Pit bull owners barking mad over cartoon By MIKE STROBEL, TORONTO SUN

Pit bull owners sure are frothing over Andy Donato’s cartoon on Tuesday.

They insist they are not thugs in leather and chains.

“Appaulling,” opines Jessica Oman.

“Your an ignorant, uninformed idiot,” writes Kari Hennig.

Briana Post expresses her “udder disappointment.”

Jenna Lee demands “an appoligy.”

Katherine Myers chimes in: “I hope your genitals get gnawed off by a wild pack of fluffy, yappy, ‘beloved,’ ankle biting lap dogs!!!”

Yowser! My kind of women.

Many are Americans, tuned into pit bull websites. The cartoon was in response to an NDP MPP’s bid to reverse the province’s ban on the breed.

Incidentally, the couple behind the thug is Donato and wife Dianne, walking their Shih Tzus, Panda and Tybee.

If you watch Discovery Channel you know that, for pit bulls, Shih Tzus are a main food group.

Okay, so we’ve established pit bull owners are not all hulking men in camouflage and Hitler helmets. Some of them are hulking(ITL)women(ITL) in camouflage and Hitler helmets.

On the other hand, there’s Pete Migneault:

“You are a ------- moron,” he writes. “If I ever see you on the streets, I am going to knock your front teeth out.”

He then suggests Andy “post a picture of yourself getting ------ in the --- by a poodle.”

Now, just a cotton-pickin’ minute, Pistol Pete.

I’m sick and tired of the stereotyping of poodles and their owners.

My building on Queens Quay swarms with them.

Not to mention Yorkies, Maltese, Pomeranians, Havanese, Pekingese and Scotties.

And that’s just the people. You should see all the little dogs.

My grandma had poodles, for crying out loud. Yappy little buggers, but c’est la vie.

Some of my best friends are poodle owners.

Several are hairdressers named Bruce. But not all. DON’T ASSUME!

Nor do female poodle-pushers all wear Chanel and Calvin Klein and talk like Brigitte Bardot.

True, I once lunched with Ottawa socialite Marlen Cowpland, wife of the Corel software founder, and her pink poodle, Bunny, who was tucked away in her purse. Or was it a Maltese? Hard to tell when they’re dyed pink.

Nearly had a heart attack when Marlen’s bag shook like it was possessed, and out popped Bunny.

For the first time in my career, I got to ask, “Why is your dog pink?”

“Because I can,” she answered, or something like that.

But Marlen is hardly typical. Of anything.

Just because poodles are airy-fairy, dainty, snooty, spoiled and chirpy, doesn’t mean their owners are the same.

Winston Churchill was an English bulldog — but he had a poodle named Rufus.

Macho poodle owners have included John F. Kennedy, fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne, Pablo Picasso, Patrick Swayze, and Liberace.

Don’t discount that manly, patriotic American tune, Yankee Poodle Dandy.

And don’t generalize that hoity-toity blue-haired women have poodles. Consider these: Jaclyn Smith, Elke Sommer, Ivana Trump. Jane Goodall, Lucille Ball, Katharine Hepburn, Grace Kelly.

Marilyn Monroe had quite the pair of puppies.

Yes, poodle owners are often as noble as their beasts. And as smart — second only to border collie owners. Pit bulls are down the list, just below dogfish.

So open your mind, Pistol Pete. Cast aside the bounds of bias. Your pit-bull-packing pals think Donato’s cartoon is “racist?!” Well, quit picking on poodles.

Look to your own dog: That rippling bundle of muscle, jaws and fangs bred to leap upon foes and tear them limb from limb.

So what if one study found pit bulls and part-pit-bulls accounted for 1,618 of 2,815 serious attacks on humans in North America since 1982?

“Lies, damn lies, and statistics,” a pit bull owner might say. If he can spell statistics.

And don’t gloat, Rottweiler fanciers. Your pets came in second, with 453 attacks.

Chihuahuas? Zip. Nada, though I bet that yappy Taco Bell mutt drove a few people to jump off cliffs.

Face it, pit-bullies. Your dogs give off the warm vibe of an AK-47. And you’re a little scary, too, judging by many of the e-mails.

Nothing personal, Bubba. Don’t sic ‘im on me.