The cartoon published on your editorial page (Nov. 28) portraying a pit bull having eaten Santa feeds into a media hype over the purported "evil pit bull." The Dog Breed Information Center describes a pit bull as "a good-natured, amusing, extremely loyal and affectionate family pet, which is good with children and adults."
Your readers might be surprised to learn that cocker spaniels are often cited as a breed that bites frequently, more frequently, in fact, than pit bulls. Pit bulls are never ranked as the dogs with the highest propensity to bite: that "honor" usually falls to German shepherds.
Instead of continuously attacking the pit bull breed, society should turn a critical eye toward those people who choose to house and train aggressive dogs of any breed. Having a dog means having responsibilities to yourself, the dog and society. Those people who either choose not to train their dog to behave in public or choose to train their dog to be aggressive toward people or dogs are the ones who should be punished, not the poor dogs that are just doing what they were taught.
Rebecca Niburg
Greensboro
Comments (3)
Next time I read about a cocker spaniel attack that leaves a grown person without arms, I'll agree with you.
Posted by truth![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 2, 2005 9:26 AM
Rebecca:
Regardless of what the breeders association says, the news is full of "fun loving, AOK pit bulls who have turned, unexpectedly on their family members or local neighbors. They appear to be unstable as a breed, the articles I have seen are not stories on dogs trained to be aggressive who are attacking family members.
The only way your arguement can gain any creditibility with me is to research news at Channel 2,8,12 for the last 5-10 years and tell us how many deadly or atleast serious attacks by pit bulls have been reported vs any other breed you pick! I think you will find the Pitt Bull wins as most reported, most deadly, regardless of environment it has been raised in!
If I am wrong, I will listen to your arguement!
Posted by shippy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 2, 2005 6:20 PM
Well, you said a mouthful there, shippy. It's exactly what those stations REPORT that is the problem. Many times I have googles "dog kills child" at random times and the newspapers, television stations, and radio stations never disappoint me. They ALWAYS list the breed in the headline or first paragraph when it's a pit bull and NEVER mention the breed or bury it in the 8th paragraph if it's ANY other breed. Also, if it's a ______-pit bull mix, it will always be touted as a pit bull. This just fits in so nicely with the media template on the monster that is THE PIT BULL.
Want more evidence of bias? Take the story of Bam the dog from Saturday's (12/3) paper. When Bam saved his owner's life earlier this year, he was billed as a pit-bull mix. Suddenly, he becomes a "mixed breed" in saturday's story, reporting on his death. The media can't even give credit to a pit bull for saving someone's life.
Posted by goatboy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 5, 2005 7:56 AM