[Leica] Home Again

[pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein)]

So sorry to hear this news, Tina.  Rooster Cogburn had practically become
a LUG member. And this kind of senseless destruction is always
sad--especially of animals that are part of our "circle."

I don't mean to be a dog-racist, but some dogs are bred to be killing
machines, and pit bulls are in that category.  Their jaws are
significantly more powerful than most other dogs, and once they decide
someone or something is the enemy, they just don't let up.

I have known a couple of really sweet pit bulls, but the majority I've
seen were owned by people who had them for "protection" or machismo. Which
means that the dog is a time bomb.

A pit bull nearly killed my previous dog at a state park a few years ago.
It was playing a game of stick chasing in the water with its owners when
it spotted us. It actually ran about 300 yards away from its owners to
attack Harpo, who was walking right beside us. It chased Harpo around us
several times and pulled him down like a deer.

Fortunately, the owner ran up and pounded on his dog's chest just as the
pit bull got Harpo's neck in his mouth and was about to bite down. Then
the guy's girlfriend started yelling at us that it was all our fault,
because Harpo wasn't on a leash. It made no difference that their dog was
also off leash, and had just gone out of his way to attack us. It was
still all our fault, and she continued to proclaim so and insult us,
loudly, until we were out of earshot.

A guy in our neighborhood had a pit bull and two Rottweilers.  Once he
left the gate open and they rushed us as we walked by his house. He
eventually came out and called them off, but it was pretty scary.  Some
time later, he moved. I later read in the paper that the dogs had
seriously injured someone, and had been put down.

A pit bull bit off the ear of my cousin's stepson many years ago. Pit
bulls killed one dog and seriously injured several at a dog park here in
Seattle in 2009.
<http://www.komonews.com/home/video/63571552.html>

Another guy in our neighborhood had a small female pit bull, who once
jumped on my wife, who was walking Tilly. The dog was actually just being
friendly, but Katya didn't know that. When my wife said she'd call the
police if he didn't call the dog off, he threatened to call Immigration on
her (she has a noticeable accent).

I know they say "It's the owner, not the dog." But when a dog has been
bred to fight to the death and is extremely powerful, you have a very
dangerous combination. Unless the owner is extrememly responsible, which
many are not, bad things can happen. Sometimes even well-trained pit bulls
can run amok, with horrible consequences. Any dog can do significant
damage, but pit bulls can be lethal.

--Peter


> Dear LUG:
>
> We are home from 9 days traveling around Maine.  We had non-refundable
> tickets to Boston for the Leica Seminar, so when it was cancelled, we
> decided to go to Maine instead.  Made it all the way to Canada and took
> almost 3000 photos, to be edited.
>
> Unfortunately, things did not go well at the farm while we were gone.  My
> daughter came out once a day to feed the chickens but somehow a stray pit
> bull got into the chicken coop and killed all of my chickens except two,
> including my brave Rooster Cogburn who died defending his hens.  The dog
> could  not get back out of the coop so Laura called the police and animal
> control and they came and got the dog.  Nobody has claimed it yet.  The dog
> didn't eat the chickens, just killed them for the sport of it.  The two
> remaining chickens, who surviived by staying on a high roost, are so
> terrified they won't go back into the coop and are sleeping with the
> guineas.  The dog also killed one guinea and one duck.
>
> It's a sad day around here.
>
> Tina
>
> --
> Tina Manley, ASMP
> www.tinamanley.com