Sunday, December 14, 2008

Sleepy Ramblings

You'll have to forgive the following blog. I'm tired and irritable. It's not the blogs fault and anything I say or do, cannot be used against it. ;)

I was reading the local paper a few minutes ago (online version) and read that a 10 year old girl was attacked on Thursday by a dog. A pit bull. *sigh* Now the forums on that site are going bat shit over the news of another killer pit bull. I try never to write on those things and try even harder not to read them. I think the main population of posters on there are morons most of the time. We've all met them. The guy in the office that thinks he knows everything on every single subject and will argue with you at length about what he knows, even if you have a shit ton of documents from reliable sources calling him an idiot. It just frustrates me that people are so misguided about this breed. They have never been bred to kill humans. They were originally bred as working dogs on farms. They were used to control bulls and eventually, to fight them in sport. When bred to be "killing machines" they are bred to kill other animals, NOT people. A lot of these dogs that do attack humans are a result of their upbringing. They are extremely sensitive animals. They are sensitive to how they are raised, the conditions they live in and their environment in general. For example, if a couple has a pit bull and they are going through a nasty divorce, lots of fighting and tension, the dog is some how going to respond and it's usually going to be a lot stronger of a response than from any other breed. If you beat the shit out of them, they will respond stronger than any other breed. How they respond is different for every dog, just like it would be with any human that went through similar experiences. They may retreat and become depressed, introverted. They could have the response that many believe the breed to be, vicious and uncontrollable. They may become overly attached to their human, never letting them out of their sight and panicking when they are away. As I said, it's different for every dog. Most people are unaware that the pit bull's jaws don't actually "lock" when they are attacking something. Yes, they have very powerful jaws and it's extremely difficult to get them off of another animal when they are in that frame of mind but, no they do not lock. Another little known fact, a Rottweiler actually has a stronger jaw and more killing power than any pit bull. The Rottweiler has 328 pounds of pressure per inch in their jaws, they're also bigger dogs and can use their weight with those jaws, more so than a pit bull. They also attack more people each year than pit bulls. The dog that is most likely to attack you however, is a Chihuahua. They attack and bite more people a year than any other breed. It's not considered as big of a deal because unless you're an invalid, the dog probably won't kill you with their tiny rat sized jaws. I can understand people fearing pit bulls and I can understand a definite need for controlling the breed and those who own them but I absolutely hate it when someone says we should kill them all and that they're all killing machines. My husband's best friend has a pit bull that I don't believe would EVER harm a human unless they were a threat to her family or a child. Yes, some of these breed lines need to come to an end. By saying that, I am not suggesting euthanizing any of the dogs from those lines but to stop breeding those particular blood lines. These are the more aggressive of the breed, those who were at some point used for sport (pit bull fighting) and those who display traits that are unworthy of the breed. It is the duty of each breeder, of every breed, to only produce the best of the breed and to improve the lines of the breed. And it is the duty of the public to research the breeders, breeds and lines BEFORE bringing one home. You cannot blame an entire breed for the faults of a few.

On another note... why is it that the crazy guys who leave home to be completely isolated for months upon months always have freakishly blue eyes? I'm talking about the Italian who was in a row boat for ten months.
http://news.aol.com/article/man-stops-just-short-of-rowing-pacific
I'm telling you, stay away from the guys with the crystal clear blue eyes, they're trouble. ;)

2 comments:

Beth said...

Jamie, I've always felt that pit bulls have gotten a bad rap, and that ones that attack people have owners that have encouraged that kind of aggressiveness. I thought of you when I saw that story this morning, and wondered how Rocky is doing.

Uh-oh...Ken has blue eyes. ;)

Hugs, Beth

Adirondackcountrygal said...

I agree with you about the pit bulls. I have met some extremely sweet ones. I agree about the morons on the boards. It is either George Bush's fault, a black person's fault or a combination of both!