KEY POINTS:
What an incredibly brave woman Jeanne Robinson is. She's the mother of two who stopped her car and rescued the 13-year-old Waikato boy who was being mauled by a pack of dogs. She's played down her part in saving the boy's life, saying that as a mother of two little girls, she likes to think others would have done the same thing.
Crikey, I don't know. Even though I have a dog, big growly dogs scare the bejesus out of me. I hate it when strange dogs come charging across the park and run up to mine. "He's just being friendly," their owners call out, but you never know, do you, especially when they have a touch of pit bull about them.
And Jeanne Robinson went to the aid of that young man, even as one of the pit bull-greyhound cross hunting dogs came at the boy again. She deserves a medal. The dogs' owner deserves to be slammed, especially if reports turn out to be correct that he is known to the council for failing to register his dogs. There have been calls - again - for pit bulls to be banned, and pit bull-owners have responded with their usual arguments.
It's the owners, not the dog. All dogs have the capacity to bite, not just pit bulls. Ban them, and the breeders will just go underground. All very well and good but you have to accept that pit bulls have been given a bad name because they bloody well deserve it.
According to an article in the New Zealand Medical Journal last year, United States' statistics show hospital-treated dog bites were caused by five breeds: pit bulls, rottys, German shepherds, huskies and malamutes.
Eighty per cent of attack dogs were male; dogs that were not speyed or neutered were three times more likely to be involved in attacks than dogs which had.
I'd love to see the statistics relating to their owners - how many were employed, how many had criminal convictions, how many had neutered their dogs?
Given the reputation of pit bulls, what sort of statement are you making when you choose a pit bull as your canine companion? "Hi. I'm an anti-social oik who wants to intimidate and threaten you."
Much as I'd like to see pit bulls and pit bull-crosses banned, that sort of knee-jerk response won't solve the problem, just as dog-chipping laws haven't prevented attacks from taking place.
Controls on pit bulls introduced in Britain haven't solved the problem. It will only be solved when controls are put on dog ownership. Have a one-strike-and-you're-out policy. If you own a dog that attacks anyone, you should never be able to own a dog again.
