Pitbulls Get a Bad Rap

It's really unfortunate that so many have been hurt in some way or another by pitbull dogs. They actually are a great breed of dog that can live peacefully with the family. Unfortunately, you have a certain type of people that enjoy getting these dogs for fighting. Also, some acquire them for prestige because they think they are cool too to their strong bodies and notoriety in the media.

It's those irresponsible people who acquire pit bulls that make it bad for everyone else that enjoy this breed. The Michael Vick's of this world need to be found out. Legislation should be geared towards severely punishing those people who get these types of dogs with little regard for others.Of course, that's not fair.

A snowball effect has basically been created which started with less than well thinking pitbull owners making their dogs into monsters whether it be for prestige and/or fighting. These dogs sometimes get out on accident or purposefully but end up hurting children or adults. The fact is, the vast majority of these dogs would barely heard of a flea.

You then have all these unfortunate pitbull incidents happening and the media grabs hold while not letting go. It almost seems like they have a taste for publicizing these pitbull occurrences. Occurrences with other breeds almost never get media exposure to the extent of what you see with pitbull dogs. The media has essentially become monsters themselves by looking to publicize each and every pitbull incident they come across.

With some research, you can find that of all dogs that might be predisposed to biting, but Pitbulls will not be at the top of the list. Yes, it's true. Yet, you would not know it because of the publicity all these occurrences get. The media has become fairly biased.

Yes, it is okay to publicize these incidents but not to the exclusion of other dog bite attacks or occurences. Give media attention to these incidents but also cover all the other many dog bites done by other breeds too.

Many people buy into this publicity in the papers and on TV. Even legislatures do the same because they are affected by the press just as much as the average citizen. They even enact laws against the pitbull breed. For example, Ohio Revised Code section 955.11(A)(4)(a)(iii) specifically calls out the pitbull breed of dog as being a vicious animal. It doesn't look into the specific pet concerned but just simply assumes because it is a pitbull, that it has to be vicious. This has happened in other locales also.

So the snowball gets bigger and bigger. Eventually I hope it does not get so large that pit bulls are outlawed everywhere. I say, don't fault the breed but fault the people who irresponsibly own them. They will be the ones at fault. Any responsible person owning a pet that could cause harm to others should be the one punished. I really don't care whether the pet is a dog or not. It's almost like owning a gun that could randomly go off unexpectedly.

The fact is, just as some parents should not be parents, some pet owners should not own pets. Many owners fail to understand how to properly control a pet. In this case, a dog has to be properly controlled. Otherwise, you are definitely asking for problems. I don't care what dog breed you talk about...unfortunate incidents like a young girl getting bit by a dog severely has usually more to do with the dog's owner poor ability to control and train the dog and not the dog breed itself.