If It Had Been a Pit Bull or a Rottie …
Perusing Craig’s List I came upon an alarming but interesting post. A woman was pleading with the public to locate two Golden Retrievers that attacked her parents Maltese mix “Maisy”.
Maisy
At the time of the initial post Maisy was in critical condition. So much so that she had to be moved from their local veterinarian to the U of M. Maisy had a collapsed lung, bruised heart, broken ribs, a crushed back leg and huge puncture wounds.
The owner of the Retrievers was in hot pursuit as the dogs entered Maisy’s yard and attacked her. And while the owner did witness the attack has since done nothing to find Maisy’s owners to find out how the dog was doing or offer to help with medical expenses.
This is a horribly tragic event. But my mind wanders to the obvious and I cannot help but gripe that had the attack been perpetuated by a pit bull or Rottweiler you would have to be living off the grid not to hear about it. Attacks such as these do not get reported. I have personally been told by animal control officers that when news people call regarding a bite incident they are no longer interested in pursuing the story if the dog is not a pit or Rottie (or other stigmatized breed, i.e. Chow, Akita, etc…)
This really pisses me off. Especially considering the fact that there are no standardized dog incident reporting mechanisms in place anywhere. This was grossly apparent when I delved into dog bite research or the lack thereof. The funny thing is, is that one of the most regarded “reports” by proponents of breed specific legislation is that of Meritt Clifton.
This so called report has been refuted by all people of rational thought and reason. I bring it up because Clifton’s “study”‘s data is derived through the compilation of newspaper articles reporting dog bites over a 20 year period. Well HELLO, how the hell can that be accurate when only certain bites are reported by news agencies. None with merit, pun intended.
ARLP created a wonderful (if I don’t say so myself) high level piece of communication for our legislators to educate them about the information proponents of BSL would be using to pass their breed ban Why The Arguments for BSL Fails
Back to the case at point. Have any of you heard about the Golden Retriever incident in upscale Minnetonka? No of course not. Not unless you troll Craig’s List like this dog loving freak. We need to make a fuss here. Why should I support news agencies that don’t really offer me fair and unbiased reporting? Really they are only spoon feeding me what they want me to know. And that is sad.
What is sadder is that a lot of people form their opinions and model their behaviors around what they hear. And if they hear it enough it becomes ingrained. They cross the street when I walk by, or they pull their small Jack Russel into the house (even though it is in a fenced yard).
Just this last weekend discussing my trip to my brother’s house I mentioned that I would like to bring the dogs. There was hesitation. I then suggested I bring Ike and the Chi. There was relief. “Oh, okay, I was worried about the pit bull with Charlie (my nephew) but Ike and Chi will be ok.”
I know she didn’t mean anything by it and I really like my sister-in-law. But what hurt a little is that Debbie was reduced to “the pit bull”. They have baby-sat Debbie for me in the past. They know her. But still the visceral reaction was “the pit bull”. She has a small child now and her gut level mother reaction was to worry about her child around the pit bull.
I blame the news.
In the mean time I hope Emily’s parents find the woman whose unrestrained every one’s family dog attacked their Maisy. If you know anything please e-mail her comm-641827340@craigslist.org.
Filed under: Observations & Reflection
I agree 100% Lara! As an owner of pit bulls it is very apparent the huge role reporters and news stations/papers/radio have played into the negative image of our dogs. This negative image also perpetuates the wrong people to want this type of dog- these people then only want them for the ‘look’. A young man once told me, “When I walk in my neighborhood with my pit, it is like having a loaded gun in my belt- no one is going to mess with me.” Unfortunately when I asked this same man about how he cared for this dog, he was clueless. He said his mom didn’t want a dog in the house, so it was either confined to the basement or chained in the back yard getting no socialization or interaction with other animals or humans.
As responsible pit bull or Rottweiler owners what we need to do is educate. Here are some simple things you can do:
1. When you go to Pet Smart and see someone with a pit bull stop and chat with them a bit.
2. When you hear of an incident of another breed of dog attacking or biting, contact A Rotta Love Plus and the organization can put you in contact with someone from the media who KNOWS every dog has the capability to inflict harm.
3. When you hear someone from the media reporting on a positive incident- email them to say thanks…similarly if you hear someone who is misinformed, let them know!
4. Also, make sure YOUR pit bull or Rottweiler has great obedience and take him/her out in public to SHOW others how great these dogs really are!
There is always something we as responsible owners can do to change the way things are….it might take a bit more effort, but it is certainly worth it when we look into our dogs goofy grinning faces and let them know they are wonderful and we can’t imagine life without them.