| I just finished listening to the Spike Manton show (Chicago WCKG 105.9).
The host, Spike Manton, was throughly infuriating. I was frantically searching for his phone number throughout the entire thing, but couldn't find it anywhere. I tuned in at exactly 8pm, but then realized that it runs from 7-9pm, so I missed the announcement of their hotline number.
There were quite a number of great callers (many Rottie owners) defending Rottweilers. Of course, everytime they tried to explain how great their Rotties are, Spike would shut them up by mocking, "Yeah, yeah and they even weave baskets, etc.". Spike Manton's main point FOR legislation against Rottweilers and Pitbulls is a list that was included in today's Chicago Sun-Times article. The list gives the number of fatal attacks by Pitbulls and Rottweilers (from 1979-1988) as 66 and 39 respectively. Therefore, reasons Spike, they are dangerous breeds, and SHOULD BE ELIMINATED (his exact words throughout the show).
What he doesn't understand is that the reason for these statistics is because these two breeds are the FAVORITES of sick individuals who relish having dogs that can be trained to maim, kill, attack and fight. People like these aren't going to buy a beagle for these jobs. They buy Rottweilers and Pitbulls. THAT is why these breeds rank on top.
Toward the last part of the show, there are a few callers that had very sound arguments. One guy identified himself as African-American, and hailing from the same neighborhood where these attacks have been occuring. He testified that even though he loves his old neighborhood, he can tell you honestly that the people there that own Rottweilers and Pitbulls are NOT the types who have them as pets living WITH the family. More often that not, dogs of these types in that neighborhood are tied to a chain 24 hours a day, or trained to be vicious "guard dogs", and have no positive socialization with humans whatsoever. It is therefore not surprising that a number of these dogs become hostile and vicious.
Another caller, a vet tech, called to ask Spike if he knew which breed bites the most people each year. Golden Retrievers. The caller got this information from every vet he's ever worked with. Still, Spike was adamant, saying well yeah, but they're not on this list. Obviously, they're not a dangerous breed because they just bite, not kill.
Whenever his arguments got shot down (when callers argue that irresponsible DOG owners in general should be punished, not the dogs), he would call them "fanatics" because they care more about the dogs' lives than humans. He kept emphasizing his "flowchart" of importance - HUMANS.... then dogs. He even admitted that he doesn't give a rat's a** about dogs. If a human gets hurt by a dog, it doesn't matter if the human provoked it, it doesn't matter if the dog was trying to defend itself, the dog should be punished. Thus, according to him, since Rottweilers and Pitbulls rank the highest in terms of fatal attacks, these breeds should be ELIMINATED altogether. They're "loaded guns".
The thing was, as soon as he mentioned "children", nobody could argue with him. Nobody feels comfortable saying that children sometimes are the ones who instigate the attack . It's just not a very PC thing to say. It doesn't matter if the child was poking or hitting the dog with a stick. Spike made everyone who was trying to defend the dogs' actions look like an animal-rights fanatic. "How can you put dogs before humans?" argument.
A few people pointed out to Spike that we need to prosecute irresponsible PEOPLE, not the dogs. But he argued that since we don't know how to do that, let's just "make life simpler" by ELIMINATING dangerous breeds altogether. In short, this guy's an idiot.
Just wanted to give you guys a summary of the show (especially for those of you not in the Chicago area). I'm STILL fumed up. Think I'm gonna go walk my Rotties now.  |