September 5, 2009

"There was actually a WWI propaganda poster that had a pit bull draped by an American flag."



The dog, Romeo, was present at a lovely party last night. Here's the poster referred to:

37 comments:

rhhardin said...

Read about the sudden attack on the Pit Bull in the 80s in Vicki Hearne's _Bandit_.

It came from a charity in a fund-raising scheme.

A Pit Bull came racing out towards me on a bike a couple of years ago, so I did what I always do, stop and ask him to jump up, which he did, while I petted him under his chin.

Soon a man emerged from the house and yelled that he was friendly.

I fear for the man and the dog however, because they'll never win that argument; and I suspect the dog was his best and perhaps only friend.

rhhardin said...

YouTube of a Pit Bull therapy dog.

A role they have always had and still have today, being physically sturdy, and even tempered.

The owner can't avoid trying to defend him, against what she doesn't know.

bagoh20 said...

Ahh, the Wisconsin Pit.

"But. Follow only if ye be men of valour, for the entrance to this cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived. Bones of full fifty men lie strewn about its lair. So, brave knights, if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth."

Wince said...

...pit bull draped by an American flag.

Okay, I'll be the first to compare Obama to Michael Vick.

But don't forget the Little Rascals and thier dog Pete.

And Buster Brown and his dog Tige.

rhhardin said...

The American Pit Bull poster was to parallel the English Bulldog one.

The national character was claimed.

I forget what the French one was.

bagoh20 said...

"I forget what the French one was."

Is that some kinda set up?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

rhhardin said...

A Pit Bull came racing out towards me on a bike a couple of years ago...

Wow, that's a really talented Pit Bull!

Fred4Pres said...

"There is nothing wrong with pit bulls, just some of their owners"

Michael Vick

Fred4Pres said...

Obey the French Bulldog!

Never was a dog so intune with the culture it was named after.

halojones-fan said...

I like the text in that poster. "Our spirit shuns this war-like ring; peace breathes in what we proudly sing"? I guess they forgot the stanza about the FREAKING ARTILLERY BARRAGE.

Unknown said...

Praising or condemning an entire breed is another "collective" judgment: wrong in humans, wrong in dogs.

I won't go near big dogs unless I know the owner is trained. A "nice" German Shepherd tore my ankle apart once.

David said...

I believe that poster is peace (or at least non intervention) propaganda rather than war propaganda. Let the Ruskies, French, Germans and Brits sing and fight. We are happily home here with out lovely dog.

traditionalguy said...

I am very confused after reading the post caption...why is there a picture of a dog in place of a picture of our Professor on Bloggingheads?

bearbee said...

The bad rap dog.

To paraphrase Father Flanagan of Boys Town:

There are no bad dogs. There is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, bad thinking.

Cedarford said...

I understand many who believe that any dog is as good as it's owner.

But it is wrong to consider all dogs a blank template that is to be "nurtured". The whole basis of breeding domestic animals is to give them certain attributes and propensities - physical and mental - that are hardwired into the animal. Herefords and light Spanish black Serranos are both descended from the most dangerous animal in prehistoric Europe - the thing we call beef on a hoof nowadays.
The Herefords are born docile. The Spanish breed is born agile and very aggressive.

You will never turn a Chihuahua into a pointer, and Michael Vick would have been out of luck if he tried "nurturing" in aggressiveness, blood thirst, and biting instict into a "fighting" program for Golden Labs.

Dangerous breeds exist. Despite animal lovers protests to the contrary. Many can be trained not to be dangerous...but the ability and proclivity...the whole point of breeding a certain line...is there.

Anonymous said...

The American Pit Bull poster was to parallel the English Bulldog one.

The national character was claimed.

I forget what the French one was.


Don't know what the french dog was, but I did hear it was trained to rollover on command.

Irene said...

It's interesting that the speaker refers to the image as a "propaganda poster." Back in the early twentieth century, the image would have been considered an expression of "patriotism." The fluid substitution of "propaganda" for "patriotic" says a lot about where we've come since WWI and WWII.

rhhardin said...

Human aggression is not a Pit Bull trait and is bred out. Dog aggression is, and needs to be trained out if it comes up (like most terriers). The positive side is that that comes with gameness, a positive trait.

The usual recommendation is that the Pit Bull is too friendly with strangers to be a good watchdog.

Unless you get your information from the media.

BJM said...

We forget that the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was considered a suitable family dog until quite recently, they still are in the UK, crossbred Bull Terriers are outlawed however.

Labs and Chows are far more likely to bite one of their own family members, than a Staffie.

Randy said...

I won't go near big dogs unless I know the owner is trained.

PatCA: Good advice! Imagine having a 200lb. St. Bernard that disliked strangers and almost everyone thought adorably cute and obviously harmless as he was, after all, a St. Bernard.

rhhardin said...

St. Bernards would devour skiers in the Alps, and then have an orgy afterwards.

You can look it up. It's in Thurber.

JAL said...

What about the one with lipstick?

JAL said...

Just could not let it go by.

Shall I apologize if I offended anyone?

wv=ought
It's a sign. Guess I ought.

I apologize if I offended anyone.{cough}

JAL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JAL said...

Irene -- Read the poster. It's a "peace" poster.

We must not have been in the war yet.

Irene said...

JAL, thanks, I got it. He still refers to it as "propaganda" (war or not), and at the time, it would have been considered "patriotic" (war or not). It's patriotic to be proud of one's country in peacetime and in wartime.

bagoh20 said...

That's a funny thing about patriotism as viewed by the left:

Most would view a Bolivian, Pole, French, or Vietnamese patriot to be quite acceptable and proudly expressing their ethnic pride or something, but the American Patriot is a dangerous rube, a kind of Pit Bull if you will.

JAL said...

Love the way Romeo's lying there wagging his tail.

bagoh20 said...

Pit Bulls do posses a seeming dichotomy in their breeding: They were bred to be tenacious, strong, courageous and fighters, but they were also specifically bred to not be human aggressive. They were always family dogs and vicious untrainable ones were put down early. The cost of keeping such an animal in a family/farming situation (where most were kept)was not worth it.

More recently some have been bred without this concern and that has lead to the problem that is so well publicized. The bad breeding is not representative of the breed but rather of some recent breeding in a few stains. Kinda like white people and serial killing. More likely to be a mistake to assume a white guy is a Dahmer, but looking back on the statistics you might think we're bred that way.

Penny said...

I don't see a pit bull that doesn't have me think of Eric's little girl, Coco. Eric is the owner of the blog site, "Classical Values". He has a way of sweet talking the softer side in doggy pit bulls AND human pit bulls too!

Libertarians, centrists and less extreme republicans WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR might want to stop off there and say "Hi".

rhhardin said...

A simpler explanation is that you can make any dog crazy, for example by teasing constantly so that nothing makes sense; and then you're the guy in the neighborhood with the big vicious dog.

Breeding has nothing to do with it.

You can do it with a little dog just as easily, but the effect is a less desireable bathos.

bearbee said...

Best Friends Dogtown located in Utah took in almost half of the Vick dogs with most successfully rehabbed for adoption.

bearbee said...

National Geo videos on Dogtown rehabbing of Vick dogs.

traditionalguy said...

Rh...That is also the basic way humans are subjected to a mind control master. The Crazy Making of targeted humans is a skill.The only immunity against it is a traditional set of values affirmed in childhood by the community around the young children. Obama and friends are from a line of such masters of mind control techniques, and they now say over and over that "there is No Health Care bill" and that we are the crazy ones that claim that there is any such thing.

bearbee said...

Bad Rap rescue of Vick dogs.

paul a'barge said...

Great dog, great breed.

It's revealing to remember that these are Terriers. Just like the little dog that accompanied Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Toto was a Cairn Terrier.

Remember this the next time you read or hear one of the ex-MADD members who've decided to focus on a dog breed.

Eric said...

Wonderful post and discussion. There's also a World War I neutrality poster from 1915 featuring the same pit bull picture, surrounded by the English bulldog, the German Dachshund, the French Bulldog, and the Russian Wolf Hound. The pit bull is saying, "I'm Neutral, BUT Not Afraid of any of them."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64635955@N00/313371827