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What is the fascination with being the owner of a "bad dog"?

post #1 of 16
3/9/10 at 8:46pm
Thread Starter 
 Let me preface my rant by saying that there are alot of good dog owners of many breeds, BUT, there is a particular type of owner I'm starting to see more and more. The jackass a few houses down from me is the latest. It's becoming more and more fashionable for people to not just own, but train pit bulls, rotweillers, and the like to be these massive, aggressive "superdogs" (for lack of a better term). WHY?!?!? My neighbor down the street has IMO very poor containment and his dogs are literally terrorizing a small strip of the street when they allow it to roam the 4 feet high fenced back yard. Even though it is fenced, the dogs get extremely aggressive when you casually walk or jog by the house at a distance. They allow their young teens to walk the dogs down the street and it is evident the dogs could easily break free from the kids. I'm beginning to fear for the safety of people on the street should the dogs get loose or jump the fence. Why does it seem now that everyone wants the appearance of having a "big bad dog"?
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post #2 of 16
3/9/10 at 9:49pm
We had a neighbor like that early when we first moved into our neighborhood.  A few calls to Animal Control straightened it out.  Owning dangerous animals is, to me, a disgrace.  It is not taking care of the needs of the animal, and it's disrespectful to your neighbors.

I've seen trained guard dogs. And, when nothing was happening, they were calm, cool animals that were never "out of control".  Meanwhile "bad" animals as you refer to them have been trained using cruelty and are often harmed animals that were abused.

 

Nothing classy about that at all.

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post #3 of 16
3/10/10 at 11:01am
The same reason why people want to be "BAD" in general. Unfortunately they are using animals instead of wearing spiked bracelets or skull and bones emblem on their shirts. They want to be perceived as being "tough" and send out the "don't mess with me" vibes to over compensate for personal character flaws or inadequacies.
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post #4 of 16
3/10/10 at 2:59pm
Because they're jackasses.
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post #5 of 16
3/11/10 at 6:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drobbins View Post

The same reason why people want to be "BAD" in general. Unfortunately they are using animals instead of wearing spiked bracelets or skull and bones emblem on their shirts. They want to be perceived as being "tough" and send out the "don't mess with me" vibes to over compensate for personal character flaws or inadequacies.

There's a lot of truth to this.  The first bad thing to live at that residence is the jackass who brought the dogs in.  I'd also add another component, testosterone.  You didn't say how old the guy is but I'll bet he's no more than 30-35 and probably younger.  Too many at that age don't give a horses patoot for anyone else.

A friend of mine rescued a stray pit bull.  Her name is Beatrice and the first time I met her, just by looking at her face, I could tell the only danger I was in, was from being slobbered to death.  She just radiates sweetness.  This guy is into feline rescue as I am, but he couldn't resist Beatrice.
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post #6 of 16
3/11/10 at 6:55am
Took my cat to the vet (she's fine, thanks).  There was a fellow there who had a big, blond dog with clipped ears and a clipped tail.  What told me more than anything else that the owner was one of those people was that he didn't have the animal on a leash; he had a big chain leading from the spiked collar to his hands.  I'm talking big; the links were 3 inches long and 2 inches wide.  The thickness of the link was a half inch or so.  There was no handle on the chain, the owner just wrapped both hands around the chain.  The chain was so heavy that the poor dog couldn't hold his head up for more than a few seconds.
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post #7 of 16
3/11/10 at 7:19am
Where I live, I don 't have this problem. My advice  one should discuss this problem with the neighbors about the "bad" dog and then all go visit the Vet who will certainly understand the problem and know about the legal problems. Dogs are to be tought love not hate. Vick the football player was guilty of having dog fights. There is a double standard. People who are teaching hate to their dog should also be stopped.
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post #8 of 16
3/13/10 at 6:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drobbins View Post

The same reason why people want to be "BAD" in general. Unfortunately they are using animals instead of wearing spiked bracelets or skull and bones emblem on their shirts. They want to be perceived as being "tough" and send out the "don't mess with me" vibes to over compensate for personal character flaws or inadequacies.

This.

It always amazes me when my wife and I walk our pit bull because we'll sometimes get young guys walking up and complimenting our dog on how "TOUGH" she looks despite the fact that she's the sweetest dog I've ever known and responds to everyone by wagging her tail so hard her entire butt shakes all over the place. I guess these guys are trying to be nice in their screwy way but such comments only make me distrust them because it makes me wonder what they would do with a dog like that if they owned one.
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post #9 of 16
3/13/10 at 7:35am
This incident happened a few months ago in the county where I live:

http://nems360.com/view/full_story/4365393/article-UPDATE--Pit-bull%E2%80%99s-victim-identified-in-Union-County?

Notice the "memorial" on the back window of the SUV. I like dogs but something is seriously wrong here.

And Andy this is not a dig at you but there have been a lot of dog attacks around here (almost always pit bulls) and invariably the owner says something about the dog being nothing but "a big puppy" or something else. I blame the owner, not the dog in these cases.
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post #10 of 16
3/13/10 at 12:07pm
I absolutely love Rottweilers but I assure you that i'm not one of those idiots who thinks raising a vicious dog is cool. Matter of fact, I do all I can to ensure that my dog is well behaved and trained. I too agree that those guys out there that raise their dogs to be aggressive and vicious are immature and ignorant and/or have something to hide or protect so they raise their dogs to behave accordingly. I can't have a dog like that in my home, I have to rest assured that my family is not only safe with the dog but can control it as well. I can have it no other way.
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post #11 of 16
3/13/10 at 7:48pm
We had a neighbor like that, growing up. He eventually choked on his own vomit, and the cloud that he'd brought down on the neighborhood lifted.

He'd trained his German Shepherd to be vicious by mistreating it, like kneeing him in the chest after asking him to jump up. The dog used to attack kids whenever he got out of his yard, which was often.
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post #12 of 16
3/13/10 at 7:58pm
On a related note, in the local paper recently, a tiny dog that was frightened of being at the veterinarian's bit a vet's face.

So she demanded that the city kill the dog.

Here is that dog:

20100224_023512_spork1_300.jpg

His name is Spork.

The state says dog bites are not crimes if they bite a vet whose occupational hazard is being bitten by the animals they treat.

But she wanted the dog dead. Revenge, I guess, for her having to have surgery on her face.

The city decided on a middle path -- probation for 6 months.

www.dailycamera.com/archivesearch/ci_14663883

The city may have been influenced by the "Save Spork!" Facebook page receiving more than 23,000 fans.
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post #13 of 16
3/14/10 at 1:22pm
While I feel bad for the vet worker, common sense would tell one that such a reaction from an animal is a very real possibility in that profession.  While we love to "humanize" our pets, they have no idea what's happening to them when we take them to the vet.
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post #14 of 16
3/14/10 at 3:38pm
Most of the people commenting after that article feel sorry for Spork and are coming down on the tech for getting bit. I wonder how many of them would be singing a different tune if they were the ones that had their lip ripped off by little old Spork and then had to pay thousands of dollars to have their lip rebuilt? 
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post #15 of 16
3/14/10 at 6:39pm
Doesn't matter how they "feel", what matters is whether the dog is a danger to the public, or not. Dogs are put down not as retaliation or vengence, but to protect the public-at-risk. It was evident from this situation that the dog only freaked out because of the unusual circumstances.

This happens even to the nicest dogs. My friend was out roller skating with her dog (the dog was not on roller skates), and she fell and broke her leg. When the ambulance crew arrived and began strapping her in and taking her away, her otherwise docile dog actually attempted to bite one of the rescuers. Again, because he had absolutely no idea what was going on, other than that it looked very much like his owner was under attack from strange people.

Again, not a danger to the public. Unique circumstances. The rescue worker visited her later and expressed that he did not mind the dog attempting to bite him; that he too owns dogs and knew full-well that he was only being defensive.
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post #16 of 16
3/15/10 at 8:00am
Quote:

And Andy this is not a dig at you but there have been a lot of dog attacks around here (almost always pit bulls) and invariably the owner says something about the dog being nothing but "a big puppy" or something else. I blame the owner, not the dog in these cases.

Yeah, I've had run-ins with such people before. They don't socialize their dogs, plain and simple, so the dog has a stunted upbringing and never learns to relate to people and other animals outside their homes. The animal might act like a harmless goofball at home but will then growl at strangers, which unfortunately for pit bulls these days is grounds for immediate execution by animal control.
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