Well, would you like it better if dey'd all been pushed out of windas?
Posted on 01/26/2006 12:00:29 PM PST by iPod Shuffle
You both win. I"m no good at debating.
I have plenty of more arguments, but I wonder what the use even is. I don't even know what I'm arguing against or for. I'm a clueless moron with broccoli in his socks and weasels in his chainsaws.
One of the main reasons kids get bitten by dogs:
http://www.unchainyourdog.org/attacks.htm
There ought to be long prison terms for every pit bull owner.
I stop short of saying they ~can~ be exterminated (it's not possible, there's still a lively demand for them) so I don't even bother to take the next step and ask if we ~should~ exterminate them, because it's a futile goal.
What I do is try to tell people to be smart about them, and what they were bred to do, and think seriously about whether they really want to pick one of them as a pet, when there are so many other breeds that are innately more suitable to be a pet.
Pit bull apologists are fooling themselves to say that pit bulls are far removed from their roots, that they can be turned into good pets... some can, certainly, but the truth is, they are being bred to fight today just as much as they always have. I try to talk people out of them because there are better choices available. If good people stopped wanting them, at least when you saw one, you'd know exactly what you are dealing with.
All that said, when I see the confiscated pit bulls on Animal Planet, who have suffered so much, my heart breaks. I don't hate them, I don't wish them one more moment of pain. I think the best way to keep the numbers of dogs who suffer horrible fates to a minimum is to make them ~less~ popular, not more popular. We'll not change what they are with slick marketing. For every spoiled pet pit bull, there are ten being bred and trained to fight still, today.
We are "pits" when it comes to debating! ;-D
Don't worry, I'm really not good at it either. No harm done. I just think some of your views on specific things are wrong.
Perhaps you lost the stomach to read my tomes. Quickly: I'm against breed legislation. Or even breed-type legis (as that what "pits" really are, types not breeds).
I've been in many debates myself on here from different angles, and that's 1 I catch hell for - being against banning pits or anything. I do believe some breeds are better than others (in various capacities), and some are untrustworthy as a rule, but I also believe in *individual* animals' different natures and people's rights.
What people don't realize is there is no anger in a good police dog. Those dogs bite a real bad guy only once in a great while. They spend their regular days practicing biting other cops in bite suits... They aren't vicious, they think it's good sport.
As long as I can get a nice dish of perrito con qeso there, I'm good. :-P
>In a review of 109 fatal dog attacks in the USA, the breeds most frequently implicated were pit bulls, Rottweilers, and German shepherds.<
I just looked up the dog bite fatality statistics for the period between 1979-1998. German Shepherds were responsible for a whopping 17 deaths during that time. That's an average of 1.7 deaths a year.
Hot dogs (from choking) are far more dangerous to humans than are German Shepherds.
Democracy is a bad thing, which is why we don't have one...
Each breed has its traits.
Pit bulls were bred for fighting other dogs, not attacking people. That is a new thing with them due to the kinds of morons who misuse them and people who don't take adequate precautions with them.
Teddy Roosevelt had a "pit bull", so did "Buster Brown" and other people. Unless a dog is crazy, it can be socialized with people - with a few rare breeds excepted like the Fila.
(Not my dog in the pic, but looks a lot like her!)
In the area I live, people are getting PBs and other large dogs and parading them around as a status symbol, just like they were a new gun or other weapon. These are the folks who don't need these dogs as pets. Pits are genetically bred to be killers. One is bad enough, 2 or more is a disaster waiting to happen.
I think you're mostly right and I can agree, but I wouldn't have put it that way... Pit Bulls were bred for dominance and aggression. "Competent" dog fighters and breeders don't get in trouble with them because they don't let them loose in the house, the dogs go from chain out to treadmill to fighting ring and back to chain out.
"Regular" people do let their dogs mingle with them, their families, and their other pets. A dog prone to attack other pets is NOT desirable. A dog prone to be dominant and aggressive is not good around children. Some people say "well they're only aggressive to dogs, not people" Well that's not really true for one... Dominance is dominance, the only difference between dog aggression and people aggression is where the dog sees you in the pecking order. But still... a dog who might kill another dog if it happens to get loose is a liability as a pet and not for the average dog owner. Lots of questionable people try to have pits go both ways... tough dog, but pet.... Even well-intentioned people try to put pit bulls in home situations and think they'll just forget all the traits it was born with. They don't.
If you use them, why did you make a big deal out of the collar?
Pit bull + that collar = monster dog
What adorable puppies!
That collar will make him more submissive to be trained, not tougher... to say otherwise, based on how it ~looks~ to you is to misrepresent what the collar does.
I don't know what I'm talking about. I really don't. I'm like Forrest Gump to your Einstein. You are telling me I am wrong about certain things I say when I don't even know what I'm saying.
Nevertheless, I will stand by a few earlier comments. For one, going back to the whole firearms thing.
While it's true that firearms and dogs are not similar in nature, my argument is not on the nature of the potential menace: it is on the nature of the government. People who are supposed to be conservative say that pit bulls should all be exterminated. But dangerous they may be: pit bulls are private property owned by citizens.
Callous, heartless, and cruel this is, but I will say it anyway. I would rather see people being attacked and killed by pit bulls than see the government suddenly having the power to have house-to-house raids across the country to seize and exterminate all of a certain dog breed. Pit bulls may be dangerous, but the government is more dangerous.
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