Pit Bulls

[darkangel]

They need to take a look at pitbull accidents before snakes. Its insanity.

That's yet another example of myths. Pitbulls make wonderful pets. There are specific examples of course, in any breed, of a puppy born with an aggressive temperment, or being taught to be aggressive, but these dogs are wonderful animals with a bad rep.

[xdeus]

That's yet another example of myths. Pitbulls make wonderful pets. There are specific examples of course, in any breed, of a puppy born with an aggressive temperment, or being taught to be aggressive, but these dogs are wonderful animals with a bad rep.

That's not a myth.

[darkangel]

As someone who has had 2 very wonderful pit bulls as pets, I'm sorry, I'm just not buying it. I'm not going to deny your statistics but I am going to say I'd like to know the background of these particular animals that attacked.

I feel the pit bull issue is more of an ownership problem than a breed-specific problem.

[xdeus]

As someone who has had 2 very wonderful pit bulls as pets, I'm sorry, I'm just not buying it. I'm not going to deny your statistics but I am going to say I'd like to know the background of these particular animals that attacked.

I feel the pit bull issue is more of an ownership problem than a breed-specific problem.

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.

[PythonWallace]

Even if half of those figures are due to the owners, that still speaks volumes. There are people on here who own several "wonderful" retics or anacondas, but that doesn't change the facts about the specific breeds or species. If I had to walk through either a park full of pit bulls or a park full of any other dog breed, I would walk through park B (not that I'm scared of pits). I have seen 2 pitbulls get out and attack 2 young girls who were just walking down the street. I've never seen other escaped dogs do that.

[lillyorchid]

I'm sorry to say but I don't like pit's at all. Hate me I don't care.

I live in a area where they are let loose to run and attack, are set on other people's dogs in their yards, they are mean and are faught, and they are set on any animal that moves pretty much. A few years ago a group of boys baited my next door neighbor's lab mix in to fence chasing their pits when they walked by. One day I came home to my neighbor crying and the police there. Those boys had come by and put their pits in my neighbors fenced in yard. Those pits tore my neighbors dog to shreads. It looked like someone mass murderd a few cows out there because there was so much blood.

A friend of mine has three of them that he says are "sweet, loving, never would hurt a fly". Last July at his 4th of July cook out, I was sitting there with my b/f... doing absolutely nothing. The male pit was standing next to me and out of no where turned and lunged at me. THANK GOD my friend was standing near him and grabbed him. I felt that dogs teeth glaze my arm! About a half an hour later the dog came flying up on to the porch and lunged right at my face. My boyfriend threw me off of his lap and by that time my friend and boyfriend had the dog back under control. My boyfriend then told our friend that he better put those dogs away because if that dog would have touched me he would kill it right then and there.

I've also met many countless pits on walks with my dog around the neighborhood. Two years ago I was walking Snick down an alley and a pit was loose and just came running, barking, and snarling at us. I knew that we were both in for it and that I had to do something and quick! Snick was trying to hold her ground but I yanked her in to someones back yard that had their gate unlocked. I quickly shut it and the dog was trying to jump it to get to us. I then ran out of their front gate and took a b-line back on home. That was not the first time I've been just about gotten from a pit around here walking my dog. I hardly ever walk her or Cin around here. When I do walk them around here, I walk them where I know there was few pits.

I don't trust them at all! They are so unpredictable. I have friends who have them, but I ask my friends to put them away when I'm over their houses.

I've only met one sweet pitbull. She belongs to my friend I work with, but I don't trust her and make sure my friend Chris is around me and her at all times while she is out in the house.


I've seen what these dogs can do and do, do. It's not something I like at all. I LOVE dogs but I don't like pits at all. I've just had way to many bad experiences with them.



I feel a lot more comfortable being over my friends house who has a burm and a few retics then I do over my other friends house who has the only pit that I'll call sweet.

[darkangel]

Pit bulls do not have a low pain threshold. That is a myth.
http://www.realpitbull.com/myths.html

[darkangel]

Look I'm not trying to say that there hasn't been documented cases of aggression. But you can't start a breed-specific ban. That is ridiculous. My former jack russell terrier was more aggressive than any pit I have come into contact with. But he's a jack russell, no one gives a crap. Any dog, any breed, could turn on you at any moment. This is fact of owning dogs.

AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER 84% on the American Temperment Test Society website. The average is a 77%.

[PythonWallace]

Pit bulls do not have a low pain threshold. That is a myth.
http://www.realpitbull.com/myths.html

Huh?

[slartibartfast]

I've worked with dogs professionally for years in situations that are very stressful and can bring out the worst in them. I can count on one hand the number of agressive pits I've met. They are almost entirely sweet, goofy, loving dogs.

I cannot say the same for most German Shepherds, Border Collies, Australian Cattle Dogs, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, and the vast majority of toy breeds.
To date, I have been bitten by an Australian Cattle Dog, a Rat Terrier, a Cocker Spaniel, a Jack Russell Terrier, a Dachshund, and two Boston Terriers.

The problem is that the people who want to own a vicious dog reach for pitbulls 99% of the time. You can make any dog vicious if you try hard enough.

There are a couple of problems with statistics surrounding pitbull attacks.

1. Misidentification. People who are more familiar with the myth than with the breed will ID a dog as a pit bull based on agression, not physical characteristics. Lab mixes, Shepherd mixes, Boxer mixes, and Chow mixes are all frequently listed as pitbulls subsequent to an attack.

2. Reporting trends. Very few people submit a police report when Granny Bluehair's Chihuahua bites your ankle. I have however seen big friendly dogs taken away and euthanized for knocking a child over with an overenthusastic greeting. I strongly believe that if all dog bites were reported, pit bull rankings would plummit. Pit bulls when agressive can and do cause some horrific wounds, but that does not make all pit bulls killers.