The problem with Time Magazine and Charlotte Alter
l. if you know ANYTHING about dogs and specifically about the history of American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, and the other dog BREEDS lumped together and called “pit bulls,” you know that these dogs were bred to be SUPER/EXTRA people friendly so that the handlers would be able to work with them. ALL people aggression was bred OUT of these dogs.
So the first paragraph in this article begins with a lie AKA a MYTH not a FACT.
Apparently, the writer of this article had NO TIME to do any REAL Research nor to interview REAL DOG experts such as James Crosby and Victoria Stilwell.
Pit Bulls are not an aggressive breed of dog.
*According to the American Temperament Testing Association, APBTs have an 85.3% passing rate, compared to a passing rate of 81.9% for all breeds on average.
This is FANTASTIC, point by point, she tells it like it IS…
2. Then this article goes on to quote DISCREDITED time and time and time again pit bull haters and fantasy dwellers such as Colleen Lynn, Merritt Clifton and PETA.
Yes, scratch the surface of these three together and you get nonsensical stats based upon media overreporting of so-called pit bull attacks (if it looks like a dog, call it a pit bull and there you have a headline and ridiculous stats to use to ban pit bulls), fear/paranoia and a call to KILL all the dogs (disguised as more logical sounding breed discrimination aka breed specific euthanization)…
Of course, they leave OUT that in places like Denver, CO where BSL has been implemented, dog bites have GONE UP because the REAL PROBLEM has NOT been dealt with. Breed is NEVER the problem. Ignorance about Dogs IS the problem.
Oh by the way, PETA kills healthy adoptable dogs and cats and has for years. And their founder, Ingrid Newkirk, was killing animals at a shelter, a job she relished. PETA thinks killing companion animals is a gift to them.
3. oh yes, and speaking about the Michael Vick dogs. 51 dogs who are doing JUST FINE. Eight became therapy dogs, and many are living in homes with children, cats, other dogs, in FAMILIES and shown NO signs of aggression. Not ONE.
These dogs were tortured, traumatized, terrified of humans, unsocialized, kept chained up 24/7 and made to fight tor their LIVES. Yet, once taken away from Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels and given tons of TLC and taught how to be dogs at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, BADRAP, the Monterey SPCA and other places, they’ve thrived.
4. Here is the REAL SCOOP on what causes DOG BITES and ATTACKS according to REAL DOG experts.
Instead of blaming the dogs, how about holding PEOPLE accountable. People are the ones responsible for the abuse, torture, neglect and abandonment of dogs.
Humans are the violent ones. Toxic macho masculinity culture teaches young men that they must be TOUGH and FIGHT, MAIM and KILL animals and other creatures. All of the serial killers have a history of hurting and killing animals then move on to human beings.
A few stats:
Every year, more than 2,000 children in the U.S. are killed by their parents or guardians either through abuse or neglect. A child is more than 800 times more likely to be killed by their caretaker than by a Pit Bull.
From 2001 through 2012, 6,410 women were murdered in the United States by an intimate partner using a gun—more than the total number of U.S. troops killed in action during the entirety of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.
…Women in the United States are 11 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than are women in other high income countries… http://americanprogress.org/issues/guns-crime/report/2014/06/18/91998/women-under-the-gun/
