• @9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works
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    881 year ago

    I’m not a dog breed expert, but…

    The other day an agressive dog that looked like a pitbull, suddenly lunged at me barking loudly… It was about 10ft away from me but still scared the shit out of me

    The owner yanked the dog back on its leash and i thought, “FML, the only thing that saved me from a deadly mauling was a 3/4 inch wide piece of nylon with a metal clip the guy bought off amazon for $5”

    • Seraph
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      731 year ago

      “But my little velvet hippo couldn’t hurt anyone!”

      • @jopepa@lemmy.world
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        421 year ago

        Hippos are super aggressive, territorial, and will bite a crocodiles in half. It’s amazing that’s supposed to be a cute, disarming nickname for a breed notorious for the same traits.

      • snipgan
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        261 year ago

        To be fair most won’t, but they definitely can and do.

        Especially when they are jaws on legs that are more inclined compared to other dogs.

        • @starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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          19
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          1 year ago

          Yup. I’ve crunched the numbers before, and it’s something like 1 in 10,000 pit bulls will attack a human or other companion animal every year. It’s not likely for any given pit to attack a person (which I can anecdotally support–they’re obnoxiously friendly and loving in my experience), but it’s also like 10 times more than the next most vicious breed. In my opinion, it’s not worth euthanizing every member of the breed, but it is worth neutering every one. We don’t need dog breeds, especially ones responsible for over half of the violent attacks on people and other animals.

          Of course, I’m in support of neutering all companion animals to reduce the stray population and ease the strain on shelters, regardless of breed or species. Breed specific laws are only one step towards fixing the larger problem.

        • Seraph
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          171 year ago

          The actual issue is that’s it’s a degenerative disease in dogs of similar breeds. At some point they get old and less able to recognize friend from foe. That might be ok if it weren’t for the jaws you mentioned.

          • snipgan
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            1 year ago

            Exactly.

            I’d go one step farther and even say if they even had the same amount of attacks as other dogs, had no possible mental diseases, and all want to caring homes I would still put restrictions/ban on them.

            They are just too large to handle, too big of a bite to brush off, and end up in dog attacks a lot. That’s enough for me.

      • squiblet
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        181 year ago

        It’s funny they call them hippos considering that hippos are extremely dangerous and vicious wild animals.

    • @gamer@lemm.ee
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      31 year ago

      I was walking my dog through my neighborhood once, and one of my stupid ass neighbors had his dog loose in his garage with the door open across the street. When it saw me, it charged at us, barking aggressively. It didn’t attack me, it just stood a few feet away baring its teeth and barking while his overweight owner waddled over to it armed with a sandle. I think it was a labrador.

      If it was a pitbull though I’d likely be missing a limb or two today.