Post by RealPitBull on Dec 12, 2014 8:37:37 GMT -5
www.stardem.com/opinion/columns/article_0fa163c4-2f58-542b-8a26-75869da62129.html
The recent exchange with readers concerning views on maintaining pit bulls as pets has been interesting, but I suspect people may be tired of the subject, so I promise these will be my final comments.
I have seen nothing that changes the fact that, as reported in the media, pit bulls have been responsible for a disproportionate number of serious, and sometimes fatal, dog attacks. Because they were developed as fighting dogs, they instinctively pursue their attack until their opponent is dead or disabled, something they must do to survive. Of course, pit bulls are not a breed recognized by the American Kennel Club, so classifying any individual dog as a pit bull can be questioned, but there seems to be general agreement concerning their appearance. It is amusing to be assured that pit bulls have received a bad press, and then receive equal assurance that they can’t be identified. I think it’s much like recognizing a duck; if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. I doubt that many people reporting pit bulls as such confuse them with Great Danes or Chihuahuas.
As others have pointed out, all dogs can and may bite humans, and it even may be that pit bulls bite less frequently than other dogs. But as observed by Dr. Sandi Sawchuk, Veterinary Clinic Instructor at the University of Wisconsin, “I don’t think pits bite more than other breeds, it’s when they do they inflict more damage.” Exactly! And the Humane Society of the United States characterizes their attack as “unrelenting.” How else can you explain this summer’s mauling of a 6-year-old girl in Dorchester County, who obviously posed no threat to two pit bulls which nevertheless left her with the loss of most of her scalp, and 80 stitches in her face and head? This is not the average response of momentarily annoyed dogs. Nor would most of us anticipate that our own pets would have to be shot to break off their attack, as were two other pit bulls this summer in separate instances on the Eastern Shore, and another from Delaware, just reported. Yes, the majority of pit bulls make faithful and harmless pets, but do we wish to deal with the exceptions?”
Whether or not many jurisdictions will, in the long run, be successful in banning a specific type of dog is a legal question, and unpredictable. I notice, though, that pit bulls and certain other dogs are banned from family housing on many military bases. This includes the United States Marine Corps, an organization not noted for its timidity. Of course, the military has no problem identifying breeds; “If the Colonel says it’s a pit bull ... !”
Dobermans are another breed often banned from family housing by the military, and I must reluctantly agree this makes sense. “Reluctantly,” for I have owned several, none of which has ever been a problem. But this takes us back to the difference between learned behavior, and inherited instinct, or temperament. I was fortunate to have worked with my dogs in obedience under a no-nonsense lady who had spent many years in the D.C. area training dogs and owners. She made sure we owners were Alpha Dogs, so to speak, so I learned to scale my dogs’ teeth, clip their nails, and generally be in control. But there is a temperament test for Dobermans, as there are for many breeds. These tests are used to determine what instincts have been inherited, in other words what basic traits you have to work with in a specific dog. Dobermans were developed to be guard dogs, so the temperament test includes an “attack” by a threatening stranger (in protective clothing) to see how the dog will respond. Note that the person handling the dog does not speak to the dog, nor in any way influence its behavior. His or her only job is to lead the dog on a leash. A “pass” on the test means the Doberman instinctively placed itself between the handler and the perceived threat, and attacked the aggressor if the threat persisted.
I emphasize that like the unrelenting attack by pit bulls, this is an inherited instinct in Dobermans, not related to training. The most laid back, friendliest of my male Dobes, which never showed any sign of aggression in the first four years of his life, looked up from his feeding dish in our home late one evening to see me in a distant doorway, dressed in clothing he had never seen. He neither barked nor hesitated; all I saw coming my way were teeth! He immediately apologized, but it is easy to see what might happen if the child of a family owning such a dog were roughhoused by another child, even in play, so it makes sense to prohibit the breed in high-density family housing.
I have one correction to make. A reader pointed out that in an article appearing in a December 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Association it was concluded no relationship could be established between breed and fatal attacks. In fact, more careful reading of the article reveals that no general relationship could be established because of the 256 dogs involved, less than eighteen percent were identified. This was a scientific presentation in which stated facts must be faultless; therefore the lack of pedigree or DNA verification meant no identification could be made. It also is the reason why in my own writing I always identify pit bulls “As reported.”
Ellicott McConnell writes from Easton.
The recent exchange with readers concerning views on maintaining pit bulls as pets has been interesting, but I suspect people may be tired of the subject, so I promise these will be my final comments.
I have seen nothing that changes the fact that, as reported in the media, pit bulls have been responsible for a disproportionate number of serious, and sometimes fatal, dog attacks. Because they were developed as fighting dogs, they instinctively pursue their attack until their opponent is dead or disabled, something they must do to survive. Of course, pit bulls are not a breed recognized by the American Kennel Club, so classifying any individual dog as a pit bull can be questioned, but there seems to be general agreement concerning their appearance. It is amusing to be assured that pit bulls have received a bad press, and then receive equal assurance that they can’t be identified. I think it’s much like recognizing a duck; if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. I doubt that many people reporting pit bulls as such confuse them with Great Danes or Chihuahuas.
As others have pointed out, all dogs can and may bite humans, and it even may be that pit bulls bite less frequently than other dogs. But as observed by Dr. Sandi Sawchuk, Veterinary Clinic Instructor at the University of Wisconsin, “I don’t think pits bite more than other breeds, it’s when they do they inflict more damage.” Exactly! And the Humane Society of the United States characterizes their attack as “unrelenting.” How else can you explain this summer’s mauling of a 6-year-old girl in Dorchester County, who obviously posed no threat to two pit bulls which nevertheless left her with the loss of most of her scalp, and 80 stitches in her face and head? This is not the average response of momentarily annoyed dogs. Nor would most of us anticipate that our own pets would have to be shot to break off their attack, as were two other pit bulls this summer in separate instances on the Eastern Shore, and another from Delaware, just reported. Yes, the majority of pit bulls make faithful and harmless pets, but do we wish to deal with the exceptions?”
Whether or not many jurisdictions will, in the long run, be successful in banning a specific type of dog is a legal question, and unpredictable. I notice, though, that pit bulls and certain other dogs are banned from family housing on many military bases. This includes the United States Marine Corps, an organization not noted for its timidity. Of course, the military has no problem identifying breeds; “If the Colonel says it’s a pit bull ... !”
Dobermans are another breed often banned from family housing by the military, and I must reluctantly agree this makes sense. “Reluctantly,” for I have owned several, none of which has ever been a problem. But this takes us back to the difference between learned behavior, and inherited instinct, or temperament. I was fortunate to have worked with my dogs in obedience under a no-nonsense lady who had spent many years in the D.C. area training dogs and owners. She made sure we owners were Alpha Dogs, so to speak, so I learned to scale my dogs’ teeth, clip their nails, and generally be in control. But there is a temperament test for Dobermans, as there are for many breeds. These tests are used to determine what instincts have been inherited, in other words what basic traits you have to work with in a specific dog. Dobermans were developed to be guard dogs, so the temperament test includes an “attack” by a threatening stranger (in protective clothing) to see how the dog will respond. Note that the person handling the dog does not speak to the dog, nor in any way influence its behavior. His or her only job is to lead the dog on a leash. A “pass” on the test means the Doberman instinctively placed itself between the handler and the perceived threat, and attacked the aggressor if the threat persisted.
I emphasize that like the unrelenting attack by pit bulls, this is an inherited instinct in Dobermans, not related to training. The most laid back, friendliest of my male Dobes, which never showed any sign of aggression in the first four years of his life, looked up from his feeding dish in our home late one evening to see me in a distant doorway, dressed in clothing he had never seen. He neither barked nor hesitated; all I saw coming my way were teeth! He immediately apologized, but it is easy to see what might happen if the child of a family owning such a dog were roughhoused by another child, even in play, so it makes sense to prohibit the breed in high-density family housing.
I have one correction to make. A reader pointed out that in an article appearing in a December 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Association it was concluded no relationship could be established between breed and fatal attacks. In fact, more careful reading of the article reveals that no general relationship could be established because of the 256 dogs involved, less than eighteen percent were identified. This was a scientific presentation in which stated facts must be faultless; therefore the lack of pedigree or DNA verification meant no identification could be made. It also is the reason why in my own writing I always identify pit bulls “As reported.”
Ellicott McConnell writes from Easton.
I look forward to learning much here