To be concerned at the rise in number of dogs being used as a status symbol?

[AMAZINWOMAN]

Lately, I have seen more and more teenagers walking around with pitbulls and rottweilers. In shopping centres, on trains and just in streets and parks.

I know most dogs are nice and that it is the way the owners train them that cause them to be destructive and dangerous. However, some of the owners look rough!

Last night a pitbull was sniffing around me and started jumping on my friend and the owner was just saying "No" and "get down". The dog wasn't taking any notice of its owner and carried on.

Luckily my friend isn't scared of dogs but I am. If I was alone then I would have been terrified.

I just seem to be seeing more and more of these "accessory" dogs as a status symbol of being tough. I'm getting concerned about it.

I agree with the OP of sorts (waves to Val, have had runs in before ), but there does seem to be a tendency these days to take your dog when you go go shopping in the centre of town. All dogs not just those mentioned.

I blame that woman on Gok's show. She is always in designer shops with her dogs.

HouseOfBamboo quoted my remark to SEA* and then went on to ask a question:

"'SEA rescue is chock full of Staffies partly thanks to numpties who think they're Pit Bulls and can't tell the frigging difference.'

WHY are rescue homes full of Staffies though? I assumed it was because they were originally bought by meatheads who want to walk around with a 'hard' looking dog, but then can't look after them properly so they end up being abandoned?"

HouseOfBamboo, if you're going to quote part of my post in order to argue against my opinion why not read the rest of the very same post too? That way you wouldn't have needed to ask the question because I have already explained it, albeit not in great detail.

I said:

Other reasons are primarily the vicious circle of a bad press/misinformation/ignorance of the breed, including those who believe all the hype and "won't let Tarquin even visit someone if they have a Staffie", backyard breeding and a misguided belief on the part of the general public in breed specifics.

Valhalla - wow, rude. Unnecessarily so, imho. And you're right, your explanation wasn't terribly detailed, hence my question. I'm not really interested enough in this subject to engage further though, so ta ta.

To explain:

1. Bad press.

It's only news if it's rare. My DDs sitting cuddling a German Shepherd apiece last night will not reach the papers as thousands of kids live peacably with dogs every day of the week. But newspaper hype sells and blows rare incidents out of all proportion.

Added to which whenever there is a dog attack - a fecking rare thing considering the number of households with dogs and the number of dogs in the UK - the accompanying photo in the press is almost invariably a Staffie, although the ACCUSATION is that the dog responsible was a Pit, because these tossers don't know a Pit from a Pom either.

1. Misinformation - see above, listen to scaremongers etc etc.

1. Ignorance of the breed... where to start? Nah, I can't be bothered, go look it all up for yourself and go talk to someone who actually knows about dogs instead of believing what you read in the Mail. Lets just say that this makes people avoid Bull breeds because they consider them "dangerous", likewise they avoid Greyhounds as they consider that they need loads of daily 5 mile walks. Both are examples of lack of understanding.

1. Backyard breeding - some twat breeds dogs in his house because he wants a fast buck/wants to let the kids experience puppies in the house/can't be arsed to spay his bitch/thinks it's wrong or unnecessary to spay/thinks the bitch should have a litter first/whatever.

Despite the amount of dogs dying in pounds and some so-called rescues, despite the number PTS by uncaring vets because the owner doesn't want his dog, there will always be some cunt - sorry but they are - who will breed yet more dogs for one of these reasons and some other cunt who will buy the pups. Will the owner of the bitch homecheck the buyers? Will he insist the pups are neutered/spayed? Will he breed selectively and health check both parents, ensuring there are no incestuous lines? Will he take the pup back when it's a fully grown dog, 7 years old and the owner can't keep it? Will he fuck!

Hence we are struggling against a tide of dogs, particularly Staffies, in rescue.

1. Breed Specifics.

There is NO SUCH THING as a "bad" or "dangerous" breed. But, not least with thanks to the ill thought out, knee jerk, badly drafted Dangerous Dogs Act many think that there is. So, when looking for a dog they will actively avoid the Staffs and the Bull Breeds, the Sheps and the Rotts in favour of something small and yappy like a Westie or a Lab. So the Staffs and soforth are left in rescue unwanted.

Val - a very pissed off rescuer who is sick of inaccurate assumptions about rescue dogs and Bull breeds.

YANBU. I was brought up with dogs including Staffordshire bull terriers and back then (1980s) people would stop in the street and ask what breed they were because you never saw any in our area. Now they are everywhere!
I'm not frightened of dogs at all but I'll admit when you see some of the owners of these dogs I have become nervous when I have had to pass them in the street as you just don't know if they can keep their animal under control.
I suppose a lot of it is to do with media scaremongering too though. I've been bitten by dogs a few times and it's always been by those little -rat- -types- lapdogs who don't do as much damage as a bigger dog so it doesn't make the press IYKWIM

Off you fuck then HouseOfBamboo, no great loss, you were only reading what you wanted to pick out in the first place.

I agree with OP a little, I am absolutley shit scared of all dogs, but more so the big headed/teeth/ jaw ones and the known drug dealers all seem to have one. The dog in the op would not have had chance to sniff round me as I would have cacked my pants on sight of it and walked in the opposite direction of it.

There are a lot of staffie type dogs in my area, seems to be loads in the last few years, some owners are responsible and have extremley well behaved dogs. Others are not and think its funny when the dog growls and trys to snack your ankles when you walk past. What worries me is its the latter dogs that are often left to roam the streets and our council/dog warden/loacal police reckon nothing can be done unitl the dog attacks.

I also can not take my dd to the park as everytime I have been there are three or four youths with their dogs running around off the leader fighting each other. A kindly man with a giant rottwiler even had to chase one of the dogs away from me and my dd as it was running at us and growling. The pricks with the dogs thought it was all hilarious. Its the increase of these kind of owners that worry me not so much the increase of the dogs.

I think everyone thought I bought my dog as a status symbol.

Not as a "Who-you-lookin'-at?" type, but as a "Don't his eyes match the colour of our Farrow & Ball coving?" type.

Actually, we bought him because the central heating's knackered and I needed something to keep my feet warm.

"Its the increase of these kind of owners that worry me not so much the increase of the dogs."

Perfectly put, cloudpuff.

The OP is looking at the wrong end of the lead.

Yup, the owners scare me far more than the dogs. I feel sorry for the poor hounds, especially when I hear "breeding tips" like "Lock em in the shed for a couple of days" in the queue at morrisons Waitrose.

Val, I would like you to know I gave him the death stare.

MissVerinder, I'd have been tempted to give him the death-kick-in-the-ankles-as-I-walked-by.

Valhalla, I actually don't understand your sarcasm to the OP. Please explain. Genuine question!

Rhinestone, the fact is that most of the UK public, where the Pit Bull is a restricted breed and therefore rarely seen, wouldn't know one if he licked them on the nose.

Which is why the Police employs Dog Legislation Officers, who are experts in the identification of breeds. DLOs are often used as expert witnesses within a court of law to determine whether a dog is or is not an APBT or an APBT "type".

Generally speaking and IME there are few other people apart from those trained and employed for the purpose and certain rescuers and/or animal rights activists who come across APBTs in their work who can confidently and accurately identify the breed.

If it were easy to identify Pits there would be no need for DLOs and other expert witnesses. These individuals are few and far between and their knowledge and training exceptional. As the OP has so readily identified "more and more" Pit Bull Terriers I can only imagine that s/he is one such expert or a vet with exceptional knowledge of the breed because s/he's sure as feck not a rescuer.

Val, who is also fed up with armchair Pit Bull identifiers!

Many's the time I've been goo-gooing over a 'status' dog, and looked upwards to receive a smile from an abashed, rather embarrassed-looking 'hoodie' owner.

Anyone who loves their dog is ok by me!

Val - thanks for the explanation. I agree that it is hard to correctly identify an APBT. Even in the shelter I work in (where approx 50% are pit bulls), they vary hugely.

I do however think I know what the OP was trying to say - that too many people (young men) seem to be acquiring dogs as a macho thing, and corrupting the very essence of what a dog is. They certainly do not have the dog's interests at heart. In that sense I completely agree with the OP.

Val - great you have such knowledge and info you can share with everyone, not so great you choose to be so rude and condescending.

I also thought that it is people who wanted "hard" looking dogs but weren't up to looking after them that was contributing to the number of staffies looking for homes (not just breed misconceptions) I thought it was a valid question!

Rude I might be, fed up of inaccuracies and hearsay which costs lives I am.

I don't go on the SN boards and say I saw a child in the supermarket yesterday who was suffering from, say, body dysmorphic disorder or from autism because I have no genuine experience of, or qualifications in identifying these conditions. The best I can do is say that the child "looked" or "seemed to me" as if he might have X or Y. I don't make it worse for the children who suffer these conditions or those who are trying to live with and/or help them by making invalid, uneducated guesses and I'd be bloody well flamed if I did. By the same token I will pull anyone who does an armchair assessment and concludes that they are seeing "more and more" Pit Bulls. I make no apologies for not having the tolerance for such talk.

Walk a mile in my shoes, see what I've seen, deal with the things I have, and you might begin to understand why.

This definitely happens, I see it all the time on the estate next to me.
A friend of mine lives there and tells me about people who get 'status' dogs, as pups and then rehome them when they can't manage.

Val, I can see you are passionate, and mean well, and whilst I'm no expert, and have no idea what breeds the dogs are, there are lots of Pitbull looking ones, plus staffies, rotties, dobermans etc.
The owners also often seem happy that the scary looking dog is pulling at the lead.

I grew up with dogs, pedigree softies, which I know you don't like either as they are not rescues, but they were well researched and lovely family pets.
A world away from what I see where I live now.

"I grew up with dogs, pedigree softies, which I know you don't like either as they are not rescues, but they were well researched and lovely family pets."

Hang on Netto.... I have three dogs of my own, two of whom are "pedigree softies" - German Shepherds. They are ALSO rescued dogs but are no less pedigree for that. As it happens, Sheps are my favourite breed.

Sheps are also reputed to be up there with the Rotts and Dobies and all those other "dangerous" dogs remember!

I don't care what identity certain types of dogs have, if they look scary, they look scary.

Sorry, posted too quickly. I meant to add that there is a world of difference in you calling some of the dogs you see "Pitbull looking ones" and arbitrarily pronouncing them to BE Pit Bulls!

I grew up with a 'pedigree softy' too. She was the most gentle dog I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She was superb with children and lived happily with a house rabbit, two guinea pigs, several cats, hundreds of small furries and birds. She never so much as bared her teeth in all her life.

I walked her as teen. She was a Doberman at the time Dobes were the status dog of the moment. She was a much loved family pet.

It is notoriously difficult to identify pitbulls - even experts often can't be sure, eg there was a story this week in my local paper about a dog who was thought to be a pitbull and so was threatened with being put down, but the owner thought it was a bulldog/labrador cross - and in the end the dog warden agreed it was lovely and friendly and no threat to anyone, so he was allowed to keep it (but chipped, neutered etc).
Charlie story here

I think bringing back licensing for dog owners would make a lot more sense than having 'banned breeds' as it is never going to be 100% clear what breed a mix is - and it is the owners who cause the problems.