Two pieces well worth the time to read if you like food with your thought:
Carpe K-9 – “Don’t Blame the Dog!”:
Why are we not allowed to blame the dog, again? When dogs bite, and especially when they bite aggressively, with purpose to maim or worse, it is ALWAYS because the owners “did something wrong”?
KC Dog Blog – Creating Fear in the Media and Politics:
[Daniel] Gardner then goes on and mentions his book, the Science of Fear, which is a GREAT book about the media, businesses and politicians fear-mongering their way into gaining readers, viewers, sales and votes. If we have something to fear, we are more likely to pay/vote for someone to “fix” this problem for us. With nothing to fear, there is nothing to fix, and thus, we don’t buy, or vote for change, or whatever it is they want us to do.
Thought, consider yourself provoked.
I don’t get the first link. “Most of our dogs’ behavioral “problems” are indeed our fault. ” – If that is the case, then why write an incredibly lengthy post trying to claim otherwise? Why not just claim that, sometimes, a dog’s willingness to put teeth on skin has to do with WHO they are and not WHAT has been done to them (socializing/not socializing; training/not training; teasing/not teasing; plastic/steel, etc ad naseum). I think we can all agree on that. And maybe those dogs shouldn’t be adopted out. I’d wager they are in the minority (otherwise, we’d have a hard time promoting dogs as companions).
There should be more to killing a healthy animal than “oh, he bit once”. That’s so vague and generalized.
Also, where is any evidence that adopting out previous biters creating a culture of fear around dogs? That seems like an assertion in which supporting materials should be proffered.
“But training cannot override everything. It cannot trump DNA or disease. When it squares off with genetics or medical issues, training by itself often does not come out victorious.”
I think this quote better summarizes the post but basically I just thought it was interesting reading. I like when people write and write and write as they hash out their thoughts. It’s the closest thing to having a real conservation as the internet allows, for me, who has never enjoyed online chat rooms & such.