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.
That is a leading theory, but that takes many many generations for the behaviours and instincts to change. And the wolf in question wasn't one of those that initiated domestication.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.