Rednecks and Dogs
In order to retain my anonymity, I can't post a link to the story I'm going to lay out for you, but it's on the front page of my hometown newspaper; I'm not a subscriber, but they subscribe at the office and I had a look at the front page.
The big front page article is of a little kid, less than two years old, with his face stitched up. And I mean really, really stitched up. The count is something like fifty-seven. The kid got attacked by a dog, and not just any dog: a unnamed pit bull mix who we'll call "Lenny" (my favorite character on the Simpsons) for the sake of convenience.
Here are a few of the facts that are important to lay out before I make my own comments.
Lenny belongs to a family friend, and to kid and his brother have played with him before.
The kid was either leaning on or trying to hug Lenny.
Lenny's owner had just disciplined him for growling.
The kid's dad apparently wants people to know that dogs that are known to lash out "are not good family pets." The mother emphasized the importance of keeping dogs like pit bulls on a leash. Ya think?
The last paragraph of the story says that the family had intended to get a house at some point, and an accompanying puppy for the kids. Instead, they'll be getting a house without a dog.
My take on the issue? Well, there are several things here that have to be considered.
Some people make the statement that girls who dress provocatively are "just asking to get raped." They're immediately criticized for it by women's libbers, et cetera. Now, I'm not saying that any woman deserves to be raped, because that's obviously incorrect. On the other hand, people often use their attire to elicit a response from members of the opposite sex; for example, when the Fly wears his kilt, all the women immediately get flirty and want to know if I'm wearing it according to the true Scottish style (which is to say, sans underwear; the answer, of course, is "yes"). We say that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and that it's "better to be safe than sorry." If I were a woman, aside from being far too ugly for any guy to want to date, I'd dress at least somewhat modestly, and do whatever it took to stay safe from the sexual predators that I know to be roaming the streets and casing the bars and clubs of College City.
I see this as a completely similar case. Should the kid have been attacked? Of course not. Was he "asking for it"? Of course not. Did it happen because the parents are a couple of negligent rednecks who don't have enough sense not to let their sons, aged four and not quite two years old, play with an angry pit bull? You better believe it.
As for dogs, we got our first dog when I was less than two years old. He was a black labrador, and he was about the best dog a kid could have asked for. Again, without giving away my location, I can tell you for a fact that the area this family lives in is a perfect place for little boys to have a dog, and knowing the local yokels in that area of the county, it would probably be good for home security as well. It doesn't take that much consideration: don't let your toddler play with dogs like pit bulls, Rottweilers, or Dobermans.
Then again, if they were stupid enough to let this happen in the first place, maybe they shouldn't get a dog; children are probably far more responsibility than they're ready for as it is.
The big front page article is of a little kid, less than two years old, with his face stitched up. And I mean really, really stitched up. The count is something like fifty-seven. The kid got attacked by a dog, and not just any dog: a unnamed pit bull mix who we'll call "Lenny" (my favorite character on the Simpsons) for the sake of convenience.
Here are a few of the facts that are important to lay out before I make my own comments.
The kid's dad apparently wants people to know that dogs that are known to lash out "are not good family pets." The mother emphasized the importance of keeping dogs like pit bulls on a leash. Ya think?
The last paragraph of the story says that the family had intended to get a house at some point, and an accompanying puppy for the kids. Instead, they'll be getting a house without a dog.
My take on the issue? Well, there are several things here that have to be considered.
Some people make the statement that girls who dress provocatively are "just asking to get raped." They're immediately criticized for it by women's libbers, et cetera. Now, I'm not saying that any woman deserves to be raped, because that's obviously incorrect. On the other hand, people often use their attire to elicit a response from members of the opposite sex; for example, when the Fly wears his kilt, all the women immediately get flirty and want to know if I'm wearing it according to the true Scottish style (which is to say, sans underwear; the answer, of course, is "yes"). We say that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and that it's "better to be safe than sorry." If I were a woman, aside from being far too ugly for any guy to want to date, I'd dress at least somewhat modestly, and do whatever it took to stay safe from the sexual predators that I know to be roaming the streets and casing the bars and clubs of College City.
I see this as a completely similar case. Should the kid have been attacked? Of course not. Was he "asking for it"? Of course not. Did it happen because the parents are a couple of negligent rednecks who don't have enough sense not to let their sons, aged four and not quite two years old, play with an angry pit bull? You better believe it.
As for dogs, we got our first dog when I was less than two years old. He was a black labrador, and he was about the best dog a kid could have asked for. Again, without giving away my location, I can tell you for a fact that the area this family lives in is a perfect place for little boys to have a dog, and knowing the local yokels in that area of the county, it would probably be good for home security as well. It doesn't take that much consideration: don't let your toddler play with dogs like pit bulls, Rottweilers, or Dobermans.
Then again, if they were stupid enough to let this happen in the first place, maybe they shouldn't get a dog; children are probably far more responsibility than they're ready for as it is.
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