Friday, October 26, 2007

What the h*ll is a "pit bull", anyway?

If you've been paying attention, you know there's no such breed as "pit bull".

But that doesn't stop intrepid media sources. The St. Catharines Standard reported a dog bite incident by a "pit bull/Labrador cross". Of course, the headline read "Pit bull quarantined after attack". Now today, the dog has undergone media mutation and turned into a full-fledged "pit bull".

Newspaper sales must be really slow in St. Cats.

If you donate to help with the disaster in California...

...make sure your money goes to people on the ground who are actually helping, unlike HSUS which is ambulance chasing again. Wonder what HSUS did with that $40 million in donations from Katrina? Bought another dead-animal freezer for Peta?

Read about it on Dog Politics.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Enough boo-hooing from the irresponsible, already

First we have DeGeneres attempting to manipulate public opinion and corner a rescue, just to get her way.
Now we have a family that allowed their dogs to roam the countryside, apparently not for the first time, and are boo-hoo'ing because a farmer shot the dogs.

ENOUGH.

In both instances, the dog owners were irresponsible. The dogs bear the consequences of the owners' behaviour, regardless of breed.

Think about this.

Would DeGeneres get any air time from the network if Iggy were a "pit bull" puppy?

Would we see that family's story presented so sympathetically if the roaming dogs were "pit bulls"?

Do fluffy dogs make for fluffy-brained owners? *grin*

An interesting sidelight....I have noticed an upswing in the number of media reports of Labrador retriever attacks. Is the Lab a candidate to supplant the "pit bull" in the bite-attack-ban sweepstakes? If so, then the Golden retriever won't be far behind, since that "loveable family pet" is one of the worst biters.

An anecdote...I thought about getting a golden retriever but was warned off the breed by an experienced veterinarian. She had seen the breed's temperament deteriorate due to careless and backyard breeding, a result of yuppie demand for the big fluffy dog. That was fifteen years ago. Wonder how bad the temperament of an average Golden is now?

I can't wait to see the Lab and Golden owners sh*tting themselves when the gun of breed-specific legislation is aimed at them. Particularly since they were so arrogant and self-righteous, full of "my dog wouldn't do that".

My dog wouldn't do that, my as*. If it has teeth, it can bite. Put two or more dogs together on the loose and you have an unpredictable dog pack. Breed is irrelevant. All that counts is the behaviour of the owner. A responsible dog owner trains, controls and socializes the dog, and keeps or takes the dog out of situations where the dog might bite.

A dog bite is always the responsibility of the HUMAN owner. It has nothing to do with the shape of the dog and everything to do with the level of responsibility displayed by the HUMAN owner.