𝓢𝓽𝓮𝓹𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓮 🐌

Start with deprogramming the idea that birth is a "major medical event" and perhaps you will begin to understand

It's a fair question and one I have too. Breed bans have failed in many places to actually reduce the numbers of severe attacks and bites. Any policy would need specific clear parameters and an appeals process. I don't think the difficulty in drawing lines means we should shrug our shoulders and assume nothing can be done though.

Here's the issue with your argument. What metric determines what is and is not a pitbull? This is an umbrella term covering at least five to seven breeds, and then you've got mixed breeds as well that get lumped in based on how they look. We have two dogs that are American Staffordshire terrier crossed with other breeds. Our 80 lb boy is roughly 67% Am Staff with 22% German Shepherd and 11% boxer. Our 59 lb boy is about 54% Am Staff, 28% Frenchie, 15% Staffie, and the rest is random bulldog too dilute to pinpoint. We got them tested because our little boy looked just like our big boy as a puppy, just a different color, yet he is MUCH smaller now that he's fully grown. Our little boy can't even get into my car without help because he's too short, while our big boy leaps straight onto the back seat. Would you consider them "pitbulls" even though they're mutts of vastly different sizes and we actually can prove what they are? What's the cutoff point for determining they're pitbulls and declaring they shouldn't exist? I'm not trying to be contrarian, this is a genuine question. How much of one of the "pitbull" breeds needs to be in their DNA to declare that they're pitbulls as opposed to a mixed breed, and do ALL of the breeds under the "pitbull" umbrella count or just some of them?

I really love dogs. I worked as a vet tech and dog trainer for many years, and I’ve cared for and trained a lot of pit bulls. Some of the sweetest, happiest, most affectionate dogs I ever worked with were pit bulls. I know people who love theirs very much. And yet I would absolutely never bring one into my home, nor would I let my child play at a home with one. Pit bulls are uniquely powerful, fast, unpredictable, and dangerous. No amount of training turns a dog into a machine that will always obey. Dogs have minds of their own. The fact that a particular dog has never bitten anyone before means very little when every dog that bites someone has a first bite. And by the way, any dog that has bitten to the point of drawing blood WILL absolutely bite again. It's not a matter of if, but when. Pit bull defenders often say Chihuahuas or other small dogs are more aggressive or more likely to bite. There may be some truth to other breeds being more reactive, but it’s still a false equivalence. The frequency of aggressive behavior is not the same thing as the capacity to inflict catastrophic injury. A golden retriever may bite you, but a pit bull can kill a small child in seconds. Pit bulls are not ordinary dogs with an unfair reputation. They are extraordinarily strong, quick, determined animals, and when one decides to attack, stopping it can be nearly impossible. Love, responsible ownership, training, and a history of good behavior do not erase what the dog is physically capable of. People who love pit bulls have to stop pretending that theirs is uniquely special or safe. Pit bulls should not continue to be bred or kept as ordinary household pets. Ownership should require special licensing, serious training, secure containment, and mandatory sterilization so the breed can be humanely phased out.

@rhymeswithvery Not a bad idea

@MsMollusk frankly, ownership for any dog ought to "require licensing, serious training, secure containment, and mandatory sterilization." & exceptions to any of those stipulations should be rare.

By “humanely phased out,” I mean end further breeding. I do not mean confiscate all pit bulls or euthanize existing family pets.  Breed specific bans do have real problems. “Pit bull” is an umbrella term for several breeds and mixes that can be hard to classify. Any workable policy would need clearly defined parameters and an appeals process for ambiguous mixed dogs.  The over breeding and mass surrender and abandonment of pit bull type dogs is cruel and inhumane. People who genuinely love these “pibbles” should be the first ones to support strict breeder restrictions, stronger shelter placement standards, full disclosure of bite histories / aggression / failed placements, enhanced containment requirements, mandatory sterilization, and increased owner liability. These sort of requirements already exist in some places but with broad loopholes or only after a dog has attacked. A case can be made to apply some of these requirements to other powerful fighting and guarding breeds. But pit bulls are still disproportionately represented in severe and fatal attacks.

@MargaritaNicko @w0rm_face I'm a hausmaus, I scurry through the house at night and eat a lot of cheese

@w0rm_face Hausfrau even better.

SAHM this, WFHM that… “housewife” sounds so much better

@_Regenaissance The lactoferrin in raw milk probably prevents the parasite too

I know I beat a dead horse talking raw milk but this is why. We willingly eat absolute shit food from shit places that make you shit your brain and no one bats an eye. But I cannot have raw milk from a trusted source who has a clean environment, tests regularly, etc? Yeah right

@LadyALover95 I don't even remember who we lost to

At the end of the day, we humiliated the fuck out of the Americans and that truly is almost as good as winning the whole thing.

@niakatza @xwanyex Agreed.

@MsMollusk @xwanyex Correct approach. The ownership until the breed no longer exists should also be tied to personal responsibility for attacks and insurance; it is involuntary manslaughter and should be punishable w jail time, especially if the dog was in public and killed a child or adult.

@the_jefferymead The U.S. government has no incentive to incentivize reporting that exposes the fraud because it is itself a complicit beneficiary. And we the taxpayers are incentivizing the government’s continued incentivization of the fraudsters! It’s incentives all the way down!

Incentives shape behavior.

I trained and cared for many pit bulls as a dog trainer and vet tech. The breed should be humanely phased out through mandatory sterilization and strict licensing. Their capacity for catastrophic harm far exceeds that of any ordinary household breed, regardless of temperament or training.

This is the thing about Pitbulls. I don’t know what you’re imagining when you think of a pit bull attack, but they sever limbs. They turn faces into unrecognizable ground beef. If one locks on your leg, there’s a good chance you’re going to lose the leg. They rip small children to pieces. It’s not a “dog bite.”

@mysteriouskat That much of what is currently dismissed as “woo” will eventually become impossible for the scientific establishment to deny.

What's one thing you believe despite having no evidence for it?

@willshawison @mysteriouskat 🤣

@mysteriouskat Rabies isn’t real. I think it’s a conspiracy by husbands world wide to make up a virus to prevent white women from bringing cute, wild animals into their homes.

@heckyessica Hear me out it was on sale at Walmart for $11 and all my other bags were getting mildewy

Why does every mom at the pool have that ugly plastic looking tote with holes in it that cost 4 thousand dollars

@lulu_solomo Yeah and the primary reason it's a "major medical event" is because you walked into that hospital and let them give you unnecessary drugs in the first place

I mean without the epidural you have full control of your body, can walk, move, feel yourself push etc. No needle in your spine. None of the potential side effects like spinal headache. I don't get why people act like epidurals have zero side effects.

i've been watching soccer for 14 whole days and i can confidently say Norway was robbed

Very excited to watch my favorite athlete Erling Haaland, who I just learned existed about 3 weeks ago.

It’s wild how often soccer players just kick it straight to the goalie. Very strange. Are they aware they’re not supposed to do that?

THE WORLD CUP IS RIGGED FOR ENGLAND !! HOW DO YOU DISALLOWED THAT NORWAY GOAL!! Am I doing it right?

England is going to spend 87 minutes dominating possession but getting too sweaty and tired to manage a decent shot and then in the 88th minute Haaland is going to run in a straight line directly at the goal and kick a ball so hard it rips through the back of the net