My Pony
I don't get this and am just looking for opinions to maybe understand this better.
Why is it when a Pit bull, Rotwieller, German shepard, or any other dog that's stereotyped as "aggressive or vicious" attacks someone weither provoked or not it get plastered all of the news and in the newspaper for days and made into a huge ordeal. But when a Lab, St. bernard, or any other dog stereotyped as "a good family dog" attacks someone weither provoked or not it's never plastered anywhere and if it is its for like a day then its no big deal.
I have 2 pits and had a lab but had to put my lab to sleep because she continued attempted attacks on everyone including me. She's the only dog I've ever owned that I ever put in a kennel and it was only after her 1 first attack on me and 1st attempted attack on my moms puppy. I gave her 1 month and attempted to train her but she continually tried to attack everyone including a professional dog trainer. I had no choice but to put her down because it wasnt getting better and couldnt risk her attacking anyone else especially a child. My 2 pits have never lunged* at anyone or even attempted attack on another animal but yet they are still stereotyped as the vicious fighting dog to most people.
So having owned dogs on "both" sides I think the media needs to be reinformed on what aggressive and vicious means and that its not the breed of the dog, its actually the dog itself. But in actual reality it isn't even the dog thats bad, it's people in general owner and/or victim. "Bad" dogs come from bad owners and/or provoked or abused by bad people.
*****i know this sounds like a rant but I really do want other opinions on this so maybe I can understand the method behind it. Honest opinions only give reasons behind your opinions you can even use personal experiences. I'm honestly just trying to understand.******
Answer
Have you tried flying a plane into a long suspension bridge or into a skyscraper?
The media - esPECIally tv - require shock-horror in order to attract the type of people who watch tv (my tv gets turned on about once a year, to watch the local IRB Rugby 7s tournament - life's too short to waste in front of the idiot box! However, when my radio station announced the first plane hitting the first tower on what was 11 Sept.2001 in the USofA, but the 12th where I am, I switched my set on and watched in horror from midnight to 6am).
Alfred Hitchcock very successfully scared lots of us with "The Birds", where our feathered friends turned against us.
Naturally that inspired a host of imitators where other of our animal friends turned against us - those nice honey bees became "Attack of the Killer Bees"; those nice doggies became "Cujo".
Things like "Rambo" and "The Terminator" don't really scare us - that sort of thing doesn't happen to "us". But the possibility of being turned on by our "friends" DOES terrify us (as with an episode of "The Avengers", where the family cat was made to claw its owner to death). The thought of being eaten alive REVULSES us.
Hence the attraction to the media of "Dog Kills Child" and "Dog Kills Woman then Drags the Body Around".
Next is the "Give a dog a bad name" syndrome.
Back in the 1930s to about 1960, anyone who was nipped by a dog reported it as being an Alsatian if it had prick ears, a Labrador if it was black and didn't have prick-ears, a Collie if it had a shaggy coat.
Then the Dobermann became the popular attacker.
Then the Rottweiler became the popular attacker.
And now the Pit Bull Terrier is the popular attacker.
There is no doubt that SOME members of each breed earned that reputation - survivalists and criminals want to scare rivals away from the HQ, so get hold of the biggest, strongest, most ferocious dogs they can, then train them to be savage. A nasty case a few years ago involved a lawyer who was "looking after" the guard dogs of 2 of his clients while the clients were in gaol - and the dogs escaped from their inadequate enclosure and mauled & killed. GREAT for the media who could get pics of the places where the attacks had happened and could record eyewitness tales!
And naturally they named the breed involved exactly as did the witnesses who followed the "Give a dog a bad name" rule.
If you have tracked down actual investigations you will find that what is reported in the media is rarely the actual breed or crossbreed "as wot done it".
But there ARE characteristics of the bites inflicted by particular "breeds". As examples, GSDs tend to inflict a single bite that stops the person and leaves up to 4 deep painful-but-survivable punctures; whereas PBTs tend to tear a chunk out then come back for another, which sends the victim into shock. (Too many people - yourself included - forget that the PBT has Terrier genes. And a characteristic of Terriers is the shaking action with which they kill vermin. Whereas a characteristic of Bulldogs is to just hold on forever.)
But in simple terms....
The media:
(1) Report what attracts an audience and so sells advertising space/time.
(2) Name the breed as whatever is scariest of the breeds that the "Give a dog a bad name" eye-witnesses said.
And FYI:
⢠The time to start training a dog is the moment you get it home - at that stage you use only reward-reinforcement methods.
⢠The time & place to start SERIOUS training is in a training club class that begins when Pup is 18-22 weeks old - NOT wait until it is an uncontrollable adult with a bad attitude.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967
Have you tried flying a plane into a long suspension bridge or into a skyscraper?
The media - esPECIally tv - require shock-horror in order to attract the type of people who watch tv (my tv gets turned on about once a year, to watch the local IRB Rugby 7s tournament - life's too short to waste in front of the idiot box! However, when my radio station announced the first plane hitting the first tower on what was 11 Sept.2001 in the USofA, but the 12th where I am, I switched my set on and watched in horror from midnight to 6am).
Alfred Hitchcock very successfully scared lots of us with "The Birds", where our feathered friends turned against us.
Naturally that inspired a host of imitators where other of our animal friends turned against us - those nice honey bees became "Attack of the Killer Bees"; those nice doggies became "Cujo".
Things like "Rambo" and "The Terminator" don't really scare us - that sort of thing doesn't happen to "us". But the possibility of being turned on by our "friends" DOES terrify us (as with an episode of "The Avengers", where the family cat was made to claw its owner to death). The thought of being eaten alive REVULSES us.
Hence the attraction to the media of "Dog Kills Child" and "Dog Kills Woman then Drags the Body Around".
Next is the "Give a dog a bad name" syndrome.
Back in the 1930s to about 1960, anyone who was nipped by a dog reported it as being an Alsatian if it had prick ears, a Labrador if it was black and didn't have prick-ears, a Collie if it had a shaggy coat.
Then the Dobermann became the popular attacker.
Then the Rottweiler became the popular attacker.
And now the Pit Bull Terrier is the popular attacker.
There is no doubt that SOME members of each breed earned that reputation - survivalists and criminals want to scare rivals away from the HQ, so get hold of the biggest, strongest, most ferocious dogs they can, then train them to be savage. A nasty case a few years ago involved a lawyer who was "looking after" the guard dogs of 2 of his clients while the clients were in gaol - and the dogs escaped from their inadequate enclosure and mauled & killed. GREAT for the media who could get pics of the places where the attacks had happened and could record eyewitness tales!
And naturally they named the breed involved exactly as did the witnesses who followed the "Give a dog a bad name" rule.
If you have tracked down actual investigations you will find that what is reported in the media is rarely the actual breed or crossbreed "as wot done it".
But there ARE characteristics of the bites inflicted by particular "breeds". As examples, GSDs tend to inflict a single bite that stops the person and leaves up to 4 deep painful-but-survivable punctures; whereas PBTs tend to tear a chunk out then come back for another, which sends the victim into shock. (Too many people - yourself included - forget that the PBT has Terrier genes. And a characteristic of Terriers is the shaking action with which they kill vermin. Whereas a characteristic of Bulldogs is to just hold on forever.)
But in simple terms....
The media:
(1) Report what attracts an audience and so sells advertising space/time.
(2) Name the breed as whatever is scariest of the breeds that the "Give a dog a bad name" eye-witnesses said.
And FYI:
⢠The time to start training a dog is the moment you get it home - at that stage you use only reward-reinforcement methods.
⢠The time & place to start SERIOUS training is in a training club class that begins when Pup is 18-22 weeks old - NOT wait until it is an uncontrollable adult with a bad attitude.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967
how long of a rest should dogs have before they fly on on airplane again?
hj
I'm thinking about taking a trip and want to bring my dogs along because I don't know if i can trust other people looking after it? But before even considering that I want to know how much stress dogs have when flying. Any side effects? How long should I wait between flights before they would be ok to fly again?
Answer
depends on the dog, and how well they travel.
My dog travels well.. he was on a plane twice within a week.
Do check with the airline in advance and find out what arrangements need to be made to fly with your dogs.. you cant just show up at the airport and bring your dogs.
If your dogs are stressed easily about travel, or are nervous or easily stressed in general, You'd be better off to find a good boarding kennel while you travel... your vet or groomer could reccommend one.
depends on the dog, and how well they travel.
My dog travels well.. he was on a plane twice within a week.
Do check with the airline in advance and find out what arrangements need to be made to fly with your dogs.. you cant just show up at the airport and bring your dogs.
If your dogs are stressed easily about travel, or are nervous or easily stressed in general, You'd be better off to find a good boarding kennel while you travel... your vet or groomer could reccommend one.
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