An incident involving an escaped pitbull and a poodle was in the news a couple of months ago.
Unfortunately it is an all-to-common story. A loose dog (and when pit bulls are involved it usually makes the news)and an attack on another dog who ultimately dies.
(if you want to see some of the many instances of pitbull attacks that have resulted in death, just go to youtube.com and search for pit bull kills.)
Our pets are like our family. Most dogs live to be at least 10 years old, many live to be 15. That’s a big amount of time that we have cared for, cooked for, shared time and adventures with and given our love to a pet.
When something like this happens, it is like having a member of our family murdered. In fact, that is what it is.
When something like this happens, who do you blame?
Is the animal naturally aggressive or did the owner encourage that behavior in their dog? What more could the owner have done to prevent the tragedy from happening?
It seems to come down to a classic case of nature versus nurture. Is the pet born with natural aggressive traits, or did it acquire them under the watch of its owner?
Although it is a bit farfetched to think that a pit bull is born a natural killer, some people feel the breed is just that and want to see all pitbulls put down.
However, many pit bulls go their entire life without doing harm to anyone, human or canine. Would it be right to kill an animal who was innocent of any wrong just because he/she was a pit bull?
Pit bulls are naturally combative – which is why they are favored for dog fighting, but not all pit bulls will act on that instinct. Some of the best pet/owner love stories I’ve seen involve pit bulls.
One thing is for certain: owning a pet is a responsibility and anyone who chooses to own a pit bull must be alert for and take precautions against their breed’s tendancy to show little fear and to agressively fight to death another animal.
It is the owner’s responsibility to train the animal to behave around other animals and people, it is the owner’s responsibility to ensure their pet is secured when left outside, it is the owner’s responsibility to discipline the animal so it knows right from wrong, it is the owner’s responsibility to make sure the animal receives the kind of care it deserves and it is the owner’s responsibility to take the correct steps to isolate or remove an animal that he or she sees is dangerous so that animal does not have the opportunity to kill another. If you did happen to do the youtube search for pit bull kills, you will have seen several videos with titles like – pit bull kills child and pit bulls kills boy. These horrifying videos have to do with the family dog.
But what about an owner who tries to do the right thing and still winds up with a bad situation? Although an owner can argue they did everything right, it is still the owner’s responsibility to right any wrongs that happen as a result of his or her pet’s behavior, whatever that right might entail.
My opinion,
Linda
VetLocator.com
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