Comments on: Pit Bulls: DBRFs & BSL

By: E. Sánchez

E. Sánchez — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:28:30 +0000

So some advocates are dog fighters? That’s a shame! I’m a pitbull advocate and also an anti-dogfights!

By: taiairam

taiairam — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:35:56 +0000

I read the whole article and I agree that most of us are on the extreme side of the debate – which is a problem. However, I, as a Pit Bull type dog owner, am anti-BSL. I disagree that Pit Bull advocates should not be involved in anti-BSL coalitions ( “I feel that the focus of many pro-pit bull activist on stopping BSL is a misuse of energy and misses the heart of the issue, breeding.”) because the nature of BSL means that I have an enormous amount of trouble finding a place to live. I just want to be able to (safely) live anywhere I want with my dog and cat, but I can’t. And, as a renter, I don’t have the means to move if a BSL ban were to come to my community nor the resources to fight it in court. As a renter, it is difficult to find dog friendly apartments but it is impossible to find dog-friendly with no breed restrictions. The only reason I have a roof over my head is because the manager of my current apartments is a rescue dog lover and I have documentation that says my dog is not a Pit Bull. But, I can not count on that kindness in the future. I am a high school teacher, a well-educated, single woman and, when my lease expires in May, I have to find another home and I am terrified that I won’t be able to. I’d just as soon live in my car than get rid of one of my pets. There is a serious trickle down affect of BSL that you did not mention in your post at all…breed restrictions in apartments being one. Insurance is another hurdle. Not being able to board your dog or have it go to doggie day care is yet another…the reality of responsibly loving and owning a Pit Bull is a true burden that I did not even know existed until I’d already made the emotional investment to save my dog from being killed.

By: super carrie

super carrie — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:59:23 +0000

i read about 4 paragraphs and skimmed the rest. (i admit, i was getting frustrated and started to brush off your argument.)

anyway, any support for BSL is support for euthanasia. just because you support no-kill shelters doesn’t mean the dogs that weren’t lucky enough to get into those shelters just magically not die. if they have nowhere to go, then they’re SOL.

i now see where you mentioned the data. my response was to the giant list of “further studies” i didn’t see the part where you were arguing about the inaccuracies of the studies. i saw the list and assumed you agreed with them.

(sorry, i don’t deal well with long walls of text without section headings.)

By: 19peace80

19peace80 — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:54:29 +0000

Pretty much every argument here has been capably refuted by Merritt Clifton’s research and the Truth About Pit Bulls blog. I suggest doing some more research. And support for legislated spay/neuter of pit bulls does not equal support for legislated euthanasia.

By: skepticalvegan

skepticalvegan — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:16:54 +0000

“just because the term “nanny dog” wasn’t around before 1971…”

No, but it does mean that the line “Astoundingly, for most of our history America’s nickname for Pit Bulls was “The Nanny Do”” and similar statements made by pit bull advocates in a false myth. If you wanna argue that they are great with kids, go ahead, but its dishonest and misleading to perpetuate a myth while doing it

“i just can’t believe that you would prefer killing dogs than advocate for better legislation and more jail time for victimizers. “

I’m not sure how you got this out of the blog post. I DON’T advocate routine euthanasia and I do believe in far, far harsher sentences for dog fighters and other animal abusers. And I also believe in better legislation, but among other things this includes some forms of BSL & MSN as they are deemed appropriate by their communities. Did you even read the whole post or did you just assume that this was a pro-BSL, anti-pit bull post and have a knee-jerk reaction?

“i don’t know if any of those bite statistics account…”

All of these were addressed in the post, I’m getting the feeling you didnt read it.

By: super carrie

super carrie — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:11:47 +0000

just because the term “nanny dog” wasn’t around before 1971 doesn’t mean they weren’t loved and trusted family members who were great with kids prior to that.

same thing with “vegan” just because the word didn’t exist before it was created doesn’t mean there weren’t any people eating a plant-based diet. it’s semantics.

the reason why pit bulls are victimized is because they are so loyal. they want to please their people. (and it’s convenient to have a dog that refuses to bite you all while you are forcing it to fight other dogs.)

i just can’t believe that you would prefer killing dogs than advocate for better legislation and more jail time for victimizers. that’s like saying you want to kill the children from abusive homes, because they’re more likely to be violent than children from well adjusted homes. (it also says you are against having any children in any homes in a neighborhood that has a high rate of abuse. how does that make any sense!)

i don’t know if any of those bite statistics account for the percentage of dogs of that breed that simply exist. (you’re bound to see more bites from a breed that is way more prevalent than one that is relatively rare, but if the data is adjusted to reflect that, the outcome is bound to be different) also, these days “pit bull” is to dangerous dog as “kleenex” is to tissue. the media knows that if they slap “pit bull” on their story that it’ll get a lot more hits than if they omitted the breed, which may or may not be pit bull. there’s a great quiz with photos of lots of breeds of dogs, and you’re supposed to pick out the pit bull. lots of times people have no idea what a pit bull looks like, so they’ll just say “pit bull” if it looks like what they think a pit bull is supposed to look like. that skews the data, too.

By: 19peace80

19peace80 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:22:50 +0000

THANK YOU for finally breathing some sense into this issue. Too many vegans/AR people just repeat the jingoistic breeder slogans–”nanny dog,” “America’s dog,” “Stop BSL”, “Blame the deed not the breed” ad nauseum. If we want to end pit bull crisis facing shelters, the humane community, animal shelters, and responsible pit bull keepers need to support common-sense BSL that welcomes only altered pit bulls into communities. The only people who have to whine about spaying/neutering pit bulls are the pit breeders and fighters.

“More adoptions will not end shelter killing of pit bulls” by Merritt Clifton is one of the best animal welfare-related articles I have ever read. I suggest it to everyone, pro- or anti- BSL.

By: Charlotte Haze

Charlotte Haze — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:34:24 +0000

Is it not realistic to think that environment is the most important part of this? I’m not talking about nurture vs. nature, even nature is just environment worked into the genes… these animals have been domesticated, like most other dogs, for millenia, so it’s not like having a pit-bull in the house is akin to having some wild animal that could turn.

I am not concerned with who makes up the pit-bull advocacy community. Obviously it is so that dog fighters and breeders and the like make up a wide share of it, as they have their own stake in it. I have nothing to do with advocacy groups. All I am saying is that the approach to the pit-bull problem by the anti-pit-bull people is an ignorant one, for reasons already explained, probably all based on fear… and that I am rather certain that the type of breed that a dog is has less to do with their propensity for turning than does something like environment. And perhaps that the damage that these dogs can do when they turn is responsible for their infamy… I have been attacked by chihuahuas and other small dogs times innumerable, but of course this is not a big deal so it doesn’t get spread in the news. Not that this is a fault of breed either, probably small-dog owners let them get away with much more. It seems that way with the ones that I know.

Anyway, I am not some biased, blinded, vehement bleeding heart here, quite the opposite. This just seems simple and obvious to me.

Thank-you for you hard work! It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it.

By: skepticalvegan

skepticalvegan — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:03:12 +0000

Pit bulls have only been known as “nanny dogs” since 1971 as PR move by the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of America. It doesn’t have actual historical basis, just more propaganda from dog breeders and fighters that gets lapped up by well-meaning, dog-loving, animal rights activists.
I’m not so sure its just environment. This is the old nature-versus-nurture debate, and while unsettled we are coming to find that both play a major role.

None of this is to say I dont like pit bulls. Ive lived with numerous ones and would still adopt one today. In fact most of my life I have had “dangerous breeds” from a rottweiler, a pit or boxer/lab mix, and a doberman mix. They were all wonderful dogs, the rottweiler was especially sweet and the opposite of the image they are given.

Im just asking for people to be a little realistic and understand that the pit bull advocacy community is often populated by and/or a tool of breeders and even dog fighters

By: Charlotte Haze

Charlotte Haze — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:02:30 +0000

I think it’s an excellent point that bad people tend to want pit-bulls. Actually, I think it is THE point. Every pit-bull owner besides myself that I know got one because it makes them feel tough or cool, unfortunately. Also, given all the anecdotes that I have heard and also my firsthand experience, animals period don’t like when people FIGHT around them. If there are any statistics on this I think you would find that a fight in the animal’s environment often triggers the attack. My pit-bull has never acted dangerously or mean, because I have given it love, and so it responds with love. 10 years old now, many children and even infants have played roughly with my dog, pulling ears, hitting, jumping on, etc., and my always friendly and rambunctious dog has never batted an eyelash. These breeds can do a lot of damage, but WHY they do damage has very little to do with breed. These dogs have even been known as “the nanny dog!” The environment that they are placed in I am sure has everything to do with their behavior, much like any other living thing on the planet.