Dog Breed Bans in Germany!?! - Page 2

i also remember all the dogs in the neighborhood getting along and would roam together. Funny now that I think of it. They always made it home. The only problems I remember is the Vet lived on top of the hill and they use to chase his car. Our Great Dane would hop on top if he slowed down enough and he would be splayed across the top looking into the front windshield. The Vet drove a yellow VW. It really was a very funny site. I remember laughing and telling the Vet to quit giving Winnie (Winston) shots. Then we had another Dane that had an account with Safeway, he learned how to step on the mats in front of the door and they would open and he found the meat counter. So Mom would settle up when she shopped. If one of those dogs did that now they would shoot him. i think it was better when they roamed. I have some very funny stories/memories. I would love to see him today go into safeway and help himself, what a rucass that would cause.

1doggie2 I am not speaking for Hodie, but I personally think that in years past there has statistically been the same number of bites to the population (expressed in percentage of bites per capita) as there are now. I would be surprised if the percentage varied a lot.

And some time ago these statistics were keptsolely by those entities who provide homeowner's liability insurance and police departments. The big change is of course that our world is very small now due to the internet and we can view/read/hear news in practically real time.

It is now quite easy to gather and parse statistics for practically any subject that one wishes, provided that data exists. This information is no longer private and in the hands of merely insurance underwriters or police agencies.

Are people being bitten at a higher rate? Probably not. Are more people being bitten by more dogs? Probably yes. In closing, This is just my thoery, but I think that the proliferation of a couple of dog breeds among younger people has perhaps caused more media attention on all dog breeds.

Regards,

Bob-O

 1doggie2,

I am an older person, and yes, I remember dog bites being talked about and happening when I was young, as well as dogs running loose etc. Were there stats kept back then in the dark ages? I was a child then, so I was not much interested in that. But I can tell you that for a long time now, statistics have been kept and the cost to society from dog bites is pretty dramatic. If you are really interested, I can post some statistics or refer you to them.

I also remember when I was a paramedic some totally horrifying dog attacks on children. One was a call to which I was dispatched and unless I become senile, I expect to have that picture I saw in my mind for the rest of my life. A child got off a school bus, his dog, a female in heat greated him along with a pack of loose males. A fight ensued and the boy was in the middle of it. I will leave the rest out but it was horrible and how we saved that kid is beyond me.

I would tend to agree with Bob-O that more people are being bitten and more dogs are running loose, simply because of numbers. It is the American way you know to have a dog, regardless of whether one is responsible enough to have one or not. Of course, this theory also extends to having children. Too bad parents don't have to have a license to have children, and attend classes etc. But then, we are headed down the wrong path in our society on all fronts and this will never happen. Examples of Irresponsibility, and lack of character and integrity are many on this board. The board mirrors society in general.

Your story about the Vet and the dog is very funny!

As much as I hate government interference in private lives, I must say, I do wish there were some sort of prerequisites you would have to meet to own a dog.

Here's a site i found interesting. http://www.chako.org/dogblog/forums/  has a lot of news of bites that are in the press as well as positive info.

I too grew up when dogs just wandered around, and no one seemed to have a problem with it. Infact the private school I went to had about 10 acres that was ambled freely over by several of the teachers' dogs. No student ever got bit, I never heard of a single complaint, and the dogs didn't wander into the neighboring town. It was part of the charm. I'd like to see that happen these days.

I've never supported breed bans. I don't agree with the mandatory spay/neuter thing either. It doesn't remove the source of the problem: irresponsible PEOPLE!

Like the old saying goes: "when guns are outlawed, only criminals will have guns."

I checked out the bites people are reporting on the site, I found it interesting that you have the same amount of Labs as you do Rotties. I have met more than a few labs that I would not trust. The general population are on auto pilot when it comes to that breed and feeling they are a great family dog without reguard to any training. Not raised correctly they are just as dangerous as any of the other breeds, even more so because of the ignorance. Just as a GSD or Rottie they can be a wonderful pet/family member in the right hands.

I also have been exposed to stupidity and a bitch in heat, that is just unthnkable and both owners should have been tarred and feathered. I was lucky and it dawned on me as to what was going on and no damage. i went from the romance of the early days to a PP dog in my late teens. Talk about being slammed into a different world.

The First Face Replacement  Surgery just took place in Canada. The culprit was a Lab.

This is nothing more than induced hysteria.  Thousands of chidren die annually from Electrical sockets, Bathtubs, Bikes, Allergic reactions & Chemicals, pools, bees & wasps..  but they single out a few Bully Breeds. Insanity..

And to blame this non sense on the Holocaust or Holohoax, as some refer to,  when Israel is running their own Concentration Camp in Gaza,  is beyond me.  Black is white, up is down, war is peace.

"What is peculiar about the Palestine conflict is that the world has listened to the party that has committed the offense and has turned a deaf ear to the victims."

-- British Historian Arnold Toynbee

Ziegler: Israel is THE Worst colonial regime

Jean Ziegler, UN Special rapporteur on Right to food, Castigated Israeli Occupation & described it as the Only "colonial regime" - Refuses to abide by Any International law, calls the UN to adopt an effective policy Forcing Israel to Respect Human rights & the Geneva Convention.

"Its an Illegal Occupation from the UN's point of view, & continues to Annex More Palestinian lands; its the worst in the history of colonialism."

Looking at it from another angle, one that scares me more than anything that threatens working dogs is the SPCA, PETA, animal activist movements that have gained in numbers and strength.  These are the people that are behind the legislation that is taking the freedom away from responsable working dog owners IMO.

The media, which loves to create hysteria will seek out any thing that brings sensationalism to the public.  This is not to say that stories of innocent people being attacked should not be released to the public, but these stories feed the animal activists agenda of controlling what  the whole country is allowed and not allowed to do with their animals. 

This is a form of discrimination.  If I use stories of some working dogs gone bad to further my agenda of banning, neutoring, spaying , over seeing everyones breeding practices to make sure they are only breeding Golden Ret. type dogs, then I am discriminating against these breeds.  This is no different then saying that certain races of people have higher crime rates, so we should spay, neuter or exterminate this race.  This is IMO the long range agenda of the animal rights groups.  Most of these groups see animals as humans, ( forget the word that describes that)  and expect everyone to see it the same way.  They are going out of there way to hit the unsuspecting public up for all the funds they can so as to further their desire to control all breeding, training and care for animals.

Sadly, I see so many people supporting these groups because they get a small portion of the truth mixed with sensationalism, and bathed in exagerations and out right lies.  Their statistics are far off from reality.  They prey on peoples emotions and only show one side of the coin.  They mislead many to believe that some isolated incidents are the norm.

I personally know of too many good folks that contribute to these organizations out of ignorance and out of emotional responses to their examples.

gsdfanatic,  Please know that I respect you as a person of knowlege, but your comments are just what I am referring to.  More laws on the books means more opportunity for the animal activists to control what and how you breed, show or work your dog.  I get crap in the mail all the time asking for money.  They usually have a beautifull woman holding a skinny little cute puppy that they rescued from the jaws of death.  They then tell you how their are millions and millions of these cute little puppies being left to die.  Won't you please contribute to our fight against these cruelties to our beloved animals.

And the list goes on.  These are the scary people to me.  When we do not have the rights to breed good hard working dogs because of legislation that prohibits it remember that we went for it.