"A woman in Washington was badly injured when a pit bull type dog and a pit bull mix breed dog got into her
house and attacked her dog, the neighbors dog she was watching and then
her. In the ensuing attack Ms. Gorman suffered extensive injuries to
her face, arms, breast and upper body.
Apparently the dogs got into her house through a sliding glass door
she left open during the night to allow her cats to go in and out. She
forgot to secure the door so that it wouldn’t open wider thus allowing
the pit bulls to push the door open and gain entry.
Again we can see how people have once again acted irresponsibly and
have made it harder for those who own stable pit bull type dogs and
take precautions to ensure that their dogs are properly contained.
The details aren’t very specific but it is clear that these dogs
were roaming off their property. Further, that the pit bull, Betty, has
had prior instances of aggression where animal control had to
intervene. This type of dog is atypical for the breed and should have
probably been euthanized once she showed signs of human aggression.
The problem here isn’t the breed of the dog as there are hundreds of
thousands if not millions of pit bull type dogs and pit bull mixes that
live with families as the family pet with no problems at all. The
problem is two fold:
- Bad owners,
- A lax legal system that does not prosecute bad owners, or a lack of laws to prosecute bad owners.
Bad dog owners abound. A bad dog owner is somebody who has a blind
spot to their dogs inappropriate behavior. For example, if the dog
growls at a person while on a walk the owner might blame the person
walking by instead of their dog for an inappropriate display of
aggression. Even worse is if the owner then “comforts” their “baby”
because of that “nasty person who was probably up to no good anyways.”
This kind of thing would simply reinforce the dogs inappropriate
behavior. There is a saying, “There is only one perfect dog in the
world and every dog owner has that dog.”
Owners need to evaluate their dogs behaviors from an objective
perspective as possible. For example, I know that my Rottweiler does
not like to have even me crowding her when she is lying down and
sleeping. Hugging her while she sleeps is not something that she wants
me or anyone else to do. So when she is sleeping I don’t crowd her and
I tell others not to as well. Also, she can be quite territorial and
when somebody comes to the house unannounced I have to make sure she is
calm before opening the door. My American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) on
the other hand simply loves people and any and all types of attention,
but she wants to attack every other dog other than my Rottweiler. As
such my APBT never goes anywhere off leash, she is not allowed to
socialize with any other dog, and dog parks are simply out of the
question.
The legal problem is also quite serious in that it allows the bad
owners to often get off with a slap on the wrist. Even if the victim
goes after the owner in civil court if the owner has few or no assets
even that might not allow for much of a punishment. And lets face it
many of the people who own APBTs and other pit bull type dogs these
days are not what you call pillars of the community. In this case
though it looks like the owner of the dogs will be facing some serious charges including a felony charge that carries with it a maximum jail sentence of 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
I think this is exactly the kind of thing that needs to be put in
place everywhere. If you own a dog and it is human aggressive or
trained to attack people, you, not the dog, should be the one who is
held largely responsible. Often times all that happens is the person
pays a fine, allows the dog to be euthanized, and that is about it.
Putting in place laws that would hit these irresponsible owners with
felony charges that included serious jail time might actually induce
people to be more careful in what dogs they choose to own and how they
train and treat them.
In short, laws like the one in Washington single out the deed and
not the breed and put irresponsible owners on the hot seat. Focusing on
the breed is wrong-headed for two reasons. First it can create a false
sense of safety when it comes to fatal dog attacks or even severe
non-fatal attacks. Second, the real problem are irresponsible owners
and a breed ban does not address irresponsible owners, but it does harm
responsible owners".
Article from 'Outside the Beltway' and written by Steve Verdon
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