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Cesar Millan's much-loved and gentle Pit Bull, Daddy, has gone to the big kennel in the sky. He was sixteen years old.
Like so many Pit Bulls, Daddy was a dog acquired in haste by a young person -- this time the rapper Redman.
When Daddy was four months old, Redman decided the dog was more than he could handle, and he took it to Cesar Millan who ended up keeping the dog.
Daddy was raised it in a calm, assertive manner (I had to say it) in a pack of more than 30 other dogs of every size, shape and demeanor.
In his 16 years on earth, Daddy showed what is possible with a Pit Bull in the right hands.
Sadly, too many Pit Bulls end up in the wrong hands.
Every day of the week, more than 2,400 Pit Bulls are euthanized in America because -- like Daddy -- they were acquired in haste, and unlike Daddy, they were unable to find their "Cesar Millan."
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4 comments:
I'm surprised no one has commented.
This is a very good read, serving kind of as an obituary and a cautionary tale. I had no idea Daddy was owned by Redman and (if Wikipedia is to be believed) that he wasn't formally handed to Cesar Millan until the fella was ten years old.
No one wants to talk about Pit Bull problems because the dog world divides into two big camps here: the breed blind and the terrified-of-the-bullys who are breed-blind.
When push comes to shove, this last group will not stand up for Pit Bulls even when a MILLION of them a year are being killed because they are overbred and too quickly acquired by fools.
The bullying breed blind will tell you "there is nothing we can do" because ALL solutions are inconvenient to those who breed Pit Bulls for cash, and to the young fools who acquire them in haste.
They say that to discriminate between dogs is to be discriminatory, which means that if you say Pit Bulls have specific breed problems (like dog aggression, abandonment, being fought, and being euthanized) then you are a "breed hater" (and somehow a racist).
Apparenly with Pit Bulls you cannot require fencing (like we do with a pool), or insurance (like we do with a pool), or mandatory sterilization (even though everyone agrees that this dramatically reduces aggression problems), or licensing conditional on taking a training course (same as we do with young folks who want to drive).
Apparently we can mandate gun safety courses, and falconry apprenticeship programs, but with Pit Bulls the only solution is to kill 40 MILLION pounds of the dogs every year.
And, of course, the chicken shit people in the world of dogs who wil not stand and face down the bully breeders (yes a little pun there) simply whistle pass the graveyard on all this because MY GOD they might have to face down the breed blind bullies to actually save a few dogs. Someone might disagre with them! Waaaaaahhhhh!
And so the best practice is silence. Pit Bulls? What Pit Bulls?
In a few weeks the regular litany of people will roll out their annual condemnation of PeTA for killing 95% of the dogs that come to their "shelter" (I will be one of them), but NOT A ONE OF THEM will talk about the nearly one million Pit Bulls a year killed in other shelters across the U.S. every year. The brave dog bloggers and commentators will take on PeTA -- a bunch of skinny vegans in lettuce outfits -- but they will not take on some idiot Pit Bull breeder in order to point the finger at the real problem, which is not pit bull "haters" but pit bull "lovers" who over breed, and dump the dogs on anyone who will take them.
P.
Patrick,
Your point would be much 'better' received if instead of blaming pit bull lovers for the entirety of the problem, you would at least acknowledge that there are other factors involved:
1) Thousands of 'pit bulls' that are a part of dog fighting rings -- clearly not the typical owners.
2) That there are tens of thousands of 'pit bulls' that end up in shelters (just like dogs of other breeds) but are the only type of dog that shelters have said cannot be adopted out. In fact, cities have sued for the RIGHT to kill all pit bulls that come into the shelter (Loudon County, VA). Indianapolis (until recently), Toledo, and many others have for decades kept pit bulls from the same possibilities of being rehomed that are afforded other animals. Which drives up the killing.
3) No other types of dogs have MILLIONS of homes that are not available to them because of breed bans in various cities. No one in the entire state of Ohio can own more than one legally -- something else that no other type of dog has working against them.
4) Realizing that at least one of the "solutions" you propose - -mandatory spay/neuter for all pit bulls - has led to more than 2,000 additional pit bulls being killing in Kansas City alone -- and nearly the same number in the past 2 years in Little Rock, AR. The "solution" has not worked in the majority of documented cases -- and the one where it has 'worked' (which is still somewhat debatable) appears to be the exception, not the rule.
Now, once we get through all of those problems, there is, in all likelihood, still a lot of pit bulls killed in shelters. But your failure to acknowledge that these are VERY REAL factors in the equation ruins your credibility in this situation.
Yes, there are too many 'pit bulls' dying in the shelters -- but blaming it solely on 'pit bull lovers' is not even close to telling the whole story...
Btoellner, you are actually the problem with Pit Bulls.
You are the reason they are dying.
Not you alone, of course, but folks like you who are much more interested in Pit Bulls as a political cause than a living, breathing animal.
You and I both know that those million pit bulls a year being killed are not fighting dogs, but you tell that lie anyway, don't you?
You and I both know that dogs that end up in ANY shelter are dogs that have FAILED to find good homes, but that Pit Bulls fail more often than any other. You and I also know that most shelters readily adopt out Pit Bulls. You mention Loudon County, VA as if it is a big place and represents all of VA. Surely you know that is a lie? Surely you know that Arington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Richmond, Charllottesville, Norfolk, Harisonburg, and every other city, town and county in VA allows Pit Bull adoptions? And we are killing them left and right. Come on down and take as many as you want. But please, stop the lie.
You continue to suggest that we can adopt our way out of the Pit Bull problem, but we can't. Surely you know that is a lie? Surely you know we are killing more Pit Bulls every year than all dogs of every breed registered by the AKC? Surely, you are not going to repeat the "double down on adoption" lie?
Or are you going to persist in making this all about owner rights? Is that your cry? Screw the million dead dogs that are being killed a year because breeders crank them out for a market that does not exist. Who cares about the dogs?! No one. Not Btoeller, that's for sure. No, Btoellner wants to talk about owner rights to do whatever they want, whenever they want, whereever they want. Waaaaaaahhhhh. Some towns and cities have different laws that others. Waaaaahhhh. Poor thing. Having so many different gun laws in different towns must really keep you up nights too!
But go on with the lie that Ohio woke up one day and said, "Hey, let's discriminate against Pit Bulls." Go on and lie by omission. Be sure to leave off the fact the laws were changed in response to 30 years of having to kill too many dogs .... 30 years of having to wash the blood off the sidewalk after maulings .... 30 years of watching Pit Bull "lovers" over-breed and then abandon these dogs. Don't mention that! Continue with the lie that the laws are all forged in the fires of biggotry rather than the blood of a million dead dogs and 10,000 mauled children a year.
And most of all continue to tell the lie that taking dogs away from irresponsible law breakers is worse than allowing the irresponsible law breakers to continue to breed the dogs. Be sure to leave off the fact that Denver now has the lowest Pit Bull kill rate in the nation. I know that fact does not fit with your thesis, so go ahead and lie by leaving it off. You have done it before, and I know you will do it again.
But do me a favor, eh? Don't come back to this blog. You are a breed-blind time waster and I do not have time for time wasters. I do not have time for folks who lie by omission and who think a million Pit Bull deaths a year is due to anyone but the Pit Bull community failing to patrol its own. And you know what? That's exactly how a lot of the folks in the rest of this country feel too. They are saying "enough" and they continue to say "enough". They are going to try to find solutions, no matter if they may get them wrong. And you know why? Simple: Because they listened to folks like you for 30 years, and nothing came out of it but a million dead pit bulls and 10,000 scarred children a year. Now they are going to try spay and neuter laws and subsidies, and they are going to try to mandate fencing and limits. But you know what they are not going to try? They are not going to listen to breed-blind apologists for death and destruction any more. They are saying what I am saying here: Go Away.
P.
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