An unwelcome close encounter

I had what might be referred to as a “come to Jesus” experience not long ago when I was walking my dog just a few blocks from my house. My 10-pound terrier mix was on his leash (as he always is when I have him out in public) but my neighbor’s full grown pit bull was not. And of course when the pit bull saw us he decided to leave his yard and come over and say “hello.”

I think my dog and I probably had the same thought when we saw this fearsome creature coming over to “greet” us, and that thought is not printable in a family newspaper. But I think you can guess what it was.

Luckily the dog’s owner was outside at the time and jogged over in pursuit of his pet, but it was obvious the dog was going to reach us before his owner could catch up to him.

I only had a few seconds to decide how to handle the situation. I knew that running or confronting the animal in an aggressive manner were the wrongs things to do, so I scooped up my little terrier and stood my ground as we waited for fate to take its course.

As it turned out, the pit bull just sniffed at my terrier and my dog had the good sense to do absolutely nothing in response. The dog’s owner finally caught up to us and took his dog back home, and we continued on our way. Sometime after that I regained my composure and my brain started functioning again, and I had but one clear thought – that was not okay.

I‘m sure I’m going to hear from some pit bull fans when this column runs, but I would be happy to see our community become a pit bull free zone. These dogs were bred to be aggressive, efficient killing machines, and I can’t understand why anyone would want to keep one as a pet.

Recent court cases considering the legality of bans on pit bull ownership have identified some unique genetic traits that were bred into these animals that make them especially dangerous: unpredictability of aggressive behavior, unwillingness to give up in a fight, high pain tolerance, and a unique “hold and shake” biting style that tends to inflict damage on deep muscles and rip tissues. Because of that unique biting style, the injuries caused by pit bull maulings are very similar to those caused by shark attacks.

Between 2005 and 2010, 104 Americans were killed in pit bull attacks. That’s 104 people who would still be with us if pit bull ownership was not legal.

I really wouldn’t care if someone wanted to keep a pit bull (or a lion, or a grizzly bear, or whatever) as a pet as long as the thing stayed on their property at all times or was adequately restrained when it was not on their property.

If we lived in a world where these animals never left their owner’s control, I wouldn’t be writing this column. But we don’t live in such a world. In this world some pit bull owners are going to let their dogs run loose, and even responsible owner can lose control of their dogs momentarily. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

I would fully support an outright ban on the ownership of these animals, but short of that it should certainly be a crime for them to leave their owners’ property unless they are properly restrained.
It would also be nice if people who owned these dogs were required to post a sign on their property warning the rest of us what kind of animals they have on the premises. That way I’d know to give their house a wide berth when I’m out and about, and it would be a nice thing to know about one’s potential neighbor when one is out house-shopping.