RE: “The pit bull quandary” [Voices, June 13].
Dog attacks and dog bites are a people problem, not a dog problem.
First off, no dog “snaps,” not even pit-bull type dogs. Dogs give indications of their behavior long before anything happens. People just don't notice when dogs start to exhibit their lack of respect for the family hierarchy; that is a people problem, not a dog problem.
On to the point of pit bulls in particular being inherently dangerous.
Any animal has the potential to be dangerous. I have dogs and horses. I have been bitten, run over, and stomped on by horses who are frightened or threatened because they have momentarily forgotten the hierarchy.
I would never tolerate this behavior in a dog. Any person who allows his or her dog to threaten or actually make contact with a person, any person, in anything but a submissive way is liable for harm and has allowed that dog the opportunity to think somewhere along the line that this behavior is OK. That is a people problem, not a dog problem; I don't care what breed of dog it is.
Yes, I have seven horses and two pit-bull type dogs as well as barn cats and kids. My dogs are held to a high standard of behavior at all times, and they know better than to do anything but toe the line. The horses and even the cats are above them in the hierarchy.
This is the human's responsibility to teach. If they do not, and someone gets hurt, they should pay a price for that.