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There's a documentary about pit bulls and pit bull fighting. It's called "Off the Chain". In the doc they interview the guy who runs Prince George's Animal Control. They guy explicitly states that the ban does not work. That in and of itself should be a good reason to oppose the ban.
He said the ban will not work because the owners can easily get around it by various methods, such as demanding that a DNA test be administered in order to prove that their Pit Bull in question is truly a PB. All paid by the county, which will immediately create a back log and obviously, exhaustion of funds very quickly.
This is the main reason why he said it wouldn't work, not because banning Pit Bull is frivolous. And not only that, Dog Cops in PG are scared sh.tless of the gangbangers who owns Pit Bulls. Even when there's no ban right now, none of these Dogcatchers have the balls to step up and answer a PB complaint so they can get shot some other day. Look at that older, White, Dogcatcher who was interviewed in this documentary. He was clearly scared of the PB owners.
A women who just happens to have a gun ready, has a violent dog....imagine that?
Did you even read the article? It said that the man tried to subdue the dog but couldn't wait for POLICE and ANIMAL CONTROL to arrive. This means that they called 911 already. And what's the police response time? About 8-10 minutes? Can PG beat such response time? Gee, how long does it take for you to go get your own gun in your own house? Are you that slow?
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Let's stop letting paranoid losers with dogs who treat them like crap create stupid bans. If you treat a child like crap they also grow up and attack someone. That seems to be a much bigger problem in that county.
Haha, so you immediately assumes that these people treated their dog poorly w/o any other information and that this was a bad neighborhood? Have you ever been to Alexandria? It's a high income area. Don't think there's any place in PG that can measure up in property value, crime rates, school test scores, etc.
Haha, so you immediately assumes that these people treated their dog poorly w/o any other information and that this was a bad neighborhood? Have you ever been to Alexandria? It's a high income area. Don't think there's any place in PG that can measure up in property value, crime rates, school test scores, etc.
Actually, there are quite a few lousy, "ghetto" areas in Alexandria full of sketchy people, both in Alexandria proper and in the Fairfax county part. I know this because they're the only parts of Alex where I can afford to buy a nice house, lol. It's not all caviar and Rolls Royces in Virginia, people.
Actually, there are quite a few lousy, "ghetto" areas in Alexandria full of sketchy people, both in Alexandria proper and in the Fairfax county part. I know this because they're the only parts of Alex where I can afford to buy a nice house, lol. It's not all caviar and Rolls Royces in Virginia, people.
It's still a lot nicer than PG county as a whole. But does this mean that you're these exact people who treat your "child like crap they also grow up and attack someone", that you're complaining about?
There are a few misconceptions in this thread. Pits commonly are dog aggressive (DA) but should never, ever be human aggressive (HA). Even if they're bred for the worst situation possible in dog fighting, HA is a liability. In the dog fighting ring, the scummy people need to be able to stick their hands in the ring and pull dogs apart. Any HA would be a big danger to the fight runners.
If Pit Bulls were bred to NOT be aggressive towards humans, yet they are the #1 breed of dogs that causes the most serious injuries and deaths to humans, at an astounding number compared to other breeds, than this just further proves how much more dangerous they are. Now consider the fact that PB makes up a VERY SMALL percentage of the entire dog population of America, yet causes the most amount of deaths and serious injuries.
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Actually, pits tend to make great family pets. Because of their lineage, they are one of the breeds most apt to put up with a child stepping on their tail or pulling their ears. Would I ever in million years leave a child alone with a pit? Heck no. Would I ever in a million years leave a child alone with ANY dog? No way. That's asking for trouble, whether yorkie or golden or mastiff or pit. Children and dogs are both way too unpredictable.
There are many other breeds of dogs that tend to make great family pets. Why own a breed that are more known to kill their owner's children? It doesn't take more than 1-2 seconds for a Pit Bull to snap a child's neck. You're not that fast even if you're in the same room. What if you dozed off or watching TV? Maybe you're someone who's competent in raising such a strong, powerful and potentially viscous breed of dog such as the PB, but then again, so was Darla Napora.
Yea but those tests don't account for the level of damage capable of being inflicted by Pit Bulls compared to, eg. a Chihauhau. Yea, little yappy dogs may have bad tempers to make up for their tiny sizes, but they rarely bite to kill anyone. There's a difference between getting a bandaid to treat a bad tempered little dog's bite and getting an ambulance ride in serious condition, requiring major surgery and/or major reconstructive surgery from a Pit Bull mauling.
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That said, DA is a major issue in the breed. There are outliers of course. There are plenty of pits (and other bullies) who are total doll babies around other dogs, and there are plenty of goldens who should never be off leash around other canines. People need to be more savvy in reading dogs' body language and behavior signals, regardless of breed.
Well there are PLENTY more PB's who will attack other dogs compared to the VERY SMALL number of Goldens that does. GR's were never bred for 200 years as fighting dogs, Pit Bulls were. How does 200 years of specific breeding to fight other dogs to the death not affect the breed more?
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The pit bull ban is ridiculous for several reasons. First, there's no clear cut way to define a "pit bull". The DNA tests aren't accurate and won't hold up in court. Anything with a blocky head is going to be identified as a pit and taken away.
That's what Pro-PB will grasp to in order to get around such bans, knowing that DNA testings are costly to the county and time consuming. Meanwhile, another neighborhood goes down the crapper and more children's faces are mauled off.
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There are so many sob stories out there of peoples' beloved family pets being seized and put down because someone called it a pit and authorities agreed it looked that way--not because it did anything.
Well thank God they didn't wait until the PB did something. The loving family can get another dog. Pit Bulls are killed by the thousands everyday in animal shelters. Many are abandoned there because people who casually gets one, realizes later how dangerous they are.
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Second, like people have said, ban pits and rotties or dobes or mastiffs will take over. There are already several popular unscrupulous kennels breeding ridiculous mixes of rotties and mastiffs, trying to make a super dog out of them. If you want a monster dog bad enough, someone would find a way to breed a chihuahua into one.
Ok, worry about these other super breeds when it happens. It would still take quite a long time before these other breeds can get up to par with the 200 years of fighting history and breeding that Pit Bulls have had in order to turn them into the vicious killers that they are today.
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And no, I don't own a pit, nor do I ever plan to (I like a dog I can take to the dog park comfortably).
There, are you saying that Pit Bulls are too volatile for you? If they're like a bomb, why have it around children? Even other people's pets, when PB are known to be a breed that's been bred to want to fight other dogs. Why should other people's pets be subjected to such danger? Worse, their children walking home from school and a Pit Bull gets loose.
It's still a lot nicer than PG county as a whole. But does this mean that you're these exact people who treat your "child like crap they also grow up and attack someone", that you're complaining about?
If you're asking me my opinion, I have to say that I'm a believer in government regulation, but only when it is well thought out and effective and enforceable. That is, there should be some sort of balance between the freedom that a law takes away versus the benefits that it confers. In my opinion, this law doesn't fit my criteria. A pit bull ban definitely prevents some dog attacks, but is it worth it? Here's another idea, if you want to stop dog attacks completely, how about just banning all dogs? But I think we can all agree that is too high a cost on people's individual rights. A pit bull ban, in my opinion, is too vague, ineffective, unenforceable, *and* takes away the rights of a subset of the population (people who want to own a pit bull). I personally take it very seriously when the government wants to take a right away, even a fairly trivial one.
When we talk about pit bulls, what breeds exactly are we talking about? There are at least 3 breeds that are considered "pit bull." How would you determine what a pit bull is? By its looks, by its aggression, etc.? How about if a dog is 3/4 pit bull and 1/4 chihuahua or something? Is that still banned? My mother had a dog that was 1/2 pitbull and 1/2 rottweiler and looked like neither. Is the poor dog catcher going to have to make these decisions on the spot, while he's on the property of an aggravated citizen? *Can* the dog owners insist on a dna test for their dog? Who is going to pay for that, the owner or PG County? What if the dog isn't a pitbull, what's the County going to do for the owner? Say "oops, sorry?" You see where I'm going with this- it's onerous just thinking about how such a law works.
What this kind of law does is attempt to treat a symptom of a larger problem- a general lawlessness and lack of safety in parts of PG County. You're not going to stop the phenomenon of people trying to be "gangsta" and scaring other citizens with their dogs by sending Animal Control after them. Puh-lease. I grew up in an area that was full of pit bulls, but dog attacks were as rare as anywhere else. There were just a lot of "rednecks" who liked their pit bulls but had enough sense to keep them locked up and fenced in. So yeah, I guess I would say that the people, not the dogs, are the problem here.
If you're asking me my opinion, I have to say that I'm a believer in government regulation, but only when it is well thought out and effective and enforceable.
It won't be perfect, but adequate to curb the amount of Pit Bull type dogs.
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In my opinion, this law doesn't fit my criteria. A pit bull ban definitely prevents some dog attacks, but is it worth it?
It would certainly prevent much of the serious dog attacks. This is the difference between PB's and other breeds. Also, nice people with less dangerous dogs will more than likely move out of neighborhoods that are plagued with many Pit Bulls. Most decent people would rather not walk their dog, whom they consider family members, and having to worry about a Pit Bull picking a fight and killing them. I would shoot it, but I'd probably go to jail or at least lose my CCW for it.
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Here's another idea, if you want to stop dog attacks completely, how about just banning all dogs? But I think we can all agree that is too high a cost on people's individual rights.
That's a weak argument. Obviously not all breeds are anywhere near the problem that Pit Bull poses in terms of the degrees of damage inflicted.
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A pit bull ban, in my opinion, is too vague, ineffective, unenforceable, *and* takes away the rights of a subset of the population (people who want to own a pit bull). I personally take it very seriously when the government wants to take a right away, even a fairly trivial one.
But when you want the right to keep a breed that was specifically bred for hundreds of years to kill bulls and to attack other dogs and kill them in the sport of Dog Fighting, then your neighbors' rights to not be endangered by such endeavor is more prevalent.
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When we talk about pit bulls, what breeds exactly are we talking about? There are at least 3 breeds that are considered "pit bull." How would you determine what a pit bull is? By its looks, by its aggression, etc.? How about if a dog is 3/4 pit bull and 1/4 chihuahua or something? Is that still banned? My mother had a dog that was 1/2 pitbull and 1/2 rottweiler and looked like neither. Is the poor dog catcher going to have to make these decisions on the spot, while he's on the property of an aggravated citizen?
3/4 is good enough for me.
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*Can* the dog owners insist on a dna test for their dog? Who is going to pay for that, the owner or PG County? What if the dog isn't a pitbull, what's the County going to do for the owner? Say "oops, sorry?" You see where I'm going with this- it's onerous just thinking about how such a law works.
Oopps, that's life, next.
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What this kind of law does is attempt to treat a symptom of a larger problem- a general lawlessness and lack of safety in parts of PG County. You're not going to stop the phenomenon of people trying to be "gangsta" and scaring other citizens with their dogs by sending Animal Control after them. Puh-lease. I grew up in an area that was full of pit bulls, but dog attacks were as rare as anywhere else. There were just a lot of "rednecks" who liked their pit bulls but had enough sense to keep them locked up and fenced in. So yeah, I guess I would say that the people, not the dogs, are the problem here.
Wrong, the people AND the breed are the problem.
I've already said, if they move to another breed once PB's are banned, it's going to take at least another hundred years before their new breed is as vicious, tenacious and volatile as the Pit Bull is currently.
You seem a little, dare I say, overaggressive on this topic? You make it sound like pit bulls are roaming the streets snapping children's necks willy-nilly wherever you live. If that's the case, I guess you have good reason to support a pit bull ban. Where are you getting these statistics? Can you link to them please? Whatever statistics I have seen show that pit bulls, rottweilers, and German shepherds have a fairly close number of attacks on people. I think I pointed out some good reasons why this kind of law is sort of dumb and difficult to enforce, and you responded again with your opinion- that it's not. Who says that you get to decide that 3/4 pit-bull type (whatever that is) dogs specifically should be banned? You gave no reason, you're not in charge, and that just makes no sense whatsoever. I'm sorry to say it, but your opinion on the matter is worth just as much as mine or anyone else's is- that is, not very much.
Used to be against all bans on PBs... then my cousin's (tied up) dog was killed by their neighbor's PB who had gotten loose. Up until that point, no one saw any warning signs that the dog was aggressive, nor that the neighbors mistreated it (they were actually really nice people). Probably makes me a bit biased, but my mind has been changed.
People who say "any dog can be vicious, etc, etc" conveniently fail to address that pit-bulls are hard-wired to be aggressive through historical breeding patterns. They require a level of attention that most people can not (or will not) afford to give.
Pits are known to be aggressive toward other dogs unless they are proper socialize. Pits rarely will attack humans. Pits are like any other dog, you have to establish you are the pack leader. Things tend to go bad between dogs and people when dogs think they "run the show". Alot of "good owners" make a mistake of letting their dogs run the household.
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