Dog of the year helps 8-year-old boy with autism find his voice (graphic photo but please scroll)

[question everything]

Last edited Mon Nov 25, 2013, 11:19 AM - Edit history (1)

An amazing story from NBC News

http://www.today.com/pets/dog-cat-year-therapy-pooch-rescued-kitty-take-top-honors-2D11624191

That's how poor Xena was rescued



and now she opened little Johnny who suffers from autism

[flvegan]

1. Hold on, just HOLD ON...is that a *gasp* pitbull!!!????

That's right, fuckers. Lets talk about the menace.

That aside, sorry had to *DU*, so very happy for this child and this dog. Bless the rescuers who weren't such closed minded idiot shitbags with unfounded breed-bias.

[liberal_at_heart]

6. +1

[newfie11]

8. +infinity++++++++++++++. Nt

[joeglow3]

12. Show me where someone said there is a 100% statistical probability

Of a pit bull attacking and killing someone. I must have missed it.

[magical thyme]

16. statistics between 1965 and 2001 give a 0.0012% likelihood of a pitbull

fatally attacking, based on number of attacks relative to population.
http://mabbr.org/pit-bull-ownership/the-truth-about-pit-bulls/

Most fatal attacks are by unneutered males of larger breeds who are either running loose or kept on chains (where dogs are continually stressed by their inability to escape perceived danger).

Furthermore, temperament testing ranks them ahead of Afghan Hounds, Akitas, Malamutes, Bulldogs, American Eskimos, American Water Spaniels, Anatolian Shepherds, Australian cattle dogs and sheep dogs, Basset Hounds, Beagles, Bearded collies, and Basenjis.

And that's just looking at A-B. Jumping ahead to some well known, popular breeds in the "G's" they also rank ahead of German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers.

[joeglow3]

18. Now, take that a step further.

WHEN an attack happens, what is the statistical likelihood that it will result in death or serious injury across breeds? THEN, bring the two together and tell me what the statistical likelihood are that any given breed will attack, resulting in death or serious injury.

THAT is what most people take issue with. Others like to focus on the stat you cited. However, everyone agrees on that stat. Problem is most pit bull defenders ignore these two stats.

[magical thyme]

21. BS, the problem is that haters focus on hating the breed

instead of honestly wanting to reduce deaths by dog attacks. Even the CDC says that breed-legislation won't be effective. If you even bother to look at the statistics in the link, you'll see that several other breeds have a significantly higher likelihood of fatal attacks.

What would be effective is cracking down hard on dog-fighting rings, enacting and enforcing strong neutering laws, and cracking down on and enforcing strong leash laws.

Frankly, I'm torn between my desire to put haters on ignore and wanting to respond to their bigotry.

FWIW, I do not now and never have had a pit bull. I am surrounded by them, though.

The only dog attacks I've experienced have been while walking my 2 dogs down my street, once on my own propery and twice at a dog park. So far we've been attacked:

. 4 times by the lab-x left loose while her owner was cutting up logs with her loose and his back turned and earphones on. The only thing that saved us during the 3rd attack was a truck passing by who stopped, put his truck between the dog and us, and then cruised forward at 3-4 mph until we were far enough up the road that the lab-x decided to head back to her owner.

. multiple times by the German Shepherd in the opposite direction, until I taught her owner how to teach her to not attack.

. multiple times by the pure bred hunting labs next door, usually walking my dogs past their house. But once, I their chocolate launched at me while I was standing right in front of my own barn. My rhodesian ridgeback puppy saved my life on that occasion. Their black lab won't attack again because he was hit by a car.

. twice by a mixed breed pointer-type dog at the dog park. The owner failed to call his dog off. Each time he jumped on my lab-x from behind and my dog growled/barked/scared him off. When his owner claimed that his off-leash dog attacking other dogs at a public park was just "dogs being dogs" we packed up and left. That dog park closed last year, probably due to the influx of idiots who fail to socialize or properly train and restrain their aggressive dogs.

[joeglow3]

24. Nice Try

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/25/dog-bite-mutilation/3698559/

[xmas74]

17. I personally don't have a problem with pit bulls,

though I do think that they sometimes are in the wrong homes. Pits, in the right environment, can make lovely pets.

[DrDan]

22. I thought pit bulls were next-to-impossible to identify

Last edited Mon Nov 25, 2013, 01:48 PM - Edit history (1)

oh, wait . . . . that's when it is a negative PB story

I forgot

[cui bono]

2. OMG!!! How was that poor thing still alive???

I thought the cat I took in from outside was skin and bones, but she was not even close to this bad.

Except for that part and the part where the boy has autism, this is a good story.

[msanthrope]

3. Um...could you put a graphic warning on the thread? I had to sit down and breathe a bit. nt

[question everything]

13. Sorry. Done (nt)

[msanthrope]

15. Thank you...would you believe..I was a diener, helped me pay for college,

But the animal pictures get me every time...

[Ms. Toad]

19. Thanks! n/t

[johnp3907]

25. I didn't see this til after the warning was added.

It was still quite a shock.

[question everything]

27. Sorry about that. Still she survived, and saved a boy

which means that we should not turn away from an animal just because we cannot look at her.

[johnp3907]

28. True.

[BrotherIvan]

4. Such beautiful stories

I hope stories like these lead to more rescues and adoptions for pets that always give a thousand times that love in return.

Spay & Neuter!

[liberal_at_heart]

5. incredibly moving. I cried when I saw it.

[UtahLib]

7. Heartbreaking turned uplifting story. n/t

[MoonRiver]

9. Such a beautiful story...

thank you... of both sorrow and joy

[Le Taz Hot]

10. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

put a warning GRAPHIC WARNING on your thread title! I've posted this dozens of times -- there are those who are hypersensitive to this type of picture. You've no idea what it does to us! FUCK! I can't unsee this! Jesus Christ!

[question everything]

14. Sorry. You can scroll down for the happier photos

or watch the video which, really, is rewarding and is all of about 2 minutes

[Ms. Toad]

20. Not a good suggestion for someone disturbed by the graphic image -

Graphic images don't traumatize me, but they do traumatize some individuals - who are merely asking for the opportunity to choose to avoid stumbling on them accidentally. So suggesting watching the video (which contains not only the original graphic image, but a second one) is not helpful. No amount of happy endings can erase the damage done by stumbling on the graphic image in the first place - it is the opportunity to choose to avoid encountering the images in the first place that the poster is requesting (here, and in another thread).

[snooper2]

11. I recommend reading the associated story...beautiful...

[nolabear]

23. That's quite the story. How lucky those two were to find one another!

[deathrind]

26. Very cool story.

To bad the rest of the thread got lost in the weeds over the image or breed of dog... Thanks for posting