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16 thoughts on “Saving Man's Best Friend

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  1. That may be the best description of what I remember growing up with neighborhood dogs that I've ever read. Now people jump back when they are near a dog that barks, even an obviously harmless one. I've seen them do it with my 30 lb slobber machine of a furry mutt. The effect is real, just watch people around dogs, it's not like it was 30 year ago.

  2. "Its time for cool heads and grown ups to step in and outlaw the breeding of pit bulls. Mandatory spay and neuter laws won't affect responsible dog owners, but will put an end to dog fighting, and pit bulls inflicting attacks upon pets and humans. Such laws will also end the shelter killing of hundreds of thousands of these dogs.
    And maybe, just maybe, we can salvage our relationship with the family dog before it is lost forever."

    This is the most honest and thoughtful statement I have read in a very long time. Amen!

  3. There is so much good in here!

    The myth of the "irresponsible owner"! Beautiful!

    "My life shouldn't depend on whether or not my neighborhood pit bull owner forgets to lock a gate."

    Why is this simple concept so hard for so many to understand.

    Thanks for this!

  4. This is written with the same honesty and straight-forward simplicity as Fulton R. Gordon, Washington D.C., 1911 – America's Dog – Thank You Branwyne for putting these words into a form for those like me to "lean on".

  5. when we first went public after a pit attacked our child, we suffered horribly…it was incredibly difficult enough dealing with the realization that someone's consumers choice probably meant to kill my child…and that the gift given to me, my son, his face had been in the mouth of a pitbull. But then came salt in a gapping, raw open wound, the words of the pit zealots, bashing and blaming him and I. Articles like this, help ease this part of the journey for me, it helps me feel less alone, and justified in my wondering who pitbull owners are…and that me standing up, wanting changes is 100% justified.

  6. 100% agreed! I grew up in the 60's and 70's on Air Force Bases. Most family's had dogs, and most dogs were chained in the yards. Few yards had fences, due to the fact that most people only stayed on a base for 2 years and didn't bother erecting a fence. And kids roamed freely unsupervised all the time. If chaining or tethering or unsupervised kids cause bites, then there should have been lots of dog bites on the bases. There was not. I only knew one person that was bitten by a dog the whole time (17 years). And that bite was a small puncture wound to the arm.

  7. I'm relieved that someone finally wrote this column! And a brilliant job of it to boot.

    I hope all will send the link to various prominent gurus and organizations (eg Jean Donaldson, Ian Dunbar, the APDT) who are betraying all of science and all we know about normal dogs in order to defend this artificial, non-real-dog human creation. They don't care a shite about what their betrayal means for the real domestic dog.

    Donaldson even instantly forgets what she said two seconds ago about evolution, selection and genes, in order to remind us this applies to all creatures in the universe EXCEPT PIT BULLS! She suddenly becomes Lamarckian. I'd be ROTFWL if it weren't so sad — and so vicious.

    Kinda makes you wonder what kind of corruption is at play…by which I mean both legal financial corruption of the mind as well as any internal rotting processes that might be taking place.

    How about we remind them that saying 'I love pit bulls' means you can't also love the domestic dog. It's kinda like saying 'I love child rapists, they musn't be hindered in any way, nor imprisoned, nor executed if they also torture then murder the child' but then wanting us to believe you love children too.

    Thank you for this column. Let us PLEASE keep these corrupted minds and souls from getting the rest of us to agree that Charles Manson is definitive of what the human race is…oops, I mean that the pit bull defines what the domestic dog is.

    THANK YOU!

  8. This Pit Kook has an unbelievable influence on public safety in the US….Hiding her ripper from police at age 6!

    "Ledy Van Kavage’s first and best friend was an American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) named Boody, a stray puppy her family adopted when Ledy was 4. Boody was a partner in all of Van Kavage’s childhood exploits. She recalls hiding out with Boody in his dog house when she didn’t want to come indoors. But that was decades ago, “before the time of responsible ownership,” says Van Kavage of Maryville, Illinois, who is now the Midwest regional legislative liaison for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

    Not only was Boody allowed to roam, he was never neutered, and he often fought with other dogs. Intact adult male dogs of all breeds are well-known to be more likely to fight than neutered males or females. Adding a biological imperative to a bully breed’s genetic programming is like pulling the pin on a hand granade. “I remember jumping into the middle of a dog fight when I was 6 and pulling Boody off another dog because someone had called the police,” Van Kavage recalls. “I didn’t want the cops to shoot my dog.”

    Tragically, Boody’s propensity to fight and his unneutered status were his undoing. “He got in a fight,” Van Kavage remembers. “He was able to drag himself to our street, where he met me every day on my walk home from school. I found him on my way home. We took him to the vet, but he died of his fighting wounds. To this day I grieve for him.”

    http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-magazines/popular-dogs/articletraining_bully_breeds.aspx

    Didn't know it was amoral to allow your fighting breed to wander and rip neighborhood pets…

    "Yeah, that's the ticket!"

  9. Another Pit Kook who should be barred from the public safety debate.

    Dr Randy Lockwood emerged onto the scene in the late 80's with the HSUS and more recently with the ASPCA…He wrote the template for the laughable Pit Bull advocacy talking points and is responsible for many deaths and maulings. In this article he rallies against wolf-hybrids and describe his experiences owning one…

    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G_laAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4E0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=5212,2521549&dq=ripped+apart+by+dogs&hl=en

    "The animal slept in my sleeping bag and appeared friendly but was eventually shot for hunting down and killing a sheep"

    New indian name:

    "Sleeps with Sheep killing Wolves"

  10. Thank you for this truthful article! It's extremely well-said, and I so agree with it.

    After becoming aware of the pit bull problem just a few months ago and subsequently reading through the comments sections of hundreds of dog attack articles, I too have noticed the changing attitudes toward dogs and dog ownership. They're extremely disturbing. Most notable is the seeming belief that dogs protecting their territory is not only just normal canine behavior but is also DESIRABLE. People actually boast that their dogs would tear a trespasser to shreds and feel safer with the "protection" of an aggressive dog.

    I have never felt it was the job of my dogs to protect me; rather, it's my job to protect them! Sure, a dog alerting me to someone's presence by barking does make me feel safer (even the much-maligned small dogs can make great alarm systems), and I know that the very presence of any kind of dog can be a deterrent. Maybe if someone tried to hurt me and my dog intervened, I would be glad for the protection, but I wouldn't expect it. My dogs have always been my companions. They're supposed to be pets, not security systems or bodyguards. I am heartily sick of the excuses made for dog aggression and the elevation of what is now somehow considered positive behavior. Guard dogs are meant to bark and warn intruders, not maul them to death; yet on news articles people are praising dogs for killing someone just for entering a yard.

    It's shocking and appalling–and, yes, shows that our relationships with dogs are being redefined by these apologists.

    No, thank you! I am glad that my dog allowed a stranger to come in the house when no one was home, because she was there to take care of him. It made me feel like a proud parent that she left a note saying she loved him after just that one brief encounter. Does that mean I raised him right? He was well-socialized and went to puppy and obedience classes, but a great deal of his temperament is attributable to good breeding along with being of a breed that's intended to find, flush, and retrieve birds gently, not maul 1,000-pound animals or other dogs to death. Genetics matter!

    I refuse to allow the bullies to change my attitudes and beliefs about dogs, and I'm grateful for the resources that are working on spreading the truth. Thank you, and please keep up the good work!

  11. I remember the same things about the dogs in the 70s. If a dog you didn't know showed up in your yard it wasn't a big deal. You just made a new friend was all. Tethered dogs were usually hunting dogs like beagles, coon dogs, and fox hounds. The ones I knew were all very sweet dogs. The only danger you were in was if one tripped you with his chain or knocked you down because he was so happy and excited to see you. A dog that was chained for being aggressive was usually easy to spot. His behavior would be a dead give away, but pitbulls often don't give any clues that anything is wrong. That is why we hear about them just "snapping".
    Have any studies been done on pitbull brains? I see things on tv that show how the brains of people with different disorders appear in medical imaging. I have often wondered if those same things could be seen in images of a dog's brain.

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