Won’t somebody think of the rapist’s feelings?

He’s gorgeous! It’s always hard to guess breed mixes based on appearance alone, as physical appearance is determined by such a small percentage of DNA. It’s always fun to guess, though! I’ve worked in various animal industries for years, and we always start a poll when someone submits their dog for DNA testing. My guess for the predominant breeds is either Belgian Malinois or German Shepherd, then Staffordshire terrier.

Congratulations on finding such a fantastic dog, and I hope you update us once his results are in!

And all lives matter, right? How else can we commandeer this conversation?

What a shame your mother missed her opportunity to experience it

As I said, dog bite and behavioral euthanasia reports are murky at best, and rely upon nonexpert information. I’m sorry, but a picture graph with no information on how the information was obtained, what verification was involved, etc. is no better than a Facebook share. That’s my point. Information is hard to qualify, quantify, and assess. Trying to oversimplify such a complicated issue is not going to get to the root of the problem.

It’s really disheartening to see Reddit’s irrational pit bull venom is just as present here. Notice how rarely you see comments from animal industry professionals chiming in with these opinions. It’s not because professionals don’t have their own breed biases, and they don’t typically keep quiet about them, either. It’s that most people with a lot of day-to-day experience with dogs don’t share this opinion. Their experiences don’t match public perception.

Bite statistics and behavioral euthanasias both in private and public spheres are anything but transparent. They also often rely upon witness statement accuracy, which is not reliable nor scientific. There simply isn’t enough accurate information available to support such a vitriolic, knee-jerk reaction to a dog’s breed in and of itself. There are too many variables to consider to accept that mindset as rational.

I encourage anyone who cares about these issues and who loves animals and people to consider volunteering. There are a lot of opportunities out there that you might be surprised are available. It’s not just shelters who need volunteers, either, and you can find opportunities in an array of different settings and ways of helping. You might find that experience will give you a broader understanding of how complex these problems are, and how we can work to solve them.