Animal shelters overflow as Americans dump 'pandemic puppies' in droves. They're too broke to keep their dogs

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to News@lemmy.world – 538 points –
Animal shelters overflow as Americans dump 'pandemic puppies' in droves. They're too broke to keep their dogs
fortune.com
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Kirstie Bernard owned her pit bulls for eight years before they mauled her two young children to death. I would love to see you try to tell her to her face that it was because she was an irresponsible owner.

If she was irresponsible by not having her dogs muzzled at all times when they were with their family, then it sounds like maybe the breed has some problems, because that doesn't happen with any other breed. German shepherds have also mauled children, but that's typically when they're not being supervised. Bennard's dogs were not alone with her children, and the attack didn't happen while they were asleep.

She was irresponsible for not seeing the signs sooner. I guarantee that she ignored warning signs leading up to it. Or, didn’t know what signs to look for. Unfortunately, all we have to go off of is her account, and she isn’t going to admit that she ignored signs of hostility.

When my oldest was born my partner had a dog that she had had for 6 years. It wasn’t a pitbull it was some mutt. But when my oldest was learning to walk the dog would act like he couldn’t see him. He would walk right into my son and knock him down.

That is a bad sign. He had to go. Just because your dog loves you doesn’t mean that it loves strangers, and new kids that weren’t there when the dog first came into the house are the same as strangers to that dog. You have to reevaluate the situation.

But in all seriousness. This has gone on for over 24 hours at this point. I have my own family and dogs to hang out with. You don’t have to take my word for it. After all I’m just some weirdo on the internet speaking from their own experience. For all I know she could be that 1 in a million freak accident.

I hope yall have a happy holidays.

What signs did she miss? How could you possibly know there were signs to miss? If you want to fill in the blanks of the scenario with your own idea of how it went down, then how are we supposed to have a meaningful conversation?

All we have to go off of is her account, and the accounts of so many others who have been mauled by pits. It seems to me that it's easier to explain the multitude of attacks by the breed as a result of the traits that we know that humans bred into them than it is to say that every bad dog owner happens to get a pit bull, and every pit bull that attacks someone happens to have had a bad owner. Other breeds have shitty owners too, and only one breed tops every chart in violence.

Well, just like you said. I cant argue that she did miss signs. Just like you cant argue that she didn’t miss signs. You can say that the high number of attacks means something. I can say that my personal experience means something.

But in the end we’re both full of shit. Without having controlled studies we’re re just doing the best we can with the information we have. Truthfully, and with all due respect probably none of the people here are qualified to actually contribute anything meaningful to the conversation.

Plus, this topic has been ongoing for me, for over 24 hours. If you don’t like a breed of dog that’s your prerogative. As an American I support your right to dislike a breed of dog. But I am going to spend the rest of my evening hanging out with my family building a ginger bread house then playing some more Baldur’s Gate 3.

One more time. I wish you a happy holiday. I hope this coming year is everything you hoped it would be and more.