glad I don't live in Texas!!

[anji1971]

Shooting them would probably work too, but why lower ourselves to the standards of the rotten pet owners?????

[ssssnakeluvr]

an old director at my work once said...."some people shouldn't be allowed to breed, let alone own animals"

[anji1971]

LOL, Don!!!
Good point, don't even get me started on that subject..............!!

[sschind]

I am curious as to why you leave out families with kids?
in my experience pit bulls in particular are fantastic family dogs
they are loyal, extremely child friendly, and playful in a (would you believe it?) careful way
it's the dog I would get for my daughter over any other ecxept perhaps a pit bull lab mix, because they're strong too and I feel it could be a buddy to her

perhaps those of you who don't know what it actually takes to make a dog go vicious, ought to watch something like "Off the Chain".
there is no dog breed born vicious

I know that pits can be wonderful with children. The only reason I leave them out is they also have a bad reputation and I think many families avoid them. For the wrong reasons of course. It just seems that families with kids, at least the ones I know, go for labs or goldens or some other less imposing breed, at least in their minds.

I'm not sure how it is in your world rancor but that's the way it is in mine. Young adults + reptiles + dog = pitbull or rot a vast majority of the time. Its a macho image in many cases, as is the choice of reptile, and in many cases I doubt if there ever was a decision to be made. Now, I will add that the majority of the people in that age group who don't own herps probably also own one of those two breeds as well but it doesn't seem as prevalent.

I've heard that about the chows, not about the shar peis though. The AC agent in my town said the worst animal they ever had was a golden retriever. Thats the one that makes many peoples top of the list for best family dog.

I never made any comments about any breed of dog. I made an observation about what dogs were owned by a certain group of people. Notice that I prefaced it by saying I might be way off. I know that how things are in my world are not necessarily how they are in the rest of the world. I also disagree with banning any type of animal. I am strongly oppose to any animal ban and strongly in favor of very harsh penalties imposed on anyone owning any type of animal that they lose control of and damage of any kind is the result. The problem is, most people look at the penalties as sort of "closing the barn door after the horse has escaped" if you know what I mean. their mindset is one of "Sure the guy is locked up and the dog is dead but the little kid will still be disfigured for life. If only we had banned that breed (whichever breed it happens to be) the kid would be OK"

I also agree that the upbringing is the reason most dogs act the way they do especially the vicious ones. Still, I think some dogs and even breeds are prone to bite. The thing is I think those that are more prone to bite are the little yap dogs. I've probably been bitten 5 times in my life. 4 of those were by my grandpas schnauzer, meanest little ankle bitter I've ever seen. I think there are a lot of reasons for this that I won't go into here as this is not a dog forum even though this thread would make one wonder.

All that said, I would only consider owning one breed of dog. That is a black lab, and it has to be black, no chocolates or goldens for me. I don't particularly like dogs but I grew up with a black lab for 12 years and even though I was about 20 years old when he was put down its the only animal I ever had that I can say I got a lump in my throat when it died.

[rancor_]

I'm not sure how it is in your world rancor but that's the way it is in mine. Young adults + reptiles + dog = pitbull or rot a vast majority of the time. Its a macho image in many cases, as is the choice of reptile, and in many cases I doubt if there ever was a decision to be made..

Aside from the rest of your post, this is an ignorant statement. My world is reality, and your small circle of friends has no bearing in it. If its a macho image thing as you wrote, you know a bunch of retic and burm owners, not herpers. please dont catagorize me in with people that posess animals because of the stigma they carry, not inspite of it.

[sschind]

Small circle of friends? Hardly, personally, none of my friends own Pit bulls and very few of my friends own Herps. I said these were people I knew or knew of. as far as my world having no bearing on yours, I could say the same in reverse. We do not live anywhere close to each other so I would not presume to think your world had any bearing on mine. That is why I said I don't know how it is in your world. As far as people who own burms and retics not being herpers I'd bet anything that Bob Clark would take exception to that remark. Who is the ignorant one who is categorizing people now.

I don't know what I said that struck such a nerve with you. In fact I never said anything negative at all. I made an observation based on the information available to me. I made no judgments about that observation and I certainly never made any claim that any particular person, you included even fell into that group. Would you have been as upset if I had said that the majority of people I know who own herps also own pickup trucks if you did not own one. I'm through with this now as nothing of benefit can possibly come of it if it continues. If you care to respond so be it. Just don't expect any replies.

[rancor_]

Small circle of friends? Hardly, personally, none of my friends own Pit bulls and very few of my friends own Herps. I said these were people I knew or knew of. as far as my world having no bearing on yours, I could say the same in reverse. We do not live anywhere close to each other so I would not presume to think your world had any bearing on mine. That is why I said I don't know how it is in your world. As far as people who own burms and retics not being herpers I'd bet anything that Bob Clark would take exception to that remark. Who is the ignorant one who is categorizing people now.

I don't know what I said that struck such a nerve with you. In fact I never said anything negative at all. I made an observation based on the information available to me. I made no judgments about that observation and I certainly never made any claim that any particular person, you included even fell into that group. Would you have been as upset if I had said that the majority of people I know who own herps also own pickup trucks if you did not own one. I'm through with this now as nothing of benefit can possibly come of it if it continues. If you care to respond so be it. Just don't expect any replies.

Nothing you have typed has struck a nerve, just because my opinion differs from yours and I write it, doesnt mean It actually matters me. to write something like;
I'm might be way off on this but I would guess that 75% or herp owners who also have dogs have either rotties or pits. I would say this goes up if you take out families with kids. In other words, take 18-35 year old herp keeper without kids who also own a dog and I would say in that case it goes up to 90% that the dog is a rottie or a pit.
Is a strong opinion. Does this mean I cant write something other than??
I have wrote "IMO" as many times, no?? But 98.24 percent of statistics are made up right???
As for using Bob Clark as an out of context example of what my quote should have been was "If its a macho image thing as you wrote, you know a bunch of retic and burm owners, not herpers."
Nothing the same as a pioneer of sorts that does not exclusively keep either. Ignorance can not only be owned, but it can be propagated also.
Its unfortunate that you think of it as anything other than a difference of opinion and have taken something I wrote, somehow, personal enough to not have a discussion of it.

[zooplan]

rancor and sschind
These extended posts are hard for me to read with all those idiom and abbreviations.
Herping is something strange,cranky maybe crazy kind of illness, caused by bad influences or childhood.
Both of you two have to be catalogized to this!

like me

don´t blame on each other
(it sounds to me like this)
there are many other people to do so on any reptile keeper without any differences.
Those people will also say banning reptiles is necessary at all.

[drache]

according to my soon to be husband who's also an astrologer, as soon as mercury goes direct, all this bickering will end
I always like astrology when it brings good news

[adamanteus]

I'm not impressed with such bickering when it starts to become personal. I will be reading subsequent posts more closely. We have a freindly, amiable atmosphere on this forum. It will continue to be so.