.A., Katrina McCoy B.S., Vicious Dogs: The Antisocial Behaviors and Psychological Characteristics of Owners, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Volume 54, Issue 3, pages 699–703, May 2009, abstract at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01001.x/abstract; Allison M. Schenk, B.A.; Laurie L. Ragatz, M.S.; and William J. Fremouw, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., Vicious Dogs Part 2: Criminal Thinking, Callousness, and Personality Styles of Their Owners, J Forensic Sci, January 2012, Vol. 57, No. 1, doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2011.01961.x, available online at: onlinelibrary.wiley.com.)
Pit bull owners have engaged in extremely bizarre and vicious behavior, including these examples:
Laquandra Kinchen Ligons stabbed to death a neighbor who poked Ligons’ pit bull with a metal rod to protect the victim’s cats. (Pablo Lopez for The Fresno Bee, Fresno woman sentenced to 12 years for killing a woman in a dispute over
pets, http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article19643112.html#storylink=cpy.)
Matthew Thomas Oropeza killed a man who asked Oropeza to put a leash on his pit bull. (See the article in the Inquirer at Philly.com.)
Rashawn T. Washington-Clark ordered his pit bull to bite an officer and then attempted to bite the latter himself. (Charles Winokoor, Taunton police say man sicced pit bull on them, then tried to bite officer himself, https://bit.ly/37eIJcR.)
When they attack, pit bulls kill or maul their owners and the owners’ family members or visiting babies more than half the time
In the years 2016 through 2021, when pit bulls became homicidal they killed either their owners or members of their owners’ families most of the time. This can be called “eruscide” from the Latin word “erus” which means “owner” or “master of the house.”
In 2016, of the 31 Americans killed by dogs, 23 were killed by pit bulls and their mixes, and 12 of those 23 victims were either the owner of the pit bull or a member of the owner’s family. (See details given by Colleen Lynn, http://www.dogsbite.org/dog- bite-statistics-fatalities-2016.php.) The eruscide rate was 52%.
In 2017, of the 39 Americans killed by dogs, 29 were killed by pit bulls and their mixes, and 18 of those 29 victims were either the owner of the pit bull or a member of the owner’s family (including a relative). (See Colleen
Lynn, https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-fatalities-2017.php.) The eruscide rate was 62%.
In 2018, of the 34 Americans killed by dogs, 25 were killed by pit bulls and their mixes, and 14 of those 25 victims were their owners, the owners’ family members, or babies that the pit bull owners were watching. (Phillips, Kenneth, Pit Bull Killings – 2018, https://bit.ly/2Wubi1j.)
The eruscide rate was 56%.
In 2019, 48 Americans were killed by dogs, pit bulls and their mixes killed 33, and 13 of the 33 victims were their owner or the owner’s family member. In one additional case, the victim was a visiting baby. (Phillips, Kenneth, Pit Bull Killings – 2019, https://bit.ly/2S5zcko.)
The eruscide rate was 40%.
In 2021, of the 51 Americans killed by dogs, 37 were killed by one or more pit bulls and their mixes (in some cases in combination with one or more other breeds), and 21 of those victims were either the owner of the pit bull or member of the owner’s family.
The eruscide rate was 57%.
The average eruscide rate during the past 5 years, therefore, was 53%.
Pit bulls also have been known to eat their owners.
In 2019, when the police went in search for Freddie Mack (57, Johnson County, TX), they could not find him, but they found bits of his bones and clothes in the excrement of his 15 pit bulls. (Sheriff: Missing North Texas man was eaten by his own dogs, Fox4News.com, July 10, 2019, https://bit.ly/2YR4BrD.)
In 2017, police looking for Bethany Stephens (22, Goochland County, VA) found her two pit bulls eating her rib cage.
(Goochland County Sheriff James Agnew, press conference, Dec. 18, 2017) In 2022, Marina Verriest’s husband returned home from work to find his wife being eaten by their own pit bull. (See Colleen
Lynn, https://blog.dogsbite.org/2022/07/family-pit-bull-mutilates-kills-70-year-old-woman-in-nassau-county.html.)
Common sense leads to the conclusion that when they attack, pit bulls bite (without necessarily killing) their owners and their owners’ family members and visiting babies in the same relative numbers, namely more than half the time.
Pit bulls are the No. 1 canine killers of women and girls, killing more than half of the females killed by a dog
In 2018, 28 American females were killed by dogs, and 19 of the killings were by pit bulls. (Phillips, Kenneth, Pit Bull Killings – 2018, https://bit.ly/2Wubi1j.)
In 2019, 26 American females were killed by dogs, and 16 of the 26 were killed by pit bulls. (Phillips, Kenneth, Pit Bull Killings – 2019, https://bit.ly/2S5zcko.)
Keep in mind: pit bulls are less than 6% of all the dogs in the USA. Yet they are responsible for more than half of the fatal attacks on women and girls.
Pit bulls are the No. 1 canine killers of children, killing more than half of the children killed by a dog
As of 2021, pit bulls have killed 249 American children in recent memory. (See Colleen
Lynn, https://www.fatalpitbullattacks.com/children-killed-by-pit-bulls.php.) Yet there are few laws requiring the muzzling of pit bulls in public, even though we require children to wear masks for the prevention of COVID, which has killed far fewer kids (just 172 as of December 2020, per Academy of Pediatrics, https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/12/29/covid- 2million-children-122920).
In 2017, dogs killed 15 children out of the 39 total human fatalities.
Pit bulls kllled 8 of the 15 youths. (See Colleen Lynn, https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-fatalities-2017.php.)
In 2018, dogs again killed 15 children, and pit bulls killed at least 9 of those 15
(“at least” because the authorities have concealed the breed of one of the dogs that killed a child.) (See Colleen Lynn, 2018 Dog Bite Fatalities and Phillips, Kenneth, Pit Bull Killings – 2018, https://bit.ly/2Wubi1j.)
In 2019, dogs killed 16 children, and pit bulls killed 10 of the 16. (Phillips, Kenneth, Pit Bull Killings – 2019, https://bit.ly/2S5zcko.)
As stated above, pit bulls are less than 6% of all dogs in the USA. Yet they are responsible for killing most of the children who get killed by a dog.
Pit bulls are the No. 1 canine killers of other people’s pets and animals, killing more than 75% of those killed by a dog
In 2017, pit bulls killed 13,000 dogs, 5,000 cats, and 20,000 horses and other farm animals. (See Merritt Clifton, ‘Pit Bull Roulette’ killed 38,000 other animals in 2017.) Having destroyed more than 90% of other animals killed by dogs, the breed became the number one killer of other people’s pets, horses and farm animals.
In 2019, pit bulls accounted for 91% of all reported fatal attacks on other animals, 91% of all fatal attacks on other dogs, 76% of all fatal dog attacks on cats, and 82% of all fatal dog attacks on other pets, poultry, and hoofed species. (Clifton, Merritt, Record Pit Bull Attacks on Other Animals in 2019, https://www.animals24-7.org/2020/01/13/record-pit-bull-attacks- on-other-animals-in-2019-pro-football/.)
Pit bulls engage in home invasions more often than any other dog
Approximately once per month during 2015, 2016, and 2017, a pit bull has entered the home of a person not its owner for the purpose of killing or injuring people or pets. In addition to homes, the invaded premises have included apartments, schools, and even a police station. There were 16 such incidents in 2015, 17 in 2016, and 11 in 2017, with the first recorded one in 1912. (See Safety Before Pit Bulldogs, Extreme Attacks: List of Invasion Attacks by Pit Bulls,
at http://safetybeforebulldogs.blogspot.com/2014/03/collection-of-home-invasion-pit-bull.html.)
Pit bull attacks (deaths and disfigurements) are on the rise
Fatal and disfiguring attacks by pit bulls have risen 830% since 2007. (Merritt Clifton, Record 33 fatal pit bull attacks & 459 disfigurements in 2015, at http://www.animals24-7.org/2016/01/04/record-33-fatal-pit-bull-attacks-459-disfigurements-in- 2015/)
Repealing their pit bull ban was a disaster for Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown banned pit bulls from 2007 to 2015 but repealed the ban in November 2015 under activist pressure. At least two disfiguring pit bull attacks on humans occurred in Youngstown since then, while a pit bull influx has overwhelmed the Mahoning County dog pound, which serves Youngstown. “Currently, 98% of the dogs at the Mahoning County dog pound fall under pit bull breeds,” reported Molly Reed of WKBN earlier in 2018. (Clifton, Merritt, “Educate yourself”: pit bulls in schools run amok, https://www.animals24-7.org/2018/12/16/educate-yourself-pit-bulls-in-schools-run-amok/.)
The pit bull attack cover-up is on the rise
The authorities either unwittingly or purposely are engaging in a cover-up pertaining to pit bull violence. In the three decades from 1982 t0 2013, only 45 canine homicides or disfigurements were by dogs of an unidentified breed, but in 2014 there were 36 and in 2015 there were 78. (Merritt Clifton, Record 33 fatal pit bull attacks & 459 disfigurements in 2015, at
http: //www.animals24-7.org/2016/01/04/record-33-fatal-pit-bull-attacks-459-disfigurements-in-2015/ )
The breeding of pit bulls adds to the pit bull problem
Over 40% of the USA’s pit bulls are homeless, according to the latest survey (Merritt Clifton, 2018 Dog Breed Survey: At Least 41% of U.S. Pit Bull Population Are Seeking Homes, at https://www.animals24-7.org/2018/06/18/2018-dog-breed- survey-at-least-41-of-u-s-pit-bull-population-are-seeking-homes/).
The percent of homeless pit bulls is probably over 50% because rescues and shelters falsely advertise two out of ten pit bulls as being some other breed. This means half or nearly half of the nation’s pit bulls are seeking homes. Breeding pit bulls potentially adds to that number.
“Pit bull” is a term that describes all descendents of the Old English Bulldog
The Old English Bulldog was adapted into a fighting dog referred to as the “Bull and Terrier,” which then became the Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Terrier, Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, English Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, etc. All such varieties are referred to as “pit bulls” or “pit bulls and their mixes.” (See, i.e., Staffordshire Bull Terrier from The Book of the Dog, http://www.staffordmall.com/phildrabble.htm.)
Dogs that attack other dogs are dangerous to people
A study in Orange County, Florida, established that in a 12-month period 7% of all bites to humans occurred when two dogs met. (WKMG 6 News, Web Extra: Animal Bite Statistics,” June 2, 2015, cited at http://www.webcitation.org/6Z1dDCYdp.)
That quote is absolute BS.
I have personally witnessed dogs who would go aggressive for no reason who were never abused, neglected, or poorly trained.
A dog with zero impulse control and natural aggression is a bad dog, and they exist and certain breeds have a propensity for these traits… even with the best owners in the world they can and do go off.
I never inferred that you should convince me of anything. I merely pointed out the weakness of your analogy.
Sorry if you fail to see the obvious flaw.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
It’s not a left/right thing. Smart people with common sense recognize the danger of certain breeds and want to discourage further propagation. Stubborn people in denial, that usually like animals more than people, keep saying they are harmless.
There is no weakness in my argument, except from those who in all likelihood want to eliminate an entire breed of dog based on news stories and their own ignorance of the breed.
It’s emblematic of society today, someone is afraid of something, it’s not enough to ignore it or stay away from it, they want to eliminate it from the world to satisfy their own insecurities.
It’s hard when they don’t see the obvious.
Oh, fer bleep sake.
Folks should read the actual legislation.
This is not a ban on the dogs.
Meanwhile, the NHS still kills way more people annually than Dogs of Peace.
But the UK’s Deep State ain’t banning the NHS, is it...
Pitbulls and thus the people who own them have lowered the quality of life because of living in fear to take a walk in my own neighborhood or to my own vehicle sometimes even. F them. I went to an animal shelter a few days ago because I’ve been thinking of getting a canine companion and of course mostly pits and of course they were viciously barking at me, well at least the older ones, the young ones were eerily calm. Found a hound Shar pei mix I believe it was who was calm, friendly and handsom Unfortunately when the employee took him past the cattery he made known that he wouldn’t get along with my kitties.
Lousy end for a dog that the owner should be put down not the dog
The exact percentage of pitbulls among all dogs owned in the US ranges from a low of 6 to a high of 25, depending on which source is cited. Some of the pro-pitbull crowd likes to distort things, but this range is very reasonable. Very well documented is the percentage of fatalities caused by pit bulls among all dog fatalities in the US. It has consistently been 66% to 70% at least since 2005, and I found one source which went back to 1982. The percentage hasn’t changed much from year to year, though it does seem to be trending upward a bit.
So, the BEST case is that 66% of all Americans killed by dogs were killed by a breed making up 1/4 of the dog population. The worst case is that 70% of those killed lost their lives due to a breed that’s only 6% of the dogs in the US.
Either way, for many decades the overwhelming majority of dog fatalities are caused each year by pit bulls. In addition, about 2/3 of those fatalities were a member of the family owning the dog.
Also, those defending the breed ALWAYS say it’s because of the owners, the way the dogs were brought up, blah blah blah.
However, I have NEVER, EVER, heard in the followup report after yet another mauled child etc someone sitting around saying “Yessir! That’s mah good ole boy Killer! I done been teaching him to eat people for 5 years, and it’s about dadgum time that he done it! Yee-Haw!”
On the contrary, it’s almost always “I just don’t understand... Tiny has been with us for years, and he’s the gentlest sweetest thing. Just yesterday he was snuggling the baby.” (The same baby that he tore apart 24 hours later.)
The pitbull apologists have a long list of excuses whenever something like this happens. Upbringing, failure to get the dog neutered, some innate “litter jealousy syndrome” (aka inherent violent aggression - point made!), failure to properly restrain the dogs, and even failure for someone physically able to fight them off being present at the scene of the attack, and on and on. (These are actual examples of some of the BS they have spewed after incidents.)
A perfect example of a horrific attack without provocation or “bad upbringing” occurred during the past year in Tennessee. A major, vocal pitbull activist had a wife and two small children. They owned two pit bulls, and had had them for 6-8 years, from when they were very young. They were household dogs. One day while the guy was at work, his wife heard chaos erupt in the next room. She ran in to find the two pits tearing apart her two children, who were around 8 months and 2 years old. She tried to intervene, and the pits turned on her, ripping her up savagely. When first responders arrived, the two children were dead and the mom in critical condition, with a, quote, “uncountable” number of stitches required to close the lacerations all over her face, head, arms, and elsewhere. She lived, but the damage was catastrophic.
I found a detailed follow-up report on this incident, which revealed that one or both of these pits were the XXL variety, and from bloodlines which included dogs that had also killed people. The breeder markets them as “lions on leashes”.
I love dogs, but have no compassion for pit bulls whatsoever. The same inbreeding that gives them their looks also continues the behavioral characteristics for which they were bred.
I don’t want a crystal vase full of nitroglycerin as a room decoration, nor a timber rattlesnake for a pet, nor a pitbull for a dog. All for the same reason.
“Behavior, especially in dogs, can be corrected or encouraged, even aggression - to a point. I promise that somewhere someone encouraged aggressive behavior, on purpose or not, and that isn’t exactly the dog’s fault. As mentioned, dogs with records of aggression and which are deemed vicious should be euthanized (unless they’re protecting their Human from imminent harm, IMO), but not before then. If a dog hasn’t bitten anyone, there’s time to correct aggressive behavior.
To euthanize ALL dogs of a breed is obscene.”
——————-
This bears repeating.
We have a large German Shepherd and a Dalmatian. We had a guest over for Thanksgiving, who was deathly afraid of…the Dalmatian. Fears come in all kinds of different packages, with all kinds of different history. In this case, it turns out that she had been bitten by a Dalmatian many years ago, and transferred that fear to all dogs of that breed. Our Dalmatian is friendly to a fault - she is not a good guard dog at all, and at best will lick an intruder to death. But that kind of irrational fear drives people who are out to commit genocide against particular breeds of dogs. Yes, genocide. When I hear or read about somebody who believes that all pit bulls, or old Dobermans, or whatever breed of dog, should be eliminated in its entirety from existence, I know that we are dealing with a person who should not be trusted with any power whatsoever, because they are both emotion-driven and control freaks of the worst kind.
I don’t know how many people remember the show, but the Little Rascals had a dog named Pete, who was considered the prototypical, all-American dog. Pete was a pitbull. Pete never did anything to hurt a human being. Most pitbulls don’t - have to be abused, or specifically trained to be very aggressive. They do have a natural tendency to be protective, but that needs to be harnessed in a good way by somebody who actually takes on the responsibility to raise and train a dog properly. It is a little different from raising a child, though obviously the potential that each has is vastly different.
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