Stop Breeding These Dogs Now!

Among the many different professions that I have practiced over the years, full or part time, grooming and training show dogs was perhaps the most rewarding, that is if you don’t mind smelling like canine and being covered in hair and saliva. I love animals, and nothing pleases me more that to watch a pup grow and mature into a champion. Animal care and training is not easy work. Most animals are more like very bright children, and without exception, they manage to test your nerve every step of the way, if you let them. A well-socialized pet is an amazing thing, and can bring love, joy, and companionship in ways that human contact cannot.

That is why the following story bothers me so much. We have an entire class of people who know nothing about biology, animal behaviorism, canine development, or common sense who, in their need to feel big and tough, purchase breeds of dogs that are well known for their aggressive natures. Even wolves and coyotes, with which I have experience in the wild, are not this aggressive or territorial. Many of these breeds are bred for fighting and security, and should never be kept as house pets.

This particular breed, like ALL dog breeds, did not just walk out of the forest one day and move into someone’s house. Humans have engineered the breeding of dogs to produce each and every trait, quality, or function imaginable. If anything, this mess is our fault. We have, over the course of the last 300 years of very selective breeding, destroyed many breeds altogether, creating entire lineages of congenital defects and wringing every bit of nature out from the dog to suit our commercial ends. The dog business is corrupt and filthy overall, but there do remain good breeders and enthusiasts who still put the health of the breed first and foremost. Greed, however, still rules the day, and where a market exists for a certain style of dog, there will be a money-hungry bastard there to breed them.

The defenders of these aggressive breeds can always point to one or two instances where the dog is well behaved and docile, and like unrealistic parents, believe that their dogs would never harm anyone, and that the humans are always in control. What they don’t understand is that these dogs only think in terms of friend or foe, and cannot distinguish between physical or territorial threats, and a passing cat, squirrel, dog, or child. It is true that ‘the dumber the owner, the meaner the dog”, and in this case, as well as 1000s of others, this maxim is proven 100% true. The problem is not so much that the owner is a reckless, senseless moron. When you mix a human idiot with a Golden Retriever or a Pomeranian, you don’t ever wind up with a dog that suddenly attacks its own family. With more naturally aggressive breeds, however, a stupid owner is a match to gasoline.

The Pit Bull is known for its ferocity, intelligence, and tenacity. With a sturdy, athletic physique, and powerful jaws, it can crush bone, and do serious damage to a person in a few short seconds of contact. They are also a very temperamental breed, and any change in their environment agitates them into vigilance. I have known well-trained Pit Bulls with excellent handlers that have had to be put down because a change of schedule, home, and diet stressed the dogs into a constant state of agitation. These dogs should not be sold, bought, or bred. They are dangerous by their nature. It’s not the dog’s fault, but we cannot allow people to breed dangerous animals any longer.

Here is another very sad case of stupidity turned tragedy. These parents should be jailed, and the breed should be outlawed.

Family Pit Bulls Maul Girl, 6, To Death As She Walks To Swings
April 5, 2005
BY CECIL ANGELFREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Two pit bull terriers mauled a 6-year-old girl to death Monday morning in Hamtramck as she was crossing an alley to play on a backyard swing set, State Police said.

Cassidy Jeter was with a younger child in the alley in the 5100 block of Belmont about 9:06 a.m. when the attack occurred. Investigators could not say why the dogs, which had been in the girl's family since they were puppies, turned violent.

According to the girl's mother, whom police did not identify, the family had recently moved a block away from the house on Belmont. But they still had belongings at the house and also kept the dogs inside the home.

The girl's mother told police she saw the dogs attack her daughter and tried to rescue her by beating the dogs with a board. The dogs didn't let up, so she went to neighbors for help, and someone called Hamtramck police. They later turned the investigation over to the State Police.
When police arrived, the dogs were still mauling the girl, so they shot them, killing both. The dogs did not harm the younger child, State Police said.

Please write your Congressman. Let him or her know how you feel about this. We do not permit lions, tigers, wolves, bears, etc., to be kept as pets because of the known danger they may pose to society should they escape. The same should apply to breeds of dogs that are known to display unprovoked and dangerous patterns of behavior. Those who profit form breeding these monsters should be told "NO MORE!”