There are stats that say 30 percent of legal dog attacks are from pits. And if you’re claiming that a chihuahua bite is the same as a pit bite you are being purposely obtuse. There are a number of people on this thread. The dogs where I live tend to be smaller and/or friendly breeds. |
You believe that I should only have a flawless dog, just in case some ahole owner willfully and deliberately flaunts the law and allows their dog off leash, and you're mad at the idea that I might kick an unleashed dog who got too close? I didn't even say I was with my dog. If your unleashed dog comes running up to just me, I will kick it. If you don't want your dog getting kicked, leash it and keep it away. Y'all are entirely too fscking trusting. |
Why did this thread turn into a discussion on pitbulls? OP runs her Golden off-leash. OP wonders whether they should stop due to recent local dog attacks. Discuss. |
Why do you think dog parks are stupid?? |
Yes, on private property/rented sniff spots/legal off leash trails. I drive pretty far to access these things. In suburbia, no—on leash, because no one else knows my dogs and everyone deserves to feel safe in walks (they are 15 lbs, but bark their heads off at strangers and no one deserves that) |
Isn’t this a thread about dog owners? I don’t think people need to have flawless dogs. All dogs make mistakes. But I do think people shouldn’t have dogs that will likely do serious damage when they make a mistake. See the distinction? |
We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it. |
Yes, there are. There are medical stats, about bites, that say that 30% of the bites in their study came from "pit type dogs" 1) "pit bull" isn't a breed. It's an umbrella term used to label 5 distinct breeds and, "pit type breeds" includes mixes. So right off the bat, not a solid fact. 2) "Of 150ish cases... 30% were pit-type" is not the same as "30 percent of legal dog attacks are from pits" 3) In order for these stats, bites by breed, to have any real meaning, you have to look at the total number of dogs. If there are 100 dog bites, from 100 distinct dogs, and 30 of the dogs are "pit bulls" and 30% of the total bites are from "pit bulls", that means ever single pit bit, which is a massive statistic. But that's not what the reported stats are saying. 30% of total bites needs to be measured against not only how many other breeds of dogs bit, but how many total dogs of each breed are represented. Nobody has this chart. Believe me, I've looked. So you get stats taken out of context thrown around like they're meaningful, clickbait news articles that will add "pit bull" even when the police report specifically avoids naming the breed(s) of dogs involved, and hysterical haters, demanding breed-specific legislation that won't solve the problems (but could help them feel safer from their "pit bull" paranoia). All of it overlooks the actual truth: There are no friendly breeds. All dogs can bite, and will if cornered, scared, injured, etc. Even the medical studies you're misquoting say that the solution is better training for humans, not breed bans. A bunch of them are cited and debunked over in the other thread. Go read: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/255/1246000.page#29026190 |
So people should only own chihuahuas, and only if they don't have small children? |
OP is the clown who brought "pit bulls" into it, because OP is a troll. |
Do you kick babies and children too? |
Dog trainer: they’re pretty terrible. The risk of injury/attack/illness is so much higher than the benefits of “socialization”. They are the equivalent of a crowded bar with new people approaching you asking for your number every day. And those people behave weird, and can’t take a hint when you’re tired and want to be left alone. And also all glasses are shared and you lick each other. Hello, viruses. I have dozens of client dogs whose reactivity and resource guarding and aggression increased due to dog park use. I have yet to have one whose behavior improved because of one. The worst was a sweet little cavalier who was happy go lucky perfect little dog until another dog grabbed him roughly. He was physically fine, but we worked YEARS to fix the aggression, and never fully did. Just not a risk I want to take. Dogs need mental and physical exercise, but they don’t need to be in a pack of strange dogs. If you don’t have the resources to meet a dog’s needs without the dog park, maybe reconsider the breed/age/species of pet you should get. |
Well, admittedly I mentioned pit bulls too. They are a menace, let’s be honest |
We have an English Yellow Lab and an English Chocolate Lab. Both are 90+ pounds and extremely friendly, but we operate under the model that all other dogs (the exceptions being dogs that we've previously meet and are aware of the temperaments) do not know that our dogs are friendly, and since they're big we know that they can intimidate smaller dogs or people who aren't dog lovers.
Because of this, our dogs are ALWAYS leashed for their safety when we're out in public. They are well trained and have great recall but there are so many poorly trained, aggressive dogs out there, we don't want to take any chances, and we realize that we have responsibilities as dog owners. The only time they go off leash is when they swim, which we do often since they both love it, but we're always aware of our surroundings and other people or dogs nearby. We had an interaction with a large GSD a few years ago in the water that made us realize that there's no way to control the actions of other people and other dogs, so the safest thing we can do is control our dogs. OP, just because you own a Golden Retriever who "wouldn't hurt a fly" doesn't mean that there's no risk associated with letting it go off leash in an informal dog run. Our incident with a moody GSD a few years ago occurred in what sounds like a similar set up. The unleashed GSD approached our dogs when they were swimming in a park pond and started growling and snapping at them. The owner came up to the waters edge and she acted as if this was nothing for us to be concerned about and settled right down on the shore presumably so her GSD could swim with our dogs for awhile. Safe to say we quickly called our labs out of the water and went on our way. Some of these owners are completely clueless. Please don't be one of them, OP. |
I find this odd. My dog and my neighbors dogs love the socialization of our local dog park. It’s their favorite time of day. |