Dear Old Trainer: We just read a story in the local paper about pit bull attacks. Some "experts" said it was the fault of the owners and not the breed. What is your opinion?
-- Interested, Merced
A: Many problems of the breed occur because of the low intelligence level of the people who own them, Interested. A large percentage of pit bull owners -- my estimate is 98 percent -- are either dumb or uneducated. Usually both.
But there are problems with the breed as well. No matter what breed you own, the animal will, sooner or later, behave according to the dictates of his gene pool. A golden retriever can live in the desert for 10 years and never see water, but if you take him to visit a lake, he will jump in and take a swim.
Fatso Judson (Ernest Borgnine) had a memorable line in "From Here To Eternity." He told Maggio (Frank Sinatra), "Guys like you always wind up in the stockade sooner or later, Tough Monkey." Oscar Wilde was more elegant: "Sooner or later one comes to that dreadful universal thing called human nature."
Both were speaking to a fundamental truth -- true nature will always surface. That is true for pit bulls and every other canine.
The one quote you see in almost every pit bull attack is: "I can't believe it. Why, he is the most gentle dog I have ever seen." It is the unpredictability that causes the problems.
Bottom line: Owners are the biggest part of the problem, but the breed is suspect as well.
Dear Old Trainer: You are always making fun of dog shows. Why don't you like them?
-- Dog Show Fan, Visalia
A: It is not that the Old Trainer dislikes dog shows, Fan, it is that he sees the humor in them.
You see light foot lads -- forgive me, A. E. Houseman -- dressed in outfits that look as if they were lifted from the Liberace museum. You see hefty ladies dressed as if they were attending opening night of the opera in Tulsa, Okla. -- forgive me, Tulsa.
They are all running around in circles in a contest that ignores everything that's important about a dog.
They crown a champion based on nothing but how their looks compare to a totally arbitrary standard. For instance, just to pick an item at random, this is how they judge the nose of an English bulldog:
"Nose -- The distance from bottom of the nose, between the eyes, to the tip of nose should be as short as possible, directly proportional to the axis of the line, but not exceed the line, from the tip of nose to the edge of underlip. The nostrils should be wide, large and black, with a well-defined line between them. Any nose other than black is objectionable and a brown or liver-colored nose shall disqualify."
You can't make up that kind of stuff.
The Old Trainer's idea of a dog show is the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show, held the last weekend in January at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
They still have the parade of light foot lads and hefty ladies, but no one pays the slightest attention, because this show is unique. All the dogs are on benches in the various halls, and the public can pet the dogs and talk to the owners and find out which breed suits their lifestyle.
Visit the show, determine which breed fits you, then go to your local shelter and adopt the best friend you will ever have.
Send questions for The Old Trainer to: theoldtrainer711@yahoo.com.
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