This message is primarily for people like Roark (see above post), whose driveling ignorant diahhrea-ish posts seriously make me ill. Although I do not own a pit bull, I know many people with pitties (both rescued and raised from 8 weeks) though I have seen some frigthtening pit bulls, i have also seen frightening labs, jack russells, and even chiuahuas. As a matter of fact, most statistics show that the majority of dog bites come from dogs under 30 lbs. Why? Training. Or lack thereof. Unfortunately the big guys cause more damage, so they’re targeted. I had a co-worker whose six year old had his lip torn open (he needed a plastic surgeon to fix it) by a pekingese. Having a pit, rott, dobie, etc has nothing to do with “short man’s syndrome” calling a specific breed a natural born killer, however; is the creed of stupidity. I have a rottweiler, 2 years old, comes to work me every day, and as the mailman says “he’s a love bug”. Zeus gets so excited to see this particular mailman his whole rear end wiggles and he rolls over on his back waiting for treats. Zeus is also one of the smartest dogs I have ever known (our family always had labs growing up). What I think people like Roark should ask themselves is (oh and you actually need to pay attention to the point behind the post, which may be hard because it gets in the way of you spouting nonsense): “How has the media effected my opinion of these breeds?” and “How many dogs that are one of these breeds do i know personally?” The commercials mentioned, ARE just another reason that these breeds are feared. There is another cell phone commercial for (whoever “Chad” represents Altel, I think), where a doberman chases the competitors away, and it’s another example of this breed-casting. Rottweilers, incidentally, were bred for hauling and hearding, not fighting. In Germany, they were known as “butchers’ dogs” because they would haul large carts of meat. Get it people? WORK DOGS! And smart ones at that. They’re intelligent, athletic, loyal, and very sensitive to pain. It’s no wonder they respond the way they do if mistreated, and unfortunately many of them turn into “fear-biters” as a previous post mentioned. I have been looking for a place to live, and I hate that it is so hard with a rottweiler. I introduced Zeus to a potential landlord the other day, and the guy admitted that he had always been afraid of rottweilers, but he fell in love with my dog. The point of all this is that it’s not right that these stereotypes are reinforced by our media. Have you EVER seen a rottweiler, pit bull or doberman portrayed positively on the news, tv shows, or movies. Seriously. If you have please let me know because I haven’t. It all comes down to the owner. Irresponsible and abusive owners lead to ill adjusted pets (AND CHILDREN for that matter). And I am sorry for the woman who lost her cat to a pit bull, unfortunately cats and dogs both have a prey instinct and dogs like pit bulls and rotties are known for killing smaller animals because of this and a lot of times they don’t even know their own strength (sometimes it’s accidental). Losing a pet is hard regardless, but I didn’t get the sense that she thought the breed was awful, just that she missed her cat and was struggling with the fact that one of them killed her pet. Zeus, by the way, LOVES my cat, and the cat loves him, except when Zeus gets him sopping wet from licking him!
