I think it depends entirely on whether we understand science. When you come into it without the preconceptions, it’s pretty easy to see what we actually can know, scientifically, and what we can’t. This thread’s OP is a monument to emotion over science, fear over fact, imagination over evidence, supposition over proof. It is an absolutely brilliant example of someone who willfully and deliberately ignores anything that contradicts his beliefs. That so many of the people going along with him are “liberals” is excellent evidence that liberalism doesn’t inoculate someone against anti-science, fear-based confirmation bias and idiocy.
Pits are loyal, loving dogs, who seek only to please their owner(s). If said owner is an awful person, said dog will follow suit.
Bad owners taking advantage of an incredibly loyal breed is the problem.
Like most silly, logic-less, emotionally based narratives, this subject is bloviated. Rarely do pits hurt/kill anyone. The overwhelming amount of pits are tremendous dogs.
Cops don’t kill innocent black people;
Bears don’t maul people;
Pits aren’t out there killing people;
It’s all bullshit!
I post this on this board far to often, but seriously just 5 fucking posts later we get this gem.
Bolding mine, see post 145. or dont because its the first post quoted in this post.
Same city, another pitbull attack.
It’s always fucking pitbulls.
My child was bitten by a Russian wolfhound , a b/f of mine was attacked by a German Shepherd/ wolf mix for no reason. We were walking on the sidewalk talking to one another and an old lady walked passed us with her dog and it bite my b/f on his thigh! My daughter had a pit bull mix and she was the sweetest dog . Any dog will attack you if it mistreated or raise to do this.
[quote=“crucible, post:160, topic:760775”]
I gave a cite for the liberal vs conservative brains.
https://braindecoder.com/post/politics-neuroscience-1282982492
you really should read it and see if it fits your own study of the human brain. You haven’t done one? Oh, well, then we’ll just have to read all the associated articles and see if there is a consensus
However, you said own, not “take in the house”.
This was the first to come up on a Google search. Note that cows are only a little behind ALL dogs, and other large mammals kill almost twice as many.
The reasons given for dumping animals at a shelter are generally suspect.
“Police said they looked to be pit bull-type dogs, but that breed had not yet been confirmed.” Yeah, sure it must have actually been a pitbull.
:rolleyes:
okay, okay. farm animals are also dangerous. BFD. Please locate the stories for me where a horse or pig break through their screen door to attack an old lady walking down the street in front of their barn.
Console yourself that according to studies, I am much more likely to drink myself to death, have a heart attack or stroke, or drive my car into a tree than I am to bother to warn you that willingly having large animals around your family is inherently dangerous, though not nearly as dangerous as having a gun that your kids like to play with when you aren’t looking. Oops, there goes another kid. Oh, well.
crucible is inherently a rabidly ignorant idiot.
This from the same thread bears repeating:
So then, what are we to do? Kill the owners? Burden them with heavy licensing fees? Shame them somehow? We can’t go on allowing these attacks to happen. Is the continuing availability of these dogs worth the damage they can inflict?
Many pitbull owners don’t seem to care what their dogs do. We cannot rely on them to be responsible. To my mind, the other side of the equation IS the one that must be dealt with. Please, tell us what should be done.
Well, yeah. Remove the availability and asshole owners will simply switch to some other breed. Or not give a shit and keep their status symbol.
Banning breeds does not summarily make them disappear. In '91, the UK decreed pit bulls to be illegal. As recent as two years ago, the dogs were still there and still used for fighting.
Yeah, and he keeps moving the goal posts, so I’m not going to bother with him any more.
Stop blaming the breed. The reason these things happen is because the owner wants a dog that acts like that, so if you destroy ever last dog that looks anything like a pit bull, they will just switch to Dobes or Rotts or whatever. The focus has to be on the owners - send their asses to jail for manslaughter.
tl:dr
Drive by post by former pit bull owner.
I didn’t raise my pit bull any differently than I raised my lab and while the pit bull was perfectly fine with me (I think they might be a bit dumber than labs), it was very aggressive and territorial with other dogs. My lab OTOH couldn’t wait to sniff another dog’s butt.
I don’t think it’s ‘blaming the breed’, to acknowledge the blatantly obvious. This dog breed is easily weaponised. Often only by ignorance.
No solace to little Susie’s parents though.
I find the most frightening part the obviously stunned, sincere, devastated owners tearfully explaining, “We had no hint. He was always just wonderful. We couldn’t have known!”
If that’s true, (and I’ve seen that play out enough times to know those owners are being dead sincere and ARE truly and profoundly stunned by the dogs sudden change of nature), then that alone is a pretty strong testament as to exactly why they DO require some regulation. At least to me.
I’d be content with stronger leash/containment requirements, and mandatory insurance. As opposed to just banning the breed, as they have done where I’m from.
The devastated owners may genuinely believe that’s true but, in general, it isn’t and they can’t handle that notion. Consider Dax Borchardt, who died in the care of babysitter Susan Iwicki. Iwicki apparently believes that she did everything right in regards to her pair of three-year-old pits but the facts show this to not be the case. Those dogs:[ul][]were adopted at the age of three weeks.[]spent most of their time caged up and were not properly socialized.[]received zero training beyond “sit” and “stay” and returned to their cages when they didn’t comply.[]were not caged that day, contrary to the agreement with the Borchardts.[/ul]Contrary to Iwicki’s claims, those dogs were a tragedy waiting to happen.
That’s going to be true for any breed of dog. I would support higher licensing requirements for owning all dogs, not just “dangerous breeds”, and not just for the protection of humans, but for the animal’s welfare as well. For every dog that attacks a human, there are countless numbers who are abused or neglected.
To my knowledge, dogs never simply snap and attack with no warning. The problem is so many idiots don’t know a warning when they see one.
There are dogs of most breeds and mixed breed that can be said of. All you need is a dog that is overly aggressive with no bite inhibition. And in the case of people who want dogs like that, as I said if you eliminate all of their pits, they will just move to some other breed because it isn’t hard to find the “qualities” those folks are looking for and breed to intensify them.
I doubt it’s true. They have to have some sort of excuse for having such a dangerous animal in the house, and they have to have someone else to blame.
Well, I’m not. What if the crazy folk move on to a breed I like? Should I have to put up with even more restrictions because of what criminals are doing?
Tell you what. You get stronger containment, insurance and training requirements before and after people have kids and then we will talk dogs. People abuse and kill far more other people than dogs.
I get to play with 20-30 dogs a day. This is very true. I have been bitten a few times, but I always should have known better, and it is always one of those small fuckers, chihuahuas, dachshunds, and the like.
Every pit and pit-like dog I have had in has been awesome, never caused me any trouble or concern about being bit. Many of my clients will hesitantly ask, “Is it okay if it’s a pit-bull?” and I enthusiastically reply, “Yes! Bring them on in!”