Comments on: Turn off the hate mail machine: We didn’t do it

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:37:20 +0000

I suppose the chemical thing is a remote possibility. But I’m more inclined to chalk it up to the fact that you can never overestimate the power of incredibly subtle body language cues when it comes to dogs (who are ALL about body language with one another, being the nonverbal creatures that they are).

So while you might believe your behavior and your brother’s behavior was identical, it’s far more likely that to a *dog* your brother was committing some cardinal sins in “dog language”. Perhaps he had a tendency to stare a dog in the eye more than you did, or perhaps he simply had a “harder” look than you - there’s a whole BUNCH of “dog offensive” things we humans do without having any awareness of it, and frankly, dogs are incredibly generous for the most part in their ability to put up with our “rudeness”.

By: Urban Critter

Urban Critter — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:47:43 +0000

I totally agree that the vast majority of dog bites are to do with human stupidity but there’s also a possible chemical connection - how else to explain the fact that, as children, my brother and I behaved exactly the same way around animals and he was repeatedly bitten while I got away scott free? And we’re talking slow movements, letting the dog sniff you before throwing your arms around it etc - poor brother never got past the *sniff - NOM!* Of course it was funny to me at the time but I grew up in a land/time when people took dog bites as par for the course and didn’t rush to litigate/euthanize as soon as the poor pooch so much as looked in the direction of their precious poppets.

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:02:47 +0000

Good point. I found out recently that I and a number of the shelter staff, including the director, had, at different times in the past few years, taken one of those “ID the pitbull” tests on the internet and all of us failed. People tend to see what they are looking for.

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:18:19 +0000

And I always find myself wondering about the qualifications of the person making the breed identifications for these reports . . .

By: Naama

Naama — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:04:07 +0000

I have looked at a lot of county bite reports here in California. And yes, the vast majority of bites are from the negligence of the people. Lots of puppies that bite from normal behavior. Unfortunately many dogs will loose their life because of a lack of understanding of dog behavior. It is very disturbing when one reads about a 10 week old puppy that is bludgeon to death because he nips little Johnny. Or the dog is stabbed, hit with a hammer, pitch-fork…..Who is the greater threat? And what is generally missing from media reports is the large number of bite reports in which little is known. That is the dogs are described generically, large, small, black, brown, short hair, long hair. This can make up about 30-40% of the TOTAL bites…..not the bites of which the breed is reported.
Some reports can be found here:

http://www.forpitssake.org/dogbitestatistics.html

By: Donna

Donna — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:29:07 +0000

The lens of the media is foggy indeed. Interesting that your piece spoke volumes about breed prejudice without meaning to!

Dog bless those pit bulls, btw. Selective breeding for fight was as much about creating a dog with bite inhibition to people as anything. Dog fighters, being selfish people of course. In all the thousands of dogs we’ve worked with, my one and only oh-crap-gotta-get-stitches bite came from a husky-mix. Go figure.

As you said, bites are more about humans making dumb mistakes with dogs — especially dogs that have ‘people issues.’

By: slt

slt — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:09:53 +0000

I don’t tend to think of newspaper pieces as having been edited by an editor generally so this is a good tidbit for me to keep in mind.

By: JenniferJ

JenniferJ — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:35:16 +0000

Ah, the power of the internet to rally folks without them having to do any of their own research.

Clearly the vast bulk of folks on the warpath did not actually even read the column.

I make a point, even when the source is pretty reliable, to look at articles or columns when someone is declaring war over a quote or photo etc..
And sometimes I am left perplexed at how some one got from point A to point B to apparently point Z .

Being an advocate for a cause is no excuse to blindly jump off a cliff when ever someone yells “charge”. Critical thinking is a vastly underutilized and under-taught skill. And people need to realize that a dose of cautious skepticism is not a bad thing.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:00:39 +0000

Pour me a glass, too!

(Actually, that sounds like such an EXCELLENT idea that I’m going to get one now.)

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:29:03 +0000

That’s, uh, absolutely. And, really, I’ve only had one glass of wine this evening. Really.