> "If an animal bites a person and causes what the ordinance says is > substantial bodily harm, in most of the cases that animal will be > declared > dangerous," said Burt Osborne, Director of Operations, Licensing and > Environmental Services for the city of Minneapolis. > > When that happens, the owners may keep the animal, but it has to be > contained. Authorities say the dogs that bit Ybarra were kept inside > properly. But now that they've bitten yet another person, animal > control > authorities say they're too much of a risk to keep alive. For generations, dogs have been bred to serve the needs of their human masters. And we live in an entirely different world than our pre-industrial past. We needed trained killers to help us hunt down food, keep our flocks safe from wolves, protects us from the neighboring tribe and to do the dirty work we would rather not do or could not do ourselves. They were a utilitarian object of a nomadic, then agricultural society. But things have changed. We now live in close proximity to one another in a post-industrial, techno-social age. And the dog has been elevated from the utilitarian killer or protector to the cuttley lap dog that we honor as our child or in some cases as a junior god. The dog is no longer a tool but now has it's own rights, it's own organizations, and chains of pet stores just for it's needs. But while society has changed and the philosophies of the human race have changed, the dog is still bred on the genetics of the past. And yet, we are trying to move the dog from its genetic past to our needs of the moment. We are in a conflict of realities. But we cannot make excuses for the genetics of the past and its conflict with the realities and expectations of the present. The dog must fit into our world. They are our creation and, as long as we maintain that we are owners, ruling over this creature of our creation, rather than guardians of that which has its own rights and which must be subservient to our needs and our world, we are responsible to continue the process of domesticating the dog. We can make all the excuses we want to for their behavior, but it is our world and they have to conform to it. If they can't then they are doomed to the reactions of the non-dog world we live in and the legal controls that are forthcoming because of the conflict between the genetics of the past and the needs of the present. It is sad that the human race is not quite up to the task, because of our ignorance. We also have genetic flaws <G>. People are ignorant and do stupid things and children do test dogs and poke them and hit them. They should not and parents should see to it, but when push comes to shove, it is of no use to blame the child or dog bite victim in a world that is not going to let the dog testify in its own behalf. While I am not in favor of breed specific legislation, I am in favor of breeder specific responsibility. I would love to discover a method of determining who should and shouldn't breed and for what reasons, without violating anyone's civil rights - OK Impossible! But that is specifically the point of conflict. The dog has to move forward in its adaptation to our modern world and we have to see to it. Temperament is not optional. Dave ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================