Holly Snider
Position Paper
November 21st 2015
Sonia Begert English 101
Year
after year, misunderstood animals are killed in attacks towards humans. Leading
these numbers of killed animals are Pit Bulls. So, people begin to wonder,
“Should Pit Bulls be banned?” Pit Bulls, are “bully breed” dogs. Claiming that
in particular these animals regularly attack people, are not family safe, and
have a high temper. Many people believe these animals are viscous, aggressive,
and scary dogs. But, these accusations are wrong. Pit Bulls are not any more
aggressive or viscous than any other dog. Any dog can be trained or become
aggressive. It simply depends on the dog and the owner, not the breed. How can it
be fair to ban these dogs?
Places
in America have chosen to ban these animals. For example, Aurora Colorado, they
claim to have originally banned these dogs after a series of attacks. But now
are questioning to allow them. Many people in that area have spoken up and
presented their opinions and ideas. Innocent Pit Bulls in this area were taken
from homes and families by law enforcement without warrant. (2)
I have had four dogs that fall into
the Pit Bull category. They have been the best pets and friends anyone could
ever ask for. I would never question my trust or love invested in these
beautiful dogs. They have all played well with other dogs, greeted humans with
joy, and snuggled to their hearts content. My current dog, Kona, completes my
family. These dogs make fantastic pets and friends, taking them from a family
would be destroying the family altogether. Why would that be acceptable? Why
should the wholeness of my family depend on someone else’s opinion? It
shouldn’t.
According
to, HidingTheTruth.com, one of the biggest fears that come from people towards
Pit Bulls is that they so frequently attack people. “Sadly,
pit bulls are often blamed for attacks that were actually committed by other
breeds, furthering the unwarranted fear of these dogs.” The media does more coverage about Pit Bull
attacks than it does other breeds. So when there is an attack it is made to
seem like a more important situation than one with a different type of dog. (3)
Society does not see the severity of other dog bites or aggression because it
is often taken with a grain of salt. Whereas, Pit Bulls are automatically to
blame. These media stories surrounding Pit Bull attacks sell well, which
encourages the media to keep writing them and exaggerating them. (3) Without
the media these dogs could possibly not be blamed for so many inaccurate attack
accusations.
Another
highly common assumption is that Pit Bulls are not family safe pets. People
seem to believe that these dogs cannot do well with young kids. “In truth, pit bulls are
innately wonderful family pets, as capable of love and good deeds as any other
type of dog.” (4) Any dog can be a good family dog, it just depends on the
specific dog and owner. “A century ago, the pit bull was considered a family
dog, featured in family photos and trusted as loving companions for
children.”(4) Ken Foster explains through the book how the Pit Bulls family
image has changed, but attitude has remained. They are still just as capable of
being compassionate, loving family members. In most ways, it really is the
owner not the dog.
A lot of people claim that it is
indeed the dog not the owner. Because people simply are not the problem. (1) Well,
in my opinion this is simply ignorance. Believing that it is a certain group of
dogs that are 100% the problem and humans have nothing to do with it. Some
people would compare that to categorizing one group (or race) of people to be
the problem. Sound familiar? Society considers that to be unacceptable, so why
is it acceptable to blame one group of dogs? Clearly discrimination is part of
the problem. If people treated the animals right, and the dogs were raised with
love and greeted with joy, don’t you believe they would be caring and greet
humans with joy? I do, and I have living proof from four amazing creatures that
I have grown up with through my entire life.
Another argument that society discusses
is that Pit Bulls have a higher and less predictable temper than other breeds
of dogs. This is not true. This is just another myth. (3) According to a study
by Dr. Joel C. B, on average Pit Bulls do better in a temper test than the
whole dog population. If these animals could not pass the test they would not
be put up for adoption, which is not the case because many of these dogs are adopted
each year. If Pit Bulls had an unpredictable temper they would not serve as
therapy dogs, search and rescue help, educators, and pets in many homes. (4)
Many people still believe that
Pit Bulls are fighting dogs. But, what they forget to realize is that people
are the ones who taught them and most of the time forced them to be fighting
animals. When it comes to banning these creatures or worse, it is wrong.
Repeatedly blaming this breed, is making no progress and is an accurate
judgement. It so clearly goes far beyond that. The owners and abusers are the
ones to blame. Any animal or human can be taught and display aggression. Most
of the time out of fear. Therefore the dogs are fearing the humans. So
shouldn’t the humans be considered the “scary” ones?
Are the fears directed at Pit
Bulls irrational? I certainly believe so. Are these animals scary and
aggressive? Absolutely. But so can another breed of dogs along with people.
Blaming these dogs in only exhibiting cruelty. If it Pit Bulls are banned, or
worse, they will be taken from their loving families, destroying the family. It
is never a good thing when families are torn apart. It is false that Pit Bulls
are not family safe pets. Claiming that have a high temper is inaccurate,
proved by Dr. Joel C. B. All in all, the most appropriate thing to do is treat
these creatures with respect and love. “Blame the deed, not the breed.”(3)
No comments:
Post a Comment