[Leica] This is a photograph of a dog

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

This is a touching story, and I'm sure Midge is a great dog.  I too have 
known several friendly and affectionate pit bulls.  But there is another 
side to this.

My dog Harpo was almost killed by a pit bull several years ago, in a 
completely unprovoked attack.  We were walking on a trail in a shoreside 
state park in northwest Washington (Deception Pass, for those of you who 
know the area).  We rounded a bend, and a couple of hundred yards away, we 
saw a young couple playing "fetch" on the beach with what appeared from 
that distance to be a small dog.

I turned to say a few words to my wife, and when I turned back, the "small 
dog" was almost upon us.  It turned out to be a male pit bull, probably 
about a year old.  He chased Harpo around several times, with us screaming, 
"no, no."  I know better than to directly challenge a dog under those 
circumstances, but I began frantically pulling my jacket off, hoping to 
throw it over his head to distract him.

I wasn't quick enough.  The pit bull caught Harpo with his paws and dew 
claws, pulled him down like a deer, and took Harpo's neck in his mouth.  He 
was about to bite down hard when the owner reached us.  He literally threw 
himself on top of the pit bull, pounded on the dog's chest full force with 
both fists, and yelled "NO!"  The pit bull stopped, thank God.   Another 
second or two and Harpo would have been dead.

The guy was apologetic and a bit scared of what might have happened. Then 
his girlfriend started yelling at us that it was *our* fault because our 
dog was not on leash. . .  (neither was theirs, and mine stayed by me).  It 
was the closest I've ever seen my wife come to violence.

Pit bulls were designed to be killing machines.  They are capable of a jaw 
pressure much greater than any other dog, their aggression is very easily 
aroused, and many (most?) people who breed and own them do so for 
"protection" or machismo.  It takes extraordinary training and 
socialization to make a reliable dog.  The people who want pit bulls are 
usually the last people that *should* have them, because they tend to 
encourage the very thing that makes the dogs so dangerous.  All it takes is 
one mistake for someone to get killed.  Remember the case of the female 
athlete in San Francisco, killed by her neighbor's pit bull?

I'm sorry if I'm being a doggie racist here.  But pit bulls are the result 
of artificial selection of a particularly pernicious kind, and they are 
more dangerous than other dogs by an order of magnitude.  Add to this the 
fact that nasty people have nasty dogs, and you have a recipe for disaster.

--Peter

At 09:37 PM 12/21/04 -0800, "Christopher Williams" 
<leicachris@worldnet.att.net>
>Great shot Kyle. I've known many pitbulls and I never come across one that
>was mean.
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Kyle Cassidy"
>Subject: [Leica] This is a photograph of a dog
>
>
> > Bow wow
> >
> > http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/temp/brutal-killer-pitt-bull.jpg
> >
> > Because I know you all care -- my neighbor pete found midge, a 2 or 3 
> > year
> > old pitt bull in the bad part of town where she's apparantly lost a dog
> > fight (organized dog fights are endemic in some parts of philadelphia,
>hence
> > our huge stray pitbull population) and been dumped from a car. She had
> > multiple bite wounds and was covered in blood. When he approached her, 
> > she
> > tried to stand up and wag her tail. Pete put her in his car and drove
> > quickly to the vet, but thought she'd die before he got there. Well, he
>did
> > get there. And midge lived. And there she is.
> >
> > That face is actually not representational. She's actually a nice dog, 
> > the
> > kind you'd expect to lose a dog fight.
> >
> > http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/temp/brutal-killer-pitt-bull2.jpg
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------