Dangerous Pets

[Annie]

After another child was killed by a pittbull type dog, it rather raises the question "Who's to blame"

Needless to say, the dog was also killed...but who's fault was it that those 2 lives were lost?

Was it the childs? (Who was up with the dog at midnight?! This child was 4)
Was it the dogs? (Who has been bred for violence, by humans)
Was it the owners? (Who should be able to keep his animals under control)


I think it's mankinds fault.
We train these poor animals to be violent killers and wonder why they turn on children, who to them is just something to catch and kill. I agree, pittbulls can be agressive, but so can the good ol' lab and collie dogs. My cousin was attacked horribly by a labrador and my Nan nearly bled to death after a Collie grabbed her arm AND my Grampa was attacked by a greyhound.
I've been around plenty of Pittbulls who have been treated correctly and not let near children (which is pure stupidity to let a child near a dog like that)
Even my lovely Annie snapped at a child :\


So...thoughts?

[KingKivuli]

its humanities fault if they are born and raise to fight and kill. even though if dog were left to natural instinct they may still attack (dog forget they are related to wolves) but just randomly attack with out being provoked? i dont think so. humanity can directly effect how animal acts by the way we treat them. so its the owners fault. the child is only young so doesn't know better and the dog has been 'brain washed' so it does not now any better

[Simba]

if people properly trained them and made sure they were properly restrained so that they can't harm anyone when the owner's can't watch them (unless someone's just trying to provoke it, so they'd have no one to blame). but then we also have people in general to blame for trying to breed a more aggressive dog.

and I know most any dog can snap. my husky/collie mix has snapped on me about 3 times and my dad once over us touching or being too close to his food, and he more or less just acts vicious (he has never bit anyone) when strangers come close to the house or large vehicles come. it's just the personality of some dogs to be more territorial, protective, and/or aggressive. but the owners should still be aware of any risks with their dogs. and it's never wise to leave kids alone with dogs larger than toy size as they often accidentally provoke the animals.

[MusicLion101]

First of all, calling them "poor animals" is kinda stupid IMO. But its the owners responsibility, and you have to be a complete idiot to let a dog like that near children. People these days just cant take responsibility. I also dont see the point in euthanising the dog, its not like dogs have any comprehension of what justice is.

[CommandoTheLion]

My dog attacks everyone and goes crazy xD

[Annie]

[quote="MusicLion101"]First of all, calling them "poor animals" is kinda stupid IMO. But its the owners responsibility, and you have to be a complete idiot to let a dog like that near children. People these days just cant take responsibility. I also dont see the point in euthanising the dog, its not like dogs have any comprehension of what justice is.[/quote]

I don't see the point of killing them either :\

I heard on the news once, a woman was attacked by a deer when she was in the wrong (She wasn't killed)...they put the deer down O.O wtf is with that?! When carnivours attack people, sometimes they need to get put down, because they get the taste of human blood (Lions and other things mainly, I think) but a DEER?! C'mon!!


[quote="CommandoTheLion"]My dog attacks everyone and goes crazy xD[/quote]

You should keep your dog under control O.O so you don't go to jail and have you dog killed.

[KopsTheTerminator]

The humans do the real damage to the animals. Like the above posts said, they grew up to be violent due to us destroying their environment, abusing them, killing them and putting them in cages. It's natural for the animal to attack humans, since humans destroy everything they have from piece to piece. Ok, not all animals are doing those things, but I'm mostly referring to wild animals. I think after all those we did to them their instinct tells them to hurt/kill us.

And WTF? Put down a deer? That's lame!

[Mike]

any breed of dog can be dangerous, or perfectly docile... it depends on the individual

[CommandoTheLion]

[quote="Annie"][quote="MusicLion101"]First of all, calling them "poor animals" is kinda stupid IMO. But its the owners responsibility, and you have to be a complete idiot to let a dog like that near children. People these days just cant take responsibility. I also dont see the point in euthanising the dog, its not like dogs have any comprehension of what justice is.[/quote]

I don't see the point of killing them either :\

I heard on the news once, a woman was attacked by a deer when she was in the wrong (She wasn't killed)...they put the deer down O.O wtf is with that?! When carnivours attack people, sometimes they need to get put down, because they get the taste of human blood (Lions and other things mainly, I think) but a DEER?! C'mon!!


[quote="CommandoTheLion"]My dog attacks everyone and goes crazy xD[/quote]

You should keep your dog under control O.O so you don't go to jail and have you dog killed.[/quote]

hmmmm yeah we tryed that o.o

[parabuteo78]

I'm involved with dogs, dog training and dog owners professionally and I own four dogs at the moment.
Unfortunately I come across the subject of dog agression, attacks and biting incidents (whether against dogs, other animals, people and even the owners themselves) regularly. And it will always be a controversial, difficult and emotional subject. And every situation is different.

I have been bitten by a friends dog when I was a teenager. Now I was someone who was familiar with dogs and I knew it was my fault the dog bit me. But not everyone understands dog behavior and can understand why the dog bit them. Even the most docile dog can be provoked into biting someone.
Most people don't know that staring straight into the eyes of a dog or that petting a dog on top of his head is threatening and could provoke a reaction from the dog. Most dogs will not react violently but if you meet the wrong dog, you could provoke it.


I feel strongly that every biting-incident should be evaluated individually. Every dog can bite.
Owners of the breeds most often associated with biting, are often the first to say that the popular family breeds (Labradors, Goldens, German Sheperds etc.) are higher on the ranking of biting incidents. This is partly true, the fact that there are more dogs of those breeds, by percentage (spelling?) is usually not mentioned.

A recent study showed that three smaller breeds, the Dachshund, Chihuahua and the Jack Russel are the three breeds responsible for most biting incidents.
But have you ever heard of someone being maimed or killed by a Chihuahua? What use are those rankings to someone who has been horribly bitten or perhaps even lost a loved one to a dog? Should we put restrictions on all Chihuahua's, Dachshunds and JRT's because of this or even ban these breeds?

My point here is, evaluate each incident on its own. Don't put a dog down after biting someone just because it is of a certain breed.

I once read about a dog which bit a child. Horrible of course, especially considering it was the family dog that did it. The dog was taken to the vets to be euthanised. The vet examined the dog before he would agree to put him down. 13 staples were found in the dog's ear...
The poor thing only reacted when the child stapled his ear for the thirteenth time.

But I also read about two dogs who had killed several dogs in a neighbourhood and injured people. The owner was aware this obviously but couldn't be bothered to make sure his dogs were locked in his garden.

The dogs from the two situations above were from the same breed...

Almost in every incident the owner is to blame, whether it is by making sure his dog is safe or otherwise can't do harm. And if you have children, you have to teach them how to interact with dogs and more importantly supervise the child and the dog at all times. It only takes a second to destroy someone's life, whether canine or human.

We want to keep dogs and so we are responsible for their care, behavior and well-being. We are therefore also responsible at all times for keeping other people, other dogs and other animals safe from our own dog(s).

If all owners realised this, the number of attacks and biting-incidents might be a lot less.

Whew, I didn't mean to write something this long. I hope I haven't bored or offended anyone...