It’s extremely frustrating that anytime someone is either bitten or in some way attacked by a dog if it’s a pit bull, it makes the news or the paper. I guess if it was a golden retriever, it wouldn’t be newsworthy.
For people who are not familiar with dogs, poor dog behavior is not the fault of the dog, it’s the owner, not the breed! It’s no different than a poorly raised child. More than likely the child will misbehave, so instead of shooting or euthanizing a pit bull, confiscate the dog from its irresponsible owner and allow a suitable person to adopt and rehabilitate the dog.
Prior to World War II, the pit bull was the most popular family dog. Remember the dog Pete from the Little Rascals? That was a pit bull. They had no incidents with Pete the entire time the show was on the air. Pit bulls are very loyal to their owners, and are not aggressive to people by nature; someone trained them to be that way. A properly socialized pit bull will not have aggressive issues. Any dog left in a backyard all the time will have issues.
So media people, give the pit bull a break. The next time there’s a dog attack incident, regardless of the breed, just say there was a dog attack, enough said.
– Jerry Clark,
Ventura
