Countering dangerous dog propaganda

I have dedicated three essays to countering the excuses the malicious and irresponsible use when raising the noise level in our homes and public places for no good reason.

I am going to take a crack at the propaganda pumped out by authorities, apologistas, and dangerous dog aficionados that you are likely to encounter if you are the victim of a dog attack, or take issue with this senseless violence occurring in your community.

First, I’d like to say that the victims of ANY attack, dog related or no, deserve nothing but our support and sympathy.  My brother was attacked by a Rottweiler in a public park some years ago.  He was playing Frisbee with a lady friend and this dog attacked him FROM BEHIND and tore up the back of his leg pretty badly.  He escaped life threatening injury by fighting the dog as hard as he could.  The incident was what Craven Desires would refer to as a “Dine ‘N Dash” as the perp and his dog took off at top speed and my bro had to get to the emergency room.  The perp was never sought after or punished.  Victims of dog attacks are at the bottom of the social ladder.  Due process DENIED.

When you contemplate dog attacks on humans, consider that you are contemplating a fellow human being who was assaulted for no reason, and was often denied due process.  Not only are they granted no sympathy from the authorities or the community, but dog fanatics typically pour out of the woodwork to defend the perp and trash the victim.  How would YOU feel if that were YOU or someone close to YOU?  Maybe you think its “cool” that you have a tough dog, but what are you going to do when either your “cool” dog, or someone else’s, decides to lunch on YOU?  How are you going to feel when your colleagues throw you under the bus?  I’m telling you, that can and will happen.

That said, I could approach this with some humor but there is NOTHING funny about a violent attack against a fellow innocent human being.  The people who facilitate these attacks are the worst among us and deserve nothing but contempt from everyone.  There are NO EXCUSES and this is a menace that needs to be stamped out with extreme prejudice.  There are fellow human beings out there with missing limbs, scars, dead children.  People are walking on prosthetic legs due to the lifestyle choice of another to own a “power” breed of dog.   I want to say that I am 100% on the side of the victim.

In any case, here are some of the frequent excuses pumped out by apologistas, perps and authorities to promote and defend dangerous dogs and their owners.

It’s a Nanny Dog.   This is a common talking point among Pit Bull aficionados.  Their point being, the Pit Bull was in fact NOT bred to fight in the pit but was bred to “baby sit” human children.

Counterpoints.  This is ridiculous.  EVERYONE knows the breeding history of the Pit Bull. They were bred to FIGHT TO THE DEATH IN THE PIT.  Moreover, the statistics of Pit Bulls assaulting children speaks for itself.  Check out Dogsbite.org for more information (I won’t bother repeating the statistics here).  The interesting thing about this is, whenever a Pit Bull tears into a child, the “Pit Nutters” immediately throw the dog owner under the bus, stating “NEVER leave a child alone with a dog!”.  Now, isn’t that a direct contradiction to the “Nanny Dog” propaganda?  What good is a “Nanny” if I have to constantly worry that “Nanny” is going to rip my kid to pieces?  FAIL.

Its not the dog’s fault.  There is some truth to this.  To assign blame or fault requires a moral agent.  Dogs can’t truly be held accountable for their actions as they have no rights. 

Counterpoints: That said, the owner is 100% at fault, and should be punished accordingly.  If your dog kills somebody, that is murder and YOU are the perp.  Moreover, while the dog is not at “fault” dogs clearly act with volition and it is demonstrated the dog in question will attack a human being to get what it wants.  In any case, the reasonable thing to do in the aftermath of any dog attack is to 1) Jail the owner for assault, and 2) Destroy the dog as a vicious animal must not be turned loose in the community.  Public safety takes precedence over the interests of individual dogs.   Your dog is demonstratably dangerous.  You LOSE Pit Nutters!  FAIL.

Blame the Deed not the Breed.  This is an interesting one, and sometimes a difficult one to get your head around.  This is commonly deployed by Pit Bull fanciers in an attempt to muddle the fact that the dog was bred to attack and was simply doing what it was bred to do. 

Counterpoints:  The phrase itself makes no sense.  The word “Deed” is a noun, unless its referring to transferring a deed of property in which case it’s a verb.  In any case, “deed” (n) means “something that is done”.  It is the act itself.  Again, the phrase indicated is truly non-sensical in that you can’t assign blame to an action, you would assign blame to the agent(s) that delivered that action.  Therefore, you cannot BLAME a deed, BUT you can PUNISH perpetrators of a deed and take steps to PREVENT similar deeds in the future.  We do that by taking affirmative action against vicious dogs and their owners.  We despise the DEED and we BLAME YOU vicious dog owners for facilitating those deeds.  FAIL.

Its only a minor injury.  Their point being, their “ankle biter” is only as dangerous as a pellet gun and as such should be given a complete pass on any and all assaults. 

Counterpoints.  Oh, really?  So if I were to shoot YOU in the foot with a BB gun when you stroll past my house you would automatically give me a pass?  Somehow, I don’t think so.  If I were to shoot at everyone who walked by here with a BB gun, I would wind up in jail FAST.   Equal protection BABY!   ANY pet that brings harm to a human being needs to get gone NOW and I don’t care if it only weighs 5 pounds!  Hey, how big is a Piranha?!  Would you like it if I tossed a piranha or two into your bathtub?  Hey, you’ll recover.  Look, we have a RIGHT to use our private and public places in peace and safety and that means you put a LID on your bloodthirsty toy dog.  Sounds like a joke but it isn’t.   FAIL.

They/you deserved it.  Their point being, even the slightest provocation is justification for their dog to tear into you.

Counterpoints.  Listen, the threshold for using ANY force or violence against a fellow human being is VERY high.  Unless I am trying to cut your head off with a chain-saw, your pet should NOT be attacking me, got that?  You abuse this angle and your pet privileges will be GONE and deservedly so.  Any dog on human attack that is not an obvious self defense scenario must result in summary destruction of the dog and imprisonment of the owner:  We do it to gun owners and it’ll be done to you, too.  FAIL.