Please donate to support our work

DogsBite.org is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity organization. Learn more »

13 thoughts on “Dangerous By Default: Extreme Breeds by Anthony Solesky

Please review our comment policy.

  1. That was powerful and very, very sad.

    He is so right about the anthropomorphization of animals and the harm it has done to our society. I am miles from being an animal activist and I'm in no way associated with rescue and what is ironic is the fact that even I feel the need to constantly revert my arguments for BSL to the damage pit bulls do to other dogs, because there are just so damn few people who seem to care about the damage they do to people.

  2. Mr. Solesky, thank you for having the bravery and care to write this.

    You are a voice for the many voiceless victims that have had their lives destroyed by fighting dogs bred, raised, "rescued," and sold for profit by selfish people who have no regard for life.

  3. I wanted to say this about animal advocates.

    I have been involved with horses and dogs for many years, and I have also been involved in dog rescue and humane advocacy for some time.

    Real, true animal advocates believe that a human life is of paramount importance, and they also care about the death and suffering that pit bulls are causing to other pets and animals.

    The people that "advocate" for pit bulls do NOT represent the humane community at large. They represent fringe fanatics, the mentally ill who call themselves animal advocates, the casual zealot, but mostly they are people involved in the for-profit world of dog breeding and dog fighting.

    People that truly know dogs know that fighting breeds are NOT pets.

    It is the dilettantes, the twisted, the inexperienced, the naive, but most of all the GREEDY that "advocate" for pit bulls.

  4. "turned out to be, a referendum on dog owner's rights"

    Mr. Solesky, I don't know how much you know about the dog breeding world, but the people that represent this opinion are the AKC, UKC, dog fighters, and other populations of for-profit dog breeders.

    These organizations spend literally millions of dollars every year lobbying for "dog owner's rights."

    What they mean by that is, they oppose regulation!

    They want to do whatever they want with no rules, because that is the most profitable way for them to do business.

    The people at that meeting you attended were mostly dog breeders, and more than likely mostly AKC.

    AKC directly organizes these lobbying events opposing regulation of pit bulls.

    This is the kind of tactic they use to oppose any kind of regulation pertaining to dogs.

    According to the AKC, dogs are "property" and a dog owner should be able to do whatever they want with their "property" with no regulations.

    One of the primary reasons that breeders oppose regulation is because, thanks to lack of regulations, breeders can operate under the radar of average society and make large amounts of money, and get away with not reporting income and with avoiding taxes. They can also abuse animals for profit more easily without regulation.

    The authorities in your town or county probably had no idea that the "dog owner's rights" zealots are dishonest citizens with unlicensed businesses who do not pay taxes as they should be.

    And yes, some are middle class dog fighters who appear to be upstanding citizens, but hide a dark secret.

    Dishonest people like this certainly do not care about public health!

    But the breeder lobbies bully and intimidate government authorities with lies and just manipulation.

    Until the authorities find out the ulterior motives of these breeding lobbies, they will be pushed into doing nothing.

  5. If you would like some insight into what these dog breeder lobbies are like and how they operate, and how they are connected to groups like the AKC

    see this for one among many
    http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=NAIA_Trust

    This NAIA group is directly cited by dog fighters and dog fighter breeders as representing their financial interests.

    (AKC breeders also breed and sell pit bulls. They call them Staffordshire Terriers.)

    NAIA is a "dog owner rights" lobbying group.

    These are the kinds of people who were opposing you.

    Your local authorities have NO IDEA the "dog owner rights" crowd are involved with insidious groups like NAIA, because these people pretend to be "dog lovers" and do not admit that their interest is profiteering!

    The deception and subterfuge is huge, and the average government official does not have a clue about how the dog breeder lobby works.

  6. I think this should be required reading for any politician or council member faced with enacting or revising dog laws. In particular the information regarding how skewed, illogical, and emotional pit apologists and animal rights activists are when it comes to issues of public safety should be a wake up call to people inundated with their incessant howling about "racism" and "breed bias", charged words more indicative of their misanthropism than anything meaningful or realistic.

    It is time to take public policy back into sane hands. it is time for Health Departments to remember their original purposes and mandates, to secure public health of human beings, not to pander to special interest groups, dog fighters, dog breeders and drug dealers.

  7. This story just breaks my heart. What an excellent writer he is. I am just so sorry that he has this story to tell.

  8. Thanks for sharing this riveting story. How man times does this happen in our country before we collectively say, "Enough is enough"?

    As a parent, I regularly talk to my kids about the seriousness of a pit bull attack. Avoid these dogs is the message I convey.

  9. The sociopaths responsible for creating this breed culled millions of of safer dogs via th fighting pit in their sick doggie ethnic cleansing program.

    This breed should never have benn created.

    Baltimore has a ton of amateur Pit Bull street fighters now, that are tied to gang crime.

  10. Anonymous (3/09/2010 8:26 PM), I totally agree with you.

    It it not right to dismiss the feelings of animals b/c then you make it seem OK to torture and kill them. They have rights and feelings too. However, in the case of dangerous animals, we must think of the safety of the general public over the dog owner's wants and the animal's right to live.

  11. All healthy pursuits are met with equal responsibility taking. Just as with automobiles education is half the equation you still need to have a way of assuming responsibility for the risk. People who think this way, don't have such pets. Those willing to rescue or own them rarely think. We need to demand that the need to place a animal never compromises saftey. I belive 99% of the time it does with people willing to own this breed. And so goes the vicious circle.

  12. Domsdad,

    Thank you for taking the time to write such a piece…It clearly dissects the problem that the laws are not designed for Pit Bulls.

    The best part was "I wouldn't let him insult my son by calling this a bite"

    That is the whole crux of the argument as Level 5 and 6 maulings are the hallmark of the Pit Bull. The childish Pit Bull community argument is that we need to worry about all bites, while they pump out maulers that won't bite and release.

    It would be like the alcohol lobby telling state legislatures that low speed fender benders involving sober drivers need to be treated the same a DUI manslaughter cases.

Comments are closed.