Today I bought a copy of Cesar’s Way, a first issue journal, for my collection. It promotes the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, a program I’ve watched a few times on cable. Until I glanced through it, I didn’t realize he had such a love affair with pit pulls. They are everywhere in this magazine. The photo that really disturbed me was on p. 19: Halle Berry in Miami Beach playing with a neighbor’s dog--a pit bull. The toddler in the photo appears to be her daughter, but children shouldn’t be encouraged to play with strange dogs. ALL DOGS WILL BITE--they especially will bite children whose actions they don’t understand or which appear threatening to them. If Cesar has pit bulls and trusts them, fine, but this magazine encourages their selection as pets for families, and that's dangerous for your neighborhood.
According to the Examiner.com, only Ohio has a breed specific dog law singling out pit bulls, and it is considering legislation (H.B. 79) that would keep them from being labeled inherently vicious. But in Lucas County (Toledo) where Ohio State Representative Barbara Sears, who is from suburban Toledo, introduced the bill, over 1350 pit bulls were picked up in 2007.
According to DVM360.com, other states are considering breed specific bills. In Montana, House Bill 191 seeks to prohibit the ownership, harboring, or keeping of dogs described as pit bulls. The legislation considers pit bulls to include Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and "any dog that has the physical characteristics of a pit bull.
In Oregon, H.B. 2852, introduced in March, would require pit bull owners to have $1 million in insurance to cover any economic or non-economic damages that result from physical injury or any damage their dog causes to personal or real property. Of course, what insurance company would do that?
Hawaii Senate Bill 79 would prohibit the ownership, possession or sale of pit bulls in the state.
A New Mexico bill introduced in February would have automatically labeled pit bulls and Rottweilers as dangerous. Under current law there, any owner of a dog deemed to be dangerous must be spayed or neutered, microchipped and registered each year.
Many dog shelters are overrun with pit bulls. Nice pit bulls exist, says Sharon Harmon, Oregon Humane Society executive director, but "you can't escape the fact that it's a dog bred to kill."
Friday, September 11, 2009
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4 comments:
As a pitbull owner and animal lover. I think you maybe need to meet a pitbull before judging the whole breed. This is a breed that it so eager to do as the owner wants, whether good or bad. The dog only knows to do what the owner wants. If you are a good owner, you will have a great dog. We need to educate people about the breed so that the ignorance does not spread. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners.
All dogs will bite, even Chihuahuas and Labs. Pit Bulls probably do not get the owners they deserve, and unfortunately they get some really bad ones who recognize their breeding over many generations predisposes them to be vicious. I would not want one as a neighbor or a pet.
I agree with the anonymous blogger who responded and I fully agree with Cesar concerning pit bulls. I am a pit bull owner and would not have any other breed of dog. All dogs have the potential to bite if put in the right situation. The only reason we hear more about larger dogs such as pit bulls biting is because they can potentially cause more damage BUT chihuahuas and other smaller breeds are more likely to bite than the larger breeds but everyone passes it off as 'cute' and 'harmless' because there isn't as much damage. I'm sad to hear that pit bulls all around the world are getting a bad wrap because of a few carless owners. Any dog has the potential to be loving and gentle or vicious, it's all in the training and handling of these dogs. As Cesar says about two of his pitbulls, " I raised Daddy and Junior to be polite and respectful dogs - that just happen to be wearing pit bull outfits." This can be true will all breeds of dogs, they just need responsible owners and less closed minded people like yourself.
I wrote: "ALL DOGS WILL BITE--they especially will bite children whose actions they don’t understand or which appear threatening to them."
Is that closed minded? Please google some dog bite photos. The problem with rotties, pit bulls, German Shepherds, etc., is once they sink those teeth into the face of a child, there's not much that can be done. And I've heard the same sentiments about half breed wolves--Oh my sweety wouldn't hurt a fly.
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