Do Not Blame the Dog Breed -Use Common Sense!

You know, for most people it's very frustrating to see when someone does not use common sense.

It is common sense that an unsocialized dog -who spends his life pent-up and in a very small bubble around maybe two people at the most - is eventually going to turn one of them or something else into a "target."

A couple of years ago, I heard a news story about a man who had a Pit Bull. He kept it in a very small cage, with plenty of food and water. And he kept the cage clean by rinsing it out with a hose. But he did not play with, interact with, or exercise the dog.

Well, not surprisingly, the day came when the man walked in to feed him, and the Pit Bull killed him. Of course, the dog was euthanised.

Once an animal has killed someone, yes, I agree - It needs to be put down. Unless, of course, it was saving someone's life.

However, you do have to recognize that you can't blame the dog breed for the stupid actions of one person. Especially powerful dog breeds - Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Pit Bulls, or any working dog for that matter - HAVE to be exercised, socialized, and disciplined.

When are people going to learn to do research on a dog breed before they get a dog, and to get help when things are getting out of hand?

Please, everyone, use common sense!

Rena Murray
DogWhisperWoman

Dog Breed Prejudice or Just Sound Wisdom?

I don't spend much time on forums. Although there are some people there who have a lot of knowledge or ask intelligent questions (and it's great to share information with them), there are also people who pose the most ridiculous dog questions that anyone who did a little "thinking through" would figure out.

One particular individual felt that Labs, Goldens, and German Shepherds were always in the spotlight when it came to movies. He was very angry because Beagles weren't. He also felt the Police Force should use them because their sense of smell is better than German Shepherds.

The truth is that we don't need to be making movies where Beagles are the stars ... or any hound dogs, for that matter. I love these dogs, but they make lousy family pets. They are miserable when they don't get to hunt. Imagine not getting to do the one thing you are born to do! That's cruel.

If these dog breeds are promoted in movies, people go out and buy them as house pets, because they think how cute that dog was in the film. Appartently some producers are starting to figure that out.

If you want to make a movie that has hound dogs in it, do one about Search and Rescue Dogs that shows how wonderfully their gifts can be used ... and yet shows them as working dogs, not pets. This would stimulate people to get involved in the training of Search and Rescue Dogs, instead of filling our animal shelters full to overflowing with perfectly beautiful dogs.

When this gentleman stated that Beagles should be used on the Police Force because of their superior sense of smell... Yes, he's right. They do have a better sense of smell than German Shepherds. However, he did not take into consideration the fact that Beagles howl and bawl when they have located that for which they were searching. German Shepherds don't.

Shepherds are silent and unpredictable in their movements against the target. With a Beagle, though, how many lives would be lost simply because of a loud-mouth dog! That's far too high of a risk to take.

People Attacking Dogs

Dog attack? Who's attacking whom?

When I was nine years old, I was attacked by a Huskie. Thank God I was able to jump in the van out of the way of the dog! In the midst of my running, the dog was shot by an officer for the Humane Society. The dog was rabid.

This does not give me any kind of excuse to attack the breed, to hate Huskies. I love them, as a matter of fact.

My point is -- Just because you have a bad experience, that does not give you any right to go around saying the breed is bad, the breed should be banned, or the breed should be destroyed.

Pit Bulls, German Shepherds, and Rottweillers are ones at which people point fingers quite frequently. There are bad apples in every bunch. What you do is rehabilitate or get rid of the bad dog.

There was a Pit Bull in my house before I was born. And my neighbor's German Shepherd was my second best friend. My grandmother had a neighbor with Rottweillers that loved me. (By the way, that dog liked tangerines and slurped one right out of my hand when I was five.)

Chihuahuas, Yorkshire Terriers, Maltese, and Dachshunds are very commonly nasty with people. Should we ban these breeds, too?

It's not fair that people go around excusing the little dogs, thinking it is somehow funny when they charge with that same intensity, and nothing gets done about it. It is just as wrong for my neighbor's Chihuahua to bite my angles as it is for another neighbor's Rottweiller.

I grew up with great experiences with these powerful breeds, but also with a great respect and awareness of what they can and can not do.

Inexperienced people have no business owning these breeds. Don't take a dog just because you feel sorry for it, or you think it's cute, or you simply want protection. The dog is not a computer program that you can install, and it will do exactly what is on that disk.

All three of these top breeds are working breeds. If they are shut in a yard all day, everything becomes a target to them. That is where the danger comes in.

Not letting these dogs know who is in charge from the beginning is where danger comes in.

Taking home a dog that shows aggression symptoms from the beginning is danger.

Breed discrimination needs to STOP, and COMMON SENSE needs to set in.

Rottweillers were bear dogs. That is why their tails were docked, so the bears could not grab them and rip them off. The dog would bleed to death.

Pit Bulls were used to move a bull, or to block a bull from killing a person. They would hold on to the side of the face of the bull until the bull surrendered, hence the name "Pit Bull." They were NOT bred for fighting. That was just a cruel thing that was started in the 1960's.

And German Shepherds, by the way (my favorite) - They were bred for herding...sheep especially. It didn't take very long for them to be used in the military.

Everybody, please, start using some common sense!