That’s pretty much meaningless coming from a pro-pit bull site and by no means covers all the dog attacks that have occurred in a given period.
It means different things to different people. The term (applied to dogs, particularly pit bulls) came from the old dog fighters, and when they said it they meant a dog who wants to attack everything with 4 legs and would never give up. That’s also a dominant dog.
I second that. Enforcement would be nothing like 100% but it would still be better than the existing situation.
ps I got my dog from a “backyard breeder”. She owns a show dog and bred her to another show dog. Fortunately, she selected the stud for his temperment as much as his breed conformation.
I’m not sure I’d call someone who is involved in showing their dog and who is careful in selecting a mate for their dog a backyard breeder. A small-scale breeder, yes, but not a backyard breeder.
“Backyard breeder” to me means that someone has a dog that they don’t show, and breeds it with other dogs more or less indiscriminately, without concern for genetic problems, temperament, et cetera. They might very well breed a female dog more often than she should be bred, or take the puppies from the mother too young, in order to make more money from breeding their dog. Or they might breed for a dangerous trait like aggression toward other animals or humans.
You’d think people who were interested in improving the public’s impression of these dogs would be neutering like a motherfuck. It’s an inexpensive, basic step toward cutting down on maulings.
A lot of them probably do contribute to organizations whose purpose is to promote neutering, and to make it available to people who can’t afford it. The problem is that a lot of the people who have the dogs that maul kids want to breed their dogs (probably producing more dogs with temperament problems as a result). As it stands now there’s not much we can do to make them neuter the dogs instead.
I do think there ought to be more public-awareness campaigns to make parents aware of how dangerous and unpredictable an intact male dog can be around kids.
no, gameness is completely separate from aggression. i can think of two game dogs off the top of my head that were known for being able to play with other dogs without fighting-Gr Ch Gambler’s Virgil and Gr Ch Greenwood’s Jimmy Boots were devastating pit dogs that were allowed to run loose around their owner’s other chained dogs.
So there were dogs that were only game in the pit and not in the yard?
I have seen a few of the Greenwoods’ dogs in the park and at shows here in Salt Lake City. Very small, compact and squarely built. I’ll have to check my boy’s pedigree, I think Gambler’s Virgil shows up once.
sigh Well, I guess you can take that away from this if you like. My point, though, is that dogs, particularly the working breeds, require attention and discipline or they will developy atavisms and anxieties that lead to bad behavior. For what it’s worth, in most of the stories regarding serious dog attacks it seems to be the case that there has been prior indications of aggressive or uncontrolled behavior, which the owners have not sought to rectify. The problem there is an owner who is negligent in either not remediating the dog’s behavior, or (in extreme cases) having the dog put down. Blaming an entire breed for behaving in an uncontrollable fashion is like blaming a particular human “race” or ethnic group because some members of that group act out. I owned a Chow mix that was sufficiently socialized to be trusted to play with kittens and baby ducks without fear that he’d snap at them, much less children or adults. He still displayed typical Chow behaviors–territorialism, protectiveness, aloofness–but understood when defensive behavior was appropriate and when it was not.
The “best owner/trainer” is either going to socialize and train the dog, maintain it in an environment where it is not a threat, or have it put down. The “dog attack menace” is an expression of the manifest irresponsibility (and often damn stupidity) of owners, not the inherently violent tendencies of the dogs.
Stranger
Are there no dog licensing laws in the States?
Here we have to license all dogs, working or pets. They have to wear their license tag and dog catchers will pick up any wandering unlicensed dogs. Dog catchers will even go to properties where unlicensed dogs are suspected of being kept - you get a warning or a fine and the dog is removed if you don’t subsequently license them.
We have also had a law passed that a certain number of dogs bred for dog fighting (pit bulls included) have to wear muzzles out in public.
I believe this has cut down dog attacks.
Oh, and why the hell anyone would want to own a dog specifically bred for fighting other dogs is beyond me. There are plenty of other breeds or cross breeds that have brilliant temperaments, looks or whatever it is you are looking for.
no, they are always game. they are only aggressive at appropriate times. i’ve heard of some dogs that only fire up and get ready to fight when they are in the pit, others that get ready to rumble when their collar comes off, etc.
my dog can play with other non-aggressive dogs, but if the other dog is looking for trouble, she’s ready to return the favor.
a good gameness comparison would be Muhammed Ali. he was a very game fighter in the ring, but he wasn’t suckerpunching people outside the ring. gameness, without excessive aggression.
compare that to mike tyson, a very aggressive person who found a way to quit every time he had a tough fight.
There are. But they’re not enforced like yours are, and compliance with them is low, at least in San Francisco. I think some real enforcement of dog licensing laws like you described would help.
Yes, we have the same system here in the U.S.
So what is happening that they aren’t being enforced?
Well it’s enforced in my area, but this is a smaller place. Dog licensing just isn’t that big of a priority in a lot of areas. Several cities are all ready struggling with money issues now. Going around rounding up (well behaved) unlicensed dogs from people’s back yards isn’t going to be that high on the list of things to do. In some places, it will be hard to get a dog catcher to pick up an animal that’s running loose. It really depends on where you are: rural vs. suburbs vs. city.
What about the 20 year study linked in one of the previous posts?
Dogs running loose tend to end up in packs - does the city not think this is a problem? or a potential dog attack? I guess we have a tradition of shooting dogs on farms, and keeping certain diseases away from working farm dogs and pets - maybe that makes us vigilant in dog control measures. When I was younger the ‘hydattis’ (not sure of spelling) man used to come to every house with a licensed dog to give it the pill wrapped in meat. Could have been because we were a town in the middle of a farming area.
Well the U.S. is a big place, but I think it would probably be pretty rare to find a pack of dogs running loose. A more likely scenario would be seeing the same dog running around your neighborhood every so often. You call animal control to come get it, and if they do, the owner just pays the fine and picks up the pet. Then the process repeats itself all over again. The majority of people do try to keep their dogs enclosed (because of leash laws and for safety) but in more rural areas, some people let the pet “run free”. Dogs running loose in farming areas are often shot here too. No one passes out pills around my area, but some towns do have clinics that give out free rabies vaccines.
I can’t find any cites, but I believe that the majority of attacks take place in the dog’s home.
Well duh, they’re small dogs. Any fairly large, muscular dog is perfectly able to do the damage you describe.
Come on, you know as well as I do that this could just as easily be a reflection on what stories the media chooses to cover, and how they cover them. An individual’s anecdotal experience of the media’s take on a particular issue is NOT the same as scientific evidence. The “evidence” you site is evidence of media attitudes, not of dog attack statistics.