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I am so happy someone out there thinks the same way I do on dog breeds. No real dog is [biologically bred] to fight another dog. They may have been created from certain pairings to get a specific look and characteristics for a good fighter, but they don't pop out of their mother's womb and turn on their brothers and sisters out of instinct to rip their organs out. Owners who want to properly love and care for those types of breeds will be rewarded with a sweet, good-natured pooch. It's just a sad thing to see people jump on the breed just because one owner (out of countless many) decided to be a jerk and train the dog to kill or fight. But sure, I've heard of those rare occurances where you breed a mean dog with another mean dog, and voila! We have another mean dog.. but those are rare cases. Most times dog breeders get disappointed to breed two perfect fighters and get a pup who's afraid of butterflies. That's when you hear of those breeders who feed the dogs gun powder for an effect, beat them five times daily with sticks or objects to anger them, or leave wild animals such as raccoons or feral cats for them to rip apart for practice. All dogs are capable of being wonderful souls and all dogs are capable of being crazed fighters.

But which sounds more interesting in the news media? A child attacked by a Pomeranian or a child attacked by a muscular Doberman Pinscher? Hmmm.. Fear sells these days..

As for the topic of euthanasia, do it if the animal is seriously in pain, has given up on living, has come to terms with its upcoming death, or is seriously beyond the normal living age and cannot function normally or at a minimum level anymore. My boyfriend's cat was so old she couldn't do anything anymore. She couldn't make it to the litterbox to pee or whatnot, she couldn't move around as much, and one day she completely stopped eating -- which was the day she was finally put down. Then my boyfriend had a dog, previous to this cat, get put down because she was having violent seizures out of nowhere (for the first time ever) and the doctors couldn't provide any solutions or even what the problem was. It is a humane and fair thing to do when it is in the interest of the animal. If you're a family of six with other pets, I understand, but if your Swiss bank account has enough to cover the treatments for your dog and your family until even the kids have grown old and died, what's your problem?

I am all for euthanasia when the animal is extremely old or extremely sick. Sometimes it is just the kindest thing to do for them. For instance, when I worked at a boarding kennel, there was a dog named Cebaka that boarded occasionally... She was horrible. Fourteen years old, covered in mange, had no teeth, filled with tumors... Some of her tumors even burst while she boarded. She couldn't stand up at all, not even if we helped her, so we had to just lie her on blankets and clean her up every time she relieved herself. She was suffering horribly, but her mom "just couldn't kill her". So she had to drag on and on until she finally died, pain-filled and miserable. Euthanasia would have been a mercy in her case.

But for euthanising dogs because of breed, as mentioned earlier? That is sick and wrong. I am VERY strongly against breed discrimination.

Something I was thinking about is what can be done? Stateing a problem and finding that it is not in line with our current morals is not enough. What can be done to fix the problem? Just stopping it creates other problems such as....

-Over full shelters causeing animals that need shelter to be denied
-Massive expenses to care for the animals causeing shelters to go bankrupt
-More strays

What are some solutions you guys can think of to this problem? Personally I am at a total loss of logical alternatives.
-MTTP ninja

I say that... if it gets to the point where a human being would no longer want to live in that condition, then euthanasia can come into play.

As for euthanizing all pitbulls... I'm not certain if that's true. If so, it isn't in every state or city. The rule is usually that they put down pitbulls that have been believed to be fighting dogs. Even if they respect humans, they have been instilled with an aggression toward other dogs that is nearly impossible to get rid of, and that can be very dangerous. It's no fault of theirs, it's how they were raised, but it's not something that shelters can legally adopt a dog out with.

And not all dogs that have been in the fighting business are fighting dogs, mind you. I've seen bait dogs be adopted on shows before. They are not trained to fight, but are instead bound up and essentially torn apart by the fighting dogs as training. They are typically non-aggressive.

I have had some terrible experience with euthanasia, some of which I will never forgive people for, so doing it without proper cause is something I detest.

Thy suffocate them? That doesnt' seem humane to me.

I view euthanasia as a peaceful and humane way to end a lifetime of suffering. However, I disagree with euthanizing animals due to people not being able to afford treatment that would save an animal from death, or euthanizing an animal due to it not fitting into a family. There are so many options : ( It really should be a last resort.