Well, I've got a dog who scares some people, and we've tried very hard to train it out of him. He wasn't well socialized as a pup, was a runt in a litter of 11, comes from a very questionable background -- and he's some sort of heeler-shepherd-husky mix, so he was bound to be suspicious even before all that. He's pretty particular about who he really shows the teeth and hackles to, though -- and, I've gotta say, I'm generally in agreement with his assessment. He's really not a big fan of two of the registered sex offenders next door, for instance, and he'll freeze them with a growl and a raised lip at 20 paces. So I'm a little forgiving of the grumpy pup, if not the owner (including myself).
Re: the 300+ pit bulls at the beginning of the thread -- I have little doubt they all will be put down when they are no longer being held as evidence, as will (probably) all of the dogs being held as evidence here. Which is very frustrating: the dogs clearly are suffering in captivity, are occupying space that could be used to house adoptable dogs, and are a danger to shelter staff and, should they escape, to other shelter animals. Why the local law enforcement agencies (dunno about Texas) can't expedite this part of their case so that the dogs can be dealt with ASAP is beyond me. It's inhumane.
JLNobody wrote:I think Pittbulls and Rottweilers should be bred out of existence. It's not a matter of killing any individual dog; it just a matter of changing their collecdtive DNA, the use of eugenics to protect human life. One hears of too many humans, including children, being mauled, disfigured and killed by these breeds. It's as bad as having hybrid wolves.
patiodog wrote:It's NOT just a matter of temperament; I've seen plenty of toys exhibit behavior deemed as tolerable that would get a pit or a rott or a German shepherd put down in a heartbeat. The bigger dogs simply are capable of inflicting more damage if they flip out.
I find myself agreeing with both these comments. Some folks can, and will, screw up any dog that they own.
I've seen little dogs so vicious that they go for you like land piranhas. On the other hand, over-sized big, goofy dogs that are ridiculously friendly.
Another point to consider is that owners need to monitor their older dogs. With some, when senility sets in, they can act in strange ways, sometimes aggressively.
Quote:This is a well educated, masters degree professional...imagine what a red neck thinks.
Actually, a lot of them think, "I'm taking this dog hunting, so she needs to be capable and obedient even off-leash in adverse and unpredictable circumstances."
Not always, but often.
Nice rant, pd, I agree with all of it.
Patiodog reminds us that reality is grey, rather than black vs. white. My lack of nuance on this issue is motivated by a sense of urgency. We should also breed certain dog breeders out of existence.
patiodog wrote:Quote:This is a well educated, masters degree professional...imagine what a red neck thinks.
Actually, a lot of them think, "I'm taking this dog hunting, so she needs to be capable and obedient even off-leash in adverse and unpredictable circumstances."
Not always, but often.
nuh uh...I'm not talking hunters, their dogs HAVE to be obedient.
I'm talking about real rednecks who think its fun to put their kid in a cage with a racoon. Teaches the kid a lesson. That's what some guy who lived up the road from me when I was isolated in the country did.
The ones that swerve out of their way to hit a kitten with their truck.
Cruelty to be sure. Though cruelty is by no means restricted to any class or race.
If you want to talk grey areas -- given the animals I see suffering, dying daily (give or take), I have a hard time just watching obviously bred-for-fashion dogs walking down the street. Hard enough when it's something like a golden, which at least were bred to deal with hideous, impish children yanking on their ears, but when I see people walking around with their several-hundred-dollar Weimaramers or Rhodesian ridgebacks (or whatever the year's trendy and subsequently inbred dog breed is) when there are so many animals elsewhere who are not only in dire straits and much cheaper but, in the case of many fashionable breeds, easier to train and safer around kids...
Ah, whatever. Soapboxes and all. I've got no solution beyond that which Bob Barker has espoused for decades...
When my stepson was five years old his mother and I agreed to have neither a dog nor a swimming pool, not til he was ten was the plan. Eventually we got a beagle but not a pool.
Here's another wonderful pitbull story.
Quote:Man charged with releasing pit bulls `to cause some excitement'
DAVID TWIDDY
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 34-year-old man released three pit bulls into an Independence neighborhood where they attacked three men because he wanted to "cause some excitement," prosecutors said in filing criminal charges Friday.
Bryan P. Smith, 34, of Independence, faces three counts of third-degree assault stemming from the May 4 attacks, the Jackson County prosecutor's Office said.
All three victims, two of whom had been mowing grass, were attacked by all three dogs.
Municipal charges were filed earlier against the dogs' owner.
Smith, who has posted bail, could not be located for comment Friday. But in an interview with WDAF-TV, Smith denied the charges, saying the dogs escaped accidentally and he was told they were harmless.
He said the house's owner hired him to clean up inside.
"When I opened up the window to get in, they got out," he told the television station. "The owner said they were nice dogs because they had been in the house before. She said they were harmless dogs. She said they never tried to bite her. I just took her word for it."
According to documents filed with the county charges, a man who lived next door to the house where the dogs were kept told police that Smith had told him he was planning to release the dogs "to see what kind of trouble he could cause."
The neighbor, Earl D. Howard Jr., warned him not to but testified he later saw a window in the house open and the three dogs jump out.
He said he saw Smith at the window, laughing.
Nancy Wisdom, who owned the home where the dogs were kept, told police she was planning to have the dogs removed because they were so vicious. She also said she ran into Smith at the house and that he was laughing, saying he had just released the dogs to "cause some excitement."
The three dogs attacked one man while he was out walking, police said. A witness drove off the dogs with a tire iron.
Another man, Alan Hill, was attacked nearby while mowing grass in a field. He suffered extensive bites to the arms, upper body, face and head and remained in an area hospital for more than a month.
The third victim was attacked while cutting his grass and drove himself to a hospital.
After finding the dogs running lose, police shot and killed the animals.
Independence police charged the dogs' owner, Paul R. Piper, with 10 counts, including one count of second-degree aggravated assault and three counts of failure to contain a dangerous dog. Those charges are still pending, said police spokesman Tom Gentry.
Piper told police he planned to remove the dogs himself when he saw news of the attacks and realized they involved his dogs. He later turned himself in.
Detectives said that when they initially interviewed Smith following the attacks, he told them he was fixing a broken window in the house and the dogs must have gotten out that way. He later told them he opened the window but didn't mean for the dogs to get out.
The attacks were the first of many this summer in Independence, leading the City Council to strengthen the city's regulations for handling dangerous dogs and consider an outright ban of the breed.
This guy smith sounds like he's retarded.
Definitely a candidate for a rubber room.
A judge ruled today that the dogs six months and younger will be auctioned. The rest will die.
edgarblythe wrote:A judge ruled today that the dogs six months and younger will be auctioned. The rest will die.
Thanks for letting us know.
