Dogs make wonderful pets, but sometimes things can go wrong. Dog bites and deaths by dog, while not terribly common for the latter, are horrible and serious things.
Statistically speaking, however, there are certain breeds of dogs that are more or less likely to attack somebody. A Golden Retriever or Labrador Retriever, while they can bite or attack people as with any dog, the rates are low almost the point of statistical irrelevance. On the other hand, certain dog breeds are known for attacking and killing people.
The three highest breeds that would be involved in a fatal attack are German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and Pitbulls. The first two constitute up to 15% of attacks, at 4.6% and 10.4% respectively. By comparison, Pitbulls are the worst at 65.6% of all deaths. The other breeds statistically trail off.
German Shepherds are highly intelligent dogs, and they are used often times as seeing-eye dogs and for serious applications. A well-trained German Shepherd is seldom a problem. Rottweilers, while more inclined to attack, are also known to be comparatively intelligent, and a case could be made for them being able to be trained and obey.
Pitbulls are another story entirely. Originally bred from Terriers and Bulldogs, the Pitbull was bred for strength, aggression, and unquestioned loyalty to serve as a fighting dog in cage fighting or as attack dogs. Many people, mostly pitbull lovers, contend they are “smart,” but that is highly questionable as many seem to equivocate “intelligence” with “devotion.” Pitbulls are notorious for attacking their owners, and sometimes killing them.
What makes a pitbull bite so dangerous is that when a pit bites, its jaws “lock” down and it is very hard to pry them off. The only effective way, outside of killing the dog, to remove a pitbull once it has “locked” on a body part or another thing is to pour water down its nose, as it clogs the dog’s breathing system and it has to let go in order to breathe. This is why at pitbull fights, owners will have water jugs nearby, so that once the fight is over, they pour water in the dog’s nose to get it to let go.
It is for this reason that people are naturally skeptical of Pitbulls and people who own Pitbulls, since they are know for being dangerous, they can attack for any time without reason (Pits are known to “snap” unpredictably), and they have a history of killing or seriously hurting people. If somebody is going to get killed by a dog, the statistical likelihood is that it will be death by Pitbull.
However, there are some Americans who insist upon not only owning Pitbulls and putting them around people, but who want to now bring them onto airplanes. While one cannot speak for other airlines, Delta has put a ban on Pitbulls much to the anger of Pitbull owners and various animal advocacy groups, who are saying that such restrictions are “discriminatory”.
Pit bulls still aren’t welcome on Delta Air Lines.
Delta says it hasn’t figured out how to ensure passengers’ safety around pits bulls, so it’s continuing a ban it imposed last year.
The decision seems contrary to recent guidance from the federal government. The Transportation Department said in August that it thinks banning specific breeds is a violation of regulations covering service animals.
Delta says it had more than 40 cases of aggressive animal behavior on planes last year. A Delta passenger was mauled badly in 2017, although the dog was a lab-pointer mix.
Kitty Block, president of the Humane Society of the United States, calls the ban discriminatory and misguided. The American Veterinary Medical Association says any dog can bite, and regulations aimed at specific breeds aren’t effective. (source)
People ask why there are ongoing social problems in the USA, and this restriction from Delta and the response to it should explain why.
Delta has already said that they have had at least forty cases of aggressive dog incidents on their airplanes. While not stating if there were Pitbulls involved, the fact that they have specifically banned this breed suggests that they may have been involved. From the perspective of a lawyer, given the danger this dog poses in a potential civil suit as well as the objective damage it could cause, and that an airplane is a flying box in the sky that cannot be easily stopped for a long time, a dog attack- especially from a highly aggressive breed -is a huge liability and potentially a deadly hazard for the passengers. It is legally dangerous and objectively irresponsible, and they have legitimate reasons to ban such.
However, instead of agreeing that the dog cannot be brought on the plane, or that other arrangements would have to be made, or that another airline would have to be used, Pitbull owners have started complaining and calling it “discrimination.” Yet if the dog were to attack somebody, or perhaps, if another Pitbull belonging to a different owner attacked them, would they not attempt to sue the owner as well as the airline?
What I speak of here is a cultural mindset that has been entrenched since the middle of the 20th century where instead of accepting rules and regulations and making selective fights to change certain rules on principle, it has become a customary way of society to complain and fight rules without any regard for why they may have been established.
One does not have to like rules, but barring a serious moral reason, rules are established for particular reasons, and that is to protect people because something happened that caused the rule to be created.
Pitbull owners fighting Pitbull regulations do not help anybody. What it will only help is another person getting killed in the future due to a dog attack, and then the owner denying that his dog could have ever attacked anybody.
This issue also relates to the gun issue in the US.
Now I am not saying this to blame “all gun owners,” or even any gun owners, as most of them are highly responsible people, and it is well known that most of the violent actions involving guns come from criminals using guns obtained illegally for illegal purposes.
What I speak of here is a mindset, and that of responsibility.
A gun is a tool that can kill people. A Pitbull is a dog breed known for killing people.
Some people like guns. Some people like Pitbulls. Both things require a tremendous amount of responsibility. Gun owners and many Pitbull owners generally demonstrate this. However, there are many who don’t, especially in the case of the latter.
The increased lack of personal responsibility that has grown consistently with each generation beginning since the turn of the 20th century in the US is showing more of its ugly fruits with each day.
Likewise, as I have observed, “gun culture” at large is in decline, owing largely to the breakdown of the family caused by personal decisions that demonstrate a lack of responsibility, leading to many people not growing up with the values necessary to become responsible adults.
As a result, there is a large bloc, possibly the majority of Millennials and Zoomers, who are not familiar with guns, do not know how to use or appreciate them, and believe the propaganda that the status quo holds about them. Meanwhile they are told they can “do what they want”, even if it means doing things or bringing things into a place that is dangerous to themselves or others, and then to defend their actions as thought it is a “right”. However, the core problems that are not being faced all originated with the family and the decline of objective truth that started with the decline of religion.
All of society is built upon trust, and a lack of trust in one’s neighbors or the ability to follow rules leads to chaos, which requires a strong authoritative hand to keep society together, which requires a loss of freedoms for the purpose of maintaining social order.
Guns are good and important, but people who do enjoy them should enjoy them now and prepare for the future, as it is likely that they will disappear as the people become more unruly and, unable to rule themselves, will require and even call for the brutal force of government to rule over them.