News stories these days are still writing about guns as if they actively committed such-and-such of an act. Things like “The Gun went off” are really disingenuous given that the gun was always actively fired for it to discharge. If left alone, a loaded gun will NEVER discharge. Some things DO “Just go off”.
CYPRESS, Texas – Detectives say a 13-day-old baby has died after they say a pit bull dog mauled the child inside a northwest Harris County home.
Of course there people who want to ban “Dangerous Breeds”, of course there are some breeds, like fighting dogs like the Pitbull, but really there are some breeds prone to violence, and the rest of the breeds are just CAPABLE of violence. A Chihuahua may not be able to kill a baby, but they sure as hell could permanently disfigure and cripple one.
Still there is a part of me that has a LOT more apprehension around strange dogs than around strange loaded guns because despite what the antis say, guns don’t have a mind of their own.
h/t Bob
No bad dogs, just bad owners, as they say.
Well certainly bad owners contributing to the issue by poor training and discipline, and in the instances when the dogs are left unrestrained. Still in the end a dog is its own beast so its never 100%
Minor correction. There is ALWAYS something that is the external cause of the dog going off, the problem is that the problem that caused it to be a “trigger issue” may have occurred far enough in the past as to be not obvious to the person present, or sometimes even be a medical reason rather than outside influence. All of which unfortunetly gives the appearence of “just going off” which is the cause of the prejudices against certain breeds. I’ll also add that alot of dogs that are IDed as a “pit bull” aren’t and don’t have a drop of pit bull in them, but even if the local folks try to correct the ID it doesn’t stick media wise.
And when it comes to infants, NO dog should EVER be left alone with access to one. An infant looks like and sounds like a prey animal, sometimes even a prey animal thats already been injured. Terriers in particular (of which the traditional pit bull breeds are) have been especially bred to chase and kill rodents, vermin (not all of which are small), and other creatures that may make high pitched sounds and random movements. Is it possible to have a “nanny dog” who’ll watch over and protect your infant? Sure, and on occasion the dog in question has even been a terrier, BUT it doesn’t happen as often as people seem to think it does, and its a horrible thing to get THAT assumption wrong.
I think you hit my rant button, sorry.
Well its a lot of variables. There are things like allegedly Sigfried and Roy’s tiger got hit in the balls by accident just before he attacked. Other factors could be confusion with prey animals or how gentle to play with a person. Other factors could be history of abuse or trauma.
Still I’ve heard of dogs getting brain tumors and turning wantonly violent. I’ve also heard a lot of stories of certain purebreds developing what might be psychotic mental illness from over breeding.
Sure there might be SOME external factor in that, but it might be so irrational to the person attacked to be “unprovoked”.
I won’t argue that it appears irrational, just have to point out that it generally isn’t when time is taken to look.
On a side note it doesn’t take some as drastic as cancer to cause it either. Any time you have an animal, with no prior history of aggression, who becomes growly or snappy at minor provocation you should consider a vet visit. And that includes cats as well as dogs.
What gets me is the antis don’t call for the irresponsible parent to never be allowed to have kids. Heck most of them don’t even call for the parent to be banned from having pets.
Parents have killed children by leaving them in cars. By letting them walk up to dangerous animals (and if all firearms are loaded, all animals are dangerous) unsupervised. Leaving a child alone in a room, not to mention in a ‘baby sleep swing” (don’t those things come with directions to never leave a child unattended”) how is that not irresponsible? I’ve seen very young children squirm out of them.
Because Antis have children. Remember their motto: “I Support All Rights I use!”
That too.
Well, the antis are trying to ban pit bulls just like they’re trying to ban guns, and they’re using the same emotional triggers and logical fallacies. Yet another example of something that becomes dangerous in the hands of the irresponsible.
Pit bulls, like rotties and German shepherds, aren’t actually prone to violence; subgroups of these and other breeds are bred and/or trained to be violent. Well-bred, healthy pitties are usually very good dogs. They are as trustworthy as any dogs, although NO DOG should be trusted alone with a small child.