*Ranting* Stop picking on my dog!!!!!

[PaintedFeathers]

True! Well I don't see a pit in my future but I know one and I like her. I'm more of a border collie kinda gal! No anything about those?

Their nuts, that's something

! Don't get me wrong I love herding breeds, but they are SO driven they love to direct their focus on the blow drier I use and try to kill it. Makes drying them a bit difficult! They are so smart, they need a job or they are bonkers!

 

[Megan Amber]

Thanks, I'll remember the blow drier thing and only towel dry LOL. I wanted to compete in sports with it or actually use it to herd my goats so the job part is taken care of!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I volunteered as a vet tech for about a year and I'm soon to start vet school. I breed profile all the time...but it's not the dogs you would expect. The dogs I hated most when I had to deal with them were the little things. They were so squirmy and constantly trying to bite. Really difficult to get a hold of them and muzzles rarely worked, especially with shorter snouted dogs. I like small dogs as pets, but people rarely train them properly due to their size and that makes doing routine vetting very difficult.

I've worked with tons of larger dogs like pits, dobermans, and a range of other dogs. Really, a dog's aggression seemed to be a very individual thing. I've gotten good at reading them though and honestly, dogs RARELY attack without any warning. Most dogs give us plenty of warning. (Growling is a great indicator that a dog is not happy). Most dogs don't want to bite but a lot of people seem to ignore the warning signs. This is what I see happen with kids quite often. They just aren't taught that if a dog growls they should stop doing what they are doing. Or they are too young to understand this and shouldn't be left unattended with a dog in the first place.

All things being equal though, cats are by far the worst and I've been injured more by them than any other animal (besides horses). Talk about no warning signs!

I've also been in EMS for many years and have never had an issue with a dog. I've had to close some in rooms or maybe find a different entrance, but I would never blame a dog for trying to protect its home and owner. You are entering without that dogs permission into THEIR space. The dog doesn't know what is going on and should not be expected to understand. Fear does play a huge part in how an animal reacts though. I'm usually the one to deal with dogs on ems calls because I don't fear them and im calm. Dogs read that very well also. I would never, ever shoot a dog because it won't allow me to enter the house. If anything, I would wait until the scene is safe, even if that means calling animal control/local vet for a catch pole.

 

[PaintedFeathers]

I volunteered as a vet tech for about a year and I'm soon to start vet school. I breed profile all the time...but it's not the dogs you would expect. The dogs I hated most when I had to deal with them were the little things. They were so squirmy and constantly trying to bite. Really difficult to get a hold of them and muzzles rarely worked, especially with shorter snouted dogs. I like small dogs as pets, but people rarely train them properly due to their size and that makes doing routine vetting very difficult.

I've worked with tons of larger dogs like pits, dobermans, and a range of other dogs. Really, a dog's aggression seemed to be a very individual thing. I've gotten good at reading them though and honestly, dogs RARELY attack without any warning. Most dogs give us plenty of warning. (Growling is a great indicator that a dog is not happy). Most dogs don't want to bite but a lot of people seem to ignore the warning signs. This is what I see happen with kids quite often. They just aren't taught that if a dog growls they should stop doing what they are doing. Or they are too young to understand this and shouldn't be left unattended with a dog in the first place.

All things being equal though, cats are by far the worst and I've been injured more by them than any other animal (besides horses). Talk about no warning signs!

I've also been in EMS for many years and have never had an issue with a dog. I've had to close some in rooms or maybe find a different entrance, but I would never blame a dog for trying to protect its home and owner. You are entering without that dogs permission into THEIR space. The dog doesn't know what is going on and should not be expected to understand. Fear does play a huge part in how an animal reacts though. I'm usually the one to deal with dogs on ems calls because I don't fear them and im calm. Dogs read that very well also. I would never, ever shoot a dog because it won't allow me to enter the house. If anything, I would wait until the scene is safe, even if that means calling animal control/local vet for a catch pole.

 

[Megan Amber]

Animal Control! That's me in a few months!!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I would never, ever shoot a dog because it won't allow me to enter the house.

I hope you are not implying that that is what I said I would do. If so then go back an reread.

I said I would leave (per SOP) but wont hesitate to shoot one if I had to. (cant get back to my truck)


Now I can tell you that LEOs will shoot a dog to get to someone that needs help. Taser usually works though.


Mind you, I did not work in a city where everyone had there dogs in a house an I had animal control to call. I am in the mountains

It was me by my self, sometimes over a mile from my truck. Around dogs that have never been fenced an may have never seen a human that was not family or with family. The next person responding if any could be 10 or 15 minutes away an LEOs could take twice that.

Add that to getting to a patent screaming in pain cause they flipped the tractor an broke there leg, those dogs will eat you alive to protect there human.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

We don't have very accessible Animal Control in this area either, but most local vets will usually help out in a pinch or it is usually easy enough to fashion something ourselves with whatever we have lying around. Most people out here generally wait anywhere from 30 minutes (If the call is nearby) to up to 1 1/2 hours anyway for medical attention. It's been rare that another few minutes waiting to get a dog under control has made a real difference. Children and cardiac arrest are a little different, but most of the time we've been able to restrain the dog enough to keep it out of the way. The main animal issue we see out here are horses. A lot of people have horse emergencies on the trails and farms out here, and getting a crazy horse under control is a lot different than a crazy dog! Angry bulls also make stuff difficult, and occasionally we have had goat bucks and sheep rams make things VERY difficult when our patient is in the field.

I understand sometime an animal needs to be shot for the safety of the owner, but it should always be a last resort, even for police. We have classes out here for police and emergency personnel on how to deal with pets and wildlife in an emergency situation. However, it should always remain that if the scene is not safe, EMS does not enter the house/area until the area is secure, no matter what condition the patient is in.

Back to the original discussion though, I have to agree that the media plays a huge part in the image pitbulls have. Fear is a very powerful tool, and many people are just not educated enough about dogs to understand the signals they give. People who say "The dog attacked me for no reason" are often quite mstaken. While there are some nutty dogs out there, they are not as common as we are led to believe. Yes, training has a lot to do with it, but this means training for both dogs AND humans.

 

[Megan Amber]

To Chickerdoodle13
Side note here!! I wanted to be vet tech before I decided that Animal Control was more my style. I still wonder though..what's vet tech like? I mean what do you do exactly?

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I had a lot of fun as a vet tech. Basically, you assist the vet with any procedures that might have to be done. Or, in my case, I was working under the diretion of a vet, but we did not have a vet on site at the rescue. We gave shots (In NJ you can give just about everything except rabies), I drew blood, and I treated wounds or other infections. At vet clinics, you would also be preparing the animal for surgery, like starting IVs and shaving the animal at the site of surgery.

It was a lot of fun, but I know in my area vet echs make a lot less than they should. Typically, they make about $10-$12 an hour, which is hardly anything considering the work they do. It is not a bad thing to do on the side, or throughout school! In NJ, you don't have to be certified and can work your way up to vet tech, which is what I did. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[Megan Amber]

Cool Thanks!! I certainly will.