This is very sad

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I'm against pitbulls, and this is why.

 

Because obviously, every pitbull acts like that whenever it's owner turns it's back on it.

No, I hardly think it's the pitbulls fault, more than it being the owners fault. Pitbulls are generally more agressive yeah, but with proper care from the owner, there's no reason why the pitbull should behave any differently than any other dog.

On the other hand, the story is indeed a sad one though.

 

I just saw this on the news and the little boy's face made me cry.

 

What makes everyone think this pitbull had an owner? There's no evidence of one; it could very well have just been a wild dog.

 

In County Antrim? This isn't Africa we're talking about here mate. The poor thing will have an owner somewhere, and it will have been neglected and probably mistreated. Dogs don't turn nasty on their own.

 

But that also doesn't mean the dog had an owner. My first thought reading what was posted was: who teased the dog? I do agree with you, Barmy, that dogs (and animals generally) don't attack without cause. If this pitbull had taken that section of woods as his/her territory, 4 strange dogs waltzing into it would probably put him/her on defensive mode.

Hamstring the leader and the rest will flee.

 

Fair enough. Properly bred Pit Bulls are docile and friendly to humans and are, in fact, a poor choice for a guard dog for that very reason. But not all breeders breed them properly. More than a fifth of the 279 US dog bite fatalities between 1979 and 1996 were attributed to Pit Bulls (60). Rottweilers, by comparison, were responsible for just a little more than a tenth (29). The Pit Bull has it's reputation for a reason.

 

Pit bulls and rottweilers suffer from bad publicity which is primarily the fault of their owners. Both breeds REQUIRE training at a young age and constant attention. Without both of those, these dogs are the animal version of Russian Roulette. The biggest downfall of both of these breeds is lazy or neglectful owners. Most dogs develop neurotic tendancies when not given the right attention (which is very breed specific) -- this is extremely dangerous for powerful dogs.

I'm not against the dogs themselves, but rather the owners who do not have a clue (or even care about) the requirements of the breed. Unfortunately, too many owners of these types of dogs take pride in that they have a 'dangerous animal' and treat the poor dog in a way to accentuate those tendancies.

Back to the article: Heroism can sometimes be sad, but nearly always touches the heart. There was a lab out here in the Chicago area that saved some children from a Rottweiler last year. The kids were walking home from school, a loose Rottweiler attacked (one of the kids made himself a target so the others could get away). The attack occured in front of a house and the owners (who didn't know the rott or the kids) went out to save the boy -- their lab beat them to it. The lab was quickly overpowered and dragged around like a chew toy, but the boy escaped. The rott was put down when police arrived at the scene. Good ending though -- the Lab survived and was given a heroes welcome from the school (the teachers even pooled their resourses to pay the vet bills).

[ November 09, 2006, 16:38: Message edited by: T2Bruno ]

 

And what kind of people are usually the owners of pitbulls? From what I have seen, young men, exclusively. And what do many of these do? Train the dogs to attack, some owners even giving the dogs anabolic steroids to make them even stronger and more aggressive.

 

Sad. I remember our family having a huge rottweiler when I was about three. The nicest dog you could ever find. Me and my sister pulled her tail (or what was left of it, seeing tails were still cut during that time), took rides on her - heck, we even took her food. And nothing ever happened. Nicest dog ever, seeing what her breed was...
But I agree, some dogs are just more aggressive than others, and even bred for that. This was all good and fine back then when dogs were very effective guards, when there were no cameras or such to protect property. Then, having a few aggressive dogs to guard property was nothing but a common alternative to trained, expensive guards. But now, the old rules don't apply that much any longer...

It's sad, really.

 

It's sad that the more agressive breeds are always the toughest as well. My nan used to have labs and they aren't a push-over by any stretch.

 

Arguments based on the training of the dog strike me as weak. You can train a lion to perform tricks in a circus. Does this mean we should let lions wander through parks full of children?

 

I am Deirdre Doherty, Troy's owner

I am the mother of this family & I can assure you, this dog was extremely well cared for, trained in fighting & I know this because

1. I WAS THERE

2. We know who owned the dog, & know that it was set upon us as a warming up exercise for a fight later that night. Sadly, the police failed to prosecute the owner as he did a runner when his dog was shot by them.

I am aware, however, that this dog was doing what it was told by his master, but the tendencies are still prevelant in this breed!

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I am the mother of this family & I can assure you, this dog was extremely well cared for, well trained in fighting, had not been neglected & if you can class his fight training as mistreatment, that's up to you & I know this because

1. I WAS THERE

2. We know who owned the dog, & know that it was set upon us as a warming up exercise for a fight later that night. Sadly, the police failed to prosecute the owner as he did a runner when his dog was shot by them.

I am aware, however, that this dog was doing what it was told by his master, but the tendencies are still prevelant in this breed!

Also, have you any idea how much your comment about hamstringing the leader upset my family, Cole was our biggest, certainly but also our meekest natured & in actual fact, not only did he not fight back, he didn't even struggle because he had absolutely no clue as to why he was being attacked & btw, we had walked our dogs in that same forest several times a week for just over 12 years & had never seen this dog before, so no, our dogs were not the strangers therefore there was no excuse for "defensive mode"!!!

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I am the mother of this family & I can assure you, this dog was extremely well cared for, trained in fighting & I know this becuse we do actually know who owned the dog, & know that it was set upon us as a warming up exercise for a fight later that night. So, no neglect & mistreated? only by way of training him to be a local, well reknowned fighting champion. Sadly, the police failed to prosecute the owner as he did a runner when his dog was shot by them.

I am aware, however, that this dog was doing what it was told by his master, but the tendencies are still prevelant in this breed!

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I am the mother of this family & I can assure you, none of our dogs even attempted to retaliate or even fight back in self-defence until my 10 yr old son was being mauled & both my husband & I were not near enough to intervene...it was then & only then that Troy intervened & even then all he did was use his body weight to knock the pitbull off his stride by barrelling into it's midriff, pulling it away from our son. Troy wasn't even half the build of the pitbull & stood no chance...& he knew it too, but he loved his master enough to give his life for him.

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Thank you Cuchulainn, for posting this story, my family appreciate yor effort, even now, almost six years later. We will never recover from what happened