Pop Goes the Weasel!

Well, it is for me today, I have the day off tomorrow.  Yay.  I get to spend the morning cleaning my house.  There is about one and a half days my house is clean.  Then its back to walking on pieces of dry cat food that spill over from the bowls, stepping in puddles of water that spill over from the water bowls, cleaning up cat puke, cleaning out litter boxes, and picking off cat hair here and there.  Oh, the joys of pet ownership!

The normal suspects were out and about this morning.  I did remember to bring the medicine, Doxy, for both Big Red, and Hayward Boy.  Poor things.  I gave them each a double dose of medicine in their wet food.  I pray it has some effect on them today.  I also ran into some competition going on at the spot I rescued Larry from.  Lets see...  we had Sparkles, of course, her home, and then we had a beautiful very light red kitty with a limp that keeps its distance from me, and then we also had a momma raccoon and her two babies.  Let me tell you, raccoon babies are very very cute.  But I decided to swing by after leaving the food down for the kitties, and no sign of Momma and her babies that I had earlier chased up a tree.

Speaking of babies, the above is a picture of a baby weasel my girlfriend rescued in her yard yesterday.  A cat must have found it and was 'playing with it.'  My friend wound up contacting a wildlife rehab person I found for her, and brought it to her yesterday.  This little baby would not leave her hand.  It just wanted to be cuddled.  How rare to see a baby weasel!  I told her it would bring her good luck. 

Meet Gus.  Gus is my sister's dog.  She adopted him as a puppy, I think from Lollipop Farm.  This is her second Pit Bull.  Gus is the biggest sweetheart baby I've ever met.  I think Gus may be around two or three years old now.  My sister has a just turned six year old granddaughter living with her, and has had since her first year of life.  We trust Gus 100%, as much as any other animal.  The reason I am talking about this today is because there have been a LOT of news reports recently about pit bulls biting, mauling or killing people or other dogs.  And its very sad.  Its sad for the animals hurt by them, and its sad for the animal that hurt them.  Its not just pit bulls that go after other dogs.  My dog is very bad with other dogs.  And he is a rescued Golden Retriever.  Its their upbringing that causes this type of behavior.  They are not born with it.  So I reached out to a friend who works with the rescue group called Pitty Love.  She gave me a few facts to share.  Take what you will from it, I just found it interesting, and feel sorry for them because society has such a great fear of them - there are thousands destroyed accross the country each day because of people breeding these dogs for fighting.  I have a friend who's little dog was just attacked by her son's pit bull (and he could have adopted it - am sure he was not fighting it), and I know that this issue is a sensitive one.

Pit Bull Myths vs. Facts

1. MYTH: Pit bulls bite more than any other breed.

FACT: There is no system in place to track statistics on dog bites and attacks accurately in the U.S., and many incidents are never reported.

The Centers for Disease Control study “Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and 1998” explains the inherent problems in attempting to calculate breed involvement in fatal attacks.1 The CDC further explained that a major flaw in the study was the inability to factor in total breed populations relative to breed-related fatalities. The CDC concluded that fatal attacks are so rare as to be statistically insignificant in addressing canine aggression.

2.  MYTH: Pit bulls attack without warning or provocation

FACT: According to Karen Delise in The Pit Bull Placebo, the classification of an attack as unprovoked is usually based on the declarations of owners who are unable to understand canine behavior, or are too busy to have seen the signals dogs usually display through body language or vocalization. Dogs do this with stares; body stiffening; positioning of ears, tail and head; and growling, to name only a few. Pit bulls give these signals as much as any other breed of dog.

Additionally, dog attacks tend to be a result of several factors that are statistically more dangerous than a simple breakdown of breed culpability. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, these factors are:

• Breeding: Dogs that are bred to be aggressive will be aggressive regardless of the breed.
• Socialization: Puppies need socialization to learn how to live in human society.
• Training: Beyond socialization, puppies need training so they will at least obey basic commands.
• Health: Some dogs bite because they are uncomfortable or in pain.
• Spayed or Neutered: 97 percent of dogs involved in fatal dog attacks in 2006 were not sterilized.
• Tethering: One out of every four fatal dog attacks involves a chained dog.
 
3. MYTH: Pit bulls have locking jaws.


FACT: There is no factual research to support this claim. Pit bulls’ jaws are the same as any other breed of dog.

There are statements by experts that refute the locking myth, such as:

• Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin of the University of Georgia conducted research on the functional morphology of the jaws of various breeds and showed that:

“…there were no mechanical or morphological differences between the jaws of American Pit Bull Terriers and those of any of the other comparable breeds of dogs which we studied. In addition, we found that the American Pit Bull Terriers did not have any unique mechanism that would allow these dogs to lock their jaws.”

• Dr. Howard Evans (professor emeritus, College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and author of the world’s definitive work on canine anatomy [Anatomy of the Dog]), in conjunction with Dr. Sandy deLahunta, one of the foremost dog neurologists in the country, along with Dr. Katherine Houpt, a leading dog behaviorist, wrote the following statement about the supposed “locking jaw” in pit bulls:

“We all agree that the power of the bite is proportional to the size of the jaws and the jaw muscles. There is no anatomical structure that could be a locking mechanism in any dog.”

4. MYTH: Pit bulls have more bite force in pounds per square inch than any other animal.

FACT: Again, there is no factual research to support this claim. However, there is research that refutes this myth.

Dr. Brady Barr of National Geographic conducted a study on animal bites. The force of bite (in pounds of bite pressure) in the test subjects were:

Crocodiles: 2,500 lbs. Hyenas: 1,000 lbs. Snapping turtles: 1,000 lbs. Lions: 600 lbs. White sharks: 600 lbs. Domestic dogs: 320 lbs. (on average*) Humans: 120 lbs.

* A German shepherd dog, American pit bull terrier and Rottweiler were tested using a bite sleeve equipped with a specialized computer instrument. The American pit bull terrier had the least amount of pressure of the three dogs tested.

5. MYTH: Pit bulls have worse temperaments than other dogs.

FACT: In a recent study of 122 dog breeds by the American Temperament Testing Society, pit bulls had a passing rate of 83.9%. That was better than miniature poodles (76.6%), beagles (80.3%) and collies (79.4%).

6. MYTH: Pit bulls do not feel pain.

FACT: While most dogs do not respond to pain while in the frenzied state of a severe attack, pit bulls feel pain just like other breeds do.

Pit bulls have the same nervous system as any other breed, and they do feel pain. Historically, dogs that would tolerate or ignore discomfort and pain and finish the task they were required to perform were the dogs that were bred and the type of dogs breeders strove to produce. This is the trait of “gameness” that so many breed fanciers speak of, which may be defined as “The desire to continue on and/or complete a task despite pain and discomfort.