I like when you post about dogs, X, because you and I are completely and utterly in agreement.

I always thought it would be good to teach a responsible pet ownership class in high school to kids.

Clark, try the full quote, or at least a full sentence:

Easy; easy X, my friend.

I cited only the first part of the quote because my issue was not with part B of your assertion of the lady’s idiocy (i.e.; the woman not keeping her grandson away from the incident), but only with part A (i.e.; the woman herself trying to break up the dog fight).

As to the rest of your response, we’ll agree to disagree. We’re pretty much at opposite poles on the matter of dog breeds and dog aggression.

Remember, I’m not arguing with you or anything. I know better than to do that. ;-)

Translation: the idiot woman who couldn’t keep her dog on a leash, also lacked the smarts not to try to break up a nasty dog fight, or at least to keep her five year old grandson from getting involved.

I didn’t call her an idiot for trying to break up a dog fight. I’ve done that myself a time or two. I called her an idiot for allowing a five year old child to get in the middle of this melee.

Fact of the matter is, most dogs have it within them to fight back if attacked, and any person who jumps in the middle of the situation is likely to get bitten badly as a result. That’s different from having a propensity to attack humans without provocation – those dogs should indeed be put down.

In any event, this Katz guy is (or, I hope, was) a totally shitty friend toward Jan. The least he could have done for his friend is to write a truthful letter as a favor to her, whether he agreed with her ultimate position or not. Screw him.

Blaming the shelters and rescue groups is stupid in face of irresponsible owners and breeders.

Translation: the idiot woman who couldn’t keep her dog on a leash, also lacked the smarts not to try to break up a nasty dog fight [...]

Um, it’s her pet, “X.” You’re saying wouldn’t do as much for your own pet? It has nothing to do with idiocy; rescuing your pet is something you do—or attempt to do—because it is right, regardless of consequences. I suppose cross-species loyalty does theoretically have some limits … like for instance if faced with a herd of stampeding elephants (at which point, Fifi, you’re on your own!).

A few years back I happened upon a roadside stable where two large Rottweilers were attacking an adult horse. The horse was already bleeding, bolting within the enclosure in blind panic. The horse’s owner was trying to get one Rott under control, and I climbed in after the other. It was as I moved in to face the Rott that I really saw how big it was, how it could make a person a mere chew tow. It was then that the thought suddenly occurred to me, What kind of #*@% have I gotten myself into? But I took a big gulp and reached out for the Rott’s collar and held it back until the situation had been defused and the horse taken to safety.

Sometimes doing what one’s gut says is right, or impels one to, is different than what a distant observer would reckon safe and/or sane.

Others may differ (as I’m sure you do, X), but I don’t think any animal should be taken into public, leash or not, that has it within it to dispatch a dog and then maul two people, even under the somewhat mitigating circumstances described in the cited story. As far as I’m concerned, euthanasia of such animals is not wrong or immoral—it is a public service.