Much is being made of the fact that New Zealand does more to protect our dangerous dogs than to protect people from the dangerous dogs. So I have a very simple solution to the problem. Allow people to carry concealed weapons. That way if a dog rushes out at them in order to maim or kill, the dog gets it.
The same solution has been proposed for places like Virginia Tech, where students were massacred by a gun-wielding maniac. No one on the campus was allowed to carry weapons, even thought the state of Virginia allows anyone over the age of 21 holding a concealed handgun permit to carry a weapon.
New Zealanders are quick to jump on the ban gun band-wagon, while in the meantime, we have our own killers roaming the streets in search of prey. The only difference is that they only tend to kill one person at a time, rather than many, but dogs are no less dangerous to the person that dies.
The same solution has been proposed for places like Virginia Tech, where students were massacred by a gun-wielding maniac. No one on the campus was allowed to carry weapons, even thought the state of Virginia allows anyone over the age of 21 holding a concealed handgun permit to carry a weapon.
New Zealanders are quick to jump on the ban gun band-wagon, while in the meantime, we have our own killers roaming the streets in search of prey. The only difference is that they only tend to kill one person at a time, rather than many, but dogs are no less dangerous to the person that dies.
My folks (and a lot of NZers) said at the time (when they decided to let those dogs in) that it was a bad idea. But do the powers-that-be ever listen? No; they think they know best.
ReplyDeleteThey never seem to learn. NZ seems to adopt things that have already failed overseas even when there is evidence of this failure. Somehow it's thought that it will be different over here.
It happened with the so-called 'new maths' in the 1970/80s which was a failure overseas. My mother ended up teaching us the times-table at home because they weren't doing it at school.
We have to start learning from others' mistakes
Fletch, when were the dogs let in?
ReplyDeleteIt isn't just pitbulls. And it isn't really much to do with the breed either.
ReplyDeleteLousy owners produce lousy dogs.
Lucyna, I'm not really sure. Have to ask my parents, I guess, but I think it was when I was a kid, or maybe in high school. I didn't care about politics at all then :)
ReplyDeleteKG, that is true up to a point. As Sherlock Holmes said in The Adventure of the Creeping Man -
--snip--
“My line of thoughts about dogs is analogous. A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones. And their passing moods may reflect the passing moods of others.”
-snip--
As I said, I think that is true up to a point but then you have dogs like the Pit Bull that are bred only to kill; they have a propensity toward violence and when they get the 'blood lust' on them they seem to lose control. They may seem docile, but that nature is there just bubbling under the surface.
Hmm - forgive my wishy-washy liberalness, but somehow the prospect of panicking civilians firing off live ammunition in the streets strikes me as less attractive than cracking down on the munters that own these dogs.
ReplyDeleteKg, I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteThere's probably a certain amount that is training. But, inherent in every animal is their nature, which is genetically determined.
First off, I don't believe animals are more than biological entities - ie, they have no soul, not like humans, therefore how they act is in a large part genetic and then tempered by environment.
I've seen this played out with my cats. If animals purely learned from their environment how to act, then I wouldn't have cats that are completely scared of humans by nature. These cats were born at my house, grew with the kids, yet there are a couple (one that we don't have anymore because he kept peeing inside, and another one) that are happier hiding somewhere out of the house during the day so that they don't have to come into contact with the kids. They'll still cope with the kids, in that if they are cornered, they'll endure being patted. But get a person into the room that they don't know and they go bonkers.
I also had a friend who was a cat breeder, who preferred to breed Burmese because of their friendly nature. Burmese typical love human beings, to the point where their owners have to be vary careful that the cat don't decide to hop into someone's car and go live with someone else. Makes them very easy to steal. My sister's Burmese cats are both like this as well.
I'm sure between dog breeds the same thing happens. There will dogs that are naturally more aggressive (and have the build to do serious damage) and then those that aren't. So, while the owners have alot to do with how well or badly the aggressive breeds are trained, ultimately it will be in the dog's nature as to how dangerous to humans they could possibly be.
Fair points and I can't really argue with them.
ReplyDeleteYet...for most of my life I owned bull terriers (until changing to Shepherds) and not once did I have a vicious dog. When my son was a toddler the dog used to play with him happily (and very gently) and they were the best of friends.
The genetic component is unarguable, as is the ability of a particular breed to do great deal of damage, yet irresponsible ownership and indiscriminate breeding aren't exactly trivial considerations either.
I just remembered that the University of Queensland maintains a register of dog attacks in that State. Some years ago, Labradors came out way ahead of any other breed for frequency of biting children. This, after factoring the numbers of various breeds.
ReplyDeleteI'll go see if I can find anything online.
interesting link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nopitbullbans.com/?page_id=31
Kg, it wouldn't surprise me if there were more Lab attacks, for the reason that most people think of Labs as very good family pets, and may not train them adequately.
ReplyDelete