Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Ax3 Redux


The APDT is fully aware that any dog can bite,
 any dog can maim, and any dog can kill.

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Readers of  SRUV will recall Michael Linke's memorable phrase Any dog is capable of any act, at any point in time. We thought Mr Linke's phrase so excessively . . . grandiose, that we've given it a kicky shortcut, Ax3.

Now SRUV has learned that the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) has coined a phrase that also employs the triple repetition of the Any meme. The APDT claim that  Any dog can bite, any dog can maim, and any dog can kill is, if anything, even more deluded than Linke's statement.

What is it with pit bull advocates and the adjective Any?

And what is it with the ritualized, prayer-like phrases that are meant to convey that there are no differences between breeds?

While Linke's phrase is simply silly, the APDT version is dark, ominous. It speaks to us only of mayhem. Should we fear all of our animal companions? Linke's phrase, a hyperbolic elaboration of the long-time favorite All Dogs Bite, implies that pit bulls are no more dangerous than chihuahuas, which experience tells us is false. The APDT construction, on the other hand, inverts logic by implying that chihuahuas are every bit as dangerous as pit bulls, that they can maim and kill just as readily as a pit bull. The phrase strikes fear into our hearts, regardless of the intention.

With this statement the APDT has, perhaps without fully realizing it, acknowledged how dangerous pit bulls are.

Here is the full passage:
The APDT is fully aware that any dog can bite, any dog can maim, and any dog can kill. A dangerous or vicious dog is a product of a combination of individual genetics, upbringing, socialization, and lack of proper training. The solution to preventing dog bites is education of owners, breeder, and the general public about aggression prevention, not legislation directed at certain breeds.
The APDT has strained to construct an argument against BSL and in so doing has defied reason and ignored their own words. They understand that dogs are a product of, in part, their genetics, but in the next sentence the APDT assigns all responsibility for aggression to the owners, breeders, and the general public.

By this logic, the victim of a pit bull attack (presumably a member of the general public) is responsible for his own injury.


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Statistics:
Statistics quoted on SRUV are from the nation's authoritative source for current dog attack statistics, the 32+ year, continuously updated Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada.
View or download the current PDF

Record 33 fatal pit bull attacks & 459 disfigurements in 2015

Pit bulls killed 24,000 other dogs & 13,000 cats in 2015

2015 Dog Bite Related Fatalities (Daxton's Friends)

Fatal Pit Bull Attacks

Today's pit bull attacks

Definitions:
SRUV uses the definition of "pit bull" as found in the Omaha Municipal Code Section 6-163. As pit bulls are increasingly crossed with exotic mastiffs, Catahoula Leopard Dogs and other breeds, the vernacular definition of "pit bull" must be made even more inclusive.

Sources cited by news media sometimes refer to "Animal Advocates" or sometimes "Experts." In many cases these words are used to refer to single-purpose pit bull advocates who have never advocated for any other breeds or species of animals. Media would be more accurate to refer to these pit bull advocates as advocates of fighting breeds.

Similarly, in many cases pit bull advocates refer to themselves as "dog lovers" or "canine advocates" and media often accepts this usage. The majority of these pit bull advocates are single-purpose advocates of fighting breeds.


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