This is so sad...

I watched a new show on Animal Planet called Animal Cops. Its very sad because in the State of Michigan, they have a law against anyone under the age of 18 with pitbulls. These children, who are involved in dog fighting(they denied it) got their six dogs confiscated. I didn't understand what the manager was saying other than since it would be bad to put the dogs back into homes, that they had no choice but to put them to sleep. These dogs were just puppies that wagged their tails. It is very sad for pitbulls and rotties to fall into bad hands and have this happen to them. Because these poeple use dogs for their own pleasure rather than for a companion. I've seen many rotties and pitbulls at the shetler here in Utah and all of them where friendly. I hate people who make bad dogs out of reputable ones.

It sucks that these dogs get such a bad rap because of a few #$%@%$#% who use them for dog fighting or guard dogs. Pit bulls and Rottweilers can be the sweetest dogs and when they are properly socialized and trained they are WONDERFUL companions.

The trouble is because of their popularity novice dog owners get them and don't realize that with dogs like that you have to be in control and they need to be socialized with EVERYTHING. Then these dogs wind up in shelters because they are dog agressive or they have too much energy or they can't be controled.

Then you get the jerks who get them and say "I want him to be mean" or "I want him to guard the house." I actually had one guy with a Pit bull claim his dog was faster and stronger than my dog and wanted them to fight. Um.... NO!!

I certainly do not think banned a breed helps the problem because there will be another breed to takes it's place. Dobermans were really big at one time along with German shepherds, then Rottis and now Pits... I hate to see what other breed they will try to destroy.

I get so mad when I hear things like this! Yes, some dogs can be more prone to aggression but 95% of the blame usually lies in the breeders or owners hands. Just last week we had a PUPPY only 5 months old in the clinic. He is a little German Shepherd puppy. We could not get anywhere near him. Anytime you would even take a step, he would growl and snap. We finally had to leave the room and have the owner put a muzzle on so he could get vaccinated. The ONLY reason this puppy is like this is because his owners don't have enough sense to get him out and socialize him. I can almost guarantee that this dog will be involved in some sort of incident when he gets older.
I can say from experience, ALL dogs have the potential to rip someone up. I don't care what breed or size. I have been bitten 3 times in my life and they were all small dogs.

Don't even get me started on this topic! Too late....

About 10-15 years ago there were a couple of very vicious pit bull attacks in Denver. These dogs were generally owned by drug dealers and gang members, or just stupid owners. (I don't remember all of the details of the cases themselves.) I remember in one of the cases, the dog was short chained to a tree in the back yard, never socialized, and the kids in the neighborhood teased this dog mercilessly (throwing things at it, etc.). Well, one day the dog broke the chain and attacked a child. Big surprise.

Anyway, in it's infinite knowledge, Denver banned pit bulls outright. Apparently, making the owners responsible for their dogs wasn't an option.

There have been a few stories lately about pit bulls being "discovered" in Denver. One was definitely a fighting ring, the other was just plain abuse. The "owner" left 12 pits, most of them very young puppies, in a garage with no food or water for at least a week. Finally a neighbor broke in after hearing the dogs and "rescued" them. (The really pathetic part is that in the next room was a 50 lb. bag of dog food.)

The law says that if the dogs are claimed by their owner within 10 days and the owner doesn't have any prior complaints about animals, they can take the dogs as long as they move them out of Denver. Double edged sword - you will minimum get fined for having the dogs if you do try to claim them, and generally they don't think you would possibly have pits unless you are fighting them, so will tack on more charges, AND you have to move. No one can adopt them even if they live outside of Denver. As far as I know, all of the dogs in the above two cases, including the maybe 2 week old puppies, were put down.

I had a dog who was 1/2 pit bull. She was the most affectionate dog I have ever known - not a vicious bone in her body. Her sire apparently didn't know he was too big to be a lap dog. Every pit I have ever met has seen strangers as friends they haven't met yet. Of course, if they or their owners were threatened they would defend them. What dog wouldn't?

It is because of this and other STUPID laws that the city and county of Denver has passed that I will NEVER live within their city limits.

Sorry about the rant - this is one of those subjects that really gets me hot!

It was quite daunting actually. The reason they put the pups to sleep versus adopting them out, is because in their experience, dogs whose parents were victimized by horrible people, in other words trained to be viscious pit dogs, had no chance (genetically) to straighten out even at such a young age. They showed a special after this was over on TLC about the behind the scenes training that is done to prepare this dogs for the pits. Everything from treadmills splattered with blood (usually from rabbits) to get the dogs into a frenzy as they run, to shocking them with these damn battery box hook-up things- all so they can have the glory of saying their dog went into the ring and killed another. I had to look away several times as the brutality was severe for these dogs who had no choice in their lives. I just can't understand the mentality of people who think like this. They are the ones who should be PTS!