Conservatives often prefer pets that are capable of inflicting harm on others. It is extremely common in the south for people to brag their big, mean dog is “part wolf” the way a 3rd grader brags about how tough their dad is.
Been living and traveling the entire south of the USA for the last 30 years. Never have I heard a southerner refer to their dog as a a wolf dog.
Fair enough. The area where I am has an obsession with Huskies (despite it being hot as fuck here) and any mutt that looks like it could be “part wolf”. I have never believed a single person that has introduced their husky/mutt as “part wolf”, but I have met several from the 90’s to as recently as last year (my next door neighbor), unfortunately. It’s dumb, but it’s a thing with conservatives around here.
Wolf hybrids do not make good pets.
Wolves instinctively fear and avoid humans, while dogs have been selectivity bred for 10,000 years to share our company. Mix those competing impulses into an animal with the reasoning ability of a toddler and you get an unpredictable and dangerous combination. Young kids especially may trigger defensive behaviors that can result in a crushing bite, or worse.
I used to have a neighbor who was one of those massive truck, baseball cap, toxic macho men. He would often talk loudly in his driveway and keep me up at night.
He claimed his dog was a wolf hybrid. This dog was extremely aggressive and would attack children if given the chance. I NEVER saw that dog outside of the house. Being taken to walks, nothing. I only ever saw the dog through the door a couple times and every time it was the super aggressive barking. Not the normal bark, the one combined with bearing teeth, growling. Stuff from nightmares.
I don’t know it that dog was a wolf dog, apparently they are legal to keep in Canada but may be banned on a municipal level. I wouldn’t put it past a toxic macho man to own a dangerous animal, not train it to scare children away and make himself look like a “tough guy”.
No one that I know of got hurt by this dog. And the dog was isolated enough that it being a “wolf dog” was the only rumor. The guy claimed that he walked the dog super early in the morning -before anyone was out and about to avoid conflict with people and other dogs, but I never saw it.
But I never seen him interact with his dog, never let it out. Never play with it. It’s not a pet at that point. It’s a dangerous doorbell.
Does sound like good passive home defense though if it’s just constantly making its presence felt to any visitors
Dogs like that, that are aggressive and either can’t or won’t be trained should be destroyed, their owners fined heavily, and banned from owning dogs.
Dogs are classified as property and a dog that hurts someone causes the owner to be liable. A threat of violence from a dog, said property, is not much different than an owner with a gun negligently pointing it.
I’ve been to some pretty remote farm locations and they always have three types of dogs.
- The pet - small jack Russell type that lives in the house.
- The worker - sheep dog type that accompanies the farmer in his day to day life. Often sleeps close to the house or inside when cold.
- The beast - doberman etc always caged in the day. No interaction from guests. Ferocious human haters. They will roam the yards at night and generally patrol.
Each is part of the farm and has their place, to call them property is wrong because they are an essential part of the living.
The problem to me is when one of the 3rd type lives in close proximity to strangers. That’s the last place they should be.
Here’s an idea- DON’T KEEP FUCKING WILD ANIMALS AS PETS! I don’t care if it’s half-dog, it’s still a wild animal. There’s a reason we domesticated wolves.
Ehhhhh, i dont really agree. Whats wild? Cats arent domesticated. Snakes, turtles, lizards, and birds arent domesticated either but theyre kept as pets fairly easily.
What do you mean cats aren’t domesticated?
The cat (Felis catus), commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae. Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC.
He means they don’t make baked goods, or have a cocktail waiting for you after getting home from a hard day’s work.
saw a video recently that seemed to indicate that wolves initiated the domestication - scavenging from human’s trash & getting less wild over time.
but yeah, dont left half-wild animals near children
Ah, daily news story about a canine attacking and or killing some one, especially a child or baby.
Dog nutters will never learn.
That’s the problem, this wasn’t a dog. This was a dog/wolf hybrid, which is more aggressive than a normal dog. That’s one reason why this is national news. The article also says that there were more children in the home too, so the owner should be charged with multiple charges of child endangerment as well as manslaughter in the death of the baby.
This isn’t just a dog attack story.
Ok let’s see. A quick google indicates that there are 76,811,305 pet dogs in the united states. A forbes article estimates there are 4.5 million dog bites per year, and about 800,000 of those require any sort of medical attention, and 30-50 of those are fatal. According to the CDC that’s about the same as annual childhood deaths from the flu
For comparison:
48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC
Guns are also a leading cause of death in children and adolescents specifically
or what about
There are nearly 43,000 fatal [vehicle] crashes a year [in the US]
Also consider the positive effects of having a pet, which is proven to increase happiness
Then you also have to consider that many dog bites and attacks happen due to strays (~15% according to that same Forbes article), provocation, negligence, or abuse. The average family, if they are remotely dog literate, has very little to worry about. It seems to me a fear or hatred of these animals stems from ignorance, as does hatred and fear of many things.
“Yum yum yum “. Said the wolf
