Marty
11-11-2005, 08:51 PM
Sallisaw, OK -- Otis, a three-year-old American pit bull terrier, is the antithesis of what society seems to think a pit bull is, which sometimes includes being innately tough, aggressive, and prone to attacking people when unprovoked.
Otis doesn't emit a sound or even a tiny growl when a guest approaches his home. On the contrary, he peeks out the screened door, wagging his tail, eager to be petted. When he doesn't get all the attention he wants, he curls up and falls asleep on his owners' couch. Otis lives peacefully alongside another dog, Duke, who is half Akita and half mastiff, and his owners, Calvin and Joan Morrison of Gore.
Joan Morrison, treasurer of the Endangered Breeds Association (EBA) since 1982, is trying to banish the bad reputation that pit bulls have gotten and stop legislation that is expected to be proposed in February that could end in the eventual ban of the pit bull in Oklahoma.
EBA, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1980 for the purpose of preserving the American Pit Bull terrier. According to the EBA's newsletter, their goals are public education, media monitoring, legislative lobbying, and legal intervention to protect responsible owners from breed-specific legislation and unfair harassment by public officials or agencies.
Morrison said the EBA has 525 members throughout the United States and in different countries, including Canada, Italy and Germany.
She and her husband have owned and bred American pit bull terriers since 1968. They have since retired from the breeding business, but are still advocates for the dogs.
"We've always had a bull dog as a house dog," she said.
Morrison got involved in EBA while participating in dog shows sponsored by the American Dog Breeding Association. The president of that association and another man founded the EBA, she said.
She said EBA not only educates the public, but also promotes the responsibility of owners of any breed of dog. She said EBA was the group that lobbied to get the current state law about potentially dangerous dogs enacted in 1991.
She said the true nature of the bull dog is not the dog some people have developed, even though she said this breed of dog was used historically for fighting decades ago. She said unfortunately, it's also the breed of choice for drug dealers. She said others have the dog because they think it goes along with their macho image.
Morrison and others with the EBA are trying to make people see that banning the breed will not stop the problem of irresponsible dog owners.
"You can make any dog be a vicious dog," she said.
She said dogs are like children, and it's the responsibility of a dog owner to mold that dog into an accepting, logical dog. She said owners can't put a chain on the dog, toss food out to it and expect the dog to be socialized.
"There are hundreds of thousands of responsible dog owners...a few irresponsible ones cause all the problems," she said. "We want to deal with those individuals."
Morrison calls the recent case in Muldrow when a two-year-old boy was mauled recently by a pit bull terrier when he wandered from his home into the yard of a chained pit bull a "very regrettable, but highly-preventable accident." The boy is alive and doing well, but he has undergone plastic surgery, police reported.
She said in the situation in Muldrow, there was a child wandering around unattended and there was a dog owner that knew that he or she had a dog on a chain that was acting aggressive. She said the dog owner should have had fencing up.
"I'm not bashing the victim...that's a horrible situation for any parent to have happen to their child," Morrison said.
She said there are millions of things a parent has to worry about with their children. "A parent doesn't need to worry about a neighbor's dog being one of them."
She said when people own heavy-duty dogs, like pit bull terriers or Rotweillers, they need to think of the very worst thing that could possibly happen and take precautions.
When Morrison and her husband had kennels, they thought of the possibility of one of their dogs getting out and killing a horse or cow or even scaring someone. In 27 years that they bred dogs, they never had one get loose, she said. Some of the precautions they took were putting up an electric fence and putting padlocks on each pen.
"Banning a breed of any dog is not the solution to the problem," she said. "People are the problem."
Morrison said there is an existing state law about potentially dangerous dogs that EBA got passed, and they want to go back and make the law tougher.
"In looking back, we see places that don't have enough penalties," she said. EBA is proposing that new language be added to the current state law. That new language includes making the dog owner or keeper "strictly liable for damages incurred by a person physically injured by a dog" and "liable for actions of the dog."
EBA also wants tougher penalties for dog owners and to make sure the law is enforced. If a dangerous dog kills a person, the EBA wants to make the offense punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a possible $125,000 fine.
"It's not just a bull dog that's going to hurt you," she said. "It's any breed of dog."
Morrison said the EBA wants the same thing as State Rep. Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore) - protection of people from any breed of dog. Wesselhoft has authored legislation, which will be proposed during the next legislative session, to ban the pit bull breed in Oklahoma after a three-year-old Moore child lost his arm after being attacked by a pit bull terrier in June.
Morrison said one of the problems with some dog owners is that they don't socialize the dogs from the time they are puppies, but she believes it's unfair to pick on breeds. "There are all kinds of breeds of dogs that bite children."
Morrison gave examples of some of those instances. She said in early-October, an Oklahoma City girl was bitten in the face by a dachshund when she startled the dog while he was with some puppies. She needed more than 60 stitches and will need plastic surgery. Animal control did not take the dog in for a 10-day quarantine and has not pursued the matter, Morrison said.
In mid-October, a Tulsa woman was attacked by three, mixed breed dogs. The dogs chased the woman into the woods where she was able to climb a tree, but not before she was bitten several times on the wrist, abdomen, foot and leg. Tulsa Animal control picked up the dogs and held them in quarantine, and the owner is facing local ordinance fines, Morrison said.
Morrison said she and her husband have had two or three dogs that were aggressive, and as responsible owners, they euthanized them.
"Dogs are like people - you never know," she said.
Morrison said if someone broke into her home, she has no doubt Otis would protect her.
"They will protect you, but they don't have to be aggressive about it," she said.
Morrison noted that a terrier's nature is to be busy, inquisitive and tenacious - which is why they're called terriers.
She said if a Jack Russell terrier or a Chihuahua weighed 35 pounds, people would try to get them banned too.
Morrison said dog owners need to do temperament testing when the dogs are puppies to see how they react in different situations, socialize them, read books about obedience, and even take the dogs to obedience classes.
"When you have a heavy duty dog, you sure don't want one that's aggressive," she said.
http://www.sequoyahcountytimes.com/articles/2005/11/11/news/1.txt
Otis doesn't emit a sound or even a tiny growl when a guest approaches his home. On the contrary, he peeks out the screened door, wagging his tail, eager to be petted. When he doesn't get all the attention he wants, he curls up and falls asleep on his owners' couch. Otis lives peacefully alongside another dog, Duke, who is half Akita and half mastiff, and his owners, Calvin and Joan Morrison of Gore.
Joan Morrison, treasurer of the Endangered Breeds Association (EBA) since 1982, is trying to banish the bad reputation that pit bulls have gotten and stop legislation that is expected to be proposed in February that could end in the eventual ban of the pit bull in Oklahoma.
EBA, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1980 for the purpose of preserving the American Pit Bull terrier. According to the EBA's newsletter, their goals are public education, media monitoring, legislative lobbying, and legal intervention to protect responsible owners from breed-specific legislation and unfair harassment by public officials or agencies.
Morrison said the EBA has 525 members throughout the United States and in different countries, including Canada, Italy and Germany.
She and her husband have owned and bred American pit bull terriers since 1968. They have since retired from the breeding business, but are still advocates for the dogs.
"We've always had a bull dog as a house dog," she said.
Morrison got involved in EBA while participating in dog shows sponsored by the American Dog Breeding Association. The president of that association and another man founded the EBA, she said.
She said EBA not only educates the public, but also promotes the responsibility of owners of any breed of dog. She said EBA was the group that lobbied to get the current state law about potentially dangerous dogs enacted in 1991.
She said the true nature of the bull dog is not the dog some people have developed, even though she said this breed of dog was used historically for fighting decades ago. She said unfortunately, it's also the breed of choice for drug dealers. She said others have the dog because they think it goes along with their macho image.
Morrison and others with the EBA are trying to make people see that banning the breed will not stop the problem of irresponsible dog owners.
"You can make any dog be a vicious dog," she said.
She said dogs are like children, and it's the responsibility of a dog owner to mold that dog into an accepting, logical dog. She said owners can't put a chain on the dog, toss food out to it and expect the dog to be socialized.
"There are hundreds of thousands of responsible dog owners...a few irresponsible ones cause all the problems," she said. "We want to deal with those individuals."
Morrison calls the recent case in Muldrow when a two-year-old boy was mauled recently by a pit bull terrier when he wandered from his home into the yard of a chained pit bull a "very regrettable, but highly-preventable accident." The boy is alive and doing well, but he has undergone plastic surgery, police reported.
She said in the situation in Muldrow, there was a child wandering around unattended and there was a dog owner that knew that he or she had a dog on a chain that was acting aggressive. She said the dog owner should have had fencing up.
"I'm not bashing the victim...that's a horrible situation for any parent to have happen to their child," Morrison said.
She said there are millions of things a parent has to worry about with their children. "A parent doesn't need to worry about a neighbor's dog being one of them."
She said when people own heavy-duty dogs, like pit bull terriers or Rotweillers, they need to think of the very worst thing that could possibly happen and take precautions.
When Morrison and her husband had kennels, they thought of the possibility of one of their dogs getting out and killing a horse or cow or even scaring someone. In 27 years that they bred dogs, they never had one get loose, she said. Some of the precautions they took were putting up an electric fence and putting padlocks on each pen.
"Banning a breed of any dog is not the solution to the problem," she said. "People are the problem."
Morrison said there is an existing state law about potentially dangerous dogs that EBA got passed, and they want to go back and make the law tougher.
"In looking back, we see places that don't have enough penalties," she said. EBA is proposing that new language be added to the current state law. That new language includes making the dog owner or keeper "strictly liable for damages incurred by a person physically injured by a dog" and "liable for actions of the dog."
EBA also wants tougher penalties for dog owners and to make sure the law is enforced. If a dangerous dog kills a person, the EBA wants to make the offense punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a possible $125,000 fine.
"It's not just a bull dog that's going to hurt you," she said. "It's any breed of dog."
Morrison said the EBA wants the same thing as State Rep. Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore) - protection of people from any breed of dog. Wesselhoft has authored legislation, which will be proposed during the next legislative session, to ban the pit bull breed in Oklahoma after a three-year-old Moore child lost his arm after being attacked by a pit bull terrier in June.
Morrison said one of the problems with some dog owners is that they don't socialize the dogs from the time they are puppies, but she believes it's unfair to pick on breeds. "There are all kinds of breeds of dogs that bite children."
Morrison gave examples of some of those instances. She said in early-October, an Oklahoma City girl was bitten in the face by a dachshund when she startled the dog while he was with some puppies. She needed more than 60 stitches and will need plastic surgery. Animal control did not take the dog in for a 10-day quarantine and has not pursued the matter, Morrison said.
In mid-October, a Tulsa woman was attacked by three, mixed breed dogs. The dogs chased the woman into the woods where she was able to climb a tree, but not before she was bitten several times on the wrist, abdomen, foot and leg. Tulsa Animal control picked up the dogs and held them in quarantine, and the owner is facing local ordinance fines, Morrison said.
Morrison said she and her husband have had two or three dogs that were aggressive, and as responsible owners, they euthanized them.
"Dogs are like people - you never know," she said.
Morrison said if someone broke into her home, she has no doubt Otis would protect her.
"They will protect you, but they don't have to be aggressive about it," she said.
Morrison noted that a terrier's nature is to be busy, inquisitive and tenacious - which is why they're called terriers.
She said if a Jack Russell terrier or a Chihuahua weighed 35 pounds, people would try to get them banned too.
Morrison said dog owners need to do temperament testing when the dogs are puppies to see how they react in different situations, socialize them, read books about obedience, and even take the dogs to obedience classes.
"When you have a heavy duty dog, you sure don't want one that's aggressive," she said.
http://www.sequoyahcountytimes.com/articles/2005/11/11/news/1.txt