San Antonio, Texas girl killed......

[RioBravoReptiles]

Originally Posted by mpgt

Thanks for posting this Gus. Sorry to hear about the little girl. I can't imagine what her family must be going through. It doesn't seem wise for her mom to let her assist a dog in that circumstance though.
I'll start the other thread so this one can stay on topic.

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If I had wanted to start an anti-pit bull rant-thread (is this one?) I would have titled it.. "Pit bull dog mauls 10 year-old to death in mother's arms" or something inflammatory like that. I didn't.
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I take your opinions and those of other people sympathetic to the dogs seriously and I'm not in any way campaigning against pits.. But you too could use some sensitivity training!
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Regards.

[smash_57]

.o(my first reply didn't even mention "pit bull", except including someone else's quote)

I think the situation is tragic. I can't even imagine my child being killed - by anything, much less a dog. If any of my dogs (4, including the one that followed me home yesterday) showed the slightest inclination towards hurting any human who wan't showing aggression to any of us (meaning the dog wasn't defending us) it would get a shotgun to the temple and a grave in the yard.

It just "ticks" me off that someone would be perfectly happy to take my family pet away because one somewhere else killed somebody. In Denver they went door to door and took people's dogs from them, and euthanized them, just because they were "pit bulls" (which isn't technically a breed btw). It scares me to death that it could happen here, because my dogs are like children to me. Yeah, I know, I'm a whacko, I'll never claim otherwise. But I love my dogs, and I'll fight tooth and nail for them, just like I would for any of my other animals, my children, my husband, and the rest of the family and friends.

That said, I'm done with this post. It upsets me too much. I'll continue to fight for the breed by taking my dog out in public ON A LEASH to show people how sweet a well raised American Pit Bull Terrier is.

~Jennifer

[mpgt]

Originally Posted by RioBravoReptiles

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... But if I was your publicity advisor I'd suggest you start your own thread where you can hype how average Pits are and attack the press for inaccuracy, or slant. This would be a better place for simple sympathy.. Soapboxing here in answer to the report of another child killed reads a little shrill.
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I tried to start another thread, but it was closed. Maybe this one needs to close too, so it doesn't get real argumentative!!!!!

[Reptscue]

Lets try to keep this civil... I know there are a lot of conflict about this and if this thread goes south... it will be closed.
Don't you think there has been enough pit bull debating on threads? This thread was origionally about a poor child not a pit bull debate.

[OneSickPuppy]

yeah I dont see this going anywhere good. I worked for pit bull rescue in houston during 98-99 and even they agreed that something absolutely needed to be done. the stage is long set to either ban the breed itself (the spca and county already kill all of them that come in with no attempt at adoption) or ban the people that arent responsible. unfortunately nothing is going to change until one of these two things happens. i have a simpler approach ... put the same laws on them that big cats require ... special licensing and fencing requirements and big fines to those who dont comply. that would help weed out the idiots if fines were enforced well enough and responsible pit bull owners would still be allowed to keep their dogs. the spca cant tell a pitbull from an albino ball python but the county is much better.

[Jatango]

I just want to clarify something momentarily. Someone mentioned that pit bulls weren't the most popular breed and used the AKC Registration logs to reinforce their point.

Honestly, how many pitty breeders do you think register their dogs with the AKC? They'd have to be an actual breed to register them, and I doubt many of these people buy dogs from actual Am. Staff. or other bully breeders with registered dogs. Maybe try looking in the registries that don't require anything of the owner in means of heritage to register their dogs? Like the petshop registries.

[Nonconformist]

Of course it isn't a breed. That's why it can never be considered the most popular breed in America.

And as for them registering them ... what is there to register?

They're basicly American Staffordshire Terriers.

[Jatango]

Obviously it can't be the most popular breed, but it is certainly a popular type. This is why banning is ridiculous. You'd have to name a specific set of characteristics instead of a breed, and then make sure people enforcing the ban knew what they were and were doing it correctly. It'd be a logistical nightmare.

I'm sorry I offer criticism and no solution, but if I had a feasible idea, i'd be trying to help implement it, not just shooting my mouth off.

EDIT: Another quick thought, banning sets precedence. If a ban goes through, any time a child gets mauled by anything, people will be screaming for legislation. What? The little known Beauceron next door attacked Jimmy? That's it! All black and tan dogs have to go!