Recently, I was contacted by a blogger who wanted facetime on my website. I am always curious about people who approach me and want to write on my website when they have a website of their own. In checking out his website, he had a tagline that claimed, “There are no bad dogs.”
This is the greatest lie that we can tell people. In the same vein is when we tell people that all dogs are alike. People usually make that claim when talking about pitbulls. That too, is another lie.
Anyone who has worked in an animal shelter knows that pets have phenotypical and behavioral differences. We chalk that up to genetics. It is foolish to think that genetics does not impact behavior. Let us face it, poodles and chihuahuas are the meanest dogs. We chalk that up to their genetically small brains. They don’t make the newspapers because they are too small to cause any real damage to a person. Pitbulls are the breed most likely to cause a fatality due to their size, aggression, and numbers. There is something about a pitbull owner that seems to think that they need to breed more pitbull mixes. I think they are having a contest to see just how many other breeds will breed with a pitbull.
For many years, dog fighters would breed their line of pitbulls to be mean. They would come upon a specific genetic marker for aggression and milk it. Many of the offspring of those animals find their way into animal shelters. One of the biggest problems that we face is that most pet owners do not know how to respond to the aggression they see in their pets. Like having a misbehaving child, they blame themselves and attempt to adapt to these new behaviours.
It is tragic the number of pitbull owners who give up their pet after witnessing numerous incidents of aggression and wait for the “the big one.” The one action that is so severe that they are forced to surrender their dog. That action is usually a bite so severe that it cannot be overlooked. The victim is usually a child.
Pitbulls are not alone in being potentially dangerous. It is the responsibility of shelter staff to see aggressive behaviour before you place the dog on the adoption row. Too often, animal shelters are trying so hard to reach a 90% save rate that they will intentionally overlook a dog’s behaviour in hope of being able to announce they’ve become no-kill. For that reason, maybe people should avoid a no-kill shelter fearing that their no-kill rating is more important than an adopter’s safety.
Animal shelters that adopt potentially dangerous dogs and pet owners who choose to keep a potentially dangerous dog should be charged with reckless endangerment if someone is ever injured due to their complacency. An animal shelter is negligent when keeping a dog that has shown aggression towards their own staff. If more shelters were held responsible for their animals that they adopt, they might reconsider the importance of being called no-kill.
Don’t get me wrong, no-kill is a good thing, if it is done in a responsible way.