I'm confused

[aseemom]

BLS in general confuses me. All dogs have teeth. All dogs can bite and maul. I've read the statistics, yes pits and rottweilers top dog related fatilities. But, the stats say nothing about the owners of the dog and the living conditions of the dogs.

BSL it seems to me takes the responsibility AWAY from the dog owner. In the past, I have been blessed with several wonderful companions including a chow mix, a malimute and a lab and now I have my 4 m/o female rottie Asee. All my dogs were trained in basic house hold and people manners. Asee will be the first to do formal obeidence training, not because she is a rottie, but she will be quite large and powerful. In essence, I, not my dogs not society, am responsible for my dog's behavior. I have watched my dogs. If I am concerned about behavior I ask my Vet. If it was determined that a dog of mine was dangerous it would be PTS, I would not wait for a bite to even happen. I also do not let my dogs into situations where a bite may occure, a dog of any breed will defend itself.

Basically, dogs in general do not "turn". It was such a good or nice dog ... There is something wrong with that, the owner was ignorant of its dog's temperment or lying, either way a call for BSL absolves these people.

Wouldn't it be better for lawmaker to stiffen the penalities against owners? Maybe make owning a dog that kills a human stand trial for murder? Wouldn't that make people more aware of the dogs that thay take responsiblity for?

Sorry if this is rambling, but BSL is illogical and I'm up way past my bed time. These posts are addictive.

[Sargeant_C]

Welcome to our world. We also feel it is not the breed but the owners. So with everyone speaking to their reps etc... we may be able to have some hope.

[panda]

To be brief, here in UK we have been reading of young French woman, who tried suicide and went into a coma and her pet dog bit off some of her face, the woman survived and has had a partial face transplant, we were waiting with baited breath to hear of the breed of dog, Rottweiler? NO, Pit Bull? NO, Bull Terrier? NO, just her sweet old Labrador X rescue. Of course if it had happened to be a Rottie all hell would have been let loose, and we would never have heard the end of it.

Anne and JoJo

[kywildcat581]

Total agreement here, the only reason we stand out is because our dogs have the strength to do serious damage - smaller ones dont. And society is scared more of size, they associate big with vicious and it's BS, then comes the BSL. I wish all small dogs bites were reported as well to have real-time stats. Maybe they would go door to door and confisgate poodles.

You show me a 110LB Chihuahua and I'll show you a dog I'm not even going around

[TR Young]

aseemom, you are talking about a country where a woman is awarded a huge settlement for being burned by McDonald's coffee. You are talking about a country where, if a burgler breaks into your home and is hurt while doing so, he can sue you and WIN. For some reason, we have elected officials who award STUPIDITY instead of punishing negligence. When it comes right down to the nitty gritty, it is our own faults for not getting involved with local elections, where the winners move on to bigger and better things and end up making the laws that are laws such as that damned BSL...

[jestbc]

good posting TR Young :)
A burglar can sue you and win? How is that even possible? What if one of my dogs bit him while he was stealing from me in my own home, would my dog be deemed dangerous?
That is a scary thought.

[derektjeep]

I don't mean to be negative or anything, but a lot of people get Rottweiler simply to guard their property. If one is PTS because the dog is being punished for hurting someone, then the owner can easily get another one. Many people are breeding Rottweilers illegally. Putting down a dog because she hurt someone wouldn't be the answer. A lot of owners would be laughing and saying "So what, I'll get another Rottweiler". In the "me first world", I think that if a person themselves are being punished for their dogs' behavior, they'll take responsible(hopefully).

[Necknot]

There was a case of a pack of dogs mauling a man near my home . 4 dogs were involved and the attack resulted in the death of the man . The only dog mentioned by breed on the local news was a pit-bull . All of these laws are stemmed from the selective media . The do not report the truth , they report half-truths and whatever feeds alredy established fears , this equals ratings . I dug around and found out there was a Lab , Spaniel and Retreiver involved as well . I e-mailed the news questioning why they convieniantly omitted mentioning the other breeds and received no reply . Same with the local paper . Disgusting!

[jute]

They ommited the other dogs, because they dont instill fear into the listener. What makes better headlines? Rotty attacked elderly person. Or Golden retriever attacked elderly person? Fear sells. I dont think people picturing the GR is picturing a mauling.

[aseemom]

I think that the best fear installing headline in this case would be "Four Dogs Maul .... Owner in Police custadity (sp) awaiting manslauder charges"

I know I'm harsh, but how else can society make people responsible for their dogs???

[Necknot]

It just seems as if the media does everything they can to further slander the breeds that are already singled out . Ticks me off to no end .

Luckily a neighboring county recently voted down BSL that was introduced . There were actually intelligent well-informed people testifying against it , and it worked.

Whew!

[aseemom]

[quote=Necknot]It just seems as if the media does everything they can to further slander the breeds that are already singled out . Ticks me off to no end .
QUOTE]

I think this happens because it makes that untrained spaz lab or goldie owner feel good, like , "I know he jumps and humps the guests, but at least it's not a killer rottie....."
Also I don't think enough people remember what they learned in HS ( I hoped they learned) about objective reading and fact vrs opinion. People may not understand that just because it is in the paper or on the news that is may NOT be true.