Posted on 07/05/2010 5:28:39 PM PDT by csvset
NORFOLK
A dog was rescued and then revived after a fire at a two-story residence in Ocean View on Sunday night.
Shortly before 10 p.m. firefighters were called to the duplex in the 9200 block of Coleman Ave., and though there was no fire showing from the outside of the structure, witnesses in the first-floor residence reported smelling smoke, said Battalion Chief Harry Worley, a spokesman for Norfolk Fire-Rescue. When firefighters entered the second floor, they found a fire and a pit bull puppy that was inside a kennel cage.
The puppy was rescued, and a pet mask was used to give the animal oxygen. The dog’s condition had improved, Worley said.
Within an hour the fire was under control. There was extensive smoke damage throughout the duplex as well as moderate water and fire damage. Four to six adults were displaced, and the Red Cross was called to help them find a place to stay.
chet should see this.
I think we know that Chet99 would have just thrown the puppy back into the fire.
I’m guessing you don’t want the puppy?
Before that the vast majority of the news stories identified Rotties. Before that, Dobermanns. Before that, "German Shepherd Police Dogs".
The news media (and on FR we generally don't think highly of them, do we?) default is that any dog involved in an attack is a "pit bull". A story that was posted here last year claimed a "pit bull" savaged a child . . . the correction (which was hardly noticed) revealed that it was a Lab. Ordinarily everybody's go-to friendly breed.
Selective breeding and abusive training can make the offspring of a Golden Retriever into killers. And if the word somehow got out to the thugs that Goldens were the tough dog of choice, within a few years you would see reports of maulings by Goldens, thanks to the efforts of said thugs to breed and 'train' killers.
Any large dog can be dangerous, the supposedly "safe" breeds included. But nobody wants to contemplate that, so they dump everything on a hazy and poorly identified type - not even a breed - rather than the idiots and gangstas that create vicious dogs. It's always easier to go after property than criminals.
American Pit Bull terriers, or American Staffordshire terriers, don’t even fall within the top five breeds most likely to bite. So you’re just on the warpath.
“Opinion without facts is prejudice.” Michael Crichton (RIP 2008)
So whaddya say, uh, Chief—smoke`em peace pipe? Bury the hatchet? You don’t threaten to kill my dogs and I’ll stop with the dumb injun talk/
Unless you’re suggesting (and it sounds like you’re coming right out and saying it) that those of us here who fancy the breed are crackheads and gangbangers who train our dogs to fight.
If you’re suggesting that, then you can go p*** up your lodge pole.
The media (remember those guys? They are generally not considered reliable on FR) misidentify a large number of dogs as pits. Animal Control does too. It's the template.
If you want to offer some facts instead of just hysteria, be my guest.
Here's what we need to do: separate out the media hysteria, which results in identifying almost any attacking dog as a "pit bull", even if it isn't, and make sure that all large dog attacks, not just pit bull attacks, are being recorded. They certainly aren't being reported in the media. Add to that the problem that "pit bull" is a type and not a breed, and you have a real difficulty, especially since Animal Control is hardly expert at breed identification.
Until we can get accurate information uncontaminated by these problems, we are simply adding to the hysteria by calling for breed bans, mass slaughter, etc. with insufficient data.
It just amazes me that FReepers, who are normally quite skeptical of media bias and also tend to be alert for government overreaching and unintended consequences, take the fact that something is printed in the paper as gospel truth.
btw, I have never owned a APBT, a Staff, or anything else that could be remotely considered a "pit bull". I've got Labs, and I do almost exclusively hunting retriever work. But I know some 'sharp' retrievers (especially Chessies and the field-bred Labs) that will bite, and any large dog is capable of doing considerable damage. I've personally seen it happen (in one case the dog was put down, in the other, not). And media panic could be whipped up over any large dog breed, with a little doctoring of the ID (substitute "Lab mix" for "pit bull mix").
Once you set the precedent of a breed ban or mandatory destroy order, you can count on government incompetence and venality to cast its net wider and wider. Not sure we want to set that whole process in motion. It certainly hasn't worked well where it's been tried.
"When they came for the pit bulls, I didn't say anything . . . " You know the drill.
But let's take your question seriously. My eldest Lab is a maternal sort, very friendly, but she's getting old and crotchety and doesn't appreciate being jumped on. She will not bite, but she will first show her teeth with a warning growl and then snap (no contact) if a dog puts a paw on her back. My middle Lab is my wild child, she means no harm (in fact, she's a total wuss and the most submissive of the three) but she is too noisy and excitable and scares some other dogs. My young Lab is the friendliest, gentlest soul alive, as they say, "she wouldn't bite a biscuit."
If you approached me with a well-mannered toy dog that didn't start barking and snarling at my dogs, I would put them in "sit" and let your dog inspect them. All tails up and happy, all ears relaxed, no hackles going up, I would release my girls from stay and we could talk and not worry. If your dog barked and snarled, my middle one will bark and snarl right back. I would sit my dogs and ask you to do the same, because there's no point in starting trouble.
My dogs are extremely well trained (the oldest is HR, JH, AX, AXJ, AD, CGC, and going into her first Rally trial next week - the second is SHR, JH and CGC - the third is only a year old but already has two solid passes towards her SHR) and all three will hold sit or down even with distractions.
It's been my experience that many little dogs are a royal pain because the owners think their aggressive behavior is "cute" and do not train them consistently. We have a local field where many dogs run and play, and I can't think of a time there's been trouble when it wasn't started by a little yap dog. Usually the miniature poodles, the MinPins, or the Jack Russell Terrorists. My middle Lab was mobbed by three Jacks while she was minding her own business (in fact she was in the middle of a retrieve) and bitten in several places.
Waste of time. We are talking pit bulls only.
I'm trying to tell you that any large dog breed can be aggressive and can seriously injure or even kill people. I witnessed a Chessie go for a man's throat, miss, and tear his arm open to the bone from wrist to elbow. If the man hadn't gotten his arm up in time the dog would have hit the throat and the man would be dead. As it was, it was a nasty, bloody mess (and yes, the dog was put down immediately). So far as I know, the incident was never reported anywhere.
We shouldn't be buying into the media template, because it distracts from the real problem -- careless or deliberately destructive breeders, ignorant or malevolent trainers, and irresponsible owners -- and almost guarantees that the same thing will play out again with other dog breeds, just exactly as it has in the past.
“Have any of you killer dog owners noticed that even here on FR there has been an article just about every day about some pit bull maim, biting, or killing some one or some ones pet?”<<<<<<<<<
Yes. However, there seems to be a large chunk of dog attack stories completely missing. Public health records show that on average, about 13 thousand people are attacked by dogs every day in this country, and two thousand or so of those attacks require hospitalization. Why is it that even pit bull incidents that involve zero injuries are still more newsworthy than attacks by other types of dogs that cause actual damage?
I was recently attacked by a pack of dogs. I suffered injuries that forced me to go to the ER, and I also had to have rabies shots. Even though a few months back, a news story about a pit bull running loose, biting no one, had aired in my town, no news reporter thought my incident was worth reporting. The dogs involved were a lab mix, a dachshund mix, and two other dogs that were also not pit bulls. They were murdering a cat in my driveway, and I intervened, getting bitten several times by the lab and dachshund. The other two dogs did not bite, but stood back and barked the whole time.
I took the liberty of doing a little non-scientific study of the last 30 pit bull attack stories on this site. Of the 30 stories, two involved zero human injuries, over half were from outside dogs, a large percentage were running loose, and the vast majority of the victims were young, unattended children/babies. Irresponsible ownership is the main cause of dog attacks according to the CDC, the AVMA, most veterinarians, and even the HSUS, who would probably love to ban pit bull ownership.
This is why last year 19 people were killed by dogs that are not pit bulls, and the same results were found (loose dogs, intact dogs, chained dogs, and unattended small children were the most common factors). Until people are willing to see this problem for what it is, there will be an average of 17-35 deaths each year from dogs. This number has not risen except to account for increases in both the population of dogs and people, and goes back several decades. There has not been a sharp increase since pit bulls became popular (and they are the most popular type of dog right now), and in places where they have been banned, it has been proven that the numbers do not change, but the breeds involved do.
You are relying on news reports that we know have changed over time to report only certain breeds. And news reports are not the same as properly collected data from hospitals, police reports, and vets. We know the news reports are not telling the whole story, because I personally know of dog bites by other breeds that are not reported at all in the news. Just extrapolate that, and you have a major problem.
See also the post immediately above.
This is the second time you have "quit reading" before examining the facts. That's the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and singing, "La la la, I can't hear you."
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