TexasCHLforum.com

KD5NRH wrote:

dihappy wrote:KB, my fiance is also a dog groomer. Safe to say that not many "pits" come in for a "groom", however they do come in for baths and nail clips. She has also never had a problem with "pits", she has however been bitten by Chow Chows, Labs, Mix breeds, and the many, many, "toy" sized dogs out there. Her co worker was scared badly on the face by a lab.

Does she deal with a lot of junkyard dogs? Special bulk pricing for dogfighting rings? Actual working (not show) herd dogs? She's probably not dealing with the dregs of doggy society, or even the "blue collar" working dogs unless she's grooming a few police or security animals, and yet these well-cared for dogs with owners who could easily afford enough obedience training for them to qualify as command-restrained in areas that recognise such (Stephenville doesn't, but a couple of towns around here do) are still injuring people who have a lot of experience in dealing with animals.

Neither Chili nor his kids had any way of knowing whether this dog had any such training, or what its disposition normally would be. Nor did they have enough time once it was "approximately three feet away" to evaluate its behavior any further.

KBCraig wrote:

KD5NRH wrote:"He shouldn't have reacted so fast" when the dog was already within arm's reach. Great thinking there.

I have found no reference to the distance in either of the posted articles. Where did you read that it was "within arm's reach"?

I am pretty handy with a pistol. Having played Longtooth's "shoot the dog" game at the range, I am confident that the dog was not behaving aggressively, because the officer hit it with one shot. A moving dog is just too difficult a target to hit.

I also find it a shame that this man has raised his children to be so terrified of dogs -- and they obviously learned it from him.

As I mentioned earlier, my wife is a groomer, and has been for over 15 years. When we were discussing this story last night, she pointed out that the only breed (group of breeds, actually) that has never bitten her, nor even tried to bite her, nor acted aggressive at all while in her shop, has been pits. Allowing, of course, for statistically significant raw numbers -- she's also never been bitten by a Dogue de Bourdeux nor Irish Wolfhound, having only had one of each as a customer. She's handled hundreds of different individual pits. The greatest threat from them has been undocked tails -- they wag so furiously that it's like getting slapped across the thigh with a sjambok.

Leaving aside the dogs most likely to successfully break skin (Shih Tzus and Pomeranians), and just looking at dogs big enough to do serious damage, then Golden Retrievers, Collies, GSDs, Malinois (a highly trained Arkansas State Police K9, at that), Australian Shepherds, Malamutes, Siberian Huskies, Samoyeds, even lovable lugs like Great Pyrenees, have all tried to do mayhem to her, me, and/or employees. And some of them weren't just mad about the nail trim, some actually wanted to rip out throats.

Once again, let me point out that we've never owned any pit nor pit mix, and have no plans to. We're not defenders of the faith, just trying to speak the truth. (Speaking of, why isn't this dog being called a boxer?)

So... from a source that is biased neither towards nor against pits, there's some impartial data for you.

03Lightningrocks wrote:

BigBlueDodge wrote:I googled "poodle attacks" and came up with 632000 hits. I say we shoot threatening poodles too!!

Also, I googled "goose attack" and it came back with 2,050,000 results, so it appears as though geese are more dangerous than pit pulls. Next goose that starts eyeing me down is gonna have lead chasing him!!

LOL...it just gets sillier. Most of us can fend off a crazed goose without the aid of a firearm. Like I said before, if it is a poodle, we can kick it into tomorrow. A pit bull sized animal is not to be compared with a goose or a poodle.

KBCraig wrote:

flintknapper wrote:And just to clear things up... in case anyone is wondering: I do not own any pit-bulls, never have and never will, but not because I believe them to be the "devil dogs" that some here espouse.

Same here. I've encountered dozens of them over the years, what with my wife being a groomer and both of us generally being "dog people".

The biggest kick I get out of people's visceral reaction to "pit bulls", is that the majority of the time they couldn't identify a pit if their life depended on it. Any time a stocky short-hair dog bites someone, it's attributed as a "pit bull attack", even when it's just a mutt.

See if you can spot the pit bull:
http://understand-a-bull.com/Findthebul ... ll_v3.html

KBCraig wrote:Statistically speaking, there was most likely only one person there that day with a gun. Isn't it odd, then, how the dogs weren't a threat to anyone except that person's kids?

http://www.politickermd.com/robtornoe/3 ... ges-police



I don't know if the shooting was justified. But I am certain that the official police response would be quite different if the shooter was Joe CHL, or Joe Unlicensed. Justification is justification regardless of the shooter's legal status, but you can bet the official response would be different.

flintknapper wrote:TxRVer wrote:

He said the dog ran up to his kids growling and snarling.

Seems unlikely given the account from other witnesses:

Brianna Reyes, the owner of the pit bull, and another girl were with the dogs. Reyes admitted the dogs were running loose and playing in the water, but said they were not acting aggressive toward anyone. Witnesses in the park at the time of the shooting backed up Reyes’ claim.

“I see those girls in the park every day around this time,” said Jody Caudle, a witness. “I come to the park on my lunch breaks to practice guitar and I see them. The same girls are always walking them without leashes and the dogs are always well-behaved.”

alphonso wrote:I'm with the shooter on this one. If an unknown to me and unleashed pit bull gets too close to me or mine I consider it a serious threat. Google pit bull attacks if you need some convincing.

For the gentleman who compared (above) a pit bull to a poodle or beagle I suggest please that you also Google poodle and/or beagle attacks to gain some perspective. All dog breeds are not alike in their capacity to kill or maim.

I shot a pit bull on our property last year. I didn't know where it came from, but it growled at my wife on our rural property and that was enough for me. Enough for the police also. I got a pat on the head (lots of cops hate pit bulls) and the owner, who lived 1/2 mile away got a citation.