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 meowmix71
 
posted on June 27, 2005 07:19:57 PM new
Here's our baby kitty Buster. This isn't the greatest picture of him. I have a cute one the night we brought him home but my other half hasn't put it on the zip disk for me so I can put it in my computer. We now have Buster's sister. (This makes 6 cats now). She was the last surviving kitten of the litter except for Buster. We don't have any pictures of her yet. We took Buster and Sissy (The female) to the vets tonight and we have to go tomorrow for another round of antibiotics. Sissy isn't sick with this respiratory virus like Buster but she has problems with her eyes. Buster was tested for Feline Leukemia and it came out negative which I'm so happy. The vet has us giving both kittens Pedialyte with an eyedropper. What Fun!!!. Buster needs it badly. He only weighs 15 oz because he hasn't been eating. He was 1 lb about 3 weeks ago when he was only about 6 1/2 weeks old.

Here's the not so good picture of Buster.



 
 mcjane
 
posted on June 27, 2005 10:03:17 PM new
meowmix

I have seven & got six them the same way you did, they needed a home & I was very happy to provide one. The seventh belonged to my son & his family.
I hope Buster starts improving, he's a lucky guy to have "found" you & that makes him very special.

We also have an Irish Setter, Maggie & a Chihuahua, Stacy & for some reason the setter became very, very aggressive towards the Chihuahua. This was a really dilemma for us because we love both these dogs, but we had to protect Stacy. There was no way we would just give her away so my son came up with this idea, we would swap pets & we did.

They have a cat, Whisper, they just can't housebreak & just couldn't give her away either. Their entire house is carpeted so this was a major problem. We have mostly hardwood floors so it is not a problem for us to clean up after her.
They also have two other dogs & Maggie is devoted to one of them. She is very happy in her new home & both she & Whisper are still in the family, worked out beautifully, Whisper got along with all our cats from day one.

So, now we have Whisper the cat, & here she is, a real beauty.




Edited because I forgot the back slash.


[ edited by mcjane on Jun 27, 2005 10:04 PM ]
 
 glassgrl
 
posted on June 28, 2005 07:14:52 AM new
McJane! You promised us pictures of your new house and all we get is a CAT??

Don't you love the Microwave?

PICS - we want PICS!!



 
 jwpc
 
posted on June 28, 2005 11:49:54 AM new
micmic66 You said:

"They are heartbreakers after years of rewards, these pets of ours..."

We do not think or view our "fur babies" as pets, they are members of our family, and yes, particularly when one is taken from you so young, for absolutely no reason but a teenager did not like his barking, and that simply crushed us. To think of him lying there dying alone, without his Mom or Dad just kills my heart.

However, I know I will see and be with him again, and that for now I must spend as much time as possible pressing for the use of the law already passed, and some presently in consideration, to see that those who do such are severely punished.

The whole story of "General Fuzzy," the court hearings, etc., are just too long to post here. If you are interested you can read the long sad story of how our local D.A. evaded/mis-used the law, and basically released the 4 involved with a slap on the wrist.

http://www.admiralsantiques.com/dothan_eagle_news_on_fuzzy.htm

One member of law enforcement here told us that he fully expected that at least one of the 4 evildoers would harm a human in the next couple of years, and I am sure he is right.

"General Fuzzy" is not gone; he is merely awaiting us to enter heaven together. In the meantime, he is vividly alive in our hearts and minds.

************

For someone who asked at what stage the case is in, presently the Judge has taken "restitution," under advisement. Of course, the real definition of "restitution," is to return something to its original state, and that is impossible, they cannot return "General Fuzzy" to us, and no amount of money can heal our hearts.





~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~

[ edited by jwpc on Jun 28, 2005 11:54 AM ]
 
 tOMWiii
 
posted on June 28, 2005 12:01:42 PM new
jwpc:

Me-N-Ralphie are so torn up about General Fuzzy -- just can't get over how somebody could do this...

We had quite a scare ourselves the other day...

During our afternoon constitutional, somebody's pit-bull got out and streaked 1/2 block right after Ralphie & me!

I grabbed Ralphie up into my arms & stood there listening to his motor rev up & my HBP take off as this piece of trash nipped at my legs...

I love all breeds of dogs, but I truly detest pit-bulls...

We got away, but I was a basket case for awhile...







[ edited by tOMWiii on Jun 28, 2005 12:02 PM ]
 
 mcjane
 
posted on June 28, 2005 08:58:05 PM new
glassgrl, the cat is in the window so that's a part of the house.

I'll get some pics taken, but we are still in a mess, you know, stuff all over & I still don't have any curtains yet. Good thing we are in the woods where you really don't need them, but I do want some in my bedroom & of course the bathrooms.

As for the microwave, sure do love it, couldn't live without it. Your suggestion was a real winner along with the pull out drawers for my pots & pans, can't be without them either.

Anything new at your new house?

Tom, don't detest pit bulls, detest the owners.
While on vacation I met a family that has two dogs, Buddy & Daisy, they are delightful & their devotion to each other is amazing. I knew right away they were pit bulls, but I asked what breed they were anyway & was told they were pointers. Here are two sweet dogs & the owners were afraid to tell me what they were & I couldn't blame them because of the reputation they have.

These are responsible people & they have raised two lovely pit bulls.

I'm sorry you & Ralphie had a frightning experience, really sorry.
[ edited by mcjane on Jun 28, 2005 09:01 PM ]
 
 tOMWiii
 
posted on June 29, 2005 06:34:43 AM new
Sorry, Jane, I just don't buy it -- I'm a PIT-BULL BIGOT...

When was the last time ya picked-up a paper and read a headline:

"Rampaging Boston Terrier licks & kisses child to death?"

NEVER, right?

But, just about every month, some evil pit-bull eats a kid or minature horse, etc,etc, and the idiot owners ALWAYS whine about how sweet & loving the monster was...

Although the AKC disagrees, I'm convinced that NONE of the members of this breed can be trusted...

If outside, they should ALWAYS be ON A LEASH (along with EVERY doggy, sweet or NOT), ntm: MUZZLED!







[ edited by tOMWiii on Jun 29, 2005 06:36 AM ]
 
 mamachia
 
posted on June 29, 2005 11:58:32 AM new
To Micmic,
I am sorry to read about Jake. I'll pray for his recovery.

To JWPC,
I am just devastated to hear the cruelty with what happented to General Fuzzy. It is unfathomable to try to comprehend that these boys did this and that they might get away with it.

To Tom,
I completely understand about walking dogs and pit-bulls. I had a pit in the neighborhood until 2 months ago, so it was difficult to walk my mini dachshund comfortably.

I thought that I would post my sweet little girl and her big baby boy to maybe brighten up your day. My manx loves cuddling with my doxie in her kennel.









 
 tOMWiii
 
posted on June 29, 2005 12:17:28 PM new
Awwwwwwww.....



"I'm going to spend a lot of time on Social Security. I enjoy it. I enjoy taking on the issue. I guess, it's the Mother in me."—Guess Who? Washington D.C., April 14, 2005
 
 CBlev65252
 
posted on June 29, 2005 01:09:04 PM new
Oh, Tom and Ralphie, how awful! We have a pit bull owner down the street and that dog scares me. It's a city ordinance that if pit bulls are outside, they have to be muzzled. This one never is, not even when they take it for a walk. These are nice owners, but the dog still carries a high risk for attack.

Another Pit Bull Bigot

Cheryl
 
 MAH645
 
posted on June 29, 2005 03:51:45 PM new
Pit Bulls tend to be what the owner makes them. A lot of the problem is in breeding or owners make them mean by giving them gun powder in their food. Our last dog was a pit bull and the one before her was a pit/boxer mixed. Both were great with children. Our second one was poisoned by a neighbor while we were visiting in Fla and we had her put to sleep. She was a real lap dog but heavy about 80 lbs. But yes they can be bad news.
**********************************
Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
 
 me2uboutique
 
posted on June 29, 2005 04:51:29 PM new
I am so sorry to hear about Jake. Our prayers are with you and Jake. I also know what you are going through I lost my black lab Missy to cancer she was 12. We still grieve for her. We did everything we could.
Please get a second opinon. Just want you to know that are hearts and prayers are with you.
I hope that everything turn out really great. Please keep us posted.

 
 sparkz
 
posted on June 29, 2005 09:50:05 PM new
Mamachia...Here's my two brats snuggling.



Hope this works


A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
 
 mcjane
 
posted on June 29, 2005 11:00:59 PM new
Well Tom, I see I'm not going to change your mind even a little bit, but it's really some SOB's that own PB's that make them into what they are. I have to agree with MAH about the breeding. Probably many of them are inbred & and kind of crazy.

Here's something I found on Google, the one that suprized me was the Poodle.
---------------------------------------------

[b]A list of the 9 dog breeds that bite people the most based on a study of dogs; German shepherds get top honors.

The 9 Breeds of Dog That Bite the Most

According to a 27-year study of dogs in the New York City area made by Dr. Robert Oleson, of the U.S. Public Health Service, these are the 9 dogs most apt to take a nibble out of a human being. They are, in the order of their aggressiveness:

1. German shepherd
2. Chow chow
3. Poodle
4. Italian bulldog(Not the Boston Tom)
5. Fox terrier
6. Mixed chow chow
7. Airedale
8. Pekingese
9. Mixed German shepherd[/b]



 
 mcjane
 
posted on June 29, 2005 11:05:29 PM new
sparkz & mamachia

How sweet to see your dog & cat together like that.



 
 amber
 
posted on June 30, 2005 03:46:26 AM new
Tom and Ralphie: In many of the cities around us in here in Canada, Pit Bulls are banned within city limits completely, and in other places they have to be muzzled at all times when off their own property. Even within their own yard there are strict rules as to height of fence etc. Personally I am terrified of them. Our best friends neice was savaged by 2 of them while in College while visiting a friend. She barely survived, is terribly disfigured, and will never walk again. What a price to pay for the rest of her life!

 
 tOMWiii
 
posted on June 30, 2005 06:34:02 AM new
Jane:

That the nibble rate! The KILL rate is sadder:

Though dog advocates would dispute it, our fear was justified. According to the Centers for Disease Control, dogs bite 4 million to 5 million Americans every year. Few attacks are fatal (25 in 1996), but serious injuries—everything from a gash in the arm requiring a few stitches to severed hands and fractured skulls—continue to rise and now stand at more than 750,000 annually, up nearly 40 percent from 1986. Dog bites are one of the top causes of non-fatal injuries in the nation.

Children are the most frequent victims, accounting for 60 percent of the dog bites and 20 of the 25 dog-bite fatalities in 1996. Dog attacks are now the No. 1 reason that children wind up in hospital emergency rooms. Incredibly, nearly half of all American kids have been bitten by the age of 12. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that more than $100 million gets spent yearly treating dog bites in the nation's emergency rooms, and U.S. insurance companies paid out $250 million in dog-bite liability claims in 1996.

Pit bulls and pit-bull crosses (not always easy to distinguish) have caused more than a third of the nation's dog-bite fatalities since 1979 and a comparable proportion of serious injuries. The rising number of attacks, and the unease pit bulls and other dangerous dogs cause in public spaces, have spurred many municipalities to crack down with legislation ranging from muzzle laws to bans on pit bulls and certain other breeds.

New York City, with a million dogs, conforms to these national trends. In 1997, the Department of Health reported 7,075 dog bites in the city and some 1,000 complaints about frightening dogs. Gotham police and other authorities had to round up 892 biting dogs in 1997, 200 more than the year before. Of these, 294—33 percent—were pit bulls or pit-bull mixes, though they make up only an estimated 15 percent of the city's dogs.

Recent pit-bull attacks in New York City have hit the headlines. In one horrific incident a little over a year ago, four unleashed pit bulls swept, barking and growling, through Richmond Hill, tearing at anyone in their path, as screaming passersby took cover on top of cars or fled indoors. Two of the enraged animals rampaged through a supermarket on 135th Street before police shot them to death. Powerful tranquilizer darts downed the other two dogs. Three people were seriously injured in the frenzy. Other recent attacks were no less violent. In late 1996, three pit bulls mauled an 85-year-old Bronx man to death. In 1997, two pit bulls severely injured a 12-year-old Brooklyn girl, and other attacks left a seven-year-old Queens boy with a bone-deep wound to his leg, and an 11- year-old Queens boy with a shredded arm. Pit bulls can inflict such terrible damage because their massive skulls and powerful jaws give them almost super-canine biting power.

Pit-bull-inflicted injuries in New York City will almost certainly spike up because of a senseless new federal law ending a 60-year official ban on animals in housing projects. The New York City Housing Authority long looked the other way as project residents took in pets. But two years ago, after tenants barraged a newly installed quality-of-life hotline with dog-related complaints, ranging from organized dog fighting to pit-bull attacks on other pets, the authority launched a campaign against vicious animals in public housing. Intimidating dogs had many residents, especially seniors, living in a "state of fear and terror," as authority spokesman Hilly Gross put it. Though ambiguous wording in the federal legislation may allow the authority to retain some restrictions, the new law invites disaster by permitting lots of pit bulls within biting distance of lots of children and old folks.

Pit bulls are also wreaking havoc on the city's public property. As Manhattan Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe observes, "Some pit-bull owners train their animals to fight by having them lock their jaws on rubber swings in children's playgrounds, which very quickly destroys the swings." The cost to taxpayers: $250,000 annually. "Perhaps more ominously," Benepe adds, "these owners have started to use young trees to train the pit bulls."

Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, aware of the property damage and sensitive to complaints from "terrorized" parents, joggers, and senior citizens about roving canines in city parks, now is enforcing the city's leash law, requiring owners to keep their dogs leashed between 9 AM and 9 PM, unless they are using one of the city's dog runs. The new campaign, targeting Central and Riverside Parks, issues $100 fines for first offenders and doubles the penalty, up to $1,000, for each subsequent offense. So far, despite howls from some pet owners, spot checks show the percentage of unleashed dogs down dramatically, as owners have gotten the message. Mail to the Parks Department has run three-to-one in favor of strict enforcement.

Stern's initiative follows closely on the heels of the Giuliani administration's proposed new dangerous-dog legislation, announced earlier this year. The mayor's proposal jacks up fines for owning a vicious dog, makes it easier for the city to label a dog dangerous, and requires pit-bull owners to purchase $100,000 in liability insurance before they can get a dog license. Predictably, the proposal has enraged dog owners.

According to New York City Health Commissioner Neal Cohen, the city needs the new law because of its high number of dog-inflicted injuries. The existing dangerous-dog law, on the books since 1991, has been ineffective in practice, because it requires the Department of Health, which adjudicates dog-bite cases, to prove that a dog wasn't "provoked" before it can label the animal dangerous and require it to be muzzled or impounded. As Cohen observes, "It is almost impossible to define what a particular dog subjectively perceives as a `provocation.' " The law also requires lengthy hearings before the city can take action. As then-Corporation Counsel Paul Crotty complained after a pit- bull attack in 1997 killed a Queens man, "It's a dopey law that puts the emphasis on protection of due-process rights of dogs . . . rather than on the protection of people."

But those priorities are just what dog advocates want. Lisa Weisberg, vice president of government affairs of the ASPCA, testified against the new law, arguing that its "proposed elimination of a hearing process to fairly and adequately determine whether or not a dog is truly dangerous is extremely disturbing and deprives a dog owner of his/her due process." In fact, dog advocates often embrace a strangely askew, doggy-centric view of the world. Gordon Carvill, president of the American Dog Owners Association, is a case in point. When I described to him the fear my wife and other young mothers in our Bronx neighborhood had about using the public park when pit bulls were on the loose, he defended the dogs. "Some people are afraid of any kind of dog—you know that," he admonished. "Dogs know when someone is afraid, and they're apt to be more aggressive." So the mothers are the problem.

Carvill seconds Weisberg's objection that the city's proposal threatens the due-process protections of pet owners. But the law's biggest defect, he says, is that it singles out a specific breed, in its requirement that pit-bull owners buy liability insurance. (The city's desire to regulate pit bulls is in seeming conflict with a 1997 state law, similar to those 11 other states have passed, that bars breed-specific local legislation.) For Carvill, all dogs are created equal; different breeds don't have different hereditary characteristics. "There is no dog born in this world with a predisposition to aggression," he firmly states.

But he's wrong, and dead wrong if we're talking about pit bulls. All men may be created equal, but not all dogs. Says Katherine Houpt, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Cornell and author of Domestic Animal Behavior: "Different breeds have genetic predispositions to certain kinds of behavior, though that can be influenced by how they are raised. The pit bull is an innately aggressive breed, often owned by someone who wants an aggressive dog, so they're going to encourage it."

Pit bulls have been bred specifically to be aggressive. They're descended from the now- extinct old English "bulldogge," a big, tenacious breed used in the brutal early- nineteenth-century sport of bull baiting, in which rowdy spectators watched dogs tear apart an enraged bull. Victorian reformers, concerned about the coarsening effect bull baiting had on its devotees, banned it by the early 1830s, but enterprising bull baiters merely migrated to an equally bloody sport: organized dog fighting.

As Carl Semencic, author of several informative books on guard dogs, and a big pit-bull fan, describes it, the bulldogge owners made a striking discovery: "a cross between the bulldogge and any of the game [i.e., brave and tenacious] and relatively powerful terriers of the day produced a game, powerful, agile, and smaller, more capable opponent in the dog pits." These bull-and-terrier crosses became renowned for fighting prowess and soon were the only dogs used in organized dog fighting in England and later in the United States. To preserve the bull-and-terrier's pugnacious traits, the dogs were bred only to dogs of the same cross. Thus was born the pit-bull terrier, "the most capable fighting dog known to modern man," Semencic enthuses.

Though breeders, realizing the pit bull was an attractive dog when it wasn't scrapping, bred a less feisty version—the American Staffordshire terrier ("Pete" of the old Our Gang comedy series is a well-known representative)—the pit-bull terrier is first and last a fighting dog. Its breeding history separates it from other tough dogs like Doberman pinschers and rottweilers, which have been bred to guard their masters and their property. Pit bulls are genetically wired to kill other dogs.

The pit bull's unusual breeding history has produced some bizarre behavioral traits, de- scribed by The Economist's science editor in an article published a few years ago, at the peak of a heated British controversy over dangerous dogs that saw the pit bull banned in England. First, the pit bull is quicker to anger than most dogs, probably due to the breed's unusually high level of the neurotransmitter L-tyrosine. Second, pit bulls are frighteningly tenacious; their attacks frequently last for 15 minutes or longer, and nothing—hoses, violent blows or kicks—can easily stop them. That's because of the third behavioral anomaly: the breed's remarkable insensitivity to pain. Most dogs beaten in a fight will submit the next time they see the victor. Not a defeated pit bull, who will tear into his onetime vanquisher. This, too, has to do with brain chemistry. The body releases endorphins as a natural painkiller. Pit bulls seem extra-sensitive to endorphins and may generate higher levels of the chemical than other dogs. Endorphins are also addictive: "The dogs may be junkies, seeking pain so they can get the endorphin buzz they crave," The Economist suggests.

Finally, most dogs warn you before they attack, growling or barking to tell you how angry they are—"so they don't have to fight," ASPCA advisor and animal geneticist Stephen Zawistowski stresses. Not the pit bull, which attacks without warning. Most dogs, too, will bow to signal that they want to frolic. Again, not the pit bull, which may follow an apparently playful bow with a lethal assault. In short, contrary to the writings of Vicki Hearne, a well-known essayist on animals who—in a bizarre but emotionally charged confusion—equates breed-specific laws against pit bulls as a kind of "racist propaganda," the pit bull is a breed apart.

Pit-bull expert Semencic makes a more sophisticated argument as to why pit bulls shouldn't be singled out for regulation. Pit bulls, he says, were bred not to be aggressive to people. "A pit bull that attacked humans would have been useless to dog fighters," he contends; "the dogs needed to be handled by strangers in the middle of a fight." Any dog that went after a handler was immediately "culled"—that is, put to death. But Semencic's argument assumes that the culling of man-aggressive dogs is still going on—which it isn't. As Robin Kovary, a New York-based dog breeder and pit-bull fancier, acknowledges, "Once the word got out, 20 years ago or so, to youths who wanted a tough dog to show off with, the breed passed into less than responsible hands—kids who wanted the dogs to be as aggressive as they could be." Geneticist Zawistowski gives the upshot: "Irresponsible breeders have let the dogs' block against being aggressive to people disappear. They've created a kind of pit bull with what I call `undifferentiated aggression.' " A Milwaukee man learned this the hard way in January, when he tried to break up a fight between his two pit bulls and had one forearm ripped off and the other so badly mauled that doctors later had to amputate it.

Yet Kovary is at least partially right when she says, "It's the two-legged beast, not the four-legged one, we have to worry about." One needs nature and nurture to create a truly nasty dog. Raised responsibly, the pit bull's good side can come to the fore. "Pit bulls can be playful, intelligent, athletic, loyal, and useful in sports," Kovary explains. But pit bulls have become enmeshed in the brutality of underclass culture, magnifying the breed's predisposition to aggression. "In the wrong hands," Kovary warns, "pit bulls can be bad news."

Abundant evidence of owner irresponsibility is on display at the Center for Animal Care and Control (CACC), a nonprofit shelter that opened in late 1994 in the heart of Spanish Harlem, to take over New York City animal control from the ASPCA. Pit bulls are its biggest problem. More than 60,000 animals, half of them dogs, entered the shelter last year. According to CACC official Kyle Burkhart, "more than 50 percent of the dogs are pit bulls or pit-bull mixes—a huge percentage." That works out to 40 or so pit bulls a day, most of which have to be put down because of their aggressiveness. Waiting in the CACC's lobby, I got a firsthand look at the pit bull as a standard-issue accessory to underclass life: toughs in baggy pants and stocking caps paraded in and out continuously, negotiating to get their impounded dogs back or to adopt new ones.

Three distinct classes of irresponsible—or, more accurately, abusive—owners are the source of the CACC's flood of pit bulls. First are the drug dealers, who use pit bulls, or pit-bull crosses, as particularly vicious sentinels. New York City cops had to shoot 83 dogs to death in 1997, most of them pit bulls guarding drug stashes. Burkhart showed me a few such sentinels in the center's dangerous-dog ward. Lunging against their metal cages, these pit bulls were the most ferocious animals I'd ever seen: pure animal fury. "This one would bite my head off if he had the chance," Burkhart said of one Schwarzenegger-muscled dog, brought in from a police raid on a crack house. Intimidated, I kept as far from the cages as I could. "Some of the pit bulls coming in will actually have their vocal cords removed in order to surprise someone lurking around a crack house," Burkhart noted.

Dog-fighting rings also fill the CACC with abused animals. "Sometimes a raid on a dog- fighting ring brings us 20 or 30 pit bulls at a time," Burkhart tells me. The rings, moving clandestinely throughout the state, stage battles between pit bulls, sometimes to the death, as cheering spectators wager on the outcome. The dogs the CACC receives from the raids will often be missing ears or will bear deep scars from their battles. Manhattan Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe isn't surprised at the savagery: "We regularly find dead pit bulls in the parks; on one occasion, we found eight pit-bull carcasses dumped in Riverside Park. They'd been killed fighting other dogs."

It's an unsavory crowd that participates, whether as trainer or spectator, in the blood sport, says ASPCA humane-law-enforcement officer George Watford. "The trainers preparing a pit bull for a fight throw a rope over a branch with a bag tied at the end; inside the bag will be a live cat," Watford explains. "You'll see a dog hanging from the bag, and it'll be a cat he's killing inside it, giving the pit bull the taste for blood." The spectators are just as bad, Watford says: "When we raid a ring, not only will there be shotgun-armed lookouts, but we'll search people and find drugs and weapons, and we'll always find people wanted for rape, murder, robbery charges."

Finally, the CACC gets pit bulls owned by teenagers and gang members—"young punks," Watford calls them—who raise the dogs to intimidate. "It's a macho thing," Watford says. "These punks will get into the typical park scenario, a `my dog is tougher than your dog' thing, in which they let the dogs fight." I recalled a Bronx mother screaming at two teen lowlifes fighting pit bulls in the park in front of our apartment building. The teens, sporting military fatigues and shaved heads, ignored her and went on with their barbarous fun. Typically, these teens lose interest in their brutalized—and usually unneutered—dogs and let them loose, swamping the city with stray pit bulls.

What should New York City do about its dangerous dogs? One possibility: ban the pit bull, as England has done. Unfortunately, thanks to the 1997 state law nixing breed- specific legislation, such a ban would entail a difficult battle for state permission. And if the city bans the pit bull, what's to stop thugs from shifting to other breeds that can be made into weapons, such as the Canary dog or the Dogo Argentino? Outlawing them all would be an extremely divisive policy.

What about the city's idea of forcing pit-bull owners to buy pricey insurance policies? It makes little sense. Given that a paltry 10 percent of the city's dogs have licenses, only the law-abiding minority of pit-bull owners—not the louts who terrorize park-goers—are likely to comply with the new requirement, assuming it can get past the state objection to breed- specific laws. Moreover, those who wanted to comply would have a hard time finding an insurer. Though homeowners' policies generally cover dogs, few insurance firms will issue one to someone with a dangerous animal. Much sounder are the city's proposals to eliminate "provocation" as a defense for a dangerous dog's behavior and to pare away legal protections for dangerous dogs. As Cornell's Katherine Houpt underscores, "If a dog has bitten someone, we should consider it dangerous until proven otherwise. Who cares if a child has poked it with a pencil?"

The city's best course would be to require the owners of all dogs weighing more than 40 pounds to keep them muzzled in public, as Germany does with potentially aggressive breeds. A muzzle law is not unduly harsh to the dogs. As for its impact on owners: sure, it might diminish the thrill a tough gets as he parades his pit bull down a crowded sidewalk and nervous pedestrians give him a wide berth. And that would be all to the good.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_2_scared_of_pit.html





[ edited by tOMWiii on Jun 30, 2005 06:34 AM ]
 
 micmic66
 
posted on June 30, 2005 02:48:14 PM new
Thanks to all who have wished Jake well. Jake is doing OK. The new problem is his lack of appetite. He is refusing the special food the vet told us to use. Today I mixed some turkey flavored baby food in with the special dry and he did eat some. He needs to eat because his meds are hidden in his food. My wife thinks he has lost his will to live, I dissagree. Hopefuly, he can get back to as close to normal as he can and maybe live peacefuly in the house for a while longer. I cant think of life without him......

If black labs were the choice dog for gangs/fighting and drug dealers then black labs would be the hated Pit Bull. If you research the origin of the Terriers/Pits they were used as working dogs and companions because of thier smarts and power. The Pit Bulls I know (Maybe one or two) have been raised to be gentle as babies. Infact, my snowmobile mechanic who is also a police officer has raised a PB from a pup and this dog will do whtever it takes to get on your lap and lick your face to no end. The reputation of these dogs has been ruined by junkies and street people...

 
 glassgrl
 
posted on June 30, 2005 02:55:49 PM new
can't you give him his Meds without it being in his food? Heck I wouldn't eat either if I knew there was something hidden in there that I didn't want.

About Pit Bulls. I used to live next door to one - very sweet dog.

The ONLY dog that has ever bitten me was a dachshund - go figure.



 
 LADYJEWELS2000
 
posted on June 30, 2005 03:07:55 PM new
I may have missed it but did you say how old Jake is?
His meds are so important now - ask your vet if you could put it in a little bite of cheese?

 
 micmic66
 
posted on June 30, 2005 03:32:24 PM new
Lady, Jake will be 12 next month...seams like 12 is a bad number for larger dogs, I know a few that didnt make it past 12...

 
 glassgrl
 
posted on June 30, 2005 03:57:17 PM new
wait wait. Imagine your favorite meal.

Steak. Prime Rib. Spaghetti - whatever.

Now imagine that someone has ground up a Flintstones Vitamin and sprinkled it all over your meal.

Would YOU want to eat it?

Heck no!



 
 niel35
 
posted on June 30, 2005 04:30:49 PM new
May I suggest you put his pills in some cheese. Dogs love cheese, or peanut butter.

 
 micmic66
 
posted on June 30, 2005 04:51:51 PM new
niel35, yes, Jake will eat cheese, I will try that. I was also thinking of cutting up a raw hotdog and hiding them in the pieces of hotdog...

 
 photosensitive
 
posted on June 30, 2005 08:06:03 PM new
My Lacy would swallow a golf ball if you wrap it in cream cheese. I have to go and give her her allergy and arthritis meds now.


-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
 
 meowmix71
 
posted on June 30, 2005 08:12:45 PM new
Update on Kitty,

Sad news today. We lost our little kitty Buster. We thought he was starting to get better but we came home today and he was gone. We talked to the vet and he even thought Buster was improving. This baby was skin and bones. He finally ate something this morning with a little coaxing and I was excited but I guess he was too anorexic and his little body couldn't take it.

On the lighter side his sister, Sissy is doing great. She has a ruptured cornea that we are giving her eye drops for and she has a big belly due to worms and her abundant appetite. She looks like a frog with a big belly and little legs but she's adorable. We will get pictures of her this weekend now that her eye is starting to look better.

I will miss our little Buster even though we only had him for 3 1/2 weeks. Out of those he was really sick for about 2.
 
 sparkz
 
posted on June 30, 2005 08:20:33 PM new
Dogs love meat. Throw a chuck steak or a tri-tip on the barbecue. When it's done, cut a small piece off, make a small slit in it, and embed the pill in it. I guarantee, he won't refuse it. Then feed him the rest of the steak. He needs his strength! It works with Rotties, it should work with Labs.


A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
 
 mcjane
 
posted on June 30, 2005 09:16:02 PM new
Oh meow,
I am so sorry. I really thought Buster would make it. Heartbreaking for a kitten to be sick most of his short little life. Bless you for being the careing person you are & doing all you could. Buster was lucky to have "found" you.

micmic, be sure that anything you give Jake does not contain ONIONS or GARLIC in any form, raw, cooked, powdered or dehydrated. They are very toxic to both cats & dogs.
Be sure to check the baby food label & hot dog lable, Gerbers baby food was known to add onion for flavor. Onions, etc have a cumulative effect if eaten frequently.
It causes a very dangerous condition called Heinz Body Anemia.

Also for cats & dogs, acetominophen (Tylenol for one) is deadly. Another thing to avoid would be a topical ointment containing Benzocaine. They both cause HB Anemia.

micmic I feel so bad for what your going through. Many of us here know exactly how you feel, we've been there too & feel your pain.
Have you considered Cornell, they can work miracles at those University teaching hospitals.

Tom, shocking, really shocking & sad. It's the low life that train their Pit Bulls that cause all this misery for the dogs & people.
What a terrable life these dogs had imposed on them.
If PB's were bred out of existance the same people would just prey on another strong breed, probably Rotties.

As I said I know of two sweet & lovely PB's raised by a loving family, it can be done.


[ edited by mcjane on Jun 30, 2005 09:25 PM ]
 
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