Really, Time Magazine? The Problem With Pit Bulls?

Time Magazine, on June 20, ran the article "The Problem With Pit Bulls". I only just read it, and haven't really heard it discussed in my usual online watering holes. Go read it; I didn't watch the video or anything, so can't vouch for that, but otherwise it doesn't have any terrible pictures or language or anything.

It's hard to read things like that, because they aren't wrong. This is Time Magazine here; they're able to present a compelling argument and back it up with sources. It's what they're for.  But they aren't right, either, and I feel leaning on PETA for citation weakens their case. "Even PETA, the largest animal-rights organization in the world, supports breed-specific sterilization for pit bulls" says Time magazine. Well, PETA thinks it would be best if this convention of keeping pets never existed. We all probably know by now about PETA's high euthanization rate of animals surrendered into their care (that one's from Time, here's one from The Washington Post).

New York City police dog injured in the line of duty

Bear, a 6 year old German Shepherd on the police force in New York city was injured while apprehending a suspect yesterday. He'll be okay, before you're too worried, but boy howdy. That does not sound like it was a fun law enforcement experience.

(photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Vaccinations: helping and hurting

Vaccinations can be a touchy subject, both in the human world and the dog one.

In general, I feel that they help more than they hurt. When they hurt, they hurt profoundly, as Roxanne who writes Champion of My Heart has found out when her dog, Lilly, had an extreme negative reaction to her routine rabies vaccination (500 days ago, as of June 4). Lilly has been in medical distress since then, has almost died, and has had one severe relapse. Roxanne writes that Lilly can never have another vaccine in her life.

(picture from Wikimedia commons. You'll see "why a tiger?" after the jump)

Dogs and Babies

I got the New York Times "dogs" article alert and sighed when I saw the title: "The Dog Bit Me". Oh boy. I read it anyway, of course. I wanted to know how bad it ended up for the parties involved. For those of you whose stomachs dropped with mine, the kid was bitten, but not "mauled" or disfigured. The dog was also fine; already, in fact, in residence with the grandparents, but this was a family visit.

Good news from the New York Supreme Court!

So, can you guess what the New York Supreme Court said on April 4, 2013? Can you? (well, if you follow me on Twitter you can, obviously!)

The case was The People of New York State v. Diana Shanks. The situation? A German Shepherd named Ranger was leashed to a porch railing. He broke his restraint and attacked an American Pit Bull Terrier, named Ghost, who was being walked past on the sidewalk by his pregnant owner. Ghost was both collared and harnessed, and was at no point unrestrained during the conflict. Both dogs inflicted injuries on one another, and Ghost's owner, though not injured by either dog, miscarried.

Even though Ranger perpetrated the attack, his owner filed charges against Ghost, seeking to have him declared a dangerous dog. Even though Ranger perpetrated the attack (and many people feel that German Shepherds are "dangerous dogs", by the by), Ranger's owner thought that Ghost was the dangerous one because he is an American Pit Bull Terrier.

Free Advice Thursday: May 31 2012

My last Free Advice Thursday was back in October. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a regular thing. It still might not be.

Today, though, I actually heard advice requested on a topic that, in person, I wasn't really comfortable giving. Not at work anyway. Or maybe not at all. Advice that I give, here or in person, may not be taken as legal advice. If you actually have this kind of problem, you should contact a lawyer, discuss with police, at the very least call your vet or even your breeder!

The Disclaimer: I am not responsible for what you do with the information and discussion that you take away from here. I'm merely airing concerns.

So, what is is that has me bothered? 

Beware of Dog?

It's not uncommon to see a "Beware of Dog" sign. Some are more inventive than others in their wording, some are specific bodily threats to intruders, and some say that it's best to watch out for the owner.

I see a lot of discussion, though, on what signs like that mean for owner liability. You see articles of cases in which a burglar breaks into a house, hurts himself, and then successfully sues the family. You can imagine such a thing makes a dog owner nervous. "I broke into the house and was carrying out the TV when their dog bit me! I'm suing them for a million dollars, and so that the dog gets put down!" I read things like that and think "really?" It can happen though.