short post and an update

I had some computer problems recently which made it difficult for me to get to the blog and moderate comments. A lot of the old half-written blog posts I had in the works were deleted as a result of harddrive problems.

In the mean time Craven has had some excellent posts at her blog, showcasing what dog owners have to lose by ignoring pit bulls as a safety issue. The first very graphic video shows what non-pit owners have to lose by highlighting the difference in attacks from regular dogs and gripping dogs (like pitbulls). The amount of effort needed to deter a pitbull attack, and the nonchalance of the dogs in violently attacking others, is a lesson in the unique threat that these dogs pose. A second even more graphic video shows a pitbull owner being attacked by his dog, who silently chows down on his owners arm, wagging his tail the whole time, while his owner fails to get him to let go with commands and physical force. He appears to get very tired after losing so much blood, however. The police had to kill the dog and it is not known if the owner lived through his injuries. The dog looks well cared for (well fed, certainly) and happy doing what his genetic heritage predisposes him for. Almost all the available videos and accounts of pitbull attacks follow this abnormal pattern, where a pitbull will strut up to a person or animal and maul them violently, wagging their tail like its playtime, and are extremely difficult to dislodge, even by multiple adults. This is, again, a very sharp contrast to the behavior of non-gripping dogs when they become aggressive. Regular dogs warn people extensively before attacking and attempt to avoid actual violence, and usually fail to kill anyone except for the elderly, sick, and children/infants.