factbat.com

Owners of vicious dogs are just as liable for their dog’s behavior as are drivers for their out of control automobiles, and they must both be held to account for any damage they cause.

While it may appear this article is in response to Mr. Hayashi's recent incident where three pit bulls owned by the grandfather killed the grandson in the garage of his home, that is not what influenced it.

Actually, I have owned mainly pit bulls in my life, and not one of them was ever even remotely vicious toward any human being, essentially because I would never tolerate it. Of course, like any dog they could all be wary of an unknown tresspasser who came onto my property at an odd hour, but then this is merely a fear-based defense mechanism exhibited as aggressive behavior.

The fact is that any domesticated dog which is ever vicious toward any human being, and most other animals, has been taught to act that way…period.

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for any socialized dog to act aggressive toward any human being. The only dogs who do display this type of behavior are those dogs which are owned by jackasses who enjoy it.

Regardless of just how much, or how many, people claim that they don’t understand why their dog sometimes acts aggressive, the truth is that the majority of people expect their dogs to be weapons, but only when they feel it is necessary, and expect the dog to just turn this behavior on and off on command, or at will, whenever the moment warrants it.

This is one of the most irresponsible and ignorant behaviors I see in human beings, not to mention abusive. Just who the heck do people think they are? And just what gives anyone the right to abuse a dog and train it to be an attack weapon or burglar alarm.

If people want to protect themselves then they should hire a body guard, security personnel, or simply buy a gun or intrusion alarm. Training a dog to be a weapon is a disgusting and abusive mistreatment of animals, and far too many people are getting away with claiming they didn't know any better.

Bull crap! I say.

What actually inspired this article was that an acquaintance of mine, who happened to be walking his female pit bull and four puppies, met me in the park.

They stopped and began conversing with me where I was playing my guitar and relaxing. The dogs, four puppies (4 months) and the mother, are basically well behaved, although the adult female can appear a bit odd at times.

I am typically very observant, and regardless that this adult pit bull has generally acted cordial to me the few times I have petted it, I have always viewed its behavior as a sign that I should be wary of it.

Today, it was hanging out by me and trying to lick my face, and I was petting it. But about 15 minutes later I was standing near it and as I began to reach down to pet it, it acted as if it wanted to bite me. I tentatively stroked its head and then it snapped at me.

My first instinct is always to smack a dog that does this, and so I playfully made a few hand motions near its face, stroking its snout. As I did this it growled, and I could not help myself but apprise the owner that if his dog ever bit me I would instantly take extremely aggressive action.

The owner acted incredulous and begin to insinuate that I had caused the misbehavior of the dog. To which I replied. “Look buddy, I don’t care what you think, if this dog ever bites me I will punch it as hard as I can, and it won’t stop there.”

To be clear, this is a reaction of which I do not have control over in circumstances with things attacking me, especially a dog, which I cannot reason with.

At this point the guy is acting as if I am at fault for saying this, and say’s “don’t you dare hit my dog.”

A few more words are exchanged and then he says “my dog only barks at or bites ‘tweakers’”.

Of course, I feel compelled to ask him “what are you trying to say, that I am a tweaker?”. He denies this.

But as I begin to think about it, what becomes most apparent is the fact that this person does actually expect his dog to bite people. But only those people whom he considers to be “tweakers”. It also becomes entirely obvious that he has no intention of preventing this type of behavior by his dog. In fact it is likely that he enjoys it.

I tell him that his dog was acting “strange” and that I wasn’t sure why. To which he indicts me for not being more careful just because his dog was acting “strange.”

I say “what? Who the hell do you think you are? I am not god, I don’t know why your stupid mutt is acting strange until I investigate the matter more closely. It wasn’t until I noticed it was going to try and bite me that I realized it had some sort of behavioral issue. And that is your problem, not the dogs’.”

I wait for a bit, and then decide to press him on the issue, but he say’s “lets just not talk about it.”

At this point I finally become openly angry at him, now indignant at his blatant disrespect and indifference. I almost couldn’t help but tear into him and inform him that now he has gotten me extremely pissed off. I tell him that one day he is going to try this sort of attitude on somebody who’s kid just got bitten by his dog, and he is likely to get his head knocked off.

It is very rare that somebody can push me to the point that I openly chide them with a spiel of curse words, but this was one of those times.

I will now end this story with a fact.

If anyone owns a dog which attacks another human being that is not either encroaching upon the owner’s private property in an unwelcome fashion, or attempting to harm its owner or the dog, then the owner is in every way liable for any injury that occurs as a result.

No dog is responsible for its behavior, only the owner of the dog. It is time to change the laws concerning dog ownership, and make it a crime to raise a dog in any fashion which causes it to disrespect or attack human beings…PERIOD!!!

THERE ARE NO MORE EXCUSES!!!