Maybe these pit bulls are dangerous

Brett Singer — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:00:00 GMT

I'm a dog lover (though not a dog owner), so I'm usually willing to sympathize with people that blame bad owners when their pooch attacks someone.

But with so many pit bull attacks, maybe these muscular little k-9's don't make the greatest pets.

Henry Piotrowski, a 90-year-old man in Staten Island, was attacked by two pit bulls and had to have his leg amputated. According to NY1, the owner, James McNair, allows the dogs to wander the neighborhood sans leash; Piotrowski was attacked outside his home.

Then there's the sad tale of Kamar Reynolds, a 3-year-old Brooklyn boy who had an ear bitten off by a pit bull a few days ago. He seems to be recovering nicely, or as nicely as he can, considering the fact that he had to have his ear reattached.

Now, to be fair, this particular incident happened because some jerk threw his dog through an open window into a room full of kids, including Kamar. The dog has been put to sleep, the owner is being held "on charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon - the dog." I've never heard of a dog being classified as a weapon, but this probably isn't the first time.

Are there any stories of poodles attacking people? Chihuahuas? Pugs? Golden retrievers? Labs? Maybe it happens and isn't reported. But I sort of doubt it.

This may be a bit of a stretch, but I think you can draw a parallel with gun ownership. Yes, guns don't kill people, people kill people. But one way to ensure that nobody gets accidentally shot is to not have a gun in the house.

Are pit bulls the doggy equivalent of a loaded gun? Or is it just stupid owners?

image: nydailynews

Related:

Pit bull attacks one-year-old girl

Brett Singer — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:29:00 GMT

A pit bull in Greensboro, NC attacked a one-year-old girl. How does something like this happen? The dog is a pet, and the child went to touch the pooch's puppies; when she did, the dog bit her.

The dog is now in an animal shelter for at least 10 days, or "longer if they can't determine if the dog has current vaccinations for rabies." I thought you had to keep records of that sort of thing, but maybe not.

The two comments on the site where I found this story are a bit over the top but do make a good point: "The big question is--where were the parents?" To paraphrase, leaving a little girl, especially a one-year-old, alone with a new mama pit bull and her litter is probably not a great idea.

If you look at the "Related Links" for this story on digitrad.com, it seems like there's an awful lot of pit bull attacks going on in North Carolina. One dog was put to sleep two years ago after attacking two kids, and this story where a pit bull killed another family's pet a month ago. In that case, the owner asked the now-really-unfortunate question, "What if this was a child?"

The little girl – a baby, really – is recovering at a local hospital. Hopefully she'll be OK.

For a video report, click here.

image: digitrad.com

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Maybe these pit bulls are dangerous

Pit bull attacks one-year-old girl

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