Banning vicious dog breeds in the cape

nventura · New Member Joined: Jan 24, 2011 Posts: 5

Breed specific legislation is a knee jerk reaction to a much greater problem that needs to be addressed by responsible breeding and ownership and education for the public regarding how and why BSL is unjust. An animal is just that, an animal - if its owners and or breeders have not done right in raising and training any animal, the responsibility of this animal and its actions must fall upon them. I raised my dog since he was 6 weeks old with positive reinforcement, he has been socialized and is always on a leash. He's never been tied to a tree or trained to do anything vicious, I've been pushing my way into his food dish since he could eat real food, my daughter sits on him, sticks stickers all over him, even walks him with no problem (she's 4, he is 100lbs) - therefore I feel 100% confident about his ability to be an awesome family kid friendly dog - even if he is a big black pit bull. Any breed can bite and most breeds could kill a child if an attack occurs. Responsibility has to be placed on the owners of any animal, not just dogs who have a bad rap. If you were to suggest we ban a certain race or ethnicity because of the negative overview of each and a couple bad apples, we would have ourselves a real problem. Being a former Military member myself, I would have thought your training would have helped your brain adapt to situations like this and find a well thought out plan to avoid a situation for yourself.....not just some BS blanket policy that outlaws living animals because most people don't approve of the animal. Absolutely short sighted, pompous and douchey. I have nothing more to say on the subject here on a weather website, so if anyone would like to discuss this feel free to contact me at nikolaskventura@aol.com Very Happy

mike49 · New Member Joined: Jun 03, 2012 Posts: 7

Just on NBC2 at 5:55 today Woman and her dog just standing in the driveway were attacked by a you guess it a (pitbull).

The owner stated " She is usually a very good dog and never thought she would ever do something like that". How many times are we going to have to listen to that statement. That one stastment has been said over and over after a child has been killed or an attack has occured.

With kids out of shool and playing.

Who's next, Who's child will be next?

mike49 · New Member Joined: Jun 03, 2012 Posts: 7

Your statment " Being a former Military member myself, I would have thought your training would have helped your brain adapt to situations like this and find a well thought out plan to avoid a situation for yourself"

I was always taught that if there is a possible threat to me or my children address it and remove it!

Yes if you want to go down a list of the threats we face day in day out and take a childish path on the conversation. Then I guess we are done.

Anytime someone may face the possibility of losing something that they care for especially an animal there is a lot of anger. especially when they feel like they are being singled out by the larger group of people that don't want to deal with the situation.

But thats why we live in a Democracy where the people have a VOTE as to what they want or have to deal with.

mike49 · New Member Joined: Jun 03, 2012 Posts: 7

I urge anyone reading this discussion to check out the 10 myths of pitbulls

http://www.dogsbite.org/dangerous-dogs-...-myths.php

MOTV8D

I will admit that, for 40 years, I believed the ‘hype’ about pit bulls being dangerous and was afraid of them. That is, until I rescued an abandoned and injured pit bull from the side of the road that had been hit by a car. Not only was he severely injured with a dislocated hip, he appeared to have been a “fighting” dog because he was full of scars. Regardless, this vicious pit bull greeted me with a wagging tail and kisses. Two years later, he has never shown aggression toward another dog and willingly shares his food and bed with cats. He absolutely loves people and the most danger he poses is from a powerfully wagging tail (and sometimes his breath). If this dog was a former fighter, it is obvious he did it because he had to for his own survival; not because it was in his nature or because he wanted to.

Since then, I have met numerous pit bulls and have found them all to be loving, good natured, family oriented dogs. Breed Specific Legislation is simply wrong. Legislation should target the irresponsible owners and breeders, not a breed of dog, and those who fight dogs for sport against the dogs’ will. I have also done a lot of research. The American Temperament Testing Society has done testing on thousands of dogs of all breeds. http://atts.org/ Of approximately 1,500 American Pit Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers tested, an average of 85% have passed temperament testing. That is higher than Beagles (80%), Boxer (83%), Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (83%), Chihuahua (68%), Collie (80%), Golden Retriever (85%), Havanese (80%), Lhasa Apso (74%), and Shih Tzu (76%), all very common family dogs in the United States. The temperament testing is quite extensive and information on the testing can be found on their web page.

Even the majority of dogs rescued from Michael Vick have proven to be gentle and loving dogs. The majority have been adopted into families with children and other pets. Many have received Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog certifications.

I recently read an interesting report. Maryland has a pit bull ban and will immediately seize and destroy any dog that looks like a pit bull. Genetic testing was done on a sample of these dogs. The majority were DNA proven to not even be pit bulls; they just had the misfortune of having similar features.

It is NOT the nature of pit bulls to be aggressive; it is irresponsible PEOPLE who do not properly train and socialize their dogs and people who generalize without educating themselves that will continue to propel this myth. BadRap.org is a great place to start with learning the facts.

Personally, I have found them to be such wonderful, loving, and loyal dogs that I can't imagine NOT having one. (And no, I'm not "red neck" or "white trash". I am an educated professional middle class woman.)

MOTV8D · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 9:46 am Post subject: Re: ban