imho, all dogs are "high-powered handguns" now =)
I got my very first dog about a month ago.
My house got robbed - I needed a dog. Went to the shelter. Filled out 9 pages, waited 5 hours. Got denied by somebody I never met before 3 days later beacuse the dog (a stranger-hand-licker) was "too hard for me to handle".
Ok.
That same night I go home and I see a korean jindo, all emaciated, lying next to my car in downtown LA. A woman and I pick him him, take him to the vets. They take off his collar, give him some meds, tell me that he's vicious and was agressive to everyone.
Ok.
I take him home, with doubts (he also suffers from a severe auto-immune skin condition which causes his balls and snout to look like .. well, really beat up and itchy).
Joe doesn't bark except when drunks approach me; he hasn't been aggressive at all (I kept a VERY close eye on him for four weeks), and wherever I go, he goes too. When a "friendly" (the owner even told me that he was a "Playful" dog a minute before...) Rott charged me 3 days ago, Joe took the 150lb dog on (joe weighs about 75). Yesterday he got loose from me and trotted down the street. I panicked and ran after him, and he saw me coming all riled up and he ran even further. Finally I realized I wasn't helping and so I just stood there and calmly called him back. He pissed on a tree and came trotting back.
Jindos are korean bred fighting dogs (they are also considered sacred and are nationally protected in korea). He was a stray for at least a month or two. If any dog would be "bad", I suppose it might be him. But I try to get him to meet new people, keep a REAL close eye on him, and so far it seems to be working.
I don't know what this all means. I'm real new at this. But while I would not hesitate at all to put a 9mm through Joe if he ever tried to attack anybody unprovoked, I would not want to be held liable if he ever did somehow manage to get past my double gates, my close supervision, and training and bit somebody. This is because an owner IMHO can only train a dog so much, and sometimes, something just snaps - note the snow tiger that bit Siegfried (or was it roy?).
HOWEVER: any dog owner who neligently raises a dog should be held accountable. In other words, people who never walk their dogs and have a 6 ft "yard" should be fined and those dogs might have to be shot. People who buy rabbits and deliberately sic their dogs on them should be beaten. People who look upon their dog growling and lathering at completely innocuous strangers walking down the street and then pat the dog on the head and say "good boy" should be shot along with their f-ed up dogs.
Poor dog, good riddance owner.
ps: while I love dogs, I don't understand why so many people are horrified by dog-eating. I had dog once in a foreign country (no, it wasn't korea lol). Tasted like really good beef.
Which of course, begs - what about eating good ol' bessie? she never did anything but give us milk... sniff* ... and prime rib...
it's one thing to eat your lovable loyal pet, it's another to eat the damn nuisance that keeps you up at night and bites your cat.
besides, would anyone care if people started eating coyote, jackal, or hyena?
eh.
Kev