Re: Find the Pit Bull--problems w/ legislating

[Barb Moermond]

I think the biggest part of the problem is that you have those stupid owners who have bred and trained for vicious behavior and you have that happening through many generations in an area and you get the "bad" lines.  I think what you describe happening is very similar to the situation in Detroit.  The poor owner behavior has gone on for so many doggy generations that most of the dogs labeled as pit bulls (and by the way, it took me 5-6 tries before I got it) have these in-bred behavioral tendencies.  We had half husky/half malamutes when I was a kid and the hyper husky part was toned down by the mellow malamute AND since they were sisters and litter-mates, they were awesome.  I used to climb in their doghouse - inside the garage, they put a hole in the side of the garage and they always ended up sleeping outside in the snow - and take naps with them - Sugar was an awesome pillow:) My mom also taught us to respect them and their capabilities because they were just stronger than we were.  To this day, I ALWAYS ask if I can pet a dog and always offer my hand with the fingers curled under for sniffing before I touch.

I also remember being attacked by a neighbors' dog when I was in grade school.  The neighbor kids and I were in the basement at their house and were being normal and rambunctious and the dog (a Lhasa I think) just got over-excited and wouldn't let me get to the stairs to leave - growling and snapping and jumping up at me.  I eventually was so upset that I just ran the gauntlet anyway and got bit on my way through.  I was VERY upset by it, but after I calmed down and some time had passed, I certainly didn't hold it against the breed.  My dad later had a lhasa that thought it was a cat:)

Melbeach <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Belinda, you're right. Educating people on dealing with animals is very
important. It's definitely another one of those things they never taught us in
school, but should have. Ant I think I'm definitely guilty of stereotyping
here. When I hear pitbull, a certain picture of the owner comes to mind. And
where I live, that image is true most of the time. So I think I have a
tendency to extrapolate my disgust for those people to the dog itself. And
that's wrong. I just think everyone has a different threshold for what's
exotic and what's not. If you want to own a tiger, that's considered an exotic
animal and you must have a special license. For me, pitbulls and other
aggressive dog breeds, fall just above that line - putting them in the same
category. Others draw that line higher, leaving them out of the exotic
category. So can we agree to disagree on that line? I just feel like I
offended alot of people and I didn't mean to. Sorry about that! Truce?

-Kyle

----- Original Message -----
From: "Belinda Sauro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: Find the Pit Bull--problems w/ legislating


> Amen to that, children now-a-days for the most part and in many
> families, not ALL but MANY are allowed to run wild and are unsupervised
> (you never hear parents complaining about that though, just us poor
> schucks who have to put up with it). I was always told as a child that
> you don't touch a strange dog, and my parents enforced the rules, if I
> didn't follow them there were consequences, something really lacking today.
>
> Now if the dog is loose then it's the owners fault and they should not
> be allowed to have a dog if they aren't going to be a responsible pet
> owner, not only for the safety of their dog but the public. I've had
> more than one dog come up charging me while I was out walking and it was
> running loose. Not a fun feeling, thankfully they didn't do anything
> other than walk around me in circles then left (ps. the owner was
> standing right in his yard laughing, I called him a few choice names).
>
> --
> Belinda
> Happiness is being owned by cats ...
>
> Be-Mi-Kitties ...
> http://www.bemikitties.com
>
> Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens
> http://adopt.bemikitties.com
>
> FeLV Candle Light Service
> http://www.bemikitties.com/cls
>
> HostDesign4U.com (affordable hosting & web design)
> http://HostDesign4U.com
>
> -----------
>
> BMK Designs (non-profit web sites)
> http://bmk.bemikitties.com
>
>
>

Barb+Smoky the House Puma+El Bandito Malito

"My cat the clown: paying no mind to whom he should impress. Merely living his life, doing what pleases him, and making me smile."
- Anonymous

---

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!