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what they do
Sep. 25th, 2005 09:02 amDog fighting became popular after other spectacles became illegal. Terriers were set upon hundreds of rats in a pit, or a chained bull or bear was attacked by bulldogs. Laws were written so that the popular "sport" of setting a dog on another animal was no longer acceptable. Somehow the law contained the loophole that the "sport" of setting two dogs against one another was still legal. Energetic terriers were bred with strong, tenacious bulldogs to create bull-and-terriers, dogs well-suited for dog on dog combat. This is the origin of the pitbull terrier.
You can find illustrations of bull baiting, wherein dogs are flung through the air by the powerful bovine, their legs stiff like they expect to land standing.
The level of respectability of this pursuit is revealed by the fancy dress of the human participants.
http://www.gamestaff.nl/HISTORISCHE%20PRINTS.htm
This article contains modern photographs that look surprisingly like those illustrations. It also contains the usual hysteria and anti-pitbull tone that we've come to expect from the media. It implies that the dogs are attacking the bull for food (and humans are next), but what these dogs are doing is exactly what they were bred to do. It's as shocking as a border collie herding sheep or a retriever bringing back a tennis ball. Maybe frightening to us as modern observers, but perfectly "natural," in a certain sense.
Of course, the dogs were shot.
You can find illustrations of bull baiting, wherein dogs are flung through the air by the powerful bovine, their legs stiff like they expect to land standing.
The level of respectability of this pursuit is revealed by the fancy dress of the human participants.
http://www.gamestaff.nl/HISTORISCHE%20PRINTS.htm
This article contains modern photographs that look surprisingly like those illustrations. It also contains the usual hysteria and anti-pitbull tone that we've come to expect from the media. It implies that the dogs are attacking the bull for food (and humans are next), but what these dogs are doing is exactly what they were bred to do. It's as shocking as a border collie herding sheep or a retriever bringing back a tennis ball. Maybe frightening to us as modern observers, but perfectly "natural," in a certain sense.
Of course, the dogs were shot.
