Story here:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3768197,00.html
Discuss?
Strange, I know there is a pitbull ban in Ontario now, but it does not involve killing off the current population if I have the details right. Existing pitbulls need to wear a muzzle and other safety precautions.
I tend to find it’s mainly bad owners not dogs.
In the UK we had a vast increase a while ago of Staffordshire bull crosses which were similar to the Pitbull. Many were goaded by owners to display aggressive tendencies. Muzzle restrictions were introduced for those that were deemed to be a “pitbull”.
D
We had pit-bull hysteria over here a number of years ago, which resulted in the ‘dangerous dogs Act’.
Whenever the press wages a campaign against anything to sell their miserable chip-wrappings, politicians seem automatically to accept tabloid ravings as “majority public opinion” and act immediately, irrespective of what the true public opinion might be.
That’s the power of the ‘free press’ these days. That and the fact that politicians these days are, in the main, characterless invertebrates who’ll believe whatever they read in The Sun. It’s why a chinless television “celebrity” chef can make ‘school dinners’ a hot issue on every party’s manifesto in the weeks leading up to a General Election.
In Oklahoma, cockfighting was legal till a couple or so years ago. It wasn’t legal to gamble on it, but it was legal to fight them. It was made a “state question” on the ballot, whether to outlaw it. A television campaign was waged against it, and cockfighting was outlawed. As soon as it was passed, they ordered that all fighting cock breeds in the state be killed by Friday.
I’ve volunteered with a Humane Society shelter for years and have had many foster puppies and many, many dog friends. I currently live in a lower class racially mixed neighborhood and have seen quite a few Pits and Rottweilers come and go. When it comes to aggressive dogs, there is a direct correlation: the bigger the jerk the owner is, the nastier and more dangerous the dog.
It seems that when people want a badass dog for protection (or, worse, to show off how badass they are) they head for a Pit or a Rottie. Then rather than simply depend on the animal’s natural instinct to protect his home and family they try to make him mean. This means hitting or beating him, aggressive play, yelling at him, jerking his chain (not metaphorically), feeding him gunpowder (!?) and worse. All the tough-guy macho training they lay on their dogs makes some of them psycho and when a child gets ripped up the owner has no clue that he is solely and directly responsible.
Owners should be criminally liable for the actions of their dogs. I have heard stories about a family pet turning on a child and people say it is such a tragedy, who knew, blah blah blah. They seem to think that punishing a parent after the loss of a child like that would be inhumane. Of course, if the owner had planted land mines in the yard to deter burgalrs and the child stepped on one, there would be little sympathy for his case. And that is exactly how the owner should be treated. If the animal hurts someone, then the owner should be tried for assault. An animal that kills means an owner tried for manslaughter.
Sorry for the rant - hit a sore spot with that one.
Roger
I am not a Pit-Bull fan by any means, and when you see what one can do to another dog or a child, the seriousness of the problem is clear… but… I don’t see killing them all as the answer.
I have also met some delightful ones.
I agree - it is bad owners more than bad dogs… just as bad parenting can turn an otherwise innocent born child into a little monster, bad pet training can lead to viscious beasts that might otherwise have been good natured.
I agree with you 100%
My childhood dog was a pit bull. Sweetest dog you’ve ever met, and wonderful with children. But then, we treated him like a member of the family…we didn’t try to train him to be a deadly weapon.
Not so very long ago, it was the doberman everyone was hysterical about. Now it’s pits and rotties, and in a few years or so it will be another breed. And after all that, we never seem to learn that it’s bad owners who make bad dogs.
Redwolf
When I lived in a village up north, I had sled dogs. One of them came to me already full grown. He had been teased and had lived on a short chain. He was okay as long as I got him plenty of exercise and spent time with him. But when I had to move, I put him down instead of passing him on to somebody else. I didn’t trust a new owner to give him the kind of surveillance and attention he needed so that he wouldn’t have a chance of hurting a kid.
A family I knew lost their son to a dog mauling. 
Jennie
AARRGGGG!!!
Cincinnati has a “pit bull law”. You can have them, but you must carry an additional $100,000 insurance, you must have them muzzled, chained, AND in a pen with a cover, and I forget what else.
Of course, there is the question of just what IS a “pit bull”. This stupid law covers any dog from “1/4 pit bull” up. To someone, my (lousy specimen) boxer may have pit bull in him.
If a “pit bull” does wind up at the SPCA, it cannot be adopted out, it must be destroyed.
When the law was first passed, we found a wonderful stray female left in a nearby park. We wound up having to drive her 100 miles away to a no kill shelter (and of course, donated for her keep).
Pass any “dangerous” dog laws you want. Make sure the owners are responsible. But do NOT make these laws breed specific!!!
I’ll shut up now! 
Missy
Yup, it’s the owners, not the dogs.
The only dog that ever bit me was a poodle. I still have a hole in my jeans to show for it.
My parents’ dog is a Chihuahua, and aren’t I gonna have fun looking after him for two weeks in August and walking him twice a day in the park. Still, less poop to scoop. 
Having lived next door to one, I don’t have a problem with it. This thing was in a flimsy fence that was wholly inadequate to contain it, and the dog was routinely out and threatening my wife and kids. We were basically prisoners in the house – my kids couldn’t play in the front yard; my wife would not leave our fenced area; and I carried a handgun when I mowed. We complained to the city, to the management company and to the property owner with no relief. Then the dog died.
Here’s a link to the legislative and judicial history of the Denver ordinance – http://denvergov.org/admin/template3/forms/Denvers%20Pit%20Bull%20Ordinance%20-%20A%20Review%20of%20Its%20History%20and%20Jud.doc . This is not a recent thing – it goes back more than 10 years. And it’s not like Denver announced on Monday it would start picking up dogs on Tuesday. Owners had plenty of notice to either move themselves or their dog, and if they got their dog confiscated, that’s just too damn bad. I have no sympathy for them.
Be careful out there!
The first (and worst) dog bite I ever got was years ago. I was standing in shorts and sandals talking to my neighbor when her dog, a Yorkie, walked out, sniffed my foot, jumped straight up like he was spring loaded and bit me on the thigh. Then the little bugger dropped off, turned around and walked back home.
I can sympathize with Jennie. I have had to put down dogs that I could not keep and couldn’t trust to pass on. The procedure at the HS shelter where I volunteered was to test each dog’s temperament as part of determining adoptability. I don’t believe any Pit passed while I was there. But individuals of plenty of other breeds failed too, like at least one Golden Retriever and some Lab mixes. Those are two breeds never associated with aggression, but between puppy mill breeders and owners who shouldn’t be trusted with plush doggie dolls some animals were just dangerously unpredictable or aggressive.
I stopped volunteering out there because I just burned out. Just about everyone does sooner or later. After all, people volunteer because they love animals and then they have to deal with all the crap that people do to their “pets”. And even if a volunteer is not directly involved in euthanasia just being around it grinds them down.
Roger
I think we should round up all the lawmakers in the city of Denver and have them put down.
They are clearly a menace to other living beings.
gonzo - I’m sorry you had a bad experience…
You do realize that the type of person who raises and owns a mean pit bull will again own a mean XXX if they can’t have the pit bull? Rotty, Doby, Boxer - any breed that is big and muscular has been “turned” and used poorly. If someone is determined to own a mean dog, they will own a mean dog.
As to the idea that a pit bull bite is so much worse than any other dog - I certainly wouldn’t want to test that by letting a Rotty or one of my boxers have at it (although Wyley would just lick you to death). All of the breeds with a squared mouth have been bred to “bite and hold” - and can do significant damage.
You either must push to ban ALL dog ownership, or put laws in place to prevent BAD dog ownership. Banning a specific breed does nothing but give someone a false sense of security.
Talk to a mail carrier and see what breeds THEY don’t trust. The large, muscular breeds are usually way down on their lists - the ankle biters are usually the ones they have the most trouble with.
Missy
We’ve got two dogs and take them regularly to local dog parks and areas where they can be off leash. Yes, it’s the “bad” owners who have a tendency to own pit bulls…the macho thing, I’m sure…and I feel sorry for those dogs, but the fact is that pit bulls ARE owned by that type of person and they ARE encouraged to be tough (my daughter and I have seen this over and over and over at the dog parks). Nobody loves dogs more than we do, but it crossed my mind the other day that I wish they’d ban pit bulls here. I would guess about 50-60% of the time there’s a fight at the dog park, a pit bull is involved. It’s gotten to the point where we avoid letting our dogs get around them as much as possible.
I don’t know that killing the ones that are there now is the answer, but I would probably support a ban on them. Poor things.
Susan
Many around here, and several recent brutal attacks. It’s painful to admit, but I have considered purchasing a handgun exactly because of these beasts. I am very concerned for the children in the neighborhood, not to mention my own hide..
I see people walking them in the canyon. In some cases, they can hardly keep them on the leash when the dog spots another dog and wants to “investigate.”
I have similar feelings about Rottweilers, having seen a loose one attack and kill a cat right before my eyes in front of my previous house.
I wish there were some kind of test you had to pass to get a dog…because it’s true: If you ban pit bulls and rottweilers, by this time next week, the people who gave those dogs a bad name will have another breed in their yard. Such people will always find a way to turn dogs into killers, because that’s what they get off on. No pit bulls? Well, next they’ll take the boxer, or the German shepherd, or they’ll go back to dobies, or maybe they’ll even use the ubiquitous Labrador. Dangerous dogs, unfortunately, are a people problem, not a dog problem, and getting rid of pit bulls in your community will ensure nothing other than heartache for the good, loving, responsible owners of these dogs. Your children, your pets, and your lives will still be at the mercy of the bad dog owners and whatever breed they decide to pick up next.
There’s a problem, yes, but the answer is to go to the ROOT of the problem, which is not the dogs themselves, nor any specific breed, but the kind of people who use these animals as weapons.
Redwolf
This all sounds a bit like the arms discussion, it’s not the guns that kill but the people. Still it’s best to get them banned even if people who shoot other people may (or may not) be wielding an axe instead.
When I lived in Rotterdam pitbulls and the like were pretty much the rage with a certain kind of person. I once saw one literally tear another dog to shreds while the owner kept insisting he’d never done that before and that he was in fact a very sweet dog. Several children were mauled during my time there and at least one killed.
I won’t shed a tear for them, good riddance.