What is going on with PETA?

[greygirl]

I just heard that Peta is really trying to crack down on large breed dogs. Does anyone know what states are being effected? Are Greyhounds included?

[jabear]

I know a bill was defeated in Illinois earlier this year but has been re-entered under a differenct name & I think will include many states if it passes. The dogs who are currently being labeled as "vicious & mean" (that I remember) are Siberian Huskies, St. Bernards, German Shepards, Great Danes & Pit Bulls. There are more but I can't remember exactly who they are. You can see the complete list on the AKC website. Essentially PETA wants these dogs to be labeled with a sign in the owner's yard as vicious, make the dog wear a big orange tag on their collar reading vicious, making the owner pay a yearly vicious dog fee & will make the owner spay/neuter the vicious dog as soon as it is born. The bill also says that they don't care if it is a show dog or not. 
It is an awful bill and we all need to join forces to ensure our beloved big dogs don't get taken away from us slowly. 

[raaleppo]

I know a bill was defeated in Illinois earlier this year but has been re-entered under a differenct name & I think will include many states if it passes. The dogs who are currently being labeled as "vicious & mean" (that I remember) are Siberian Huskies, St. Bernards, German Shepards, Great Danes & Pit Bulls. There are more but I can't remember exactly who they are. You can see the complete list on the AKC website. Essentially PETA wants these dogs to be labeled with a sign in the owner's yard as vicious, make the dog wear a big orange tag on their collar reading vicious, making the owner pay a yearly vicious dog fee & will make the owner spay/neuter the vicious dog as soon as it is born. The bill also says that they don't care if it is a show dog or not.  
It is an awful bill and we all need to join forces to ensure our beloved big dogs don't get taken away from us slowly.  

I have heard from several people here in Australia and one visiter and President of a Club in the USA it will never be passed hopefully it is so
Ann

[awo]

Peta is nothing but a tree hugging organization who has no authority to apply these laws.  However, I know some states have state law pertaining to viscous dogs and counties also have ordinances dealing with the issue as well.  The best way to find out what your state laws are pertaining to animals is by contacting your local Animal Control Agency.  You can also log onto animallaw.com.

[Zybala]

Toronto  has just passed a Pit Bull ban. They must be neutered or spayed, muzzled in public and if any dog injures another dog or person even if defending itself it will be put down and the owner will be heavily fined. I was at a show just recently talking to a handler that has a Staff and he was telling me that in one jurisdiction you have to bring them into the ring muzzled, remove the muzzle for the judge to look in the mouth and then put it back on. The bull breeds at the show I was at were not muzzled yet but the ban has just been passed. This bill was passed by a grandstanding politition who was fishing for popularity. I am afraid of the president that has been made with this bill.

Side note. When there has been trouble with pit bull bites here, and it always hits the news, it is the evil pit bull(s) hurting someone and must be put down. Just recently there was an attack by two German Shepherds and the media reported, unfortunatly the police officer had to shoot the dogs.


Things are out of control and I see trouble on the horizon for all large breeds owners and perhaps all dog owners.

[fuzzywzhe]

PETA is a sham organization.  They run no shelters, they fund no alternative research, they do absolutely nothing but collect money from people that believe they are a good organization.

What should be done is that somebody should sponser a bill that would place greater accountability on owners.  If one of my dogs injured or killed somebody, I think I should be guilty of manslaughter.  I trust my dogs entirely and I would be willing to be held account to anything they did.

[jabear]

PETA is all about the publicity it can bring to the forefront and make whatever plans they have on their agenda known to the world. They definately are helping the world into moving in the wrong direction with the suppost of these terrible laws. Dogs are not bad naturally. They are made to be bad by either having really bad training or they have had a lack of training which they are allowed to be reckless and held unaccountable for their actions. All parents of animals should be made to take a test or something to prove that they are responsible and can handle all the work that comes with owning a pet. It is not an easy job all of the time and does require time & effort into making your animal obey commands and know what is allowed & what is not. The blame goes back to the parents...and if you think about it irresponsible parenting in animals is showing the same effects now that wreckless & uninvolved parents are having on their human children. I deal with students daily who come from terrible families with baggage like no other and if parents were held to a certain standard of responsibility then our world would be a much better place too. Both pets and children are a privilage to have and not a right.

[lisa2270]

I think PETA started off with a good concept - animal rights, but like most other special interest groups, they've gone off the deep end.  If we all knew what happens with the food & fashion industries, we'd all be vegans. 

I live in Orange County, CA - & I have heard that the city of Irvine has a Rottweiler ban.  Now, I'm not sure if it's a wide-spread ban, or if it only applies to people who rent & have animals.  Funny, my Anatolian Shepherd is much larger than my Rottie, but just because he's a Rottie, he gets the bum rap.  No one in my neighborhood is scared of my shepherd.  Although I've seen some fairly VICIOUS Jack Russel's too....

Nevermind the horrible people that rear vicious animals - regardless of size.  We're all products of our environments, whether it's canine or human.

[icewolf7]

I agree.  PETA is a very damaging organization.
They say they are for animal rights, but they are only for their own personal rights.  They are against the slaughter of animals, and yet, if they do not feed their own dogs, cats, ferrets etc., protien from meat they are abusing them also.  Dogs and cats CANNOT live on carrots and cabbage!

In my state homeowners insurance is denied to folks who own Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and several of the other larger so called "dangerous" breeds...
Now, don't get me wrong, I love both cats and dogs, but I was bitten much worse by a cat than I have ever been by a dog...ANY size dog!  In my  opinion, the temperament of any animal has almost 100% to do with how and by whom that animal was raised...

If the PETA thinking continues, soon the government will "allow" us to only have pets from an "approved" list!

[fuzzywzhe]

Dogs and cats CANNOT live on carrots and cabbage!

Actually....

Dogs are ominivores.  Cats *can* live on a vegetarian diet as long as it's supplimented with taurine.  Dogs can go on a vegetarian diet provided you know what you are doing.

I'm a vegetarian, and I have dogs, but frankly, I'd feed you to them if it came right down to it   and I do feed them meat based dog food - Iams actually.

[Saljen]

This is HORRIBLE. I hadn't heard of this yet. It seems like, I don't know... GENOCIDE sort of, doesn't it? I mean, if a dog has to be by law spade or neutered just because of its breed, won't that pretty much prevent the breed from reproducing altogether, and then won't that breed perish altogether?
I HOPE that this never goes thru, but as someone pointed out, politicians like to jump on things just to gain popularity. There is a lot of paranoia and finger-pointing that goes on these days, and I know that people are very quick to judge w/o all the facts, as long as they can say that clearly, over there is the 'bad guy.' There already is a lot of misconception when it comes to pit bulls, and people have a tendency to immediately say they are all bad. In my state (OK), by law the pound can't adopt out a pit and has to put it down immediately. Also many realtors won't rent out to people with pits, rotts, german shepherds or dobermans. So I know there is already a somewhat antagonistic feel towards these dogs in many places.

There are no bad children and there are no bad dogs. If there are behavorial problems, the parents/owners hold responsibility towards helping to create them and therefore must fix them. I too think that our society is putting the emphasis on the wrong part of the problem here. And SHAME on PETA for doing this! I don't understand that at all! I thought they were supposed to be there to protect our pets, not villify them.

[connolly]

"I deal with students daily who come from terrible families with baggage like no other and if parents were held to a certain standard of responsibility then our world would be a much better place too."

I agree it's all a mater of responsibility . I grew up in the old school where the nuns could crack you on the head and if your parents found out they'd crack you worse lol. Today teachers are afraid to teach, there is no discipline in the homes and it's not allowed in the schools, everyone is passing the buck and not taking responsibility for their own actions. Training a dog is no easy task, but it should be the responsibility of the owner not the State! I can't imagine anyone telling me one of my Saints was vicious! and who decides what breeds are vicious, size has nothing to do with it. I've had Boxers Danes and Saints all my life and the only dogs I've ever been bitten by were my mother's nasty Carin Terrier and a mean little Doxen that belonged to my friends mom, some of those little guy can go right for your throat Lol. Well that's my 2 cents. Best Connolly

[Scootergirl]

I agree with you Connolly. I do animal rescue where I live and I have met more disobedient children and teenagers that I would be afraid of than disobedient and "viscious" dogs!

Just remember everyone, if they can MAKE a law, you can CHANGE a law. All it takes is public support on your side. These elected officials don't care about anything else except being re-elected and their public image. If the overwhelming majority of the public comes forward and creates a stir for a cause, that's where they are going to swing.

[connolly]

What a Great picture! I just want to jump into the screen and give your puppies a hug.!!!

[chantaje]

I think PETA is a horrilbe organization and I think they give a bad name to animal rights groups.  My mom does dog shows with her goldens, and had two of them in Reno for a show at the convention center.  The conventions center is located on a very busy highway with tons of traffic.  PETA decided that is was cruel that show dogs had to stay in crates so they went to the holding area, let the dogs out of the crates, out of the building where the dogs ran out onto the busy street. Anyone who knows a show dog knows that they are quite pampered animals.  Not to mention how is a dog in the middle of the street more humaine than being in a crate?