RE: pitbulls

[Guest guest]

Hi all

 

You may want to check out BadRap's page

Re: pitbull myths:

 

http://www.badrap.org/rescue/myths.cfm

 

Regards

Kevin

 

 

Bruce Cannon [bc]

Thursday, June 24, 2004 11:29 AM

 

RE: PETA

 

 

> I find some of these claims hard to believe - pitbulls tearing off the

 

> faces of infants - come on.

 

I don't mean to imply support for the whole PETA line on this issue but

" tearing off the faces of infants " , if sensationally phrased, is

unforunately fairly common with many types of dogs. Small children are

head-height, and often approach dogs quickly and straight on, and dogs

get scared and snap. My neighbor's dog, for example, got seized and

euthanized after reacting in exactly that way and badly injuring a

toddler who ran up to him. It wasn't a pit though.

 

Also common is Ingrid's point about pits locking onto something. They

do it in dog fights, they do it when scared and snap, in all sorts of

situations. I don't know, it seems to be part of their genetic

programming, but letting go doesn't seem to be something they are

willing or able to do in stress situations. It is documented that they

have some other dangerous " wiring "

too: they rarely bark or otherwise warn with typical dog body language

(curled lip, growl, ear angle, etc); they often actually wag their tails

before attacking, etc. For plenty of horror stories, and some

reasonably objective studies, do some web searches.

 

I too have met some really exceptionally sweet and wonderful bull

terriers but in general I think they are very scary. As are several

other breeds designed for hostility.

 

While personally I'm very conflicted about euthanasia in general, the

point in the original article I do agree with is that breeding dogs, or

buying dogs from breeders, are both real sources of these types of

problems.

 

--Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

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