Comments | anissa7118: About Pitbulls...

anissa7118

About Pitbulls...

Jul 06, 2009 03:01

These three links plus embedded video (yoinked from Smartdogs Weblog and posted here for its cuteness) pretty much sum up my thinking on breed-specific legislation and the vilification of pit bulls. Plus, if you like dogs, the three blogs are made of awesomeness. Not saying I agree 100% with any of the authors, just that they are all knowledge, ( Read more... )

dogs, dog training

Comments 8

winddancer55945 July 6 2009, 15:55:42 UTC

I agree with you. If a dog is vicious, it is because he was made that way by a human. I also watched an episode of "Animal Witness" on Animal Planet. where they profile the dogs in the Michael Vick case. Those dogs where not euthanized. And some of them have even become therapy dogs.

anissa7118 July 6 2009, 22:06:05 UTC

It's amazing that dogs can move on from a situation like that and become happy, healthy, productive members of society. I saw the same episode, and I was relaly pleased that the dogs weren't just put down. How far they've come really shows how badly maligned this breed is.

Even dogs that have bitten may not be truly vicious - they might just need some training to understand how to relate to the world in a way that doesn't involve biting.

Of course, I have my own bias. My German Shepherd, Casper, was very shy and fearful, but he learned early in life that if he acted aggressive, people would avoid him. I call him the most dangerous dog I've ever known, because he was unpredictable. When faced with a new person, his fear of them would be at war with his desire to protect his territory and his pack. If the person acted fearful of him, it could boost his confidence enough to provoke a territorial-aggressive attack. If, however, the person ignored his behavior and tried to push themselves on him, he would get very scared and ( ... )

alamo_girl80 July 6 2009, 16:21:06 UTC

Okay the councilman is dumb as a sack of hair. His dog gets no exception if it attacked a passerby and was not on leash! WTF ( ... )

anissa7118 July 6 2009, 22:16:07 UTC

Hmm, Goldens. One of the top 3 most popular breeds, a large breed originally bred for sporting use (and thus one that needs EXERCISE). Currently being bred by inexperienced idiots and puppy mills in huge numbers to satisfy popular demand for them. Also a breed with a reputation for excellent temperaments, which means to most people that the dog needs no training. Yeah, there's a recipe for a rising number of bites. Large population, high energy need, poor breeders, often poor socialization as a puppy, owned by well-meaning but ignorant people who provide no training ... I'm not surprised at all ( ... )

alamo_girl80 July 6 2009, 16:32:59 UTC

Oh and on pit bulls, I have to admit that they are not my favorite breed, and that when I see one, they don't inspire warm fuzzies in me. But I have sat at the human society at face level with several dozen pits all around me, none of them trained to even walk on a leash worth shit, and they were nothing but friendly to me ( ... )

anissa7118 July 6 2009, 22:25:47 UTC

People are so damn dumb. They get big, high-energy dogs that they know jack about ( ... )

coltdancer July 7 2009, 03:30:58 UTC

AMEN, AMEN.

Again, AMEN.

Dogs are:

1)Animals first
2)Then a dog
3)Then a specific breed of dog

They are not 'little humans'. They are animals. They may have some characteristics or breeding 'traits'. They react to the energy around them. They aren't born vicious. They all have the ability to bite - in fact, aren't those little rat dogs (sorry - no offense to anyone!) some of the worst offenders of biting? They just aren't big enough to do the same kind of damage the big dogs do, so they don't get the bad press.

We have no problem with any of those 'dangerous' breeds. We would not pass up a dog because they belong to those breeds. And we lurve 'Daddy' and all of the Dog Whisperer's friendly pitbull spokesdogs!

Well posted.

anissa7118 July 7 2009, 04:16:11 UTC

99% of the reason why those little dogs are such bad biters is that no one ever takes them seriously. If you piss off a Rottie and he growls, anybody with any sense will stop aggravating the dog. Those little dogs, they have to actually snap and bite to get their message across, and some people are so deluded they dismiss even the bites!

The sad thing is, those small dogs get ignored and left alone with young children. I know of a couple cases in which infants or toddlers were killed by tiny toy dogs.