Seeing Red

Friday, three guys were talking while they were doing their Canterbury Tales projects and their conversation turned to their bad, bad dogs and how their dogs could take out anybody else's dog. I tried to ignore it, but when one of them started talking about how his dog had taken another by the throat, I told them to stop the conversation. I wanted to pick up a heavy object and hurl it, or even better, defenestrate them personally.

Only a weak, sorry human being gets joy out of goading an animal to fight another. Only worthless, powerless trash would take a loving, fierce, loyal dog and twist it into a killing machine. Pit bulls, Rotties, Mastifs....all are glorious and game dogs. All of them would put themselves through hell if their owner showed them approval. All of them have animal aggression that can be turned into a lethal weapon. Nobody I can have any respect for would ever twist that power and spirit into something to amuse and bet on, to debase and abuse.

And it is abuse. Let there be no questions. Let there be no claim that the animal is personal property, that it is natural for the dog, or that it doesn't hurt anyone. It is the most basic betrayal of the bond between man and dog, and I wish with a fervent and passionate desire that all the dog fighters could be adequately punished. I wish they could know the terror and the pain of the animals they abuse. I wish somebody would put every single worthless, disgusting, inhuman one of them under a jail somewhere and forget them.

Because of these human vermin, the pit bull has taken on a reputation as a vicious dog. There are cities all over the country where even owning one or a dog that looks like what somebody thinks might be a pit is illegal. The dogs can be taken and destroyed just because of their breed. No actual assessment of the dog itself is done. It's a pit; it's a threat; it's a dead animal. This is the legacy of the dog fighter.

But the legacy of pain doesn't even stop there. Even more horrific are the breeding programs, the bait dogs, the poor abused and maimed creatures left after the battle, and all the dogs who die for the bloodlust and avarice of their so-called masters.

How anybody could look into the eyes of a dog as brave and loving as a pit and see only a deadly toy to be used and disposed of is beyond me. Instead of law enforcement focusing its sights on the dogs, why can't they begin to punish the human refuse that tortures and abuses them? Instead of the media frothing everyone into a state of hysteria over vicious animals, why can't they dispose of the vicious owners and raise the public's awareness of the truth about this situation?

I am passionate about this. I don't think anyone with a shred of love for animals who has seen some of the abused and rescued dogs that come from this world could fail to be angry about it. I only hope our culture can reawaken some of its respect for all life and start punishing these semi-human monsters with the severity their crime demands.