How close to death is that doggie in the window?
Just saw this article yesterday, and it made me pretty mad. Denver has instituted a blanket ban on pit bulls, including "any dog that looks like a pit bull. The animal's actual behavior does not matter." Imagine that you're living in Denver, and you've got a pit bull (or even just a dog that resembles a pit bull) that you've had for years. You got him from a reputable breeder, or maybe you saved him from the pound. You had him neutered and have kept him up-to-date with all of his shots. You've taken him to obedience training and he passed every test they could throw at him. 
You've invested time and money into your pet, but more importantly, he's part of your family, and you love him as such. But under this kind of shitty Breed-Specific Legislation (aka BSL), animal control workers can just show up and take your dog and have him put to sleep, just like that. Doesn't that just seem wrong?Now, I live in West Oakland, home to several scary, untrained pit bulls, including some strays. I have to avoid walking Windy down certain streets because I've been warned by neighbors that some of said scary pit bulls have busted out of their fences. Thus I'm not a total softy on this issue: if one of these pit bulls (or any dog, for that matter) were to attack Windy or me, I would do everything in my power to have that dog put to sleep and have the owner fined or thrown in jail. There is no excuse for people who keep vicious dogs that they can't control, and while I know that it's not the dog's fault, but rather the ignorant owner, I still believe that once one of these dogs has gone bad, it will always have the potential to do it again. But does that make all pit bulls evil? Hell no. Would I support Breed-Specific Legislation even if Windy were killed by a pit bull? Still, no.
California is currently considering passing a similar bill, but fortunately it's not nearly the blanket-approach taken by Denver, and there are enough pit bull-friendly activists following the bill that it will likely have most BSL removed by the time it passes. If you think that all pit bulls are evil and deserved to be discriminated against (or killed) for whatever reason, I strongly recommend you educate yourself before you get into an argument with anyone on the matter.
posted by stefbot @ 11:02 AM
5 Comments:
I'm not seeing where they compare pit bull aggression to poodles and terriers on that page. I do see them favorably comparing pit bull temperament to goldens and beagles. But every breed of dog has attacked humans at some point, many of them the same size or larger than pit bulls, like rottweilers, huskies, german shepherds, dobermans, etc. Hell, even Paris Hilton's dog Tinkerbell lost her shit once.
Yes, pit bulls do have a greater likelihood of being aggressive towards other dogs because of past breeding, but there are tons of pit bulls that are not at all dog aggressive. You just can't lump them all together when there is so much variety in temperament. What matters is not the breed of the dog, it's the individual dog's behavior.
I don't understand why you'd vote for something (BSL) if you believe there is something else (preventing more dogs) that is much more needed and would be more effective in curbing the real problem. Why waste time & money targeting one breed when that time & money would be better spent stopping backyard breeders and getting more dogs spayed & neutered?
Just because there is a war going on doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful and proper with our handling of the problems in our own backyard (the figurative backyard of course...the only problems in my backyard are rampant drunkenness and dog poop).
Wedgie is treating me well. Watch your ass though (literally)...you'll get yours, little missy.
I can see both sides of this issue, but I think what it comes down to is the American tendency to overreact to every perceived threat that comes our way. Yes, there is a problem with pit bulls having been bred to be aggressive. Same could be said of German Sheppards, Rotts or Dobermans. Hell, English bulls, like cute little Otis that we met the other day, were bred for bear baiting back in jolly ole England. Wonder how PETA would feel about that little passtime?
But responding to a threat du jour by passing blanket legislation is never a good idea. It's time for American dog owners (and everyone else for that matter) to start taking responsibility for their own actions and the actions of their pets. I think if you own a dog and he turns out to be aggressive and hurts someone, you loose your right to own an animal- ever again. Even a fuggin goldfish. That plus hefty fines and jail time should penalize irresponsible pet owners. Your dog kills someone-- you face manslaughter charges, or worse. Period.
You wouldn't lock up a person because his father was a violent person and therefore he has the potential to commit a violent act. I realize that we are not talking about people, but dogs, but I would argue that to take such drastic action based on something that might happen in the future in a small percentage of cases is painfully shortsighted.
The most responsible reaction I saw to the death of that little (white) boy (why do you think there is all of the sudden legislation being discussed whereas before, when it was just little black children in Oakland being killed it was hardly an issue? Hmmmm....) was that by the next day there were pit bull owners enrolling in classes to help themselves learn to be better and more responsible pit bull owners. Many of these folks have children, and no matter how much they love and trust their dogs they want to make sure that everyone in the family is safe and never has to learn the hard way that these are potentially deadly animals.
If you're not ready to take that step, just get a cat. They rock, too, and they very seldom poop on the carpet. Oh, and I know a guy who can find you a great guinea pig. And cocaine.
What about pigeons? They've been bred for aggression over the years (I saw one arguing with a taxi driver about right-of-way yesterday). And they are a potentially deadly animal as well (you haven't biked the city much if you haven't had the pleasure of catching a 2lb pigeon beak-first in the face at 30mph). Can we pass legislation that allows all the pigeons to be rounded up and fed to homeless people? That's killing two birds with one stone and serving them up with a nice little side-salad.
Grand idea Jeffro. Here's a recipe for deep-fried pigeon. Hey - is anything deep-fried NOT delicious?
And maybe this could be served for dessert.
Finally an excuse to buy that FryDaddy I've been drunkenly leering at on QVC!
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