Caesar and Osama

Caesar is my 28 month old Presa Canario. These are very rare dogs in the United States and they have a bit of a bad rap similar to the Pit Bulls that they resemble in certain traits.


http://www.akc.org/breeds/perro_de_presa_canario/history.cfm


These are serious dogs and not for everyone. Like Pit Bulls they need to be managed by competent handlers. They are bred to be extremely protective and can be a problem if they are not socialized properly. When trained correctly, they are, like any of the Bully Breeds, marvelous dogs - loving, playful, obedient, gentle and loyal.


http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enUS243US244&resnum=0&q=Presa+Canario&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title


Failure to train discipline into the breeds can result in disasterous results. The wrong kind of folks now want these incredible dogs for all the wrong reasons.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/07/MNW32356.DTL


These dogs are like young men in many respects. Without sufficient supervision, discipline and training, they can be dangerous. In today's namby pamby social environment the typical reaction of the meek and timid is to seek to ban the breed. Makes as much sense as gun control.


Living on a ranch in the remote and wild country of west central New Mexico, I have six large dogs of various breeds including Rhodesian Ridgebacks, pit bull-mastiff crosses and the Presa. Law Enforcement response is literally hours away so we have to take care of ourselves out here. Truth is, it works better in a day when cops cannot tell victims from suspects and your chance of having a gun pointed at you or being tazed by a badge wearing thug is pretty high. Most of the cops I know are good guys, but, if it is some kid dressed up like a Nazi and I don't know him, my chances of being shot or tazed if I do not knuckle my forehead appropriately are pretty good. So, the dogs are the first line of defense. I depend on them to alert me and I will deal with whomever or whatever is prowling about. They don't see many people and are thus slow to warm up and they react to aggression with aggression. Not all that different from myself and most of the guys in my closest circle of friends. Birds of a feather and all that.


Caesar is particularly cautious and watchful as is the nature of the breed. He is not a fight starter with other dogs and would actually rather play, but he is definitely a finisher. He rather likes it. Like young men, a chance to roll around in the dust is considered an opportunity. He thinks that cats are to be played with, much to the cats' annoyance. He chooses whom he will befriend and whom he will not tolerate. He is particularly edgy around folks of color. Goes back to his breeding. The PC version of these dogs is that they were bred as "estate guard dogs" in the Canary Islands. Fact is, they were bred to run down runaway slaves. Being a criminal ethologist by academic training, I am keenly aware of the role of genetics in the behaviors of men and animals - much to the dismay of my liberal colleagues in academe that put all blame for deviant behavior on the environment and Republicans.


For over eleven years there was a huge, black. feral cat living around the ranch headquarters. I named him Osama bin Cat after 9-11. He was a savage predator and had killed over half a dozen of the cats and kittens I had gotten for the ranch and he was hell on rabbits. I am not a cat kind of guy but the three cats that live here are legal residents. Osama was a criminal alien. His method of predation was to bite his victim through the base of the spine causing paralysis and then proceed to eat them alive. I respected his ability to survive in this tough country even through its serious winters but I could not abide his method of killing. It is the sort of savagery I associate with Islam. I never could get a clear shot at the damn thing and he was cagey, tough and smart.

A couple of weeks ago I went out to the hay barn for some tools and Caesar the Dragon Dog lit up around my Goldwing Motorcycle. The bike had a cover over it and the dog was persistent about trying to get under the cover. I have had a problem with pack rats getting inside the engine compartment and thought that was what it might be and I was concerned they might be starting to chew on the leather seat. I pulled the cover back and there, sitting on the seat and definitely on the fight, was Osama bin Cat. He must have weighed close to twenty pounds. Let me tell you, twenty pounds of feline fury can cause serious damage in an all out assault and I sure as hell did not want to go for rabies shots. I backed up and Osama and Caesar squared off.

Caesar plays with the house cats (granted he does so in a manner they consider inappropriate) but he means no harm and the only consequence is that they get slobbered on - much to their disgust. He was unsure what to do with this black monster but he seemed to know that this was a cat of a different color. I was armed but shooting my motorcycle didn't seen like a good idea and there was no safe impact zone in the barn for the inevitable through and through shot of my .44 special reload consisting of a 180 grain flat nosed lead bullet travelling just over 1000 feet per second.

We all looked at one another and Osama blinked. The cat leapt over Caesar but the dog is very fast for his 100 pounds and he had him by the neck. Osama was not going to "go quietly into that good night" and he nailed the dog with teeth and claws. Caesar, still a bit of a puppy, yelped once and dropped the cat with a look of bewilderment that was soon replaced by one of "you have soooo had it." The fight was on and the cat finally got away with the dog in hot pursuit around the corner of the barn.

But, the lethal damage of the huge jaws and teeth had been done. The cat was dead on his feet and just running on the oxygen that was left in his brain. The old warrior expired at the rear of one of the horse trailers. Good damn riddance.

Well, then again, maybe not.

I rather miss the old predator and I am sad that he was killed though I know it was necessary for the health and safety of those animals under my protection that live here. For me, it is always regrettable to see one of God's four legged critters die which is why I do not hunt. I rationalize that Osama's death was relatively painless and quick. His dying in the wild would have been a whole lot harder I am sure. But, that doesn't make me feel any better about it. This country is as harsh as it is beautiful. It is good for men, dogs and cattle but hell on horses and women. Cats don't do so well either.

Osama was a vicious predator but was without guilt. The loss of him is just that, a loss in a tough world. We have predators of exponentially greater savagery prowling our inner cities by the tens of thousands proudly flaunting the uniforms, colors and tattoos of their criminal affiliations. The suffering they cause to individuals and to society in general is massive. When they kill each other, like the savages in the Middle East, not a problem. But, increasingly, their depredations fall upon the innocent. From my antiquated perspective, the situation is intolerable. Unlike the innocent predators of the four legged world, the urban barbarians bear guilt for their criminal conduct and depredations. The faint hearted in our society, filled with misplaced compassion, veritably swoon at the very idea of meaningful predator control.

As honorable men, it is my conviction that we have a duty to deal premptively and terminally with those that infect our society with the scourge of wanton and gratuitous violence committed against the innocent.

Put them to the sword. Their victims deserve to be avenged, the grief of those close to the victims should be assuaged, and the concept of "specific deterrence" would assure their inability to perpetrate further insults to humanity. Harsh as it may seem I would feel no remorse at their removal. Their elimination would be the result of choices they have made. 'Bad people force good men to do bad things to protect other good people and we are all injured in the process.
Those that choose to live outside the bounds of civilized conduct renounce their right to civilized treatment and the right to associate with civilized men. It is the difference between Animals and animals.

Occasionally, ideas do change with real time experience. My experience in academia and with my Progressive acquaintances has been that most of them are decent, kind, intelligent people that have no real world experience. Their ideas are the product of the isolation of the ivory tower, privileged upbringing, and or angst and guilt at the way the world is. They have no idea what it is like to actually deal with and confront the savages of the inner city on the street. But, on the rare occasion when reality slam dunks them on the pavement, they often have a real come to Jesus awakening. It has been noted that a liberal is a conservative waiting to be mugged and a conservative is liberal once arrested.

Caesar understood the difference between the house cats and the feral status of Osama and reacted accordingly. It seems reasonable that we should expect man to be at least as smart as Caesar.

Far Rider

See to your weapons and stand to your horses