Post by: crt360 on November 17, 2006, 01:58:49 PM
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People with vicious dogs may be vicious too -study
Thu Nov 16, 7:29 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who own vicious dogs such as pit bulls have significantly more criminal convictions -- including crimes against children -- than owners of licensed, gentler dogs such as beagles, researchers reported on Thursday.
A study of 355 dog owners in Ohio showed that every owner of a high-risk breed known for aggression had at least one brush with the law, from traffic citations to serious criminal convictions.
And 30 percent of people who owned an aggressive breed of dog and who also had been cited at least once for failure to register it had at least five criminal convictions or traffic citations.
This compared to 1 percent of owners of low-risk, licensed dogs such as poodles, beagles or collies, the researchers reported in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
"Owners of vicious dogs who have been cited for failing to register a dog (or) failing to keep a dog confined on the premises ... are more than nine times more likely to have been convicted for a crime involving children, three times more likely to have been convicted of domestic violence ... and nearly eight times more likely to be charged with drug (crimes) than owners of low-risk licensed dogs," said Jaclyn Barnes of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Barnes and colleagues used public records to check on the criminal pasts of dog owners.
They used agreed definitions of vicious dogs used in writing local ordinances. "A 'vicious dog" means a dog that, without provocation, has killed or caused serious injury to any person, has killed another dog, or belongs to a breed that is commonly known as a pit bull dog," they wrote in their report.
The definition excludes dogs used in law enforcement or dogs protecting an owner or property.
Aggressive breeds identified by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and some insurance companies include pit bulls, rottweilers, akitas and chows.
The most frequent low-risk breeds seen in the study included terriers, beagles, collies and poodles.
"One can argue that choosing to own a vicious dog is a marker of social deviance because a vicious dog is, by definition, a socially deviant animal," said Barbara Boat, director of The Childhood Trust at the University of Cincinnati, who worked on the study.
The researchers said their findings could be useful for social and law enforcement workers.
"We suggest, regardless of dog breed, that failure to license a dog is a potential warning sign of other deviant behaviour," they wrote.
Thu Nov 16, 7:29 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who own vicious dogs such as pit bulls have significantly more criminal convictions -- including crimes against children -- than owners of licensed, gentler dogs such as beagles, researchers reported on Thursday.
A study of 355 dog owners in Ohio showed that every owner of a high-risk breed known for aggression had at least one brush with the law, from traffic citations to serious criminal convictions.
And 30 percent of people who owned an aggressive breed of dog and who also had been cited at least once for failure to register it had at least five criminal convictions or traffic citations.
This compared to 1 percent of owners of low-risk, licensed dogs such as poodles, beagles or collies, the researchers reported in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
"Owners of vicious dogs who have been cited for failing to register a dog (or) failing to keep a dog confined on the premises ... are more than nine times more likely to have been convicted for a crime involving children, three times more likely to have been convicted of domestic violence ... and nearly eight times more likely to be charged with drug (crimes) than owners of low-risk licensed dogs," said Jaclyn Barnes of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Barnes and colleagues used public records to check on the criminal pasts of dog owners.
They used agreed definitions of vicious dogs used in writing local ordinances. "A 'vicious dog" means a dog that, without provocation, has killed or caused serious injury to any person, has killed another dog, or belongs to a breed that is commonly known as a pit bull dog," they wrote in their report.
The definition excludes dogs used in law enforcement or dogs protecting an owner or property.
Aggressive breeds identified by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and some insurance companies include pit bulls, rottweilers, akitas and chows.
The most frequent low-risk breeds seen in the study included terriers, beagles, collies and poodles.
"One can argue that choosing to own a vicious dog is a marker of social deviance because a vicious dog is, by definition, a socially deviant animal," said Barbara Boat, director of The Childhood Trust at the University of Cincinnati, who worked on the study.
The researchers said their findings could be useful for social and law enforcement workers.
"We suggest, regardless of dog breed, that failure to license a dog is a potential warning sign of other deviant behaviour," they wrote.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_crime_dogs
Post by: wingnutx on November 17, 2006, 02:19:34 PM
Post by: meinbruder on November 17, 2006, 04:49:58 PM
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Barnes and colleagues used public records to check on the criminal pasts of dog owners.
They used agreed definitions of vicious dogs used in writing local ordinances. "A 'vicious dog" means a dog that, without provocation, has killed or caused serious injury to any person, has killed another dog, or belongs to a breed that is commonly known as a pit bull dog," they wrote in their report.
The definition excludes dogs used in law enforcement or dogs protecting an owner or property.
Aggressive breeds identified by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and some insurance companies include pit bulls, rottweilers, akitas and chows.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_crime_dogs
IMO, this is a crock! Most breed specific legislation is skewed, or spun, by the media to cast as poor an image as possible on an entire breed of dogs based on one or two individual incidents. I own a pit bull and this dog is the biggest sissy of any animal Ive ever known; it wont even defend itself against our mix-mutt, which is half its size.
The list of aggressive dogs normally includes German Shepherds and Dobermans, which are the finest Police dogs in the world; I would like to add Rotweiler to that same list. The exception for law enforcement should sound really familiar to the members of this board.
Any dog can be ruined with abuse or neglect; pit bulls do have a tendency to fight amongst themselves but human aggression has to be trained into them. A friend has a big male Pit; the dog was in training as a fighter by an abusive owner prior to its rescue. The bozo beat the dog nearly to death, after breaking both its front legs, and dumped it to die because it wouldnt fight.
There are parts of town in Portland that I could find thirty percent more criminals by interviewing 355 people at random than living in my cozy west side suburb. The study sample is too small and narrow to have any significance. Reread the article and substitute assault rifle for aggressive dog . I think that will make my point.
One line of the story jumps off the page. Barnes and colleagues used public records to check on the criminal pasts of dog owners. Why would anyone run a criminal background check on a random dog owner? If one cross-checks dog ownership with known criminals, couldnt one write a very convincing study about ownership of vicious dogs?
FWIW, Yahoo is so far left on most issues, especially gun control, that I havent considered it worth reading for news in years. Every story is an editorial if one looks closely at the way its written.
Mike
}:)>
Post by: Standing Wolf on November 17, 2006, 04:58:31 PM
Post by: wingnutx on November 17, 2006, 07:33:31 PM
Post by: Azrael256 on November 17, 2006, 08:35:45 PM
Could it be that vicious people tend to raise dogs to display the same traits? Nahhhh, that might make sense.
Post by: wingnutx on November 17, 2006, 08:45:41 PM
Could it be that vicious people tend to raise dogs to display the same traits?
I thought that was the entire point here.
Post by: Gewehr98 on November 18, 2006, 08:15:58 AM
I have two dogs. One is a Chow/Spitz and she's fear-aggressive. Does that make me a vicious person because I rescued her from the pound as a 7 week old puppy? No, it means I fell in love with a little black furball at the pound and saved her from a potentially bad fate. She has quirks, just like all dogs and people, for that matter. I didn't select her for her aggressive traits, and we are coping as best we can with them. She's a total sweetheart to us, and one damn good looking dog, to boot:
Hell, Mike Irwin has aggressive traits, and I'll wager his pup Ruger is probably more friendly.
The second dog is a bonehead dufus Catahoula Leopard/St. Bernard mix who fancies himself a lap dog and gets insanely jealous if somebody's smooching somebody else and they're not intended for him. The Catahoula Leopard dogs are supposed to be descended from pit bulls, so I was a bit concerned. No problem, think of a 100 pound overstuffed Border Collie ragdoll who loves everybody, and that's my boy.
Post by: Azrael256 on November 18, 2006, 08:22:12 AM
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I thought that was the entire point here.
Well, yeah, but you're not an idiot, so you drew a reasonable conclusion.
Post by: gunsmith on November 18, 2006, 01:03:02 PM
When my ex adopted a Rat Terrier/ chihuahua mix does that mean I share her traits or do I automatically
learn the dogs tempermant.
This is a very vexing question.
You see there was a large loose pitbull type dog running straight for the ex and the little dog she just adopted went after it in full attack mode.
does this mean the dog is really dumb or really brave?
The pitbull went into totall submission mode! but even laying flat on it's back, it's neck was still larger the the little dog.
The pitbulls owner said she taught her dog to be totally non aggressive and apologized
Post by: MechAg94 on November 18, 2006, 02:15:01 PM
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A study of 355 dog owners in Ohio showed that every owner of a high-risk breed known for aggression had at least one brush with the law, from traffic citations to serious criminal convictions.
Traffic citations were included a "brush with the law"? I think this is probably a ridiculously tainted study that doesn't mean a dang thing.
Post by: Stand_watie on November 18, 2006, 07:19:10 PM
"Vicious dogs, other than in ridiculously unusual situations, have vicious, stupid, or ignorant owners."
Regardless of how much you hate pit-bulls, or love golden retrievers, I can guarantee you that I can name a person who can train -
a) 999 out of a thousand pit-bulls to be the sweetest dogs a person could ask for,
b) or 999 out of a thousand golden retrievers to be vicious beasts.
The vast majority of a dogs behavior is directly attributable to the person who raises it.
Certainly a Basset hound may be more likely by nature to like to lie in front of the fireplace, and a chijuajua to bark at strangers, but bad behavior on dog's part should always be laid at the owners feet.
Post by: K Frame on November 20, 2006, 05:05:44 AM
I'm a big huggly cuddly teddly bear.
Ask Mtnbkr's daughter...
SHE'S the one with the aggressive traits!
Post by: Perd Hapley on November 20, 2006, 07:09:24 AM
Post by: Cosmoline on November 20, 2006, 10:29:42 AM
Post by: LadySmith on November 20, 2006, 10:10:23 PM
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"We suggest, regardless of dog breed, that failure to license a dog is a potential warning sign of other deviant behaviour," they wrote.
Bogus studies and research which will later be accepted as common knowledge will dictate that only criminals, deviants, perverts and the like would dare disobey mandates to register their dogs (or cats or guns).
Post by: mike on November 21, 2006, 02:41:36 AM
