Uncle, Grandmother in Custody After Toddler's Dog Attack Death

[riderinthestorm]

43. Its beyond foolish and stupid to ignore animal instincts and breeding

I work with horses every day as a professional. I've also bred and raised more than my share of horses and I'd be an idiot if I didn't understand that they have individual personalities AND instinctual traits.

Same with dogs imho. A border collie for example has very definite in-bred instincts that are almost impossible to re-train (and why would you really? Once they have that instinct its a joy to watch them do the job they were bred to do.) Oh you can have some personality variations and some nurture v nature impact but mostly a border collie is going to herd and be a bit OCD about things like a tennis ball etc. I don't care what you think you are doing to suppress that instinct, its only masked. Its always there.

I believe the pit bull industry has some bad elements who breed inherently "bad" dogs. These are dogs whose natural instinct is aggression, which has been revved up with training. I've had horses I've bred who are naturally aggressive and cranky. I'm a pro though, seeking horses that are fearless and with a certain sense of their own self-confidence (even to the point of challenging human dominance when they thought they could get away with it).

I however am the only one who handles them. And I'd be a fool to ever let such a horse (dog) go to someone who can't handle that.

Others aren't as savvy or discriminating.

And then there's the grandparents in the OP. They clearly had a pack of dogs - always a management issue that needs hyper vigilance that they didn't exercise and its only right they should pay for that. They lost a granddaughter. I grieve with them, for the family, and those who knew that toddler but its only just that they face justice for their bad judgement on every other level. If a horse of mine got loose and injured or killed someone, I'd face judgment too and my choice to keep high-strung, difficult horses would/should surely be called into it.

The difference is that I recognize that some horses, and horse breeds, are difficult and so I take even MORE precautions about that. Some pit bull owners, and their defenders, appear to want to ignore basic instinct and recent breeding history (and by recent I mean in the past 25 years or so) and want the rest of us to just ignore it too.

Crazy. Dangerous. Wrong.