SDA has some amazingly astute commenters. One of them is ‘Unknown Jane’. She recently shared these thoughts:

This debate is starting again, and it’s rather near and dear to me. And it does point to a societal issue because it cuts across demographics (I’ve taken a lot of sh#t from all sorts when discussing this one; proof that anyone can fall into this sort of thing.)

Dog Racism

I’ve worked with a fair number of dogs; I’ve owned a fair number of dogs — the majority of them, while very good dogs, are from breeds I would never, ever recommend to the average person, much less families with small children or physically/lifestyle incompatible with training and controlling such a dog and giving it the life it needs (like my Malinois, like my Doberman, like my German Shepherd, like my Border Collie — breeds I happen to love and don’t want to see getting caught up in this).

It isn’t ‘racist’ to be afraid of Pitbull type dogs; it isn’t dumb either. It’s probably very smart to be very wary of them because they can do a lot of damage and they are very capable of violent responses. I think you should have the right to own one, but you also have the responsibility to respect what they’re capable of and not infringe upon the rights of others. I can’t help but notice that firearm owners are kept to a higher standard (of a Constitutionally protected right), yet handguns don’t escape from the house on their own and harm people (and bringing the firearm debate into this one is a false equivalency; guns are not dogs). People have shown that they want to claim the right, but are incapable of owning the responsibility — some of the reactions have been enlightening (from both sides). I’ve seen people threatening to kill people’s dogs out of hand (bad), and I’ve seen all the tired excuses and false equivalencies from the people who own and love these type of dogs (and those are equally bad, if not worse — blaming the toddler for being mauled is disgusting, saying only a few children get mauled/killed each year is disgusting, and I notice no other dog breed enthusiasts who do this).

And bringing race into the debate is just filthy — humans aren’t dogs. But it is strikingly similar to pointing out that certain cultures have problematic traits, which is apparently ok for some to point out (and they aren’t wrong) … but not ok to notice that certain types of dogs can be problematic/are causing problems??? If you can’t understand how your rights can’t override the rights of others and how if you continue to allow it that leads to nanny statism stepping in, then I don’t know what to tell you — maybe grow up and take some responsibility for a change; PS don’t lie!