Why pit bulls should not be in our society...?

Question

I just read "A Pit Bull Face-Off" in the October 2007 issue of Reader's Digest, I'm not going to type the entire story out but I am going to qoute the main areas of the story and then you tell me what excuse is there to continue having this horrid breed in our society?
In Memphis on his way to McDonalds with his two sons Griggs saw: "A man was lying on the sidewalk, frantically kicking at two dogs that were hunched over him and snarling." "...58-year old James Chapple Jr was on the ground screaming as two powerfully built pit bulls dragged him along the sidewalk. Earlier that evening the pair had escaped through an open door..." "Griggs took out his cell phone, dialed 911 and told the operator what was happening. After hanging up, he decided he had to do something besides sit there and wait for help to arrive." At a nearby firehouse. "On the ground near the station, he saw a lead pipe about four feet long."

"Only a couple of minutes had passed, but by the time he returned, the man was facedown in a pool of blood, absolutely still. The dogs stood over him, and--there is no other word for it--they were feeding" "No sooner had he closed the door when the bigger dog, a huge male about half Grigg's size, growled and came charging straight at him. Griggs stood ready and with one swing of the pipe deflected the dog." "It took two seasoned officers more than ten minutes to corral the pit bulls." "They were later euthanized." Medics cut away Chapple's jacket to find his left hand attached by only a few threads of tissue. His right ear was partly torn from his head. His right eyelid was gashed, he had bite marks all over his legs and his right hand was badly mangled as well."

"The attack was so savage, his left arm had to be amputated below the elbow, and doctors weren't sure if he would ever regain full use of his right arm." "A few months later Griggs got sad news. Unable to rally fron his wounds, the frail Chapple had died."

To answer someone's question...the title of this question is my OWN words all quotes are in quote marks.

This man was someone's son, father, brother, cousin, friend, husband..and this uncalled for, dangerous breed of dog snuffed out his life! This is common too common. How can anyone defend this dangerous breed? What reason could you have to harbor this beast?

cpinatsi: You must have low reading comperhension, he attacked the dog with a lead pipe because it was KILLING a man!

To all of you who are defending these awful dogs---shame on you! You might as well be cold blooded murderers.

To all of you who are bringing racism into this how ignorant can you be? Racism only applies to HUMANS and having enough sense to see a dangerous animal has no place in society is nothing like the problem of racism. Why don't we all just let tigers run free in our society as well?

Beth H: LMAO You're trying to make a big deal out of a flipped R and E? LOL just shows you don't really have a defense for these dangerous animals given you have to resort to nit picking typos.

thoven: You must be a high school drop out, here's the dictionary def for you: rac·ism
–noun 1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

thoven: Pot calling the kettle black eh? Here's a qoute of what you said to me: "Maybe you ought to educate yourself a bit, and stop being so damn ignorant and judgemental."
It's not my fault I must've hit a nerve--go finish your education. As for being on the computer, you're here and came to my question..hmmm so who has no life?

thoven: Sure keep telling yourself it's not the same thing, don't worry tomorrow is another day of burger flipping for you.

thoven: *smiles* nope I'm way beyond burger flipping, I have two degrees and am working on my third. Thanks for the thought though--oh and unlike you, I'm not a "kid".

Answer 1

There is no way to softening the fact that PIT BULLS are BEASTS. they may be of the dog family like Coyotes, Wolves, and Hyenas, but for sure those are not PETS at all. If you want to make it seem like they are innocent then we may as well have Wolves as pets too. What can they be used for? Bring our Soldiers home, Send Four Fleets of Pit bulls to IRAQ by planes too. Let them go and do their thing and keep our men here.

Answer 2

Not all Pit Bulls are vicious and those who are, it is not their fault. All dogs can be that way if they are treated the same way that most Pit Bulls are. The irresponsible, greedy, and selfish breeding of these dogs is one huge reason that have given the Pits their reputation of viciousness. Before it was made illegal, these dogs were bred for baiting. A now illegal sport, baiting involves treating dogs in a horrible way so that they want to fight and bite. They then hold fights between two dogs until one dies from bites. The whole time they are murdering these poor dogs the owners of the fights make lots of money because people come to watch and place bets on who's going to win. This is a horrible crime and thank God it is now illegal. Unfortunately, many people still try to do this like Micheal Vick who should be in jail for the rest of his life. Because they were bred for this, they do have a little more prey drive in their blood and can be a little more temperamental than other dogs, but now, many new responsible breeders are trying to right the wrong done by previous breeders of this great breed. Another reason, as many of you have mentioned, is the irresponsible and selfish owners of these dogs that treat them horribly. These people should not be allowed to own any kind of dog. Hopefully, soon these dogs will loose their unfair reputation for viciousness and gain the reputation they deserve of being a sweet and loving dog.

Answer 3

As a proud owner of two pit bulls, I find this type of post particularly offensive. I work in a vet clinic, and the dogs I see bite more people than any other breed are Daschunds and Chihuahuas. However, no one is screaming about banning them from society. The reason dogs bite is because of fear and lack of training. It's ridiculous (not to mention just plain ignorant) to believe that an entire breed of dog is evil. That is the equivalent of a person being racist. It is just as ignorant as saying, "all white/black/asian people should be banished from our society." It doesn't matter what breed of dog you have, if you mistreat it and don't socialize, it then it will be fearful and aggressive. Furthermore, the reason pit bulls have such a bad reputation is because they're owned by people just as ignorant about dogs as you are. My dogs are neither fearful nor aggressive toward people or other animals. My advice to you, keep your mouth closed (and your hands off the keyboard) when you're referring to things about which you are clueless.

cpinatsi: You must have low reading comperhension, he attacked the dog with a lead pipe because it was KILLING a man!

Hala, you can't spell, so stop bitching. It's compREhension.

Answer 4

I would just like to know why you see articles about a pit attack, yet when a dog like a lab attacks and rips someone apart you hear nothing about it? It's not the breed of dog, it's the uneducated owners, and the media who make a problem. Or why people I know, including myself, who also work with animals every day of their life, either in a vet hospital, an animal shelter, doing rescues, rehabilitaions, etc, have been bitten more times by "cute" little dogs, than any pit bulls? As long as people go on believing the hyped up media stories, there's always going to be a breed that's picked on by those that are uneducated.

Answer 5

ANY dog can bite. It's just that the media doesn't broadcast other breeds killing people. you really need to get over yourself. sorry but we like pit bulls. you dont goodbye.

HOWEVER I do agree pits can be a challenge. Many people are not aware of that. Having a pit bull as simply the "family dog" will not do it. Pit bulls are high energy dogs and people are not aware of this. you need to walk them daily.They benefit from being entered in competitons such as agility,weight pulling, and,disc comps. Pit Bulls are great working dogs that would be very good to have around on a farm. They would easly get the excercise they need herding livestock.

And also if you don't pay attention to them and love them enough, yes they could possibly be aggresive. This goes for a lot of other breeds too.

I'm not at all saying pits should not be kept, but they are a big challenge and need a firm, loving,active owner.

Most pit bulls that attack people are unnuetered, ignored, and abused males that have nothing more amusing to do with their time.

I can see you are a proud BSL supporter.

Many people like APBT's. you dont... leave it at that.

Stop stereotyping.

Bottom line. This is how the order of things should really go..

dogs that are unwanted, ignored,unfixed and abused. Will turn on you and bite to defend themselves.

Dogs that are loved, cared for, and socialized would NEVER try to pose a threat to their owners.

Answer 6

I too read that article. And I believe more needs to be done with this breed to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. These were watch dogs and obviously trained to attack people when they saw them as they were guarding something they ran free from. I do not remember if it was a car lot or what it was but I know they were guard dogs. So, IMHO I think they were trained to attack people. There is no excuse for what they did to this man. I for one am happy to have this story out there as I have a pit mix and my stepsons mom has a purebred one, I believe when bred correctly and raised correctly they are awesome dogs. I do not believe in banning them. I think we need to do a few things with this breed though that arent already being done. Here are my ideas

1. Require breeders to go through temperament checks for their breeding b*tches and sires to illiminate the aggresive gene. Also require breeders to register as such.
2. require owners to secure their dogs at all times and not be outdoors unsupervised
3. require owners to go through obidience training with their dogs and register them
4. require all dogs not registered to breed to be spayed or neutered as non spayed and nuetered dogs of all breeds tend to be more violent
5. Have breeders be more responsible for who the adopt to
6. Not adopt to gangbangers or in area's prone to violence as the dogs are used as guard dogs or to fight

and much more. I will not bore you with all the details. I believe the owners of these dogs should be responsible for what their dogs did to the man. I am happy the other man stepped in and I am happy these 2 were euthanized. I live in a higher crime area and know first hand how these dogs are mis treated and the bad reputation that gives the breed as a whole. I have 3 dogs, a Malamute who is quite mean actually and has bitten one person who tried to attack me. A Red Nosed Pit/Golden Retriever mix who is the biggest baby in the world and has NEVER bitten or shown aggresion and a chihuahua who has bitten once while pregnant. Chihuahua's bite more than any other breed only people dont usually hear about that now do they

Now I just wish they would start printing stories about the good pit bulls and all the great things they do when with the proper homes.....doubt that will happen. I remember people hating Rottweilers and Doberans when I was a kid. And then German Shephards had a turn....when will our society grow up and learn that dogs, like people can be raised incorrectly and do bad things because they do not know any better.

Answer 7

I read that story. Many people want pit bulls because they look intimidating, they're strong, and go after things that move -- other animals or, yes, even people. What people like the garage owner in the story don't realize is that pit bulls just go after things they perceive as not belonging there -- the motive is not to protect family or property.

Pit bulls are not the problem. People should educate themselves or be educated about pit bulls before receiving one. But, just as bad as ignorant pit bull owners are the nuts in society who believe they can make themselves into good people by demonizing someone or something. Demonizing pit bulls or foolish people will not make you or the editors of Reader's Digest good people. Never in a million years. Sorry. It doesn't work that way.

Answer 8

So basically the guy attacked the pit bulls with the lead pipe? What did he expect the pit bull to do? Wag his tail happily?
Besides, I happen to know some pit bulls personnally. They are very friendly, but because they have been raised like lap dogs on the couch. If the owner uses an animal's power for the wrong reasons, it is not the dog's fault. It can happen even with a chihuahua, just the chihuahua doesn't have the force to cause injuries. It can happen exactly teh same with a Rottie, German Shepherd, Dogo, and teh dog I was bitten by was a lab, a very friendly one actually, but I got in the middle of a dog fight between him and a very human-friendly collie. So you see, it is the humans who are responsible for their dog's whereabouts and their behaviour.

Answer 9

well if thats the case, you shouldnt be on answers right now, you should be on death row because there was another human that committed a gruesome murder.

are you a racist too? OMG, come on.....

i love my pit and have had her for 9 years and even though she is mixed with a lab she is still the most beautiful peaceful dog ever and would never hurt anyone.

many people dont know how to properly treat animals and they breed those kinds of beast.

dont blame the innocent dog, that was one incident.

Answer 10

Maybe you ought to educate yourself a bit, and stop being so damn ignorant and judgemental.

Saying that ALL Pits, or Dobes, or GSDs, or dogs of any other breed are "bad", "vicious", and "dangerous", is absolutely no different than saying that all people of white, black, asian, hispanic, or any other ethnicity are inherently dangerous and should be eliminated.

Has racial profiling taught us nothing?

Add: "racism only applies to humans"?? You need to get a clue, sweetie. "Racism" is defined by the dictionary as : "hatred or intolerance of another race or other races". Nothing about humans in there.

Edit to the poster: You need to get a life. You resorted to making baseless assumptions about my level of education because you don't like the dictionary I'm using. The definition I gave you came straight from the dictionary -- it's not my problem you have so little to spend time on you need to resort to insulting me. You are the uneducated one here, not to mention judgemental, and ignorant.

It's really sad when people have so little meaning in their lives that they need to sit on their computers complaining about things they have no knowledge of, and insulting people they don't know, for having a differing opinion.

You don't like the opinion I hold, and the only way you can find to make your point is to insult me. How mature and intelligent of you.

Add 2: Love, I never said you were right :) I am not a high school dropout. You did not hit a nerve, but I can see you are trying to. I said you are sitting here on the computer complaining about things you have no knowledge of -- I am sitting at my computer chatting with fellow dog owners. Not the same thing at all.

Add 3: "Burger flipping"? This one has me laughing. Looking at your own life for inspiration, now are you?? Funny funny. Get the hell over it kid, I like these dogs, you don't. Shut up and move on to a new topic.

Answer 11

What a sad situation, but instead of blaming the dogs, especially that type of breed in general, I think the pet owners & all other pet owners who use & abuse their dogs in the wrong way are to blame & should not be in our society. They're the ones that need to be neutered/spayed & even euthanized so the population of bad pet owners/breeders can come to an end.