I’m going to go in about a contraversial topic with my opinion. Lots of people feel very strongly about this topic, so I’m sure to catch some flack. So here it goes:

If you live near someone stupid enough to own a pitbull, you should carry a shotgun with you.
And if you ever see the dog loose, you should shoot it right in the head.

OK, first argument: It’s the owner’s fault! Great. You still have a shotgun in your hands, shoot the owner in the head too for being stupid. I’m not a lawyer, but I think that should be allowed.

This is brought on by yet another news story of another pit bull attacking a young child.

I’ve known two people who have been mauled by pit bulls. The girl who lived down the street from me had several years of surgeries to correct all the damage. But you know what, I have never, in my entire life, ever met anyone who has been bitten by any other breed of dog. Not even mauled, but just bitten. Ok, I’m sure that the people who run the dog grooming places I’ve taken my dog to have been, and of course postal carriers, but in normal “just walking down the street, minding my own business” activities.

And there are statistics that show how bad it is:

From 1979 to 1998, at least 25 breeds of dogs have been involved in bite related deaths. Pit Bulls and Rottweilers were involved in more than 50 percent of these incidences.

In a study reported by a retired professor from California State University at Chino, Robert Plum, it was found that one dog in 55 will bite someone seriously during the course of a year. With respect to breed differences in the tendency to inflict serious injury, Plumb estimates that when a pit bull bites a human, one in 16 (e.g. 1/16) will inflict serious injury; this contrasts with a ratio of 1/296 Dobermans, and 1/156 German shepherds.

All the pit bull owners quickly point to this case:

A 10 Lbs Pomeranian killed a baby a few years ago… Obviously a problem with that particular dog, not the breed. “The baby’s uncle left the infant and the dog on a bed while the uncle prepared her bottle in the kitchen. Upon his return, the dog was mauling the baby, who died shortly afterwards. (”Baby Girl Killed by Family Dog,” Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 9, 2000, Home Edition, Metro Section, Page B-5.)”

Whoa! that proves that pit bulls are completely non-violent and misunderstood. Bullshit. Of course all breeds of animals are capable of violence. Thats not the point.

The point is: (From the CDC)

the data indicate that Rottweilers and pit bull-type dogs accounted for 67% of human DBRF in the United States between 1997 and 1998. It is extremely unlikely that they accounted for anywhere near 60% of dogs in the United States during that same period and, thus, there appears to be a breed-specific problem with fatalities.

So, a small percentage of dogs are responsible for the highest amount of human deaths.

Supporters of the breed tend to say stupid things like: If you found out that one certain model of car was responsible for more deaths, would you ban that car? Ummm.. Yeah, why the hell do you think the government makes manufacturers recall cars with specific safety problems? If one certain model car tended to explode when rear ended, a recall is certain. Now, other cars may occasionally explode, that’s not the point at all. But when a car that is 2% of the market is responsible for 60% of the deaths, then you can be pretty sure that it is defective. And if you can’t see the problem, you are willfully blind.

Another ridiculous argument goes that other breeds are more likely to bite. Again, a dog bite, while painful, is much different than a mauling. All dog breeds have teeth, and animals bite. Duh. But what is different here is that in this case, breeds that make up a bigger part of the population tend to have an overall number of bites. When adjusted for population, the overall trend is flatter. Very very few breeds of dog are known to maul people to death.

I do see that rottweilers are also listed as the second highest number of maulings. I have a rottweiler that lives in the house behind me. And you know what? If it ever got out of its fence, and even looked like it was going to come near me, my wife, or my dog, I’d drop it without a seconds hesitation. And why? When anyone even walks by their fence (which sits right on the edge of the sidewalk) the dog will be right up as close to that fence as possible barking and snarling. If it could get through it, after watching what it does, I know that it would attack anyone it could get close to.

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