Because we don’t take it personal when people call B.S. on our WTF?!, we’re awarding this week’s letter prize to Staci Bowen who makes a strong case in favor of the much maligned pit bull. Thanks for reading and responding, Staci. You can pick up your prize, an Old Mill pint glass, at our office at 704 NW Georgia.
I just wanted to let you at the Source know that I’m very disappointed in the recent WTF column featuring the legislation which would force pit bull owners to have liability insurance. The article claimed that nobody at the Source owned a pit bull, because they didn’t want their faces “chewed off.” I have to say, I’m ashamed of the Source for spreading even more media misinformation about these dogs.
I am a dog groomer, and I have worked with dogs since I was sixteen years old. I’ve been bitten a few times, some seriously, and I’ve had many more dogs attempt to bite me. Not one of these dogs, however, has been a pit bull. Not once have I had a negative experience with a bully breed of any type, as a matter of fact, and keep in mind that grooming is stressful and often brings out the worst in dogs. Pit bulls and pit bull types have been, as a breed, the most people-friendly and stable dogs I’ve worked with.
The state is trying to convince pit bull owners that forced liability insurance is better than a ban, but after doing some digging I found that a pit bull owner would have to pay roughly $1,000 per month to keep their dog, which is outrageous. Very few people could afford that, so most would have to either move out of state or give up their pets. This legislature is a ban hidden behind pretty words.
Breed bans, however, have been shown to do very little in the way of reducing bite rates. The Netherlands recently overturned their 15-year ban on pit bulls, because they saw no improvement in bite rates. Aurora, Colo. rated their dog bites by severity in 2006 and 2007 after banning pit bulls, and 90% of severe bites were by non-restricted breeds. The United Kingdom introduced a breed ban in 1997, and dog bites increased 50% between 1997 and 2007.
Do we really want to end up like Italy? Italy originally banned 13 breeds of dog, and currently has 92 banned breeds, including the Corgie and the Collie. Breed bans are a slippery slope; once we ban one breed, another will take its place as the “top biter,” and sometime down the road we’ll all own Chihuahuas, because they will be the only “non dangerous” breed. Pomeranians wouldn’t be around, because after all, one did kill an infant.
In the future, I would really prefer the Source to do at least a bit of research into the articles they publish before adding to the misinformation surrounding an issue.
Staci Bowen
This article appears in Mar 12-18, 2009.
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Many good points have already been made here regarding Pit Bulls. I would just like to say as with most injustices, education and providing the opporunity for people to make good choices is a good part of the solution.
Enter your local non-profit spay & neuter clinic! In the past The Bend Spay & Neuter Project has offered reduced and no-cost spay/neuter service for pit bulls. The mission of the clinic is to address the causes of euthanasia in our shelters (pet overpopulation) by serving the most in-need animals in the community through low cost spay/neuter.
This includes many types of pets, but at the top of the list are pit bulls and feral cats.
Funds for the pit bull program have been completely depleted but the clinic is working on restoring these funds.
Part of the fund is also used to educate the public about the valid concerns as well as unfair judgements associated with this breed.
If you would like to help these dogs please check out http://www.bendsnip.org!
PITBULLS LIKE ANY OTHER DOG WILL BE MEAN IF YOU TREAT IT MEAN IF YOU TEACH THEM TO BE NICE THEY WILL BE,I CURRENTLY HAVE A PITBULL ,A TEACUP TOY POODLE,AND A TOY POODLE THEY PLAY TOGATHER ALL THE TIME AND EVEN SLEEP TOGATHER.WHY DONT YA MAKE RAPEISTS GET INSURANCE THEY ARE FAR WORSE THAN PITBULLS
As a pit owner all i have to say is, if they were the killer dogs the media portrays them to be, then my 5 year old son, kitten, and free roaming parrot would be mauled right? Why is it they can all co-live in complete happiness…oh wait, it can’t be the owners treatment and up bringing of the breed, it must be the breed itself…just like all humans turn out to be righteous citizens of the world…there are no murderers, molesters, blah blah blah…
But seriously… Pitbulls are just as loving and harmless as any breed of dog. Give one a negative home/environment and like any other dog breed or child for that matter and you get what you get. Ban pitbulls, then better start the tally board of all other dogs that can be vicious to the list. Next will be Rottweilers, dobermans, german sherpards, cocker spaniels, poodles, etc..etc..etc… all dogs can bite, all dogs can maul.
There are no “dangerous dog breeds,” just dangerous dog owners. (Inbreeding & maltreatment can produce psychosis in dogs, which can make individual animals dangerous.) Every generalization is belied by actual experience. I had a Jack Russell, for example, who bossed around the neighbor’s 70 lb Rottweiler.
Some dogs are larger and stronger than others and especially when badly raised / trained, those dogs can do real damage to other dogs or humans when provoked. This would indicate all large, strong dogs need to be insured, I wouldn’t be surprised if that will be next on the States agenda.
Kudos Staci!
I just want to add that the 70’s brought the Doberman, teh 80’s brought the Rottweiler and the 90’s brought the Pit Bull Terrier.
The media needs to lay off the hype stories of just this breed since the general public is a bunch of sheet and believe only what they see on the news or in the newspapers. Therefore, they never have an opportunity to see anything good about this breed.
If they are banned, another breed will just take it’s place. History shows up that. Do you really want Dogo Argentinos or Fila’s crowding the shelters next?
Punish irresponsible owners severely. Make license fees for unaltered dogs outrageous. Make proof of vaccines a requirement to renew licenses too.
Things like this will control problem and irresponsible owners, no matter the breed much better than any outrageous ideas any politicians I’ve heard come up with!
This concerns me on many levels. BSL has never been proven to work on keeping dog bites down. What it does do, is target certain breeds and certain owners. This is no different than banning alcohol during Prohibition. It will become a black market thing, and noone but the thugs will have guns and pitbulls.
Responsible ownership will keep dog bites down, along with strong education concerning ALL breeds and how they should be contained, leashed etc. APBTs are wonderful dogs with huge loving hearts.
That is our typical media in America…always showing the negative, never the positive. Can anyone remember a positive news story about a pitbull? Of course not because that’s not news worthy, only when an attack occurs. Typically the gullible American that believes everything they see and read from the our wonderful media sources automatically now believes that all pitbulls are evil…including the Source from their originally WTF posting on Pitbulls. Because yeah of course…pitbulls really are like cougars…beautiful animals that will rip your face off….whatever dudes, that’s pretty pathetic for being a media source. Now I see why your newspaper is free. For licensing…yeah that will do alot except take pitbulls out of the loving families that provide good homes. Do you really think anyone that owns a pitbull for the wrong reason that makes them purposely aggressive ever registers them? Is dog control going to go to every house and see who does and does not a own a pitbull? Why are all the idiots the ones in control of media and politics?
first off, I have two male pitts, a nine month year old daughter and 5 cats! I know its a lot but my dogs, one I raised from birth and another I adopted, both have been a great add to the family! I refuse to get insurance on pits..they are no different then any another dog, really! Soon I will have to get insurance on my cats, is this what this world is coming to? All pit bull or non pit bull owners that are against insurance should have a group meeting, unless there is another meeting that i don’t know about!!
In spite of the protestations of pit bull owners, there dogs are a problem. A compilation of attack statistics by somebody named Merrit Clifton of Aminam People bears this out clearly. Compiled, from 1982 to 1996 his data show that pit bulls were identified in 1110 attacks. The next closest total was 409 for rottweiler, the other favorite son of the vicious dog apologists. No other breed was over 100 incidents. Clifton’s conclusion, “Pit bulls and Rottweilers are accordingly dogs who not only must be
handled with special precautions, but also must be regulated with special
requirements appropriate to the risk they may pose to the public and other
animals, if they are to be kept at all.”
My own experiences bear this out. As a runner, I have been threatened by dozens of dogs but the only would be attacks that I was not able to halt by intimidating the dog were by pit bulls. On a related note, pepper spray is an excellent product.
Of course, the first line of control is adherence to and enforcement of appropriate leash and containment regulations.
Why aren’t cities looking at programs that actually work? Calgary AB Canada has reduced their bite incidents, raised licensing rates and compliance and has lowered the kill rate at the local shelter. They have proved BSL isn’t needed.
If a dog attacks my dog or me I reserve the right to eliminate that animal. I do not care what breed it is, I will kill it.
Of course we shouldn’t disparage Pit Bulls. After all, they aren’t intimidating half of the neighborhoods across America. And it is the right half who are the lucky ones, so just like with AIG, if you get bit by a pit bull, lick your wounds and join the crowd.
Speaking of AIG, it turns out that the heart of the Canine Nostra mafiosi country, i.e. Sicily, is in the midst of a canine catastophe: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7949181.stm
No word yet on how many of the dogs that ate the face off a German tourist were Pit Bulls, but we are continuing our investigation.
Jon:
You may want to look into the Animal People article a little more closely. Even though Merrit claims to have done research, a study done by the National Canine Research Council shows that he probably got all his statistics from newspaper articles, which can misrepresent breeds. Add to that that Merrit blathers on about Pit Bulls and their docked tails (a disqualification for any breed that falls under the “pit bull” category) and you have a man who did almost nothing and has his article heralded as the holy grail.
The Merritt study is flawed, it is based on newspaper clippings. What we need to know is was the dog abused/chained/spayed or neutered to get a real clue as to what increases the risk of a dog attacking. Also need a reliable source as to what breed of dog it was that attacked. I have a pit bull mix, and I haven’t had one problem with any kind of aggression. I also had him neutered when he was a puppy. You have to notice though, there are a lot of attacks involving pit bulls. I do think there’s something behind it, I don’t buy the BS about them being evil. Mandatory spay/neuter I’m sure would do a lot to help and I question the motives of anyone against it. Our dogs may be great and well behaved, but it’s obvious others are a dangerous.
To Stacy and Melissa69,
I tend to believe Merrit’s study over your own personal findings based on sample sizes of one to a few of your own pets. That said, I give you a study by Sacks, Sinclair, Gilchrist, Golab, and Lockwood which found that over 60% of canine homicides during the 20 years ending in 1998 were caused by pit bulls or rotweillers. And while they are skeptical of breed specific controls as a control method, their findings are that these breeds are responsible for a percentage of fatal attacks disproportional to their representation in the large dog population. This study is available on the Center for Disease Control web site for your review. Is that enough credentialing for you?
You are a complete fool. Ban all pit bulls and their owners from society.