a rose by any other name...

[badger]

this really bugs me. Initially they were reporting that the dog is a pit bull, and now they're referring to him as an "American Terrier". God forbid should a pit bull be a good dog...

Rumble the Pit Bull

Burnaby’s Rumble the dog has fought his way through a complicated surgery and is now recovering in hospital, veterinarians say.

In a procedure that took more than three hours to complete, the five-year-old American terrier had bullet fragments removed from his leg and had a severely broken humerus repaired Saturday.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Michael King and staff at Canada West Veterinary Specialists, a referral hospital in Vancouver that agreed to donate hospital and surgery time to save the dog’s front leg.

“He has feeling in his foot and that’s a promising sign,” Dr. King said in a release.

Rumble was shot twice and beaten protecting his south Burnaby home from a break-in last week.

His owner, Brandee Yuen, returned home to find the dog bleeding profusely and in critical condition.

The bullets broke his shoulder in four places.

A special interlocking metal plate will hold the realigned bone in place.

Yuen had called his survival a miracle and said the family considers Rumble “a hero.”

Yuen had originally taken Rumble to a local clinic where charges amounted to $3,500. That’s when the Vancouver referral hospital offered to waive the fees.

The clinic is accepting donations to help pay for some of the costs associated with the dog’s care, including post-operative care and physiotherapy.

Rumble is expected to return home on Tuesday, will need two months of rest followed by several months of physiotherapy.

The Burnaby RCMP is investigating the robbery, and the SPCA said those responsible can also face animal cruelty charges.

[shootingstar]

Wonder if it was an incredibly naive/stupid error by reporter??

[tulip]

"pit bull" tends to be a catch-all for that type of dog, which includes American Staffordshire Terrier.

[badger]

"pit bull" tends to be a catch-all for that type of dog, which includes American Staffordshire Terrier.

I realize this, but the general public doesn't. Staffordshire Terrier sounds infinitely more benign than a pit bull.

[shootingstar]

I realize this, but the general public doesn't. Staffordshire Terrier sounds infinitely more benign than a pit bull.

I totally agree with badger.

And I don't know much about dogs. Doubtful that even the average dog owner knows alot about dog breeds in much detail.

[tulip]

It's not a mystery. Any quick look in the classifieds will show multiple ads for AST puppies. Sounds like a responsible journalist being accurate. The dog looks like an AST to me. Nothing wrong with accuracy and precision in journalism. The writer could have provided a phrase like, "a pit-bull type breed," I suppose, but it seems irrelevant. Maybe the AST breed is more well-known here, I don't know.

In any case, it's terrible that the dog was shot. There was a case of a dog being shot here a few years ago. It was a Austalian Shepherd that was running loose and a neighbor with a gun freaked out. The dog survived but suffered brain damage. My dog is a fierce watchdog and I do wonder if someone would shoot him in order to break into my house. Luckily, that seems pretty rare.

[tulip]

Badger, why not write a letter to the newspaper that published the article? You would have a much larger audience than you do here, and you might educate the editor and author for future stories.