No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

pretty-murmurs asked:

If this is a topic you wouldn't want to touch with a 12-foot pole in a public forum (or just on the internet), feel free to skip this ask, but what is your opinion on the "pitbull is an inherently dangerous breed of dog" discourse?

From what I've read, I've gathered that there is some evidence that pitbulls and similar breads are involved in more dog attacks on humans (relative to the number of dogs in the particular breed) but the evidence is of debatable quality (often based on news reports, which may be biased) and there's no further studies discussing the "nature vs nurture" aspect

At the same time, online anti-bulldog spaces are filled with anecdotal accounts of dogs, which allegedly were 'perfect' dogs in terms of temperament, suddenly attacking people (very often children) for seemingly no reason. Or sometimes there is a reason (dog getting scared, surprised etc.) but the dog reacts uncharacteristically (i. e violently), in a way that it never had before

In your opinion and experience, is there any truth in those anti-bulldog assumptions (that the breed has a higher chance of executing violent outbursts than other breeds)? And additionally, do you have an opinion on the way this whole discussion is so polarised and so often devoid of nuance?

I do not think they are inherently dangerous dogs. I DO think they are NOT the perfect dog for everyone as many proponents like to imply. They are strong, sensitive, terriers that have a long history of being bred for a strong prey drive and that needs to be respected. They are not and never have been ‘nanny dogs’. The possibly high proportion of bites is going to be directly due to overbreeding and poor breeding and people enjoying the idea of the 'big tough mean pitbull’ as a toxic masculinity stand in (such as the young white dudes who swaggered over to me and my foster pup to say “Fuck man, that’s a great blue nose! What lines is he?” Nothing made me happier than being able to high-pitched gush “Isn’t he so cute? His name is Kisses!” and watch their confused horror.)

Due to the aforementioned over breeding, my shelter sees an extremely high number of 'pitbull-type’ dogs. Probably 4 to 1 in favor as compared to german shepherds or huskies and their mixes. Hell, we recently had one adorable pup that came into us a lone bottle puptato who DNA tested as- american bully, amstaff, bulldog, boxer, bull mastiff… and a whopping 3% husky that had us all cackling.

So keeping that in mind… The most aggressive dogs I’ve seen in my shelter have been: German shepherds, doxies, rotties and their mixes (6 out of the 8 I’ve seen), huskies, akitas, and chows. The pitbull types have been, as a vast majority, darling dogs. BUT. A LOT of them are dog reactive. And some of them have also developed redirection issues that did require euthanasia.

Currently at my shelter we have 4 dogs that I frankly think are too dangerous to be adopted out and should be euthanised and that we’re only considering that option with two of them is endlessly frustrating. One is a german shepherd that’s been here for an entire goddamned year and her 'circle of friends’ hasn’t grown in months, she’ll definitely try to bite you if she doesn’t know/like you and she’s learned how to open doors and must now be kept in a room with a deadbolt. Another is a rottie mix who is extremely territorially aggressive- if she’s adopted she’ll have to be locked in another room just to open the door if someone knocks. The owner won’t be able to have guests over unless she’s locked up. AND 2 nights ago she was left out in the courtyard and not put back and none of us were her friends so we had to use multiple x-pens, a bite board, treat tosses and then a rabies pole to close the door to her room once she was inside. That is NOT adoptable and yet she’s available! Third is a husky that is becoming increasingly dog reactive and is redirecting now onto the handler (euthanasia being considered). And the last is, indeed, a 'pitbull’ who is biting people due to overstimulation/excitement. He hasn’t broken skin yet but the bruises are impressive. He’s very likely being euthanised.

Biting without provocation is actually very rare for any dog. People just don’t see or respect the warning signs, or don’t realise the dog is sick or in pain or getting too excited. ESPECIALLY children. No child should be allowed contact with ANY dog of ANY breed without being directly supervised. Not even my childhood dog who adored children and babies and would army crawl while whining towards any baby stroller he saw. My uncle is very lucky that my dog put up with my 9 month old cousin digging sharp baby nails into his nose, lips, ears and eyes as long as he did before finally giving a closed-mouth growl. Aussie was 60 pounds of catahoula/lab who regularly killed and ate small mammals that ended up in the backyard and when shaking prey would pivot *at the hips*, making the figure 8 shake span a good shoulder-wrenching 5 feet. Completely deadly and able to snap necks almost instantly. Had my dog been *at all* less child tolerant my cousin would be *dead*.

Some dogs do, however, develop seizure disorders or other brain abnormalities that lead to them just 'snapping’. This is well known in spaniels, actually, mostly springer spaniels and is referred to often as 'springer rage’.

At the end of the day, if you give me a range of rooms with dogs I’ve never met and there’s a german shepherd, a rottweiler, an akita, and a pitbull and I have to choose who to visit? That pitbull is going to be my safest initial bet from my own experience.

toddycats asked:

The post with Sheikh reminded me of my friends cat, who they found by the side of the road when she was very young, only a few weeks probably. I say “she” even though they thought it was a male initially — they took the kitty to be neutered once it was old enough, but the vet took one look and said “nope she needs to be spayed.”

This is all just as well but when they went to spay this young kitten, there was just. Nothing in there. In your opinion is it more likely in this case that she just never developed any internal equipment? Given how young/tiny she was when they found her I feel like it’s super unlikely that she had been spayed previously, but I could be wrong.

That does indeed happen sometimes! Having truly nothing is quite rare, but a little less rare is a condition where they only make one half of the uterus. They often have both ovaries still, but if they do lack an ovary, they typically also lack the kidney on that side!

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Когда пытаешься сделать с ним милое фото, а он как обычно