First, we’re going to briefly recount the latest heartbreaking story about Pit Bulls, which seems in one variety or another, to be repeated every few months in our country:

A Tennessee mother-of-two is now in stable condition with “stitches and bite marks over her entire body” after attempting to intervene when her two pit bulls mauled her toddlers to death Wednesday.

Kirstie Jane Bennard, 30, was severely injured by the dogs when she tried to pull them off of her 5-month-old boy, Hollace Dean, and 2-year-old girl, Lilly Jane, just outside of their home in Shelby County, Tennessee. …

n my experience, most dog owners have about the same knowledge level I did early on with my first dog, if not less. They don’t know how to train their dogs. They don’t exercise their dogs enough. They don’t socialize their dogs enough. They really don’t understand how dogs behave and can’t read their body language. They don’t know how to lead their dog. They pass on their insecure emotional state to their dog. Once you start paying attention to it, it’s amazing how often dogs take on the personalities of their owners, whether that’s anxious, scared, or confident. This is why shelters all across America are full of Pit Bulls. People who don’t know to handle animals get them, the dog behaves badly because its owner did a poor job, and the dog spends the rest of his life in a cage until he dies of old age or gets the needle.

Having a Pit Bull? It really shouldn’t be something for a casual dog owner. You need someone who knows what they’re doing and is willing to put the time and resources into making sure that the dog is properly trained. Even then, you have a never-ending level of responsibility that other dog owners don’t have. You need to pay more attention, engage in more training, take fewer risks and be far less tolerant of bad behavior than other dog owners. My dog? Having a Catahoula Leopard Dog is almost like having a two-year-old. Having a Pit-Bull? That’s like having a four-year-old who deliberately tried to drown his sister in the pool last year and you had to explain to him why that was wrong. You THINK he understands that he shouldn’t do that again, but you’re not 100% sure. Could I handle a Pit Bull? Yes, but, it’s not a responsibility I’d want to take on.