City Council Not Quick to Ban Pit Bulls

There was no movement Monday night by the Joplin City Council to ban any particular breeds of dogs to try to reduce aggressive-dog behavior and bites.

Instead, council members informally agreed to look at making changes to the city’s animal-ownership ordinances that would forbid tethering or chaining as a means of securing dogs, require mandatory neutering and spaying, and strictly cite owners for violations of the ordinances.

Members of the Joplin Health Department’s advisory board are to make specific recommendations for council authorization.

The topic of changing the city’s dangerous-dog ordinances drew representatives of several groups: postal workers, the Joplin Humane Society, the Tri-State Kennel Club, veterinarian and health-board member Ben Leavens, and police Chief Lane Roberts.

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Chained dog killed by loose pit bulls, owner says

Two loose pit bulls apparently killed a chained chow-breed dog early Monday, and now Jacksonville police are trying to determine their owners.

Ronald Ball, 64, told police one black and one gray pit bull attacked his chow chained in his backyard in the 3000 block of Myra Street off South McDuff Avenue. Police responded about 2:30 a.m. and saw two pit bulls running down a ditch line behind Bell’s property.

The officer then saw them in a nearby front yard, but the owners of the home said they do not have any dogs, according to the Sheriff’s Office report. It’s still possible that the dogs live at that address or are strays, the report said.

Animal Control has been called in.

Ball — who has at least two addresses listed in the incident report, did not include a phone number and is not in the phone book — could not be reached for more details.

The media is irresponsible when reporting on dog attacks of any breed or circumstance.

It seems to me that any dog with the breed name, terrier, such as American Staffordshire Terrier, the media claims it to be a "pit-bull-type" dog and puts it in the headline of the story, to sell a paper.

FYI: According to the AKC, terriers were bred to hunt and kill vermin.

Nobody wants any person or animal to be attacked by a dog. Some dogs attack for no specific reason and the attack seems to just comes out of nowhere. However, what the media and it's irresponsibility fails to do is educate the public. These dog attacks are frequently the result of negligent owners who either train the dog to fight or do not treat them well.

Instead of focusing on how "vicious" and "dangerous" dogs are, the media needs to get to the root of the story. Why do the owners have the dog? Is it chained up outside for most of it's life? Is it ignored and treated poorly? Has it been trained to fight? Has it been to obedience classes? Is it fed on a regular basis? A dog that has everything it needs, is less likely to attack someone or some animal. Most likely, the owners are to blame for the dog's behavior. Dogs are not born, knowing exactly how to act. Owners are supposed to socialize them.

Is the media asking the important questions? Is the owner doing their part to socialize the dog? Is the owner giving their particular breed the care it needs? Some dogs need a lot of exercise compared to others, is the dog getting that exercise or is it filled with pent up energy?

All the media wants to do is tell us how vicious the attack was and other gory details.

Also, the media uses the ignorance of the American public to get people calling for the death of dogs, who are just as much the victim as the person or dog they attacked. I do believe that is a strong statement, but I really think it is true.

If a dog is trained to attack or is treated harshly and it can attack someone. They are doing what they know, so as a result of the behavior of their owner, they are most likely going to be euthanized and the dog won't even know why.

Most Americans think if a dog looks "scary" or "mean", it will attack them. The media wants us to believe the hype, they want us to be scared and buy into the "pit-bull" hysteria. They feel like they are educating us, which they are not, and they sell papers and get people to watch their news.

I searched for some news stories of dog attacks that are NOT pit bulls, a 15 minute search brought me these stories, they are all from the US or Canada. To read the individual stories, just click on them.

The media is not an expert on breed identification, either. It seems that any dog in the news just happens to be a pit bull, according to the media anyway. When we see a picture or video, you can see it might be a pit mix, or a completely separate breed altogether. Such as the case of this recent dog attack in Long Beach, California.

Notice that at the beginning of the video, the news reporter claims this is a Chihuahua, although the owner says it is a Pomeranian. This is who we are trusting to tell us what breed a dog is. Also, in this particular situation, they have an off leash park with nothing but orange cones around it--NOT-- a fence.

Here is the video


I would love to hear your comments and perspectives on this entire article.

Here is a story out of Canada calling for German Shepherds to be banned due to dog attacks.

Another news story involving a German Shepherd planned to be euthanized due to an attack.

In Kentucky, a Jack Russell Terrier killed a 6-week-old infant

Here a Greyhound attacks another dog at a dog park

A girl was attacked by a "pit-bull-type dog", this is misleading because later in the story, the claim it was possibly a Staffordshire terrier or an American bulldog.

This news story doesn't even mention the dog breed, we can be sure of one thing-It was definitely not a Pit-bull type breed. If it were, that would have been the headline.

A Rottweiler attacks his owner.