This is Important, Folks
Representative Tyrone Bates of Cincinnatti, Ohio, has introduced a bill, Ohio House Bill 568, into the Ohio state legislature. It specifically states that:
- No person shall own, keep, or harbor a dog that belongs to a breed that is commonly known as a pit bull dog.
- No later than 90 days after the effective date of this bill, a person who owns, keeps, or harbor a pit bull dog will be forced to surrender the dog to a dog warden.
- Within ten days of surrender, the dog warden shall euthanize the dog.
- If an officer has probable cause to believe that a dog is a pit bull, the officer may apply for a search warrant. After obtaining a search warrant, an officer shall seize the dog and transfer the dog to the dog warden, who shall euthanize the dog within 10 days.
In other words, we are looking at nothing less than the wholesale slaughter of all American Pit Bull Terriers in the state of Ohio. I can only assume that other, similar breeds–the Staffordshire and American Staffordshire Terriers, the Bull Terrier, and any dog that “looks like a Pit Bull” will be swept up in the bloodbath. It is an act of the most supreme cowardice and laziness by someone in a position of influence who can’t be bothered to support procedures that would evaluate dogs proven to be “dangerous” on a case by case basis. This man is trying to make political capital out of unimaginable cruelty.
Please check the following links for further, more accurate information:
The “Mutts” Blog
The American Kennel Club
The ASPCA
This is a picture of Helen Keller–and her Pit Bull Terrier:
In Praise of “Dumb” Dogs
I’d like to put in a good word for the so-called “dumbest dogs.” These tired old lists come out all the time, and the same dogs are always found in the “smart” and “dumb” categories. It’s a base canard, folks. This latest list was shown in the form of a slide show on local TV station WJZ. You need to be aware that this post is my own opinion, and I’m nobody’s idea of an expert–just a dog lover with a special fondness for hounds.
Ten Dumbest: Basset Hound, Beagle, Mastiff, Pekingese, Bloodhound, Borzoi, Chow Chow, Bulldog, Basenji, Afghan Hound
Ten Smartest: Australian Cattle Dog, Rottweiler, Papillon, Labrador Retriever, Shetland Sheepdog, Doberman Pinscher, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd, Poodle
Now, just for grins, let’s consider the idea of the ancient dog. These dogs, according to a study published in the journal Science, form a group whose genetic makeup is most similar to the wolf. They’re considered closest to the original domestic dog:
Fourteen Most Ancient: Afghan Hound, Akita Inu, Alaskan Malamute, Basenji, Chow Chow, Lhasa Apso, Pekingese, Saluki, Samoyed, Shar-Pei, Shiba Inu, Shih Tzu, Siberian Husky and Tibetan Terrier.
(Incidentally, thanks to WorkingDogWeb for making the ancient breeds lists available.)
The lists have some interesting things in common. First of all, there is some controversy about the study. Eighty-five breeds were selected for analysis, and there are supposed to be about 400 distinct breeds worldwide. I’ve heard it said that a number of groups of dogs were omitted entirely, such as “pariah” type dogs from the Indian subcontinent, Dingo dogs, and others. I’ve also heard it said that Northern dogs were under-represented. But all that means is that there might be still more ancient breeds.
It’s interesting to me that four of the ancient breeds (Afghan Hound, Basenji, Chow Chow, and Pekingese) are also considered among the “dumbest.” It’s also interesting that hounds are heavily represented in that “dumb” list. We’ve got the Basset, the Beagle, the Bloodhound, the Borzoi, the Basenji, and the Afghan Hound.
Six out of ten, eh? Well, what about these dumb dogs? Wikipedia obliges us by giving a definition of “hound” that’s a lot more succinct than one I could come up with: “A hound is a type of dog that assists hunters by tracking or chasing the animal being hunted. It can be contrasted with the gun dog, which assists hunters by identifying the location of prey, and with the retriever, which recovers shot quarry.” There are two main sorts of hounds and a third type that’s a combination.
Sight hounds are very fast, chasing their prey by keeping it in sight. Their deep chests and powerful muscles make them the champion runners of the dog world, and they can and will run for hours. Many sight hounds have long, narrow heads. That’s enabled them to preserve the stereoscopic eyesight of the wolf and other wild predators–they have uncannily good eyesight. Other dogs have lost that keen vision due to a shortening of the head. The Borzoi and Afghan Hound (on our list of dumb dogs) are sight hounds. The Basenji belongs to that third, combination type. On our list of ancient dogs, we can add the Saluki, a sight hound that chases the gazelle. A lot of people think that the sight hounds deserve to be in their own group, and you can pretty well see why. The Greyhound, champion runner of them all, is a sight hound.
Scent hounds track their prey by scent, and while they may have a lot of endurance, they don’t run as fast as the sight hounds. We’ve got three scent hounds on our “dumbest dog” list. The Bloodhound has a solid place as the best tracker in the canine world, and they are still used to locate human beings. The Basset Hound runs a close second; their running gear is considerably lower and slower, so they’re not used as much today for tracking work. The Beagle’s prey is rabbits and hares, and in this country the snowshoe hare. Of all the “prey” type animals, the rabbit or hare’s scent is the lightest and faintest, so while Beagles don’t track people, their scenting ability is so well developed that they can smell termite nests far underground.
So what about all these “dumb” hounds. Here’s what I think: They’re Not Dumb At All. They’re still programmed to “earn their living” doing what wolves do; they hunt and chase prey. Sight hounds are really wolf-like about it, using their eyesight and running ability to actually bring the prey down. Scent hounds are more likely to wait for the human to arrive. But hounds are, I believe, a bit more in touch with their “elemental dog” or perhaps their “inner wolf” than other kinds of dogs. Some corner of a hound’s mind must be right down there with the basics. It’s interesting, too, that so many of them are still named for their quarry: Wolfhounds, elkhounds, deerhounds, coonhounds–even the little dachshund, or badger hound, who in his native country was specialized to go underground after the badger.
Dogs who herd, or retrieve, or guard certainly might appear more intelligent to us humans. They’ve evolved to work with us at tasks we’ve had to evolve as we’ve become more civilized–first herding, then farming, and finally moving into cities. What dogs can do is truly amazing, and we could start a book about it. But I believe that if a hound appears superficially to be “dumb,” it may be because he has such an ancient calling. And when he gives you the gift of his affection, he’s replaying the most ancient associations between dogs and human beings.
A-Hunting We Will Go
Do I hunt? No, not at all. I’m not entirely opposed to it as long as the hunters behave ethically–using what they take as food, for one thing. I have a strong conviction, based on observation and I don’t know what else, that dogs and humans originally got together over the hunt. Maybe it’s because our abilities are so complementary. We belong together.
Some time ago on Slashdot somebody posted this article which described human beings being blindfolded and then required to track a scent with their noses. The scent was chocolate. Not surprisingly, the humans didn’t perform as well as your average mutt. Also not surprisingly if you hang around Slashdot, the post occasioned a fair amount of humor. Here was my contribution:
I Think I’ll Hang On to my Beagle…
While I’m not surprised that humans can track a scent, and I’m certainly not surprised that civilization may have interfered with this ability, I’m just not sure it’s one of our areas of specialization. Your average garden-variety scent hound has more scent receptors, packed into a much larger area, stashed inside that world-class smeller. His entire face, including his long, floppy ears and all those wrinkles (if he has them), is intended to funnel all that scent up into his wide nostrils, where he can interpret and act on it. I’ve long imagined that at the dawn of time, the human/dog interaction may have gone something like this:
Dog to Human: Wanna go get some meat?
Human to Dog: Yeah. You run on ahead, don’t forget to let me know where you are, and I’ll follow along with this stick. I just figured out how to put some sharp flint on the end of it. Should do a good job of killing that gazelle or whatever it is.
Dog to Human: AROOO!
Later that same evening…
Human to Dog: Get away from that! Let me hack it up with this sharp piece of flint.
Dog to Human: Good job! If you don’t mind, I’ll just gorge myself on the leftovers so I can go home and regurgitate some for the wife and pups.
Human to Dog: Yeah, I’m taking the good parts. My wife has been gathering some kind of green stuff, and she’ll put it on the meat and apply fire to it. Good eating!No wonder humans are generally so fond of dogs. We’re hunting buddies from way back.