In which I Defend the Reputation of Dogs

My father-in-law is an unapologetic dog-hater. Having been bitten in childhood by what no doubt would prove upon investigation to have been a toothless baby weiner dog, he is convinced that the domestication of the dog is a Public Health Crisis, and presumably has been since the dawn of civilization. Now he spends some fraction of his spare time amassing articles on dog bites in an attempt to convince members of his extended family to have their pets euthanized before it's too late. This is the latest one he has sent us, an article on a labrador who saved a 12-year-old boy from an attacking pitbull in Detroit. Someone who is training his dog to fight will most likely purchase a pitbull, and as such pitbulls have acquired a reputation which is perhaps unfair to the breed, but nonetheless so many people abuse and mistrain Pitts that caution around strange ones is well advised. In fact, in the city of Detroit, abandoned Pitts are automatically put down, while other breeds and mutts are allowed to flourish as long as they don't suck. I therefore do not admit that this is an argument against dog ownership, only against the breeding of fight dogs.