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If I'm going to worry about threats, I'm going to try to prioritize the ones that are most likely to happen. Statistically, I'm far more likely to be harmed by a human than a dog, and exponentially more likely to be fatally harmed.* It makes no more sense to eradicate all dogs, which seems to be your agenda, than to eradicate all humans.
* 2018 statistics: intentional homicides in USA: 17,250. Fatalities due to dog attacks in USA: 36.
I guarantee you...that if I go out for a walk in my neighborhood on this beautiful Sunday morning, odds are EXTREMELY on the side of my being attacked by a dog rather than getting shot by somebody.
I guarantee you...that if I go out for a walk in my neighborhood on this beautiful Sunday morning, odds are EXTREMELY on the side of my being attacked by a dog rather than getting shot by somebody.
"Attacked by a dog" -- that could mean a bite by someone's old, cranky Chihuahua. Attacked by a dog and being shot are two totally different things and not, taken on the whole, equally serious. Are there more fatal dog attacks in your neighborhood than murders? Maybe so, but while there hasn't been a homicide since 2004, there hasn't been a fatal dog attack during that time ever.
Our city has strict leash laws. Dogs aren't roaming around; they are in houses or secure yards or out walking on a leash. Once in a while a dog does get out, but people's dogs here aren't vicious because they are well-treated and well-behaved house pets. Years ago, one of my kids accidentally left the gate open and our pit bull wandered down the street. He didn't go attack anyone, and neither we nor the neighbors were the least bit worried that he would, any more than we worried when the neighbor's husky got out.
I never had a problem with my pit bull. He was affectionate and non-aggressive towards people and dogs (and cats). Many people in my town have pit bulls. I see them often while out walking, and they are all calm and well-mannered.
It sounds like you live in a place where people don't bother to train or control their dogs. No dogs should be roaming around unleashed or left alone in yards. Sorry for your bad experiences, but they are not a reason to "ban" other people's well-behaved pets.
I agree about poorly trained dogs being a problem, but certain animals (through no fault of their own) are simply more dangerous. Dog breeding exists(ed) for selection of traits. Size, strength, prey drive, tenacity, etc. Yes, there are small dogs bred for characteristics that would be nuts if their size was bigger. But they are small. Pit bulls are not.
Interestingly, we often see morphology and behavior going hand in hand in nature, and there are similar findings in a 15 year study done by OSU:
Researchers found pit bulls and mixed breed dogs have the highest risk of biting and cause the most damage per bite,” the Wexner Medical Center said in a news release. “The same goes for dogs with wide and short heads weighing between 66 and 100 pounds.
Dogs are live animals that CAN do you great harm all on their own.
Guns are inanimate objects that can do nothing to you of their own accord.
The similarity between the two comes about in the fallacious viewpoint held by many - far too many - that the solution to reducing the injury, fatality, and general mayhem caused by dog and gun attacks is to fix the people associated with them.
Everyone of sound, mature mind knows that the people problem is perpetual and will never be fixed. We all know that it is getting worse, not better, in recent years. Despite that, the ultimately silly adherence to the notion of fixing the people continues to suck all attention away from any effort to limit the permeation of both threats throughout our culture.
If the dogs weren't there, the attacks wouldn't happen. If the guns weren't there, the attacks wouldn't happen.
Knife people, don't even start. Of course, that request won't stop you. So I will say this and only this....face it, folks, we never have and never will see hundreds of concertgoers, dozens of theater patrons, or dozens of school children slaughtered by one guy with a knife.
.........we never have and never will see hundreds of concertgoers, dozens of theater patrons, or dozens of school children slaughtered by one guy with a knife.
No, but in countries where guns are difficult to come by, we do see many instances of dozens or even hundreds of people slaughtered with fertilizer or by deliberately driving trucks into crowds. In fact, mass murder is much more common in the indo-china area, North Africa, some European countries like France, and in Britain, than has ever been happening in America with guns.
"Attacked by a dog" -- that could mean a bite by someone's old, cranky Chihuahua. .................
Our city has strict leash laws. Dogs aren't roaming around; they are in houses or secure yards or out walking on a leash. Once in a while a dog does get out, but people's dogs here aren't vicious because they are well-treated and well-behaved house pets.
Someone was walking an absolutely fierce-looking Golden Retriever off the leash today. Fortunately I was on a fenced-in tennis court. Otherwise I am sure I would not be here now.
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