I fully understand that some dogs are strong, powerful, some are trained to kill by their owners, all dogs are at the core wolves and all have the potential to attack (It's likely I know more humans with that potential though)
It seems to me, we go through phases of the latest 'in the news' dangerous dog. There have been: German Shepherds, Dobermans, more recently Rottweilers and Pitbulls to name a few.
It seems to be one of those debates that people have strong views about one way or the other.
Here is Amos:
Amos used to be my dog. He is not a Pitbull, he is an American Bulldog (no, they are NOT the same thing!) I loved Amos, he was one of the best dogs I have ever lived with (not counting his puppy chewing habits when he got bored) I also love Emily. This is how 'dangerous' Amos was/is.
I re-homed him. Not because he was dangerous, or I thought he might 'turn', or because I couldn't trust him (except the chewing thing) he wasn't schizophrenic or dominant. I re-homed him because my husband has arthritis in his elbows and couldn't walk him without pain. I also have a Yorkshire Terrier, Amos was bullied daily by him! I really miss living with Amos.
The truth is 'dangerous dogs' are trained by their owners to be that way. At the moment I have a potentially dangerous Chihuahua! (really! I'm working on it) Admittedly a Chihuahua is never going to kill anybody and a Pitbull could, I get it. But it is STILL the owner NOT the dog. Let's crack down on dangerous owners keeping dogs that are strong enough to kill people. Ban THEM. Licence dogs again if we have to, responsible owners are willing to do this. Register them, tattoo them, do what we must, but PLEASE don't try to kill out the breeds, please don't ban the dogs, and PLEASE don't put down healthy, friendly dogs because they are on a dangerous list somewhere. It makes me SAD.
It's true. Pretty soon every dog will be on the list. Once I was walking my cousin's shar-pei when the boxer siblings came over and attacked us.
ReplyDeleteThose boxer siblings where chained to each other with a foot-long rope, and usually tied in the front yard, no matter what the weather. Their owners fed them puppies to make them vicious. It's truly sad how people like that get to keep dogs.
A vet will tell you it's never the large dogs that are dangerous, it's actually the chihuahuas that bite the most often!