eddie007

First they came for the Pitbulls and I did not speak out for I was not a Pitbull, Then they came for the Mastiffs and I did not speak out for I was not a Mastiff, then they came for the staffies and I did not speak out....and then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out...

There really are some LUNATIC ideas spewed on here aren't there.

Zen10

Two days ago I saw a picture of a dead women with the top of her head missing. It had been removed by a pit bull terrier. When a King Charles Spaniel does the same thing, I'll take your point but in the meantime, you're dead wrong: some breeds are very dangerous, full stop.

eddie007

You are dead wrong..

The public perception of pit bulls is based on media hysteria and hype... not on fact

more children are killed every year by their PARENTS than by so called dangerous breeds... no one gets on a bandwagon to have ALL parents banned do they?

GET SOME PERSPECTIVE ON THE ISSUE

brissybee

I lived around the corner from an elderly lady who was killed - torn to the bone - by a pitbull terrier. I saw the dog as it was being taken away. Butter wouldn't have melted in its mouth. These dogs are unpredictable.

Some parents are also dangerous, true... but we can't stop them from breeding. We can, however, lobby to have dangerous dogs removed from society.

brissybee

Latest observation is of a 2 year old girl hospitalised in the UK, attacked by a Rottweiler this morning.

I know, it's not a pitbull... but I am curious to see what breeds are most commonly reported for attacks. Though, had it been a pitbull, I fear she could be dead.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ottweiler.html

Zen10

This is the most puerile kind of argument by which we are invited to see what kills the most people and everything under that is not worth managing. The perspective required is that as we become more civilised we protect ourselves more from threat. The fact is that if your child were shredded into pieces and dumped all over the back garden by a pit bull, you would adopt my attitude. The difference between us is that I am able to empathise with past victims without experiencing the anguish myself, whereas you are not, apparently because they only kill a few kids every year. Now that is a weird perspective. Coldly utilitarian, I would say.

Zen10

Full agreement with this. No harm done in banning them. People will find other pets. The silly argument made by eddie007, which says that it's ok for people to keep tigers because they wouldn't kill as many people as cars, just leads up a blind alley. If one child is killed by a breed that is demonstrably aggressive, then we have the duty to ban them. My view is that one death is one too many. I don't require a certain number to be killed by these dogs before I feel they constitute a threat, as others do.

Zen10

Terrible. They won't put a picture of the child in the paper because it would disgust and frighten people too much over their cornflakes. Imagine how the parents feel. Rottweiler is a second-tier danger under the French system, according to the link put up by a previous poster. I read in the article you linked that HMG is considering life sentences for owners of killer dogs, which is exactly what I was suggesting earlier. Hope they pass that legislation.

scottishcelts

Couldnta put it better meself Eddie.

The British Kennel Club reckons there are only two breeds of dogs that can be trusted with kids/families - Labrador and Staffordshire Bull Terrier. (true bred Staffy obviously, not the mixers).

I said it for years without that knowledge.

Look towards the humans, not the dogs.

old.sparkles

It does seem that pitbulls top the list of dogs causing fatalities, but some surprising breeds in that list - http://www.streetdirectory.com/trave...ll_people.html

Zen10

This is the same argument people make with all the assault rifles in the US, and I don't buy it there either. The bottom line is if you can have an aggressive moron with an assault rifle, or an aggressive moron without an assault rifle, you choose the latter. Why tempt fate by allowing the circulation of assault rifles and dangerous dogs in society?

scottishcelts

So were the labs crossed with pit-bulls then?

Zen10

Very interesting link. When I was growing up I was taught to avoid pit bulls, dobermans, alsations, rottweilers, so no surprises for me here. Interesting that the pit bull killed 66 people, and the Labrador killed 1, and yet people will seriously try and trot out the argument that it's got nothing to do with breed.

I also think another reason those of us with empathy are so revolted by this issue is the method of death. Some methods are more horrifying than others, and being savaged to death by a crazed dog is really not the way to go.

petensue

Poor girl.I used to own a rottie and he was a gentle boy.It seems a bit odd for the dog to turn like that but apart from it being on a lead when it attacked we don't know how long they had the dog or any more information.

I was told that the mastiff cross that killed the little boy was a pig dog?I don't know how true that was.

I think jack russells are in the top ten for biting and one killed a baby last year.

I do think it should be harder for people to breed dogs and how you can still buy them from pet shops is daft.I know so many people round here just have a dog as a guard dog and it never gets outside unless it escapes and then it can be quite scary having them charge at you.

scottishcelts

I know and I agree, it's just that some people are too quick to jump to conclusions with a specific breed because a moron has mixed breeds and decided to wrongly classify the new breed to loophole.