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Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis
Even if one would feel comfortable having, say, a non-neutered male in heat in your own home while a female in heat was over the back fence, the other relevant question is whether it's appropriate to make your neighbors nervous by owning such an animal.
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First off, anyone who has a dog and is not breeding for show purposes or to further the breed standard has a moral obligation to have their dog spayed or neutered. It makes dogs better pets and stops totally preventable health problems from arising. Further, with the number of dogs this country puts to death every year, it is the height of irresponsibility, IMO to add to the pet population.
Having said that, there are lots of things that make neighbors nervous that are totally legal that are also outside their control. My neighbor's kids were afraid of
any dog when they were younger. We had 4 dogs (a Lab, a Keeshond, 2 mutts), licensed and approved by the city. They were on my property, well behaved and frankly it was their problem, not mine. On the other hand, O's father lives in an apartment building where the guy above him smokes. If I think about it, it makes me nervous to think this guy could fall asleep smoking and start a fire which could injure my child, I deal with it.
As to the bomb making scenario, society as a whole has decided that bomb making in one's home is so unsafe as to be illegal. If I knew someone was making bombs, I'd call the cops. Further, if one of my neighbors had a known vicious dogs, I'd call animal control. And frankly, a lot of times people don't even know what they're looking at.
At one of our HOA meetings a few years ago, someone wanted to "warn" people that there was a pit in our neighborhood. The man who owned said "pit" was at the meeting. The dog was actually a Boxer/Lab mix and completely harmless. People get all in a tizzy over things they aren't really knowledgeable about, and for that matter aren't really the threat they perceive; your chances of getting struck by lightening are 5 times greater than being mauled by ANY dog. Unfortunately, the maulings make for much "jazzier" news stories.
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I note that in recent attacks, the idiotic statements by the owners reflect the belief that the victims and/or those horrified by the attacks were insufficiently aficion on the subject of dangerous dogs. E.g., "What is she complaining about? She knew his triggers." and "What's the fuss? It's not as if he locked his jaws."
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One unfortunately cannot control the rash of stupid people that populate our planet. Nonetheless, I think it is unfair and unjust to condemn a whole breed and/or any single dog because there are stupid people in the world.