Pit Bulls

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Originally Posted by AK4900PA

People can come up with all the statistics they want. Doesn't change the fact that I own two pitbulls and they are the sweetest, most gentle dogs you will ever meet. Neither one has ever shown a hint of aggression towards a person or animal. Are they more capable of causing damage to a person than a beagle? Of course. I am a firm believer that the majority of overly aggressive pitbulls are a result of bad owners. There just happens to be a lot more bad people that own pitbulls and train them to be aggressive than alot of other breeds. If my town ever made the decision to enact a ban on pits, I would move.

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I've talked about this. Sigfried and Roy had similar sweet tigers. They were then about 2 seconds away from being a one man act. My wolf/husky and bobcat/bengal/house cat will be just as sweet when I'm done raising them. That doesn't change their geneticly aggressive disposition. I continue to say that pits can make wonderful sweet pets with the proper upbringing. That doesn't change what they are. And once again, why do people who want an overly aggressive killer of a dog always buy a pitbull? No reason, I'm sure.

A tiger. A retic, and now a tiger. I think you should draw comparisons to something more comparable, like other breeds of dog. You don't require a special license to own a pit bull, and tigers are not a part of thousands of families. There is a general consensus that tigers are in fact quite dangerous and deadly. Obviously there is a split issue with pits.

Edit: You know what? Just forget I said this.. I don't like to argue, I said I was done, so I'm done. :D

I have heard plenty of stories from nieghbors and in the news about family memebers who own pits, and they all said the same thing. this is the sweetest dog he/she is great with kids and other dogs. But I would never own one, and most of them had turned on a family member or pet of thiers or nieghbors. We had Three attacks in one summer. Thankfully no person got hurt, but the other dogs did, it took four people to beat this pit off this dog. then the owner came over and was pulling by the coller and couldnt do it, theres was no command she said or anything she did that would make her pit release. we had to pull on the pits coller and twist it to cut his air intake to baically choke him to make it release. Now for how it all happened. This girls son was going out to play and before he could shut the front door the pit pushed him out of the way and made a b-line for the nieghbors yard and to thier dog who ran in front of his owners kids that were in the pits path. it was mauled. In front of tons of kids and grown ups. Granted this was NOT a good owner for this breed(from past happenings) Another guy was walking two of his pit WITHOUT leases and the charged another nieghbors dogs. Same outcome. I know this is only two of the three in my nieghborhood and there are some good pits out there but if my next door nieghbor had any of them i Personally would make sure ALL vicious dog laws in my city were being follwed by them. Everyone in my nieghborhood makes sure that everyone follows leas laws for all breeds but with the vicious dog label comes extra laws to follow..

just my 2cents and my thoughts, take or leave um.

not to say all pits are bad. i due have friends with them.

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Originally Posted by darkangel

A tiger. A retic, and now a tiger. I think you should draw comparisons to something more comparable, like other breeds of dog. You don't require a special license to own a pit bull, and tigers are not a part of thousands of families. There is a general consensus that tigers are in fact quite dangerous and deadly. Obviously there is a split issue with pits.

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Well, the data shows that if I compared a pit to other breeds of dogs, pits would be about 500x - 1,000x more dangerous than about 90% of other dogs. Again the data could be inaccurate. But look how inaccurate it would have to be to make pits on the same level as other breeds. I still stick with all of my analogies as being fair for what they were intended to say. Pits are a split issue, but the people who don't agree that they are genetically and instictively predisposed to be killers and are a much larger threat to public safety as a breed, compared to other breeds, are either ignorant or ridiculously stubborn and closed-minded or worse.

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Originally Posted by xdeus

I went ahead and split the thread as it was veering off-topic. Anyway, I feel that the issue is both an ownership and species problem. Pits were bred to fight, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of them are aggressive. However, it is still an instict that they have. Many dogs were bred for specific instincts: retrieving, following scents, chasing rabbits, etc. Pits were bred to have a low pain threshold and to fight which is probably why the attack and death statistics are so high for them and Rottweilers.

Going back to the last topic, I would feel much more comfortable if one of my neighbors were breeding snakes in a room than if they had a couple of loose pits running around... or any large dog for that matter.

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i have a 3yr old pit that was "breed to fight" and she'll retrieve any thing you throw her way, some times she'll pick up on a sent she likes and follows it for a min., when she's out side she will chase a rabbit out of the yard, and if some one/thing shows aggression tward my husband or me she will attack just like any dog would. this "fighter" sleeps in our bed under the covers, when the heat is on she'll sleep on the vent, and when i come home from work she and the cat are on the sofa watching animal planet. i'll get down from :soapbx: . its just i look at lexi and hear people like you, who has no kind of experince with pits, say things like that. are we really talking about the same dog? or are you grouping a hand full of dogs (purebred or just a little pit) that were raised in such god awful ways you'd be :puke: , in with entire breed?

I know you weren't talking about me, but I have a ton of pit bull experience for the record.

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Originally Posted by Thunder Kat

i have a 3yr old pit that was "breed to fight" and she'll retrieve any thing you throw her way, some times she'll pick up on a sent she likes and follows it for a min., when she's out side she will chase a rabbit out of the yard, and if some one/thing shows aggression tward my husband or me she will attack just like any dog would. this "fighter" sleeps in our bed under the covers, when the heat is on she'll sleep on the vent, and when i come home from work she and the cat are on the sofa watching animal planet. i'll get down from :soapbx: . its just i look at lexi and hear people like you, who has no kind of experince with pits, say things like that. are we really talking about the same dog? or are you grouping a hand full of dogs (purebred or just a little pit) that were raised in such god awful ways you'd be :puke: , in with entire breed?

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Wow. Exactly what did I say that got you so riled up? That Pits were bred to fight and to have a high pain threshold? That's a simple fact and nothing more.

If you look through the posts on this thread, there are a number of people that have given personal accounts of a Pits propensity to fight. I have my own personal experiences that I haven't mentioned, but I didn't see the point.

Yes, I know many people have loving, wonderful, caring Pits that they would trust in a room full of fluffy bunnies and newborns. That doesn't change the fact that these dogs were bred to fight. I don't think they're "monsters". I don't think they should be banned. But I recognize them for what they are and what they were bred for... something that seems to escape many Pit owners.

Personally, I could care less who keeps what kind of dog. I think you should have a right to keep whatever animal you'd like as long as you are held responsible for what the well-being of that animal and the actions of that animal.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

I've talked about this. Sigfried and Roy had similar sweet tigers. They were then about 2 seconds away from being a one man act. My wolf/husky and bobcat/bengal/house cat will be just as sweet when I'm done raising them. That doesn't change their geneticly aggressive disposition. I continue to say that pits can make wonderful sweet pets with the proper upbringing. That doesn't change what they are. And once again, why do people who want an overly aggressive killer of a dog always buy a pitbull? No reason, I'm sure.

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I don't think anyone would argue that pitbulls are physically capable of causing more harm than most other breeds, but I don't believe for a second that they are "genetically aggressive". At least not towards people. They are more likely to be "animal aggressive", but for the most part any aggressiveness towards people can be traced back to the training and/or upbringing they recieved. My dogs play with other animals, adults and children on a regular basis and are very well socialized. I would never allow my dogs around young kids unsupervised, but that would be the case even if I had a pair of basset hounds.

Unfortunately bad people gravitate towards pitbulls because they have a reputation for being aggressive. These people go out of their way to train the animal to be aggressive which just helps to further the stigma.

I'm sorry, but comparing pitbulls to tigers is just stupid. Your talking about animals that have been domestically bred as household pets for hundreds of years versus animals that are only one or two generations away from their wild counterparts.

Well, me an my incredibly dangerous and vicious pitbulls are off to bed now. I hope they don't attack me in my sleep!!!:rolleyes:

Actually pit bulls were bred for bull baiting, after bull baiting was banned they switched to ratting, in which the dogs were put in a pit with rats and the greater number they killed in a certain time limit the better the score. It wasn't until the late 1800's that they started fighting the dogs with each other.

So no, they were not originally bred to fight.

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Originally Posted by Entropy

So no, they were not originally bred to fight.

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Bull Baiting: where specially-trained dogs would be set upon the bull one at a time, a successful attack resulting in the dog fastening his teeth strongly in the bull's snout.

Not a far stretch from fighting. They were bred to be determined, fearless, attack, and have a high pain threshold.