Christian Grantham shows video of a pit bull attack. Then s/he* endorses a ban and calls them a vicious and uncontrollable breed. Aunt B. calls him/her out on it, though I think B’s original sentiment, while lacking in the subtlety department, is likely the best way to deal with dog ignorance.

Dog attack by breed are generally tied to breed popularity. The big bad dog of 1970s was the German Shepherd; 1980s it was Dobermans; 1990s it was Rottweilers; now, it’s the pit bulls turn. Of course, there is no breed of dog known as the pit bull. It is a class of dog that includes American Pit Bull Terriers, Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Terriers and others. The crocodile hunter’s dog was a pit bull; so was Petey from The Little Rascals; pit bulls were on US propaganda posters in WW2; and the dog that recently won Westminster was a pit bull. But they’re evil killing machines, as far as the ignorant are concerned.

The dog that would become the pit bull was originally a cattle dog. It was then bred with Bull Terriers to create a dog fighting dog. It’s a shame, but their past is in dog fighting. As such, they are inherently dog aggressive but this can be socialized out of them. If you have other dogs, don’t get one. If you can’t properly socialize a dog, don’t get one. If you want a dog because you want a tough dog and think you’re going to train one to be mean, don’t get one.

However, they are not inherently people aggressive. In fact, people aggression was bred out of them because, in a dog fight, a handler had to be able to separate a dog without getting bitten. A people aggressive dog was disqualified from the fight. People aggression must be taught to the dog or is the result of poor socialization.

The trouble with pit bulls is that they are currently popular. As such, people who should not own any breed of dog now get them as status symbols because they’re known as tough dogs. And drug dealers get them to guard drug stashes and dog fighting is making a comeback so others get them for that.

This year, it’s pit bulls. Next year, it will be whatever dog people decide is cool next. The Preso Canario, for example, had an uptick in popularity after it killed that lady in San Francisco. If you ban a dog based on dog attacks, another will just take its place. Pit bulls rank in temperament tests as well as retrievers and better than ShiTzu’s and Scotties (here’s the rankings from ATTS).

The solution is to hold folks criminally liable for dog attacks regardless of breed. But I suppose it’s just easier to ban things, like dogs, guns, bathtubs, cars and anything else. For the children.

Here’s a savage mauling I happened to witness with a camera ready:

* yes, I could probably peruse the site and determine gender but, honestly, I don’t give a squirt of shit.

Posted in uncategorized on July 9th, 2006 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |