Pit Bulls

Marsha,

Yes, indeed, terrible news.  I will agree with the inbreeding .  But for the most part, any animal will, all things being equal, react to the treatment they are whown.  Case in point.  Years ago, when my wife & I moved to Cal., I got to meet the neighbors.  The people next door had two humongous pits bull.  The female weighed in at @ 86#, the male @110.

I figured that if I'm going to have these two great beasts living next door to me, I'm going to get on their good side.  I asked my neighbor if I could give them a bone now & then.  She said she'd rather not.  I countered with a rawhide chewy & she said they'd love it. 

So I got in the habit of keeping a big bag & whenever I went out, I heard their nails on the garage floor coming out to investigate.  They were great watch dogs.  They got in the habit of equating me with chewies, talking & scratching them through the hole in the fence.  One day after being there only a few months, we had a storm that blew open a section of my fence.  I walked to the patio door & there was the big male on my patio looking in, licking the glass when he saw me.  Funny thing, the female would not go off her property.  Once we got the dogs rounded up, I told my neighbor that since I only knew the dogs a few months, I was a bit hesitant going out there. She said that the male was a big lap dog who liked to socialise & had a liking for brandy alexanders & being scratched.

@ a year after that, My wife came home & darn near had a heart attack.  She turned the corner & saw my two neighbors & I in the front yard yakking away while I had the heads of both dogs in my lap while I was scratching them. 

After we sold our house, we lived in temporary housing but I still saw my neighbors once in a while.  They said that even after a month, if the dogs heard something outside, they would bolt out to the hole in the fence where I used to pass them chewies & talked to them.  The dogs always got love & affection, even from me & they were great.

I figure that there are two things that make animals dangerous & aggresive.  An imbalance in their systems, sometimes from inbreeding & the way that people treat them.   JATFUR.

RichK

I certainly am not for killing any dogs unless they've attacked a human for no explainable reason.  I do think some controls on breeding are in order, it seems like someone where in the back of my mind one of the states I live in at some point attempted to slow down the over breeding of a particular type of dog because of the attacks taking place but don't hold me to that memory.

News reports say the Judge refused to sentence Michael Vicks dogs to death, a decision I admire.  He will leave it up to the professionals to evaluate whether or not the animals can be rehabilitated and adopted or whether some of them will never recover from that horrible life they were trained to live.

I, along with many other people have used the term many times before, but it deserves to be said agin.  "In this day & age," what motivates people to behave in such a reprehensible manner is beyond explanation.  That thinking can be applied to many people & many situations but it is disheartening that it need be applied at all.

This kind of behavior is reprehensible especially when one considers  the profound good a person in Mr. Vick's position could have produced.  It is unfortunate that there are people who still make a conscious choice to do a swan dive into the muck at the bottom of the barrel of human behavior & destroy something in the process.  It almost makes me want to initiate a eugenics program. 

RichK 

Many years ago, my mom nearly lost her life from an attack by a female hunting dog who had given birth back to back and was actually starving to death.  Obviously, the owner had not been feeding the animal as he should have been. After being in the hospital two months, the dr. would not allow her to return home until the dog had been removed from the neighbors yard.  This had to be done by court order.

I have a HUGE respect for large animals no matter the breed.   

How many times have we seen the news reports about pit bulls attacking their owners or the owners children?  It is very too often.  Say a prayer for those children who have been disfigured.

 Just last week an officer in Green Cove went to a call about a pit bulldog attacking another dog.  When the officer got there, the other dog was near death.  Being clamped around the chest, blood filled with bubbles coming from its chest. (that's called a sucking chest wound where the lung has been punctured), the dog was being pushed around the yard helplessly.

The victim dogs owner said she did not know the offending dog.

It turnd out to be her husband's onw of many pit bulldogs that he was raising behind the house.

 I recently talked to a woman who works at a vet clinic.  She is  from Canada.  She told me that Pit Bulls are not allowed in their country due to their ferocious nature.

 While I love animals and have many of my own, I have to ask.  With the numerous occasions where pit bulls have attacked their owners and their children, why would someone take the chance? 

Why not get a kinder, gentler breed of dog.  If you want the bulldog breed, why not get a boxer?  They are very tame and are family oriented.  How many reports do we have of them attacking their owners or the owners children?

 I love dogs, but there is no room in my world for Pit Bulls.

I had a Rottweiler about 15 years ago.  It was a female.  Was the most gentle dog.  I rode her around everywhere.  When I went inside a store or something, she'd sit in the back quietly.  I fyou wanted anything out of the truck, go ahead.  She just wanted to be petted.  But that was my dog.  I socialized her.  I can't speak for anyone else's dog.

 Marsha, I've always thought you had class.  Just thought I'd add that.

 I love reading your blogs.

Thank you for the lovely compliment, it is really very much appreciated!  It's nice to know there are people out there who enjoy reading what I write.  This is a real learning experience for me in many ways. 

Thanks again!