I'm so tired of the bullcrap stereotype of all pitbull and rottweiler owners being white-trash losers in Afflication t-shirts with mustard stains on their backwards ball caps and guns in their back pockets.
Those are the owners who give those breeds a bad name, but they are not the majority. The attacking dogs are not the majority. Yes, media jumps all over it and with the increase in media attention to everything in our lives over the last few years, we hear about every single dog incident.
The majority of dogs are good. The majority of dogs that are bad are bad because of bad owners, or even good-intentioned owners who don't know any better.
It's time to forget about the stereotypes and introduce by-laws that will help the situation instead of being prejudiced against a dog simply because it's wider and more muscular or black with brown markings. Make dog licenses cost more (hell, make it a scale, larger dog, more expensive license), make fines for simple rules that aren't being followed bigger and ENFORCE them.
All dogs have the potential to do something wrong. Big, small, whatever. Yes, there is more potential for a horrible outcome when the dog is bigger - but that doesn't let small dog owners off the hook.
If you own a dog, clean up after it, make sure it gets enough exercise, get it training if it needs it, follow basic common courtesy of having an animal in public and for pete's sake, be realistic about it's flaws.
While they may be our best friends in the world, they aren't people and shouldn't be treated as such.
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