Burns my butt!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Just got this article sent to me, and you know, few things in the world piss me off faster than outlawing dog breeds.

http://www.hfxnews.com/index.cfm?sid=55213&sc=89&comments=submit&#thankyou

I don't know how many of you out there are dog owners ("dangerous" or otherwise) or minorities, but it seems to me that claiming that certain breeds are bad or dangerous makes about as much sense as saying that black people are dangerous because so many young black men are involved in gang violence.  I think folks only get away with it because dogs can't vote.

My old dog Pete was a dogo argentino, a South American hunting dog that has recently made it's way into North America as the breed that discerning pimps everywhere want to have.  They are as strong as a mastiff, tough as a pitbull, fast as a greyhound, and have the mentality of a lab.  Like a firearm, extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.  Pete died six months before his tenth birthday from liver failure, but despite being abused as a puppy and abandoned twice, then working a dangerous and occasionally violent job (he was my partner when I worked security) he never hurt anyone.  He never wanted to hurt anyone.  The few times he did have to take someone out, he body checked them, and never acted threateningly.  He took a guy down once who was trying to put a screwdriver in my kidney.  He jumped the guy, knocked him over and held the guy's arm in his mouth while standing on the guy's chest.  When we took the dog off the guy to cuff him we checked the guy's arm to assess the damage, especially since the guy was crying like a little girl and soiled himself.  Plus, I knew what Pete's jaws were capable of.  He had destroyed another "indestructible" dog toy just a few days before this incident.  We slipped up the guy's sleeve, and there weren't even any indents in the skin where the teeth were!  A few needle marks, but those were well up the arm, no where near where the jaws were, and definitely needle marks, not teeth marks.  The only damage to this guy was his underwear!

But good dogs like Pete, and he was the best, never make the news.

I miss him every day, and I see folks trying to ban breeds as insulting the absolute best friend I will ever have in my life.  Sorry for the rant but these things really get under my skin.

Def

[supratentorial]

I've had bloodhounds my entire adult life.  Although they can be trained for mantrailing, they are definately not fighting dogs.  Bloodhounds are actually extremely sweet and sensitive.  Despite their good nature, my dogs have scared some folks because of their large size (around 100lbs).  But bloodhounds have a pretty good rap because the breed has been used to find lost persons including victims of crimes, people with alzheimer's, lost children, and (of course) escaped cons. 

It is unfortunate that more good stories aren't told about pit bulls.  A friend of mine from college had a pit and it was the sweetest dog that I have ever met in my entire life.  My dogs often play with the neighbors pit and there are a sometimes a few pits at the dog park (although the dog park rules forbid pits).  Unfortunately, most of the dogs at the local shelter are pits which makes me think that a lot of people are buying them for the wrong reasons.           

[ringzero]

Just got this article sent to me, and you know, few things in the world piss me off faster than outlawing dog breeds.

http://www.hfxnews.com/index.cfm?sid=55213&sc=89&comments=submit&#thankyou

I don't know how many of you out there are dog owners ("dangerous" or otherwise) or minorities, but it seems to me that claiming that certain breeds are bad or dangerous makes about as much sense as saying that black people are dangerous because so many young black men are involved in gang violence.  I think folks only get away with it because dogs can't vote.

My sympathies on the loss of your friend.  Years ago, I suddenly lost a Great Dane who was my good friend and protector.  He was with me for 12 wonderful years and I still think of him every day.

There is a certain left-wing worldview that exempts humans from responsibility for wrongdoing, but rather blames the instrumentality used to accomplish the wrong.

Rather than blame the thugs who shoot, stab, and sic pit bulls on their fellow man, the left-wing politicos tend to blame the guns, the knives, and the pit bulls.

Actually, bannning pit bulls would be similar to bans on "assault" rifles, handguns, locking-blade folders, blades over a certain length, etc.  In each of these cases a certain subset of items in a larger class is banned as being "too dangerous."  Never mind that the guns and knives singled out as "too dangerous" will harm no one without a human operator.

This insidious left-wing worldview is very far advanced in the U.K. and many of the European nations, is making serious inroads in Canada and Australia, and is a growing problem in the U.S.

.
   

[Papacat]

The first line says it all: "Irresponsible owners to blame for bad behaviour, not the dog."  I hate it when people do this, especially when discussing gun owners, and don't be too surprised in the not too distant future with knife owners. 

What's even worse is that the dogs are being blamed for the attacks, not the a-hole owners who mistreat the animals to make them more vicious.  And then you have Michael Vick in the news and all the news-at least I've seen-showing how vicious the dogs were, not to mention the cruelty he inflicted on the dogs for his own personal gain.  The news, especially in the U.S., is a sensationalist in its reaction to events even though they claim that they are non-biased.  They are suckers for jumping on the bandwagon. 

Don't worry, I won't leave my soapbox behind for you to trip on it.

-Papacat.   

[Grant Lamontagne]

A friend of mine who lives a block away from me, and who I walk my current dog with all the time has a 5 year old pitbull named Romeo.  Recently she was in her own yard with Romeo and her other dog Isis, a Swiss Mountain Dog/Rotti mix (Isis is a giant, but less than a year old) when some idiot walking down the street decided he was going to make his feelings known.  He went into her yard and kicked Romeo, then kicked Isis, then kicked Romeo again all the while screaming about how she shouldn't have violent dogs like that and if he ever saw them again he was going to shoot them.

Romeo was just as shocked as everyone else and didn't do anything.  The idiot walked by and for some reason the police were unable to find the guy in the neighborhood two hours later when they showed up.  Of course a man attacking a pitbull isn't news, but a pitbull attacking a man is.

Def

[knife-man]

on the Swing side and to further prove the point that's its the owner who should be banned not the dog's.

Our neighbors have a dog an Akita. Web say this

"The Akita is highly intelligent, fearless, and spontaneous. They thrive on human companionship. They are extremely loyal to their family and those they know, but are wary and aloof of strangers. They are exceedingly protective of their family, their territory, and of their food. They are particularly aggressive toward other dogs and pets. They will get along with older, very well behaved children within their family unit, but will not tolerate children they don't know. They make excellent guard dogs, although they are not excessive barkers. They do not do well if left alone for extended periods of time. For this reason, they are not well suited for a two career family. They require an inordinate amount of attention. Akitas are not recommended for the novice dog owner, or owners who are placid and submissive."

They have a small about 5 year old boy Who is left with the dog unsupervised They also have tremendous difficulty with the dog.

1. I have personally witnessed the boy (jack btw) tease the dog until the dog was fed up and knocked him over and gave him a stern warning ... which of course jack misunderstood and pushed the dog away which made her even worse. Jack was on the floor screaming for 10 min's before his parent's came out, luckily the dog wasn't trying to hurt jack.
2. The dog is 2 feet tall .. the fence is three feet tall  . we are constantly getting visited. they cant leave her in the fount garden because she attacks the postman.
3. She is "playful" with me by playful I mean biting not hard just playfully but anyone who isn't aware of how to react around dog's and snatches there hand away or even worse panic and attack the dog I have no doubt I she would bite seriously.
4. They have actually told us that they didn't realize she would grow so big = Zero reasearch.
5. I have never seen them play with the dog .. ever No toy's in the garden for her ...nothing.
6. No training whatsoever Ive seen (and heard  )  them screaming at the dog who just continues what she is doing.

The above is what I see as an example of a good dog going quickly to waste because of bad owner's .
Allowing your dog to trespass is obviously a serious problem .. £100 worth of fencing material's would solve this problem full stop. Research would have told them that she is unsuitable.
They NEED to teach there son how to treat the dog and how to react to what the dog is trying to tell him and supervise them until he has learnt.
They need to control the dog ATM she react's to nothing and defiantly will not come when called

Most importantly they NEED to stimulate this dog.

It's unfortunate because we are just waiting out the time until something serious happens and they are Forced to do something.

[Grant Lamontagne]

People like that need to be dragged into the street and beaten with a stick.

To me, that constitutes abuse and people like that shouldn't be allowed to own a dog, let alone a fairly pricey dog like an Akita.  I assume these twits also have fairly expensive automobiles with all the bells and whistles they don't know how to use as well?

My theory is that all dogs over 30 pounds require insurance, regardless of breed.  Insurance for dogs not spayed or neutered should be significantly higher than for dogs that are, which should help control the stray population.  Then, pet stores should be forced to stop selling puppies unless they have a license to do it, and one of the tenets of the license says they should only be allowed to sell puppies obtained from qualified breeders, and be able to show proof of that.

This may end up costing legitimate, responsible owners some in the short term, but as dogs are gradually taken away from the twits of the world, there will be less instances of dog attacks and accidents, not to mention poorly trained owners.  People will be forced to spend time deciding they want or need a dog rather than picking up a puppy on the way home because you missed Junior's piano recital.

In Italy, Welsh Corgis are illegal because they are on the dangerous dog list.



They are better known as the Queen's dogs because the Queen is such a big fan of them and has a small pack that routinely pisses off the horsemen by trying to herd the horses while they are on parade!  They made the dangerous dog list after the Queen was bitten on the hand, which required several stitches.  Why was she bitten on the hand?  She tried to grab one when a couple of the dogs started to fight and she got bit.  One has to wonder what this has to do with Italy, and also how quickly would automobiles be banned if she had put her hand under the wheel of a Rolls Royce to stop it rolling backwards?

By the way, there have been four corgis in my family- I grew up with one, my brother has had two and my parents are on their second now, and I have never seen any kind of aggressive behavior from any of them.

Def

[knife-man]

To me, that constitutes abuse and people like that shouldn't be allowed to own a dog, let alone a fairly pricey dog like an Akita.  I assume these twits also have fairly expensive automobiles with all the bells and whistles they don't know how to use as well?

Nope. Run down house, Run down garden, fairly standard car . They spend all that money one a dog but wont spend a fraction of that in actually keeping the dog in there garden.

They keep telling us "stories" about how they are getting the garden turfed over and then having a big fence put up and they even got as far as hacking over and rota-vating the entire garden .. 6 month ago  .

Now it all just grown back. There is a gap down at the bottom of the garden which they keep piling wood up against to try to keep the dog in.

Anyone who knows anything about dog's knows that if a big dog wants out there inst much you can do ... Ive seen my mum's dog jump a 6 foot fence with ease because I was on the other side.

A pile of wood wont and indeed doesn't keep her in. What's worse is the fact that if we leave our gate open she can just walk out into the road and anywhere she want's.

I don't think they would ever see an expensive dog like that again if she went walkies .

[ringzero]

Our neighbors have a dog an Akita. Web say this

"The Akita is highly intelligent, fearless, and spontaneous. They thrive on human companionship. They are extremely loyal to their family and those they know, but are wary and aloof of strangers. They are exceedingly protective of their family, their territory, and of their food. They are particularly aggressive toward other dogs and pets. They will get along with older, very well behaved children within their family unit, but will not tolerate children they don't know. They make excellent guard dogs, although they are not excessive barkers. They do not do well if left alone for extended periods of time. For this reason, they are not well suited for a two career family. They require an inordinate amount of attention. Akitas are not recommended for the novice dog owner, or owners who are placid and submissive."

I know they're not a common breed in the U.S., but there's one that lives about a block down from me.  A large, powerful male with a beautiful coat.  I'd guess he's about 100 pounds, maybe slightly more.

Spends most of his time in the house, but is chained outside a few hours a day.  Very territorial and agressive toward anyone who passes his yard.  Once in a great while he escapes and roams around the neighborhood.

One time he strayed into my yard while I was out back cutting weeds.  I started walking towards him and he growled and bared his teeth at me.  When I waved the weed whacker and yelled at him, he retreated into the street then took off down the block.

I'm afraid he'll eventually get loose and hurt one the little kids in neighborhood, because he is very agressive toward humans, even when not on his own territory.

It's a case of irresponsible owners.  A big dog like that needs a lot of exercise, which he can't get indoors and chained outside in yard a few hours each day.

As much as I love big dogs, I wouldn't have one where I live now.  IMHO, big dogs deserve big, fenced-in yards to romp around and stretch their legs - several times a day.  Otherwise, the stress of being cooped up inside a house most of the time may affect them in undesirable ways.

.

[knife-man]

I just found out they are getting rid of her.

Apparently because she is a pain 

[Grant Lamontagne]

The court should award the dog the house and get rid of the family!

I just hope they find a good home for her- one that can appreciate the dog she is and was meant to be.  If I was closer, I'd take her in a second.  Akitas are beautiful dogs that need experienced handlers, and after spending the last ten years with a dogo argentino and a siberian husky, I gained more experience than most will in a lifetime!

Def

[NeitherExtreme]

...after spending the last ten years with a dogo argentino and a siberian husky, I gained more experience than most will in a lifetime!

What are Siberian Huskies like? I can't have a dog right now, but I've thought that if I ever can, I might think about a Siberian.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Big cats.  They ignore you until they want something, eat any and all small animals that come anywhere near them, and take any opportunity to run away.  They are very independent and are pretty well untrainable- not because they are stupid (they aren't) but because they just don't care what you want!

Great dogs, but they sure aren't Lassie!

Def

[NeitherExtreme]

Wow, I had not heard that. Sounds like they might not be the dog for me! The thing I like best about dogs (as opposed to cats) is that dogs will often do what you want them to do, even if they don't want to, just because they want to keep you happy Not so with cats So if Siberians are more like cats than dogs in that regard, I might not like them too much (and they might not like me ).

[Grant Lamontagne]

They are pretty dogs, but yeah, definitely not "typical" dogs.  Certainly not the type of dog you can take to the park and play fetch with as they'll run in whatever direction they feel like, whether you throw a ball or not, then they won't come back!

Unfortunately movies like 8 Below and Snow Dogs makes folks want to get these dogs thinking they are Lassie in a wolf suit, but they really are different from the typical dog mentality, which is why they are one of the most common pure bred dogs put down in animal shelters- so many people got them and didn't get what they were expecting and couldn't handle them.  But then you won't find too many other breeds that do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_D-SttiChM

Def

[CQC-7]

I believe that a lot of the bad dog stuff comes to light after the Michael Vick thing.  Dog Fighting is a pastime where I live.  I hate it.  I hate people that train dogs to fight.  Any good dog is a "guard dog."  My bassett hound outright attacked an intruder one time at my mothers house yet she was gentle enough to have my wife's 2 year old cousin play with her long ears.  My point here, trust the dog, they are better natured than most people.