A debate over pit bulls

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Hundreds of readers let L.A. Unleashed know how they felt about PetSmart excluding pit bulls from doggie day care: Here are some examples:

‘Wow. So many false statements (pit bulls that snap? please ... the only fatalities from pit bulls in the last two years have been from intact, breeding cycle dogs and/or chained dogs and some Darwin-award winning children ... anyone who knows dogs would have seen any of those attacks coming) Some people just aren’t worth arguing with though. I will say that I’m the guardian of three gorgeous, rescued pit bulls. They hold Canine Good Citizen certificates from the AKC and are loved by all of our neighbors and friends. We (the humans) hold advanced degrees from top universities, have great careers, own a home, and are politically active. One of the best things about having pit bulls is that they serve as a great filter; people who are scared of them or don’t like them are people we don’t want around us anyway. So, you losers who hate our dogs, stay on the other side of the park with your scaredy-cat face on. Pit bulls are the most popular breed in the United States. There’s more of us than there are of you! And yes, for a long time most pit bull owners were lowlifes who didn’t have a lot of clout, but that is quickly changing. Proposed pit bull bans are getting shut down all over the place. Even Rachel Ray has pit bulls ... don’t you Fox news, fear-mongering people love her?’ -- Tufflove

‘It isn’t about individual dogs. Some dogs have a predisposition to kill or approach people and other animals in a threatening manner. It is, to a degree, an inbred genetic attitude. Do the people who feel they have to own dogs who could rip your face off while you sleep think the general public owes them special doggie days or something? Get a collie or a lab and get over yourselves. Keep your killer poochies at home and quit bellyaching. No one forced you to buy a toxic pet.’ -- JDP

‘I own 2 APBT(American Pit Bull Terriers) and they are the best dogs I have EVER owned, one of them is a registered therapy dog and the other one won an obiedence compition and is excelling in weight pulling! They are great dogs, they get along with every other dog they meet, they love kids and other people and I have never seen them show a tooth! The APBT is just a dog, yet its like no other! If only PetSmart knew what wonderful breed they are missing out on!’ -- PitLover

‘Please, no more letters from pit bull lovers. The victims should have their say, not the perps who keep these biting machine breeds alive. I’m sure Pooky is just perfect, like others who have bitten people and shocked their owners who said, ‘I just can’t believe my loving poochy did that.’ If you are an experienced dog owner you should know you can never trust 100% any dog, that the dog won’t get demented and start attacking at some point because of his inner delusions, or that the dog won’t get loose, start running with others and be overcome by pack mentality when they see a small child running and attack it without stopping to think, ‘What is the responsible thing to do, follow the other loving poochies and have fun or stop and just watch, or tell my owner?’ We don’t deserve to have our children and loved ones attacked by these dogs. We don’t need their genes in the gene pools of neighborhood dogs.’ -- Daphni

-- Alice Short