There is no proof whatsoever that people who abuse animals also abuse people. This was something started by someone who did not know what he/she was talking about and has been perpetuated by those who feel there SHOULD be a connection between the two. Having worked in criminal law for the past 30 years, I have known many men (and some women) who have abused spouses or children, but were staunch animal lovers. I have also known people who abused animals who would NEVER abuse a human. The fact is, this erroneous information about a connection between abuse of animals and humans has been repeated so often that no one knows how it started.

YOU are the one who needs to “read up” on things because if you did, you would know animals (particularly pit bull-type dogs) often attack without warning or provocation. Furthermore, animals do NOT react in the same manner as humans, animals do not have the ability to reason and do not realize nipping a child is not the same as nipping another dog. Nevertheless, if this dog had been outside — where dogs belong — this incident would likely not have occurred. People like YOU who attempt to humanize dogs and make them “a part of the family,” etc. are the reason dogs killed 37 people in the US last year and seriously more than 100,000.

Before Maddie’s comment was deleted (and I’m sure my comments will be deleted also because I am not on the side of the pit bull) I read what he said and he did NOT say he would “do the same thing.” What he said was that if a dog nipped one of his children that he would kill the dog. He did not say he would set it on fire. No dog that nips, or even growls at a human should be tolerated. The dog should be put down immediately. The reason pit bull-type dogs are no longer safe to keep as pets is because people have allowed human-aggressive animals to procreate and contaminate the breed.

Tell me, Laura: Was the woman in Middleburg, Florida, who was torn apart by what she called her two “bully babies” loved to death? She raised those dogs from puppies, never mistreated them and was always Johnny-on-the-spot any time a pit bull attacked someone, claiming it was the owner’s fault, that dogs love unconditionally and singing the praises of her “bully babies” that slept in the bed with her. I have always wondered what she was thinking the morning they ripped her face off and when the EMTs arrived, she wasn’t even recognizable as a human being.

It is people like you who attempt to humanize dogs that are responsible for all these attacks because you have repeated so often that dogs are “innocent and love people unconditionally” and should be a “part of the family” to the point that ignorant Americans actually believe this hogwash. If dogs were treated like the ANIMALS they are, we wouldn’t be reading about them killing or badly injuring someone (usually a child) every day.

An eye for an Eye. just like that creep that threw the dog into on-coming traffic. the same fate should do them in.