Pint-sized Chihuahua helps save girl during pit bull attack, w/pic of bad ass Chihuahua

[Whiskeytide]

56. I would never own a pitbull...

... They're too strong, and too well built for a fight. I have owned dogs my entire life. I loved everyone of them with all my heart, and they seemed completely devoted to me, flaws and all. But I would be afraid I couldn't properly control a PB. And I would be mortified if an animal I owned seriously hurt someone.

It seems to me that the very quality most PB owners most frequently tout about these dogs - loyalty - is the quality that often gets the animal in trouble. They seem ready to attack any perceived threat, whether they have correctly identified a threat, or are actually mistaking a child or another dog as a threat. And their fierce loyalty propels them to completely and utterly neutralize the threat. Big, strong dogs with a highly evolved protective instinct and an inclination to destroy threats with extreme prejudice??? .... Not for me.

Then again, I also don't - and wouldn't - own an assault weapon. I'm not anti-gun (I think of myself as pro smart gun laws). But such a weapon is simply too much responsibility. I don't want to be worried about where my assault weapon is and what its doing 24/7. I'd be afraid it would get loose and hurt someone, maybe even someone in my own family, and I just couldn't bear that remorse. Not really the gun's fault - its just a piece of equipment, but its simply not for me.

I know, I know... those who do own assault weapons would say that if I would just go down to the gun shop and adopt an assault weapon, play with it, get to know it, I would discover what a great weapon it really is. Maybe that's true, but its just not for me. One less thing, you know?