(no subject)

[electricland]

via pecunium: Malcolm Gladwell on pit bulls and profiling.

A pit-bull ban is a generalization about a generalization about a trait that is not, in fact, general. That’s a category problem.

CBC interviewed him about this last week but I was a bit too groggy to take it all in. Recommended.

Comments

[archaica.livejournal.com]

It would have required, that is, a more exacting set of generalizations to be more exactingly applied. It’s always easier just to ban the breed.

Heh.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[cretkid.livejournal.com]

A similar ban has been made here where I live; but for the most part, the pit bulls I encounter on the street while walking Wondermutt (a yellow lab) are the sweetest tempered things in the universe. And very well behaved. While the gist of the article is linking the banning of certain breeds of dogs with criminal profiling, I of course paid more attention to the dog bits than the people bits. hee. But everything stated in the article is true: breed banning isn't about banning the breed itself, it's an attempt to ban the noon-breed standards that unfortunately run rampant in some city neighborhoods.

There's a pit bull about a mile away from me; has a HUGE yard to run around in, it is fenced, but unfortunately, the fence is not the greatest. This little bugger can shimmie under the fence to greet people on the side walk. More than once he's come out to greet me and my guy. They sniff, pit bull sits on my feet to be pet, I tell him to go back to his yard and he does exactly that; shimmies back under the fence and into his yard.

There were a pair of pit bulls chained to a porch about a mile in the other direction; a breeding pair, and mommy was either about to pop or recently had her litter. Daddy dog jumped the porch railing and got caught up by his collar in the standing bushes in front of the porch; shimmied out of his collar and came to greet me and Wondermutt. Now, the kids in the neighborhood are going nuts because this dog is loose. My Wondermutt is calm and collected, but not too keen on the hyper dog bouncing around me. If I could have gotten one of the kids to just hold MY dog for me, I could have gotten the pit bull back up on his porch (maybe) - but mama dog was none to happy to have anyone near her, so I called animal control instead. Waited on the corner with the pit bull sitting next to me on one side, Wondermutt on the other, until Animal Control showed up. I explained the situation, the owners still had not arrived, so they took the dog and left a note explaining the situation.

He was a good dog, just wanted to play.

There are the Hell Hounds, as I like to call them - lab/retriever mixes - around the corner from me. They bark like there is no tomorrow. They bark at everything. Me, I expect it, and am not phased when they come running through the yard to greet and bark at me as I pass by. Now, while rude and probably improper upbringing, I believe they were raised to do exactly that - bark. because their owner is legally deaf. They are his doorbell, basically. And when the female golden got loose a year or so ago, she was very skittish outside her fenced yard. Did not want me to come closer than 5 feet, even though she tries to lunge at you over the fence.

It's all about the upbringing.

There's this rat-posing-as-a-dog down the street from me; idiot children that take care of the rat let it run loose everywhere. Of course when it comes into my yard, nips at MY heels (and draws blood), MY dog is going to be a bit hyper about it and go after the little snot. There's a pit bull up the street from me - and he was out with his owner one day and these idiot children were afraid to go get their dog because the pit bull was out. Me, I'm talking with the pit bull's owner about his training techniques and whatnot and this rat is yipping at my heels. And the pit bull's not doing a damn thing. Hee. The mother of the idiot children finally got fed up with them, walked over and picked up their dog; chatted with me and Pit Bull Owner for a bit, and then yelled at her children for being irresponsible little snots.

Meanwhile, I haven't seen that rat since. hee!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Hee!

It is absolutely about the upbringing. And as this article points out, if you ban pit bulls, the assholes who want a vicious dog so they can look tough will just start wrecking another large "fierce" breed -- Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds, and so on. It would be better in the long run to go after the assholes.