Issue of Society's Misunderstanding Pitbulls

Dogs have been around for almost 32,100 years, they have always had a global role in the human society. The roles of dogs have changed throughout the years, for more than 12,000 years dogs have lived with humans as a hunting companion, protector, object of scorn and/or adoration, and a friend. Dogs evolved from the gray wolf breed they began with into more than 400 distinct breeds, although humans have played a major role in creating dogs, including some genetic engineering, that can fulfill distinct needs for every human they belonged to. Although over time, in some areas of the world, dogs were used as guards, beasts of trouble or even for food, as where in the United States and Europe, dogs are protected and admired instead. Although in ancient Egypt, during the days of the pharaohs, dogs were considered to be sacred, almost gods to them. Dogs were considered to be herders and gardens when the livestock to sheep, goats, and cattle domesticated about 7,000 to 9,000 years ago. During evolution, dogs became faster and stronger and could see better than humans could.

The roles later changed depending on how us humans raised them, what we teach them, the wrongs and rights we teach the dogs. Today dogs are roled as guides for the blind and disabled or were used for police work. They are even used in therapy in some nursing homes, hospitals, and school to encourage patients toward a speedy recovery and students towards a healthier mentality. Humans have bred numerous of different dogs adapted to serve a variety of functions, due to this change, dog have been enhanced by improvements in veterinary care and animal husbandry. Their actions will usually reflect towards humans, not every dog teaches themselves the rights and wrongs of their actions. Although the dogs might perform the action thinking it’s right or wrong, it’s the humans who’ve taught them the actions they perform. The significance of dogs is their abilities to provide companionship for people who live alone, especially older people who need better security. They can help reduce stress and increase your health by playing with a dog, exercising, walking or running. Lastly, dog can provide security such as hearing or seeing an intruder that may come to your house late at night, or protecting you from a dog that may sense to be harmful.

 If you truly understand how dogs learn, it will give you the tools to teach your dog how to fit perfect into your life like harmony. They’re loyal and will always protect those that care for them, they’d even put their own lives on the line for us, although no one taught them to do that. We usually teach them to sit, lay down, roll over, fetch, etc. They also learn what we show them, almost similar to a child, after they see something new they’d want to try it too. There are two types of conditioning dogs go through which are classical, and operant conditionings; classical conditioning included associations, predictions and tip offs, while as operant conditioning is giving consequences when they matter. Although there are owners that teach their dogs to attack others when given the command and/or when a given situation arises. It is important to condition your dogs by respective commands. For example, say you would like your dog to sit but he wont respond unless you have his favorite treat in your hand. Once he sees that receiving his treat will require him to sit he will act obedient. It’s important to understand that we have to condition our dogs to obedient but also reward good behavior.

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Before pitbulls were being branded as the Al Capone of dogs, pit bulls reigned as one of America’s most beloved pets to have owned. An example of a good pitbull, Petey, the canine sidekick in the “Little Rascals” comedies, was a pit bull. As well as the mascots for RCA Victor and Buster Brown shoes. Even the White House welcomed pit bull offshoots under the protection and care of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, although there were hints of a darker side. Even though Roosevelt’s bull terrier almost created an international incident by biting off a French ambassador’s pants at a White House function. Nipper, the bull terrier mix immortalized by RCA, reportedly earned his name by frequently nibbling at visitors’ legs. Although these dogs were never considered to be banned, and/or put down since they belonged to people higher up, everyone saw it as a joke, and allowed this to happen. Yet if you take a regular owners pit bull, or pit bull interbreed, they’d get threatened by others to get their dog put down just from the dog barking at them.

 Pitbulls that are trained well enough or have a good enough heart can be good when a situation comes around, for example, when a stray pit bull was walking around town in Baldwin, Georgia, this August, he saw a man and woman fighting in the street and ran to intervene after the man pulled out a knife. He protected the woman, taking the brunt of the attack as he was stabbed five times. He was rescued by Sgt. Timothy Clay and Officer Daniel Seeley, who immediately brought him to a vet for surgery. The dog died twice during surgery but miraculously recovered; he was named Hero and has now been adopted. Pit bulls like Hero are often still considered to be banned from the states they are in, even the pitbulls who have saved lives are being put on the list. That’s the same as saying someone from a history of terrible people, can’t be good because of their families history and stereotypes.

There are many different ways to train a dog, but most dog emotionally and logically agree that the positive way is the best for both the dog and trainer. Socialization means training your puppy and/or adult dog to accept new people, animals, and various places by exposing them to all of these different things. Socialized dogs are less likely to develop behavior problems and are generally more welcomed by others, and less hostile. Socialization can also help prevent the development of fears and phobias that causes the triggers of aggression. If you train a dog in a friendly, calm, stable, and flexible environment they’ll learn the good and bad, and know who to trust and not to trust. The way a dog is trained, determines how they’ll act around strangers, and the people you love, it’s never really the dogs fault for their actions.

Although there are times where pitbulls aren’t trained at all, and/or have had a bad history with humans. For example, A mother-of-two from North Carolina has died after being mauled by a pit bull she adopted a week ago and called ‘my big baby.’ Suzanne Story was attacked by the animal Wednesday afternoon and succumbed to her injuries just as a medical crew from Norfolk landed to take her to a hospital. Stories stepfather, Randy Brown, says Story adopted the dog about a week prior to the tragedy in Virginia after seeing it advertised in a newspaper.

Among the strong voices of the pitbull argument, Dr. David A. Billmire, a Craniofacial and Pediatric Plastic Surgery doctor, at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center strongly agrees with banning Pitbull’s. Dr. David A. Billmire states, “In my opinion, these dogs should be banned. I know this is an unpopular stand in some circles, but how many mauled children do we have to see before we realize the folly of allowing these dogs to exist?” He states numerous events in which children have been attacked viciously by pitbulls, such as this situation, having to watch a child bleed to death one night in an operating room because a pit bull had torn his throat out. He believes that pit bull’s act this way because of their breed’s history, being knowingly bred as fighters and killers, he believes this is their instinct coming into action. With this knowledge, and the amount of children coming into the hospital with dog related attacks have drawn him to agreeing with the ban for the pit bull breed. Although he has yet to say what he wants them to do with the mix breeds that have pitbull in them, are they dangerous as well or less dangerous? He believes that there is no need for pitbulls, considering we already have plenty of other breeds that can calmly coexist with the human society, without the worry of a hospital visit, under certain circumstances.

Another strong voice of the pitbull argument, Sara Enos the Founder and Executive Director of the American Pit Bull Foundation,

The most feared dogs are often the most misunderstood, a lot of people are quick to blame the dogs, and their ‘hunting instincts’. Due to evolution, it’s possible that a dogs hunting instincts have died down a little bit over time from generations of love and care from humans. Their hunting instincts have turned into protective instincts, using them to protect the ones that love them as much as they love them from people that want to hurt them. They never blame the dogs owners that train them to be bad on command, or the fact that people might have been harassing the dog and/or their owner. We’re always quick to blame the dog because they inflicted the pain towards the person accusing them, but they never ask where the dogs have learn their actions from. Although when a baby or toddler does something bad they instantly blame the parents, because the children don’t know any better. What if the dogs don’t know any better, and they’re being punished for something they didn’t know was wrong, it can be natural to them.

Summary of the opinions, main point

When I was younger, I loved dogs, and I still do, although some of them left good and bad memories. Around the age of 6 my sister agreed to take care of her friends’ baby pitbull for a few days, although she did not watch the dog and feed them she left that in my care, she knew how much I loved dogs. I was told that pitbulls can be aggressive, but this pitbull was the sweetest thing I’ve ever spent time with. Even though there were the occasional nibbles to the fingers, it’s a common thing dogs do, it was a sweet puppy that was still learning and adventuring. I was surprised that this pitbull wasn’t aggressive, but one day when I went with my brother to his friend’s house, they had a dog. I’m not sure what breed it was but it was not a pitbull, this dog was very aggressive when it came to people coming around their family, this dog chased me through all of the neighborhood until it finally caught me. During that whole time, my brothers friends did not stop the dog, causing the dog to leave me a scar on a pretty embarrassing place.

In Conclusion, pitbulls are misunderstood and misinterpreted, due to this research it’s safe to say that people do not consider the owners as the problem, because the owner didn’t bite them. Although the owner would have trained their dog to bite anyone who comes to their house, or treaspasses. Pitbulls are just like any other dog when they’re puppies, yet since they have a bad reputation a lot of people don’t like taking them in, making the pitbulls feel lonely and rejected. That isn’t fair when they are no different from any other dog that can be trained to be good, pitbulls just need to be given that chance. How a dog is trained determines their actions, and how they see living, and what it means to them. Pitbulls should not be banned, but they should be relocated from terrible living conditions, and terrible owners, to be given love and care just like any other dog.

Work Cited:

❖      Dog Mammal – Written by: Constance B. Vancore – Jan. 24, 2019.

>https://www.britannica.com/animal/dog

❖      How did pit bulls get such a bad rep – Written by: Jon Bastian – Unknown Date.

>https://www.cesarsway.com/about-dogs/pit-bulls/how-did-pit-bulls-get-a-bad-rap

❖      How Dogs Learn – Written by: Unknown Publisher and Date.

>http://www.ispeakdog.org/how-dogs-learn.html

❖      How to Train Your Dog – Written by: Jenna Stregowski – Oct. 23, 2018.

>https://www.thesprucepets.com/steps-to-train-your-dog-1118273

❖      How Pitbulls became the “bad boys” of the dog world – Written by: Roy Rivenburg – June 20, 2015.

>https://www.latimes.com/style/pets/la-hm-pit-bulls-20150620-story.html

❖      >https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3442872/Mother-two-mauled-death-pit-bull-adopted-week-ago-good-children.html

❖      Opinion: There is no need for pitbulls – Written by: Dr. David A. Billmire – June 29, 2014.

>http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/06/29/doctor-says-ban-pit-bulls/11709481/

>https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-pit-bulls-should-be-banned

❖      The Most Feared Dogs May also be the Most Misunderstood – Written by: Simon Worrall – July 3, 2016.

>https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/pit-bull-ban-aggressive-dog-breed-bronwen-dickey/

❖      The Problem with People not Pitbulls – Written by: Sara Enos – June, 20th.

>https://americanpitbullfoundation.com/problem-people-pit-bulls/

❖      10 True Tales of Pitbull Heroism – Written by: Jennifer Billock – Oct. 14, 2016.

>http://mentalfloss.com/article/87327/10-true-tales-pitbull-heroism