dog attack blind woman

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#82
Considering that I own a dog that is listed in the CDC's top 10 of dogs that are responsible for the most bites, and my local city was on a anti-vicious dog thing, I looked up some info not too long ago.

Links for some stats
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=572
http://www.fataldogattacks.com/statistics.html
http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/dog_care/stay_dog_bite_free/questions_and_answers_about_dog_bites/

In the news today:
Chicago Tribune - Breed bans wont stop dog attacks
Edmonton Cananda - Dad's police dog attacks
South Florida - Recent dog attacks may spur laws

Story on Dog Fighting here in KC
 

Boemy

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#83
Pit bulls and their kin do tend to be dog aggressive, more than other breeds, because they were bred to fight other dogs. Some people seem to think this automatically makes them a "bad" breed. But if that's true, are the sighthounds "bad" breeds because they would cheerfully chase down and kill a pet cat? Even greyhounds who get along with their owner's cats will take off after strange cats and try to kill them. That doesn't make greyhounds a horrible monster.

Responsible pit bull owners do not let their dogs run willy nilly on the streets, just as responsible greyhound owners don't let their dogs run loose.

Are there irresponsible pit bull owners out there? YOU BET! I lived in a rotten neighborhood for a while and I saw tons of pit bulls with irresponsible owners.

The ones chained in the yard 24/7.
The breeding pair kept in a concrete kennel all year round with only a heat lamp for warmth.
The ones walked by young men who used huge chains as leashes.
The one who was literally shoved out of a pick-up at a stoplight, who had all his ribs showing.

But banning the pit bull doesn't mean these people won't get dogs. They aren't going to say, "Oh dearie me, no more pit bull, I guess I will get a goldfish instead." They'll just move on to another breed. How hard is it to find German shepherds? The third most popular breed in the AKC, I believe? It would be easy for the druggies and thuggies to get ahold of them and train them to act aggressively.

Just because the pit bulls make the headlines a lot doesn't mean they are attacking a lot. Example: I keep hearing people wail about how school shootings have been on the rise for years. NO THEY HAVEN'T! School violence has been DECREASING steadily for years! But every time a school shooting DOES occur, it gets in the papers because it's an "event".

Remember the article I mentioned before, where a cairn terrier severely injured a 70+ year old man? An animal control official was quoted as saying they responded to an average of one dog bite incident per day. Who knows which ones we don't hear about.

Although I DO think irresponsible owners (of any and all breeds) should be dealt with more severely than they are, I also think it's ridiculous for communities to get caught up in a panic. It reminds me of a newspaper article I read years ago. It was when people briefly thought orange juice might cause cancer. They quoted this mom who wasn't going to buy any more orange juice for her son anymore. Her son was sitting in a toddler seat on the back of her bike during the interview . . . without a helmet. Way to protect your son, lady.
 

nancy2394

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#84
I haven't read through this whole thread yet... :rolleyes:
But can we at least agree that this poor woman and her dog was attacked by a dog and hurt :( . It really doesn't matter what type of dog it is.. the fact is that she suffered injuries as well as her dog.

I think a lot of people do stereotype certain breeds. I was an owner of rotties for years and got the same flack the pits get. I really do believe that there are bad owners, not bad dogs.

However, with that being said.. this dog happened to be a pit and whether it was a pit, a golden, a rottie, a chi... whatever dog.. there has to be some responsibility of the owner of the dog.

If you have a dog that is considered an aggressive dog in nature, then don't let your dog free to roam the streets where something tragic could happen. No dog should be allowed to roam around unattended and not under the command of the owner or someone capable of keeping the dog under control.

It's attacks like this that do indeed fuel the fire when it comes to classifying pits as a bad breed. I think it's sad... because it's really not the dogs fault, it's how they were bred and raised.

I feel so badly for this woman and her dog. They did not deserve to get attacked like that. Tragic, very tragic.
 
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#85
The point is that the pit attacks get more coverage than other dog attacks simply because they involved pit bulls!
Er, no. Pit bull attacks get more coverage because they are usually kind of spectacular. It's one thing for a dog to bite, it's a whole other ballgame when they won't stop, which is a classic pit bull behavior in an attack. That's the sick fascination of attacks by fighting dogs. Their behavior results in both a lot of damage to their victim, and an effect of shock on witnesses.

Re: the greyhound analogy someone else mentioned. I've started to question that myself. There are three animals that are traditional partner animals with humans: the horse, the dog and the cat. One's an herbivore, one's too small to prey upon the other two, and the other is the dog. Dogs that run livestock are traditionally shot; dogs that kill cats are traditionally accepted as 'doing what comes naturally." I'm not so sure that holds water anymore. We live in an increasingly congested world, where cats have (I believe) become the most popular housepet. Is it truly fair to expect to keep this 'dogs will be dogs' attitude toward cat killing? And is it truly accurate to say that the desire to chase and kill a cat doesn't make the dog a bad dog?
 

Sweet72947

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#86
is it truly accurate to say that the desire to chase and kill a cat doesn't make the dog a bad dog?
Its called "prey drive." Grehounds and other breeds of dogs have been bred for centuries to be hunters alongside men. Its ok for the dog to have prey drive when hunting with a man, but you're saying if the dog exercises the same prey drive on a cat, he's "bad"? The dog doesn't know the difference!!

Oh, and as for the argument going on here about pit bulls:

Pit bulls are probably the most abused breed on the planet.
- People keep them chained up constantly or otherwise isolated constantly unless in a dog fight.
- People starve them
- People feed them GUNPOWDER to make them mean.
- People beat them
- People pit them against each other in horrible fights to the death. If a dog loses and is still alive at the end, maybe they'll just be shot, maybe they'll be left on the side of the road to die, or maybe they'll kicked around a little just for fun. Who knows.
I can show you a picture of a pit bull with half his face ripped off from a dog fight obtained during a raid on a fighting ring. What is he doing in the picture? Just standing there looking sadly at the cameraman. The dog was euthanized due to his injuries of course.

Yes, we are all saddened that a woman was attacked. It is awful and it shouldn't happen. But we are also sick and tired of hearing about "those evil pit bulls." Why doesn't anyone ever say, "Oh that stupid pr*ck of an owner, why did he let his dogs loose?" The woman fears retaliation, so that means the owner himself must be dangerous. I am not angry at the dogs. I am angry at the owner who lets agressive dogs run loose and is evil enough to retaliate against a blind woman who was injured by his dogs.

Ah, well. The evil, nasty, vicious pit bulls will be pts, and he'll just get himself something else to screw with and turn vicious.

The cycle continues.
 

Boemy

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#87
Oh, I didn't mean to imply that it was "okay" to let a dog kill cats! It's definitely not.

I don't think pit bulls or greyhounds are inherently bad, BUT . . . like any dog, they can have bad owners. And if they aren't kept under control, there can be bad and tragic results. A good owner wouldn't let his dog be in a position to harm other animals--whether cats or dogs. A good owner would keep his pit bull / greyhound / other breed secure in a fenced yard or on a leash and wouldn't let him wander the streets by himself.

Dogs that run livestock are traditionally shot; dogs that kill cats are traditionally accepted as 'doing what comes naturally."
Yeah, I used to meet people who asked how we kept Ebony from attacking our cat. HA! Yes, clearly these are natural enemies:

 

elegy

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#88
It's not a 'fixation' or 'blaming,' it's struggling to identify a problem and solve it. People who are worried about dangerous dogs continue to examine the question of breed and type not because of some ridiculous bias, but because of one fact - a few breeds are disproportionately responsible for dog bites, and severe and fatal dog attacks.
absolutely they're responsible for a disproportionate number of dog bites and attacks. and before it was the pit bulls, it was the dobermans. and before it was the dobermans, it was the german shepherd dogs. one breed being at the top of the bite list is nothing new. it's just migrated to the pit bull breed.

bad owners are going to be bad owners. people who are attracted to mean tough dogs are going to be attracted to mean tough dogs no matter what the breed. if they exterminate the pit bull, something, some other breed, will take its place.

which is why breed banning is not the answer. which is why this is not a breed issue but an owner issue.

In all the debate about nature/nurture, I've never seen it get so bizarre as in the pit bull debate. A pit bull is not all nurture; it's not just the owner. A terrible owner can't make a good pit bull into a killer. Like any dog, they have individual personalities, and various types of personalities can take different amounts of handling.
i don't disagree with this at all.

But the problems with the pit bulls is twofold. One, that these personalities come in a very different package than a Cocker or a St. Bernard. They're a breed or a type that has various physical and mental traits that make for a formidable enemy in an attack. Athletic and strong dogs, they were developed with two characteristics to make them better fighting dogs - a high pain threshhold and a tendency to become so aroused by a fight that they don't 'switch off.' And second, the fact that too many people are
st. bernards have been responsible for their fair share of deaths, too, btw. but that's not the point, i suppose. of COURSE pit bulls aren't like cocker spaniels. and they're not owned by the same type of people who generally own cocker spaniels, which is a huge part of the issue. people looking for tough manly dogs don't buy cocker spaniels.

deliberately creating bad pits. Where a puppy mill simple doesn't care if its unhealthy, unloved products have sound, family-safe, sane temperaments, the unscrupulous and belligerent who breed pits deliberately select for traits that will make a bad dog - aggression, belligerence, independence, aloofness - things that make a dog 'alpha' and 'a stud' in many people's eyes.
sure, but that doesn't make all pit bulls bad. or even *most*. my dogs are nothing special. they're run of the mill pit bulls who were picked up by animal control. i got them as adults. i'm sure they're not well bred, but they're both temperamentally solid, responsibly owned pit bulls. i suspect the majority of pit bulls live out their lives without causing anybody any trouble.

there are a HUGE number of pit bulls in the united states. HUGE. if they're not the most populous dog, they're second. and yet we're still only averaging the same number of dog-related deaths as we have been since they started keeping track. it's just much more of a media phenomenon these days, i think.
 

elegy

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#90
So, blaming the owners and bad breeders instead of the breed doesn't stop the attacks on dogs or people. If this is true, that statistically, Pits are attacking by such large numbers, then I understand peoples' worry about them as a breed. Sure, other dogs attack and are horribly dangerous too. But I do hear about an awful lot of pit attacks...media or not.

I'm sort of on the fence with this, I guess. I don't like breed legislation. Heaven knows...I have a Doberman. And I wouldn't like it even if I didn't have a Doberman.
gosh carrie it just absolutely blows my mind that as a doberman owner you can sit there and be "on the fence" about something like this. it wasn't that long ago that the dobermans were the plague of the dog population and the most feared breed out there. it baffles me and it saddens me.

blaming the breed doesn't stop dog attacks either. winnipeg banned pit bulls and their bite stats increased even though pit bull bites went down.

holding the owner accountable, making them liable and sending them to jail for manslaughter if their dog kills somebody, enforcing dog laws, leash laws, cruelty laws already on the books, banning chaining (109 of 431 people killed by dogs between 1965-2001 were chained dogs. statistically more than pit bulls.), and even (god forbid) passing laws regarding breeding practices are what's going to make a difference.

if your dog attacks somebody and all that happens to you is that your dog is killed, what long-term effect is that really going to have? just go out and get a new one. if your dog attacks somebody and you're fined a whole crapload of money or land your butt in jail, it's gonna sink in a lot more.
 

Boemy

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#92
Elegy, that's so true. I was twelve or thirteen when my parents finally let me get a dog and my mom wouldn't let me get any dog even vaguely resembling a German shepherd or a doberman. It seemed like there was a new dobie or GSD attack in the headlines every week.

When we found Ebony at the shelter, I fell in love with her and "forgot" to point out to my mom that one of her littermates had GSD markings. ;)
 

Red_ACD_for_me

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#93
Someone posted, (I think maybe Elegy) that mostly "male dogs" were responsible for attacks. Isn't it true that most of the male dogs who are responsible in these types of attacks were "intact/un-neutered" males? I have read some statistics on dog attacks that have stated that. I know here in the inner citys of Boston where there are LOADS of pitbulls that during one summer about 3 years ago we had 6 pitbull attacks on people and all 6 were un-fixed males. Must be the testosterone :yikes:

I FOUND SOME INFO ;)
Other factors associated with aggression include the following:

Male dogs are more aggressive than females, and most of the aggression is by intact males. Male dogs accounted for 70% - 87% of the attacks studied, and 60% were unneutered males. Readings in Companion Animal Behavior. Victoria L. Voith & Peter Borchelt. (1996: Trenton: Veterinary Learning Systems) pp. 226, 235
Public Health Reports: The Ethology of the Dog Bite. A. M. Beck, H. Loring, & R. Lockwood. (1975)
A Study of Animal-to-Human Bites by Breed in Palm Beach County, Florida. D. L. Moore. 1987.
 
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Amstaffer

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#94
Frankly I am getting tired of reading report after report about Pit Bulls attacking people and kids and other dogs, and the response is always " Oh people are Picking on the Pit Bulls unfairly"....rl]
Well frankly I am getting tired of people throwing logic to the wind and jumping on the ban(d)wagon and blaming Pit Bulls. If it is the breed please answer me two questions.....

1. If Pit Bulls are the problem and not the owners, why can you go to any dog show where you will find as many as 50 intact male Pit Bulls (the most dangerous...right) walking around strangers, kids, and other dogs and you never hear of one of them attacking or even snapping at anyone? Actually while walking Sal around at dog shows I very rarely even hear a growl. The Growls I have hear are usually from the little fluffy dogs.

2. If you look back prior to the inner city drug explosion of the 80s, why didn't pit bulls attack people then? Pit Bulls have been around a very long time and yet its only the last 20s years that you hear about all the attacks.

I have posted these questions before and the Pit Bull haters just ignore or skip over these two questions. I wonder why? :popcorn:

Why for the love of GOD can't we see that the problem is the humans, and attack the problem....Evil Humans.

I would love to take Athena and Sal and enter them into any temperment test contest. I bet they would match or best any dog on this board... not bragging just being honest.

Bobsk8..... also not to be funny here but have you looked closely into your dogs past? Looking at those ears, don't be suprised if there is a little pittie in that pedigree. :yikes:
 

iheartsammy

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#95
Well frankly I am getting tired of people throwing logic to the wind and jumping on the ban(d)wagon and blaming Pit Bulls. If it is the breed please answer me two questions.....

1. If Pit Bulls are the problem and not the owners, why can you go to any dog show where you will find as many as 50 intact male Pit Bulls (the most dangerous...right) walking around strangers, kids, and other dogs and you never hear of one of them attacking or even snapping at anyone? Actually while walking Sal around at dog shows I very rarely even hear a growl. The Growls I have hear are usually from the little fluffy dogs.

2. If you look back prior to the inner city drug explosion of the 80s, why didn't pit bulls attack people then? Pit Bulls have been around a very long time and yet its only the last 20s years that you hear about all the attacks.

I have posted these questions before and the Pit Bull haters just ignore or skip over these two questions. I wonder why? :popcorn:

Why for the love of GOD can't we see that the problem is the humans, and attack the problem....Evil Humans.

I would love to take Athena and Sal and enter them into any temperment test contest. I bet they would match or best any dog on this board... not bragging just being honest.

Bobsk8..... also not to be funny here but have you looked closely into your dogs past? Looking at those ears, don't be suprised if there is a little pittie in that pedigree. :yikes:
I agree 100%!!! also about you putting Sal and Athena in a temperment test against the dogs on this board, I'm think they would pass up Samm! Actully I know they would..Samm is a chicken and a little timid toward people and is afraid of other dogs. The funny thing (well more sad then funny) is when I go places with her, people will grab there dogs and ask if she is nice...lol..
 

Whisper

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#96
Well frankly I am getting tired of people throwing logic to the wind and jumping on the ban(d)wagon and blaming Pit Bulls. If it is the breed please answer me two questions.....

1. If Pit Bulls are the problem and not the owners, why can you go to any dog show where you will find as many as 50 intact male Pit Bulls (the most dangerous...right) walking around strangers, kids, and other dogs and you never hear of one of them attacking or even snapping at anyone? Actually while walking Sal around at dog shows I very rarely even hear a growl. The Growls I have hear are usually from the little fluffy dogs.

2. If you look back prior to the inner city drug explosion of the 80s, why didn't pit bulls attack people then? Pit Bulls have been around a very long time and yet its only the last 20s years that you hear about all the attacks.

I have posted these questions before and the Pit Bull haters just ignore or skip over these two questions. I wonder why? :popcorn:

Why for the love of GOD can't we see that the problem is the humans, and attack the problem....Evil Humans.

I would love to take Athena and Sal and enter them into any temperment test contest. I bet they would match or best any dog on this board... not bragging just being honest.

Bobsk8..... also not to be funny here but have you looked closely into your dogs past? Looking at those ears, don't be suprised if there is a little pittie in that pedigree. :yikes:
Excellent post. . .I'm in total agreement. I hope you do get your 2 TTed. . .I'm sure they'd pass with flying colors. ;)
 

Buddy'sParents

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#99
Now do you suppose that the person claiming that there were no witnesses and the entire story against the poor pit bull was fabricated by Pit Bull haters is going to apologize and say that apparently she was wrong..... Don't hold your breath......;)
You're such a joke... thanks for putting words in my mouth. :rolleyes:

We can all hail Bob now because he is so righteous in his hatred for the pit bull...

IF we would have had the second article in the first place I never would have questioned anything. The first article said NOTHING about eye witnesses, which was my problem with the story in the first place.

And when did I say the poor blind woman was making up the story? Silly Bob... your argument is weak... please try again. :p


The issue isn't whether or not pits sometimes attack! Of course they do! As do other dogs and even other pets.. though we should never go to he11 with it and BAN everything! We NEED to correct the problems that WE as a human race CREATED! Typical freaking human condition.. "Well we tried to mess with these creatures and it screwed us over.. lets punish the ones we screwed over in the first place.. not take the time to correct what we did wrong and punish those who continue to do so"

Squiddy.. I shall worship you now... :hail:
 

SiNNiK

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I don't think Bobsk8's dog would do very well, as it has already bitten him when he tried to take a chicken bone away.

[thread=33829]Bobsk8 gets relentlessy mauled by angry, food aggressive "pit-mix"![/thread] :p
 
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