So Mad!!

[amstaff]

As some of you know, i have a boxer Amstaff mix named Anabell...now to someone that doesn't know dogs...she looks like what people would call a "pitbull" Well anyway, my wife, anabell and i were out for a walk yesterday morning through my neighborhood, out of no where this small yip yip dog comes out from behind a house, and starts to attack anabell...biting her legs and such...nothing serious. Anabell does what she's supposed to do, and sits in the heal position next to me...but then barks at the dog to get it to stop. The owner comes out....and gives US a dirty look!!!!!! He picks up his dog and starts to walk inside. THEN TURNS BACK TO GIVE US A DIRTY LOOK AGAIN!!!!! his dog wasn't leashed, his dog attacked anabell...and she did nothing but bark...oh it got me so mad!!!! i hate stupid people! sorry, i just needed to vent

[MissDolittle]

I'm surprised you have not fallen victim to the stereotyping before. It's been a big issue here in town, mainly because everybody with low self-esteem, mostly stupid teenagers, have pits. The bigger and meaner looking and acting, the better.

Of course they don't take care of them, don't get them fixed or vaccinated, so we got them running loose and having puppies everywhere. And the more pits there are, the more pit-bites will occur. It'd be the same with a bunch of poodles. Labradors are actually leading the national dog bite list, simply because there are more labs than any other dog breed, since it's popular. Or at least it was like that a few years ago.

So, now the shelter here euthanizes every pitbull and pitbull mix, since they already have to put down 90 percent of what comes in there, pits go first.

And that's all because of these stupid stupid stupid kids that are so stupid that they need a dog to make 'em look cool.

Be strong, my friend, be strong for your dog, because Anabell feels when you get pissed and will pick it up and act upon it..so be strong, stand above their vanity and stereotyping, because YOU know better than they do. You don't have to convince or change everybody's mind either. I know it's tempting, believe, it is so tempting, but way too frustrating.

Just live the example, you have come so far with her, concentrate on that and the people that appreciate her.

[amstaff]

thanks....i'll keep fighting the good fight...and spreading the truth about the breed..

funny side story....before anabell...we had sadie...she was a staffy. well, one day we were at the pet store (now mind you, sadie made rin tin tin look like an untrained dog) and a woman tentatively asked me if she was a pitbull... i politely said no, she's a staffordshire bull terrier...then the woman cheered up, and started to play with her...i had to laugh! and so did the woman working at the pet store who witnessed the episode. it just goes to show you how stupid people are.....

thanks again!!

[MissDolittle]

ROFL, very good one!!!

I was just reading the news and guess what jumps at me first:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/052008dnmetpitbulls.b6e14b5.html

[amstaff]

euthanize the owner...not the dog...the only crime involving the dog was the one done to him.

i'm acually pretty lucky. around where i live, there are a lot of people who acually understand the "pitbull" (and acually understand the difference between the bully breeds!!). some people like the lady that interacted with my "vicious" staffy are just plain dumb....but most in this area (allentown pa) are pretty well educated.

[MissDolittle]

I'm pretty mad myself right now! Let me explain:

For weeks we had this black Lab running around here, roaming the streets. He was only out at certain times, so we assumed he belongs to somebody and they just let him out instead of walking him.

We tried to catch him, no go. We tried to follow him to find out where he lives, he kept evading us. Animal Control came out a few times, didn't work.

Last week he was killed by a pitbull. Animal Control wrote the owner of the pit a ticket.

Now ask me if I am going to walk my dogs any time soon. I know the pit is usually loose, he has followed us a few times with that red zone stare.

Maybe I should get one of those sticks the police has, because I'm not going to walk around with a baseball bat, and pepper spray has shown to be useless against red zone dogs in general.

Some of my elderly neighbors walk with a cane here, none of them needs it for walking..isn't that sad?

Every idiot in this neighborhood with a low self esteem has a pitbull to make up for it...all the wrong reasons. How do you live with that? Or a better question: what do you DO about it?

I personally love pitbulls, they are beautiful dogs, but as with every breed, there are some bad apples and because they are very strong dogs, they can do more damage. Now putting this power into the wrong hands and you have a ticking time bomb.

Eliminating the breed is not the answer, because another breed will take it's place in no time. When I grew up, the "bad guys" were the German Shepherds.

However, tougher laws on owners of exceptionally powerful dogs (above a certain weight and/or size maybe, which would include me too) might help. But laws need to be enforced and that's where the solution usually fails. Not enough manpower.

If everybody who has a dog above a certain size would need to obtain a permit and show proof of vaccination and proof of being spayed or neutered, that would be a start. Breeding such dogs would require a harder to obtain permit.

Germany has a very nice system where every dog owner has to have a permit, and that law is being enforced. Animal shelters there have waiting lines for adoptions, sometimes people wait for months before a dog becomes available! So I know it works.

Maybe I'm going to propose a new law and see how far I get.

[amstaff]

let me know where to help! i will sign, lobby, give blood...anything to help!! i hate stupid owners

[Fluffytial]

I agree that something should be done but I think that just enforcing the already existing laws would take care of just about all the problems. We have an animal ordinance here that prohibits dogs running at large and requires all dogs be leashed or under voice control at all times. Well if that was enforced we wouldn't have these dogs chasing us when we try to walk our dogs or all these dogs just running loose in the town. But just like MissD said there isn't enough manpower. Our county has this ordinance but nobody who will really enforce it or pick up dogs that are running.
I really don't know how proof of vacination or nuetering would help. If you had to get a permit then they would decide to charge a fee and the fee would keep going up because they would suddenly decide they needed more money and these dogs would still be running loose. I think that would work about as well as gun control (a different issue!).
I guess my bottom line is we don't need more laws. I don't mean to be quarrelsome:smile20: . I guess you can tell I feel strongly about it.

[MissDolittle]

Thanks for the feedback! You are not the only one seeing it that way, Fluffytail. A dear friend of mine who is involved with the http://www.stopbsl.com and owns http://www.happypitbull.com gave me very similar feedback.

She said that the current leash law should be enough, amongst other things.

So it does boil down to the laws being sufficient but the man power is lacking to enforce them.

Funny, I wrote the City last week because they closed off the park for off leash dogs, signs everywhere, without offering an alternative. I suggested a dog park, made my case by comparing dog parks in other cities, their reasons, regulations etc etc, and I also suggested to look into hiring another ACO maybe, because they have their hands so full, a dog running loose is really not their priority..and then adding a dog park to the City would probably add to their calls as well, I can imagine.

I don't know, I just want to take my dogs out for a walk without having to be afraid!!! That can't be that hard. My dogs don't get walked at all anymore, now that the rabies quarantine is over, they are still stuck! That's just not fair.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Here luckilly, we don't have trouble with dogs roaming. We get the occassional stray, but it is usually a little dog. We have had a dachsund mix, an airdale beagle mix, a basset hound, and a chihuaha found. We were able to find all their owners and give them back and rarely had any further incidences. The problem we have here is stray cats. I HATE cats! They kill sooooooooooooo many baby bunnies and birds in my yard alone. We currently have 4 that roam our yard every day. There was one that wouldn't leave my outside bunnies alone. I had them out in the prerelease cage and EVERY time I went out he would be sitting there staring at them. They were terrified and would just sit there and wouldn't eat. I finally had to put sheets up so at least they wouldn't see him. That did the trick. I just think cat owners need to be held responsible for their animals as well. That is a whole other topic though.

[SnyperKat]

As much as I love cats, I can whole heartedly agree that they are ecological hazards!! I'd rather keep my cats indoors, but we have three cat doors installed sooooo... can't do much about that.

[MissDolittle]

As much as I love cats, I can whole heartedly agree that they are ecological hazards!! I'd rather keep my cats indoors, but we have three cat doors installed sooooo... can't do much about that.

Ditto...