Pit bulls, or our favorite family dog
When I rescued a black and white mass of wriggling puppy 6 years ago, I never imagined that I would be propelled into the firestorm of a political fight to maintain the right to own my dog. Reef is an American Pit Bull Terrier, and she personifies what the breed should be. She is a stable and predictable dog; friendly to humans, and other dogs (unless they have no manners, and then she reminds them with her voice, not her teeth, how she expects them to behave). I couldn’t ever ask for more in a dog, and I know that many other APBT owners feel the same way, yet there is a growing movement looking to ban the dogs we love (as well as numerous others).
Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) is defined as any law, ordinance or policy that affects a specific dog breed or breeds, but does not affect any others. Common targets for BSL are pit bulls, other bull breeds with similar physical characteristics, and Rottweilers. Under this legislation, breeds deemed as dangerous to the public may be required to be muzzled in public, neutered, or banned completely. While supporters of such laws feel the need to protect the public from breeds that are stereotypically believed to be aggressive, most of these beliefs are based on unscientific theories about genetics (as in, pit bulls have the “crazy” gene) or negative associations with people who have used such dogs for fighting, etc.
There is no difference in the DNA of a pit bull and that of a Chihuahua (beyond that which makes the first weigh about 10 times as much as the second, of course). There is often no way to prove that a dog is or is not one of the breeds that falls under the guidelines of the ban. The term “pit bull type dog” has been used in some of these laws- that description could apply to anything from a boxer to a mastiff. While I could go on and on about this subject, the fact is, we need to judge every dog by their individual behavior, not by their assumed traits. For each “vicious” dog of a certain breed, I could direct you to 10 wonderful, loving family pets.
As my favorite sweatshirt says: “judge the deed, not the breed.”
Popularity: 12% [?]
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:13 am
Just like everything else there’s a bell curve that represents the entire population. While a few of those individuals may fall the more docile end of the curve, the fact is that as a group pitbulls and other dangerous breeds are involved in more violent attacks. Statistics show this and that is why insurance companies are cancelling homeowners policies for those owning these and other breeds deemed as more dangerous.
http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html
Generally, a pitbull is a ticking timebomb, so why would anyone want to own one of these dogs, have these kinds of dogs around children, or for any other reason?
If we wait to judge every dog on it’s individual behavior as you suggest then we wait until someone is seriously injured or killed. That should not be an option. I’m fundamentally against government becoming more involved in our lives but this is a good example of people not being able to police themselves with sound, logical judgement.
February 23rd, 2007 at 11:51 am
The information at http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html is meaningless at best.
“According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74% of attacks that were included in the study, 68% of the attacks upon children, 82% of the attacks upon adults, 65% of the deaths, and 68% of the maimings. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question.”
When you lump together “pit bulls” and “pit bull mixes” – essentially redundant designations that encompass a large population of mutts, along with another popular breed, Rottweilers you get just over 50% of serious dog attacks. This is a surprise? A pit bull is in the eye of the beholder, and when that eye is a news reporter or a policemen, it’s usually the dog that just bit someone.
The statistics regarding children are also misleading. Most serious dog attacks are on children. Period.
And as for “the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question” in whose judgement was that? The same people whom you do not trust to police themselves? If you take away their pit bulls do you think they will go get a goldfish or another dog to chain out in the yard all day? Will we be arguing over banning their German Shepherds in a few years, just like our parents did in the 1970′s?
I agree 100% about people lacking sound judgement. That’s why it’s so easy to get them to support banning dangerous dogs instead of coming up with a real solution to dog attacks.
February 23rd, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Eric makes some good points about such statistics.
Judging the relative aggression of any dog should happen long before that dog attacks some other animal or person. Aggressive and violent tendencies are overt and easily noticed, not latent qualities that unexpectedly manifest one day.
Dogs, just like children, reflect and are shaped by the adults that raise them. If someone wants a guard dog who will attack, they will probably, regardless of breed, get such a dog (or a terrified dog who might bite out of fear). People looking for dogs for that purpose, or worse for fighting, tend to choose bull breeds because of their physiology and strength, not because of some imagined ingrained violent quality.
I will say that there are some dogs, just like some people, who are idiopathically aggressive- they are violent and dangerous without reason, and it cannot be traced to learned behavior or upbringing. In those cases, I’m not opposed to any of the various degrees that can be taken to deal with such animals (including euthanasia). However, the VAST majority of animals grouped in with bull/rottweiler types do not have that quality, and when raised as good dogs, will be good dogs.
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I agree that we (and our dogs) are certainly influenced by our own environment. That does not change the fact that pitbulls have historically been bred to fight. To suggest that as a group pit bulls are just as safe as other breeds and to suggest there is no difference between breeds genetically is a false statement.
Very soon there will be a DNA test to distinquish breed make-up and yes, German Shepherd Dogs along with several others will also be on the list of more scrutinized.
Specifically with Pitbulls, as a group they are inheritantly dangerous and predisposed to inflicting a lot of damage when they do attack.
The basic question is as simple as “are better off with or without a seatbelt in our cars?” I suppose you will be able to find a situation or two where a person may have suffered less injury had they been thrown from a vehicle.
We need to ask the question, “Are we are better off with more or less pitbulls in the world?”
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:39 pm
“We need to ask the question, “Are we are better off with more or less pitbulls in the world?†”
I tripped over this today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6387361.stm
“A five-year-old girl from Merseyside was killed by a pit bull terrier-type dog recently, and hospital admissions for dog bites have doubled in 10 years.
NHS figures show that 4,133 people were admitted to hospital last year suffering dog bites, almost double the number in 1996. More than a fifth were children under nine.”
The United Kingdom effectively outlawed Pit Bulls in 1991.
The ban is not working there. Partially because it is very difficult to ban something you can’t define, which makes it an unproductive distraction (see my blog for some ruminations on that), and partly because banning breeds does not address irresponsible owners.
So to answer your question, it seems to be either a wash, or maybe the UK was better off without the false sense of security that a breed ban gave them?
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
P.S. As far as the genetic test goes, if the gov’t was willing to spend $25 – $50 a dog in order to help prevent dog attacks, then they wouldn’t be so eager to go for a quick fix “feel good” solution like a breed ban.
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
“We need to ask the question, “Are we are better off with more or less pitbulls in the world?â€
The answer is “less”.
The issue of irresponsible dog owners is actually compounded by allowing them to propagate dangerous dogs instead of having them spayed or neutered.
In this specific case the dog has been documented by its owner as an AMERICAN PITBULL TERRIER along with a picture of what appears to be a litter of more pitbulls. This would actually be a very easy case for a prosecuter to solve which could result in heavy fines and possibly jail time.
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:11 pm
On the issue of breeding and “propagating” dangerous dogs:
I’m firmly in support of required spaying and neutering for all dogs purchased or adopted as companion animals, with the option for ethical breeders to get licensed to breed and type of dog, including pitbulls. Breeding dogs at home without thorough knowledge of the breed, or worse, with the intention of raising them to be overly protective and aggressive, is a big problem. Not just for pit bulls, or rottweilers, or other “aggressive” dogs, and not just because of the potential for training such dogs to be violent. This method of creating dogs often results in dogs with unnecessary health problems, which are dogs that will be abandoned because they aren’t useful to the people who bred them.
The issue of genetics vs. environment is certainly up for debate, and there are not clear answers right now. However, I don’t think it’s coincidence that people who have studied dogs and know more about them than the average dog lover are also people who defend the “pit bull types” as dogs, and condemn the negative environments they may be raised in.
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:27 pm
“That does not change the fact that pitbulls have historically been bred to fight.”
Yes, “Pit Bulls” (which are not even a recognized breed as far as the AKC is concerned, so once again we have to distinguish exactly WHAT registry we’re talking about when catagorizing a dog as a “Pit Bull) were bred to fight- dogs and bulls. Not humans. Human aggression in these dogs is and always was considered and unforgivable fault. The dogmen who bred these animals for fighting had to be hands on and step in to break apart fights – this left no room for human aggression. Behind each of the dog attacks you see on the news was an irresponsible individual- dig a little further into their backgrounds and often you will find criminal records, child abuse and other cases of animal abuse. Should INNOCENT animals (the ones who have shown stable and sound temperaments for the entirety of their lives) suffer because of their actions?
To pass a law that proposes the banning/destruction of a type of dog because of their appearance is the same argument that those who support racial profiling use to justify their actions. “Well, he looked like a group who we believe statistically has more of a chance to commit a crime, so we decided to pull him over, off this plane (etc) because there is a POSSIBILITY he might be dangerous (even though he never did anything to make us think that, except exist.”
BSL is discriminatory; it targets huge numbers of “law abiding” dogs in order to weed out a handful of offenders.
March 29th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
The problem is not the pit bull, it’s the pit bull owners who raise the dog to be mean and fight or they just simply neglect the dog and then find trouble down the road. Outlawing the breed is like saying we should outlaw black men. It’s a proven fact that a majority of crime is committed by black men. Not just minor crimes, but major crimes. We all know this is true, but did you ever ask your self why? The answer is simple, look how most black children are raised and look at the enviroment that they are brought up in. Inter-city projects are a training ground for violent criminals (oh by the way guess what the most popular pet is in the inter-city projects) who have no real supervision. Put any dog in that kind of situation and see what you get.
Like I said the problem is not the pet, it’s the owner who is in charge of the pet. We should start cracking down even harder on the pit bull owners and for that matter anyone who owns a dog who can’t seem to find common sence and raise a dog with the proper care.
So I say to Angela Davison, we need more pit bulls and less dumb ass pit bull owners. Don’t blame the innocent dog on the guilty owner.
April 21st, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Hmmm…so the possibility that a dog ‘might’ attack and cause serious harm is enough to justify banning them? That’s going to be tough, since there are a lot of breeds that have the capacity to do serious damage.
Let’s take the (Very flawed) CDC statistics for an example, even as flawed as they are.
“Pit Bulls” are responsible for 76 deaths in 20 years according to the study. That averages out to 3.8 deaths -per year-.
Okay.
In 2004, there were approximately 1,117 children that died by neglect and/or abuse at the hands of their own parents, according to the Admistration for Children and Families. That averages out to 3 -per day-.
Shall we ban parents too?
April 25th, 2007 at 12:20 am
“Very soon there will be a DNA test to distinquish breed make-up and yes, German Shepherd Dogs along with several others will also be on the list of more scrutinized.”
I just wanted to reiterate that as of this point, NO DNA test can determine the breed of a dog.
July 30th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
For anyone who has something negative to say about pitbulls,shephards,mastiffs, etc..Have you ever owned a Pit bull? Have you ever owned a German Shephard? A Rottweiler, or an American Bulldog?
How can you speak about what you dont know? Based on statistics you read from another individual that has no idea what they are talking about? I have met more aggressive Pomeranians and Poodles than I have these breeds. How anyone can say that they are a “dangerous” dog disgusts me.
“a pitbull is a ticking timebomb, so why would anyone want to own one of these dogs, have these kinds of dogs around children, or for any other reason?” …. To Angela I say – what are you talking about????
Too many people talking based purely on prejudice.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Icompletely agree with you about the comment of “Judge the deed not the breed.” My grandfather raised dogs and he knows alot, but one thing I don’t agree with him about is he believes in the evil or crazy gene too.
I say that it’s not the dog…it’s the trainer. If someone doesn’t know how to raise a dog to be respectful and mind all the time then they shouldn’t raise a dog at all. Because of all the other people who are into the dog fighting and raising ferocious guard dogs, we the ones who love and care for them are being punished and our dogs being ridiculed just for their breed.
If you think about it’s the same as saying African-Americans were inferior to whites or anyother race. It just isn’t right for a dog to be judged that way. Just like us, they don’t ask to be a certain kind of breed or color or so forth.
Pitbulls, Rottweillers, Huskies, and other dogs that are known for bad reputations are among my very favorite breeds of dogs. I have an extremely strong opinion about how people can think that the breed is what makes the dog mean. It’s not as I’ve said it is the trainer, the owner, not the dog!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s all I’ve got to say about that.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
ive always been told by people that pitbulls were all very mean. so when my brother brought one home. at first i wasnt very fond of it. then it grown into being my best friend. she was everything i ever asked for in a dog. she was smart. listened. and behaved. she was the nicest dog i ever had. and it kills me to hear people say there harmful. when really your dog becomes what you are. if you are mean. your dog will be mean. if you are lazy your dog will be lazy it doesnt matter what breed it is. its just the people only read the bad stories. theses dogs have the greatest power. there just never given the opportunity to show it.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
I agree with the last 6 responses. People that think that pit bulls are mean need to do some research and learn about them.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I used to look at pit bull’s as a “ticking time bomb”, but that’s before I rescued a pit bull puppy from the dog pound. I’ve had him for two years and he’s never displayed any aggressions toward me nor anyone else of that matter. He share’s his food with my three years old sister, she can’t go two feet close to my lab’s or my golden retriever’s food bowl. Don’t judge the dog for what their owners trust them..The only thing my Pit has ever done is completely steal my heart. Don’t judge this breed if you’ve never owned one for your self.
October 8th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I can honestly say that before my brother brought home a pit bull puppy I was somewhat iffy about the bread. As I have watcher her grow (which she is still in the process of doing)I have grown to love and have alot of respect for pit bull breeds. Her mother and father are both very kind dogs and never attacked anyone.I know that people think they are dangerous, and maybe some of them are but I believe it is mostly stereotypical. I compare pitbull attacks to things such as a celebrity going to jail, if it was any unfamous person not many people would care, but because they are famous it draws alot of attention to them. Pit bull attacks are the same way, if any other dog were to attack a person no one would really care but on the other hand when a pit bull attacks someone it draws alot of attention and contraversy just because of the breed. I also believe that the environment of pit bulls has alot to do with the way they turn out, bring them up in a good home around alot of people and dogs and I’m sure they will be just fine. People above me saying negative comments about pit bulls, get one, and I promise you will fall in love with them.
[IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/ams5291/dogs092.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/ams5291/dogs018.jpg[/IMG]
October 16th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Stereotypically and statistically, ex cons are far more dangerous than pit bulls. Maybe we should focus on “putting them to sleep” first.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
I think what bothers me the most is the fact that if they were to ban a dog in the united states, what would then happen to that breed? Would they actually allow them to simply fall off the face of the earth? My point is…they are always talking about endangered species, and that we should help them to survive. Simply put, they might as well ask or simply declare that they want to make this species endangered. No, it’s not a whale or a bald eagle or some other mammal that’s about to fall off the face of the earth…but damnit it’s just as important!
Statistics show that pitbulls have more dog attacks and deaths. Why? Simply because of the breed and what they’ve been made into. 80% is the actual figure of the breed of dog that is the most aggresive with children and child/adult attacks. And do you know what breed that is? Not pitbull! It happends to be German Shephard. Which is why there was a huge thing about banning them as well. You simply don’t get as much of the media on these attacks as you do pitbulls. Because of the breeds. I’m a huge doglover. I’ve owned pretty much mostly large dogs my entire life. Pitbulls, Rottweilers, German Shephards, Mastiffs…ect ect. And out of all of those dogs, which one do you think attacked me as a child? None. It was my neighbors Collie that bit me and took a chunk out of my leg. I never pulled it’s tail or ears, or poked it or anything. It simply just snapped. Possibly out of fear. I don’t know. All I know is, it is most certainly how you raise your dog. If your cruel enough to leave your dog chained up all day outside absolutely famished with no food and no water. Yeah, it probably will attack someone. What’s worse is…it would then be your fault, but the dog would suffer the fate of death. And in cases like that, I wish it was the owner getting the same fate. People who fight any breed. Doesn’t matter what it is…it will 90% of the time attack or kill another animal or human being. It could be a pitbull or a chihuahua.
In my own personal opinion, I believe pitbulls to be the biggest babies of all breeds. With the sweetest dispositions. Very hardy dogs. And are absolutely awesome if trained properly.
October 19th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
This issue is very dear to my heart, of the dozens of pit bulls I have met, I have yet to encounter one that is violent or aggressive. I was at my friends house with my Pit, Billy last week when I realized it was a little too quiet. My friend’s 4 year old daughter took Billy up to her room and dressed him as a princess! When I found them in her room, he was completely calm and complacent about being dressed in a purple tutu and tiara.
I believe that distinguishing a particular breed as violent and evil is no different than doing the same with human ethnicities. If statistically more African Americans are involved in violent crimes, are they innately bad? Banning a breed seems reminiscent of the holocaust when “evil and subversive” Jews were banned from eastern European society and subsequently murdered.
If trained and socialized accordingly Labradors can be deadly, and Pit Bulls can be trained as service dogs.
Neglectful and abusive owners are the only demographic that should be punished for their existence!
-Carina and Billy
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I thank you so much for putting this up. Really, I appreciate it. My family has always owned a pit. My mom had a pit when I was a baby, when I was a young kid, and all the way through my teenage years. Now I have a pitbull, and I really hate how lately they’ve been getting this horrible label of being a nasty dog. It’s all in how you raise them, nothing more.
October 26th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
PITS ARE THE PROBLEM ITS THE OWNERS FAULT. I HAVE A PIT AND SHE IS NOT AGGRESIVE AT ALL YOU CAN PULL ON HER LAY ON HER. ANY DOGS JUST AS AGGREAIVE AS THE NEXT.WHEN YOU PLAY WITH HER SHELL ACT LIKE SHES GOING TO BITE YOU BUT SHE LICKS YOU IN STEAD.
October 26th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
IT ASSHOLE LIKE VICK THAT GIVE PITS A BAD NAME
LIKE THEY SAY:
PUNISH THE DEED NOT THE BREED!!!!
October 27th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
The points noted below show that APBT’s, Rotts, and Presas are at the top of the list for DBRF and maulings. It also points out that most bites occur to the face and that it is primarily to small boys. Please take a look at those three things before writing these breeds off as “ticking time bombs.” Every single dog needs structure and a calming environment, as noted by the case of the pomeranian killing an infant. However, the child needs as much if not more structure and guidance. The reason bites to the face of small boys happen more often than any other is because they get in the face of the dog and antagonize it. If the child is not told what not to do around a dog the child runs a high risk of injury from any breed. These three breeds mentioned stand out simply because of their raw power and speed, certainly not their tempermant. People own dogs for companions, a properly handled and trained dog of any breed can become a great companion. Please see http://www.atts.org and look for yourself at the nature of the animal before you judge them.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
it is true that pit bulls arent mean, they are nice, but when their owns train them bad thats why everybody says bad thngs about them. its not fair to them that they get killed, because their owners treat them badly and train then badly. so dont think all pits are bad…they arent, if u think they are its not their fault blame their owners. my neighbors have a pit. her name is tabby, she is the nicest dog u will ever meet. i go over their everyday almost and when i go over there i always have to play with that dog. they have another dog, and its a cocker spaniel, those dogs play all the time, and tabby never gets aggressive, she is always calm, i have never seen that dog be mean. she is always nice…and thats because they trained her good….they didnt try to make her bad….the sad thing is this: the owners have heard so many bad things about pits that they were thinkin about putting her down. but they havent and im glad…..
November 28th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
i really like pitbulls they are really nice jogs its just that people train them to be mean.
December 4th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I grew up with 2 Rotweilers that were extremely well behaved. I would imagine someone could have broken into our house and Cindy (female Rotty) would have licked the person to death. I never imagine owning a Pit-bull and my wife who grew up with Shelties refused to own a dog larger than 30 pounds. Well, we rescued a pit-bull puppy a few months ago and WOW how our views have changed. She is only 6 months, but is extremely well behaved. We take her to the local dog park a few times a week and she plays very well with all breeds and sizes of dogs. We also have her around many people and children. The most viscious thing she does is lick them and roll over to get her belly scratched. I do believe if you own a larger dog you really need to dedicated the time and effort to adequately train and socialize them. I have seen too many pit-bulls and other “dangerous” breeds that are chained up in someones front lawn, and are obviously not trained or socialized. What do you think is going to happen when a dog like that gets loose and someone starts to run from them? Not going to be good. But that same thing could happen with a lab or golden retreiver under the same circumstances. I have many many pit-bulls since we adopted Lily and the majority of them have been very nice, but as stereotyped I have met a few that were more of a power symbol for their owner who puts spiked collars on them and wants them to be tough and mean. I would recommend getting a pit-bull, rotweiler,German sheppard, etc to anyone ONLY if they can commit to the time and effort it takes to properly train, excercise, and socialize them.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
train your dog. socalize your dog! attacks would be less common if people would actually care about their dogs. there are pits that have gone their whole lives never biting a person. it’ all about knowing what to do with a dog! ANY dog can bite! ANY dog can be mean! BAN them all if your going to ban a few. If you ban certain ones then your going to notice a rise in other dog bites, then those dogs will be banned and so on.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
I love pit bulls, and I’m so glad you did this. I’ve never had one, it’s illegal to have them here but I do not believe all of them are as bloodthirsty as people make them sound. German shepherds are responsible for more attacks than pit bulls and they haven’t brought up as much controversy…
December 31st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Pitbulls are wonderful family dogs if properly trained.
Maybe instead of banning the dogs, cities could come up with a licensing system. If you’re not willing to get the training, you don’t get to have the dog. End of story.
That’s a quick way to distinguish the “evil, aggressive” OWNERS from perfectly good dogs.
January 8th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I’ve had large dogs all my life pitts, rotts, german shepherds, chows, dobermans, all the dogs people say will turn on you. No dog of mine has ever bit me or harmed me or my family in any way. It is how you raise and treat the animal that makes the animal. If you take a child and leave it unattended it will be wild and uncontrollable. People that cannot raise children to be productive, caring, members of a community do not need an animal to raise. If you don’t want dogs attacking people or other animals you should have to take a test to decide if you will be a responsible owner, and for that matter maybe you should have to take a test before you become a parent.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Hi. I stumbled across your blog while doing a search on Google. The week of Christmas I was visiting family in Arkansas. A good friend of the family is the vet for the local humane society and does lots of rescues. She had been called by a deputy that had seen 5 puppies on the side of the road shoved in a bird cage with no food or water. She went to get them and was able to save them all. They were all severly malnourished and dehydrated as you can imagine. My sister from AZ was wanting to adopt a “smallish” dog for her 13 y/o daughter and I was wanting to find a companion for our Pembroke Welsh Corgi. We went to the rescue farm to see them and fell in love with those sweet faces. We were told that they were most likely rat terrier mix (I think they were going by the mask that 3 of them had) and their general appearance, but the more I look at our girl Sparkle, I think she may be a APBT mix. Here’s a link to a picture of her on imageshack. Could anyone advise as to if they think she could be an APBT mix? Thanks
Sparkle is the red/white and my sister’s girl is the black/white.
http://img179.imageshack.us/my.php?image=arkansasdec07177wf7.jpg
January 15th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO LOVES PIT BULLS!!
January 16th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Also, to respond to Jill…Yes! It could be that your little girl is a Pit Bull mix. This is exactly what my baby looked like when he was that age! Have fun with her!!
January 31st, 2008 at 3:02 pm
The recognition of this breed as great companions if trained properly and raised in a family home setting is excellent. It’s terrible the way negative attention is brought to certain animals through media attention. Also in response to Angela Davison – your comments are very uneducated and judgemental, and FYI those are way too small to be APB pups, and are clearly Chihuahua as is mentioned in the article.
February 9th, 2008 at 8:05 am
[...] unofficial mascot of Georgetown University was a mixed breed dog named “Stubby”. An American Pit Bull Terrier/ Boston Terrier mix, Stubby was quite a famous hero during WWI. A great deal of time passed after [...]
February 9th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Wow, I got my dog from the animal rescue league here in iowa about two years ago. and She looks identical to this dog here… even the pink noes is the same. And the discription of how she behaves fits her to a T.
They are a wonderful and amazing dog. Athena is very much so a lap dog and loves little kids. I had a 5 year old stay with me for 7 months and they played every day, never even a growl from the puppy when playing.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
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February 18th, 2008 at 9:34 am
i dont own a pitty, but handled plenty to know the fact that they are NOT dangerous dogs.
Hang your head in shame to those who don’t know how to look after their dog properly. you have caused a bad name for the poor Pitty.
Excellent blog. Beautiful pictures.
February 18th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
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February 21st, 2008 at 7:01 am
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February 24th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I own a Pit Bull and a Pit Bull Black Lab Mix. It’s funny how everytime I encounter another Pit Bull owner all we do is talk about how unfounded the the stereotype against pit bulls is and how wonderfull the dogs are.
When I was a kid we had to get rid of our beagle because it was a nasty dog who bit. This beagle would seriously have torn apart a Pit Bull or Rotweiller. I’ve also seen very nasty, very powerfull Golden retreivers before.
It has to do with upbringing and genetic pre-disposition(in other words was some iresponsible puppy mill breader in-breeding dogs of the same breed to make money).
February 28th, 2008 at 11:05 am
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March 1st, 2008 at 1:38 am
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March 1st, 2008 at 12:14 pm
[...] by Miguel Andrade You Wanna Know A Secret? – This kitty has something very top-secret to tell his Pit Bull friend. Photo by April [...]
March 13th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
[...] whole Pit Bull idea,but to settle my own fears,(and my boyfriend got one). I now own a 11 week old Pit Bull Terrier. I love him to death. I have been reading for the last week on how to train them on being NICE and [...]
March 14th, 2008 at 11:16 am
[...] of my favorite Pit Bulls, a rescue dog named Georgia, got herself into quite a bit of trouble a few weeks ago. She decided [...]
March 17th, 2008 at 3:05 am
To Angela and Eric: The reason Pit Bulls are supposedly attacking more often is because of bad owners who abuse them and train them to kill. Also the media is far more likely to report a Pit Attack than a Golden Lab or anything else. I have only heard of two attacks by other dogs in the last 5 years do you really think that means Only Pit bulls have been attacking? Of course not in fact the only times I was ever bitten or attacked by dogs they were German Shepard mixes. I am not so dumb as to say that all shepards are bad, Our neighbors dog broke my nose standing up to take a treat from me. He was a huge German Shepard who weighted well over 100lbs and was around 5’8″ on his hind legs. I never blamed him for that although I know some people would’ve sued. But I have insurance and never needed to go to the hospital anyway. Any dog can go nuts and they are way more likely to do so when they are Beaten, fed Gun Powder and deprived of any real food. You should know what fighting pit bulls go through to make them that way before you start smarting off about how awful they are. Pit Bulls are great dogs and I have never ever met a mean one, Not even once, Not a snarl or growl Ever. I have probably known over 200 Pit bulls in my life and if there’s one thing I know it’s that I would choose a Bull as a pet over any other breed any day.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
If there is such a percentage indeed as i read a lot of you say then why is it that you blame the dogs?Why not look at how they we’re raised?But all i know is that most Pittbulls that i got into contact with including my baby which died 3months ago we’re the best breed that i have ever seen,I live in Aruba so they are not banned yet…But there is some that want a law against the also so i hope for all the pittbull lover’s that you won’t give up!
March 20th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
[...] of misinformation in the above statement. So much that I shared it with a friend of mine and fellow Pit Bull advocate. What follows is her [...]
March 24th, 2008 at 7:02 am
[...] Pit Bull is quite the [...]
March 26th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I’ve encountered dozens and dozens of breeds as a dog fosterer. My favorite foster dog is still my Lab-Pitt boy because he was the loyalest, goofiest, warm-hearted sissybear I ever encountered. He had been about a year and a half when they found him on the side of the highway. Judging by his first couple weeks with us, he never had proper training – no housetraining, no obedience training, probably very little human interaction and even less dog socializing. He can’t speak for the entire breed but I’m not exaggerating when I say Sammy did not have an evil bone in his body. Unsure what kind of family would adopt him, I made sure to expose him to all sorts of environments and people and he never approached a situation with aggressive behavior. He was eager to learn and what he didn’t understand right away, he made up for with enthusiastic goofiness that melted my heart. Why would anyone want less of him around? Certainly not the man who adopted him. We did the two month check up after Sammy’s adoption and the man and his 10 year old daughter love him to pieces. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having more dogs like Sammy in the world.
I specialized in large-breed fostering and surprisingly, the only dog that bit me was my smallest foster – a 35 lb female bloodhound. Doesn’t fit the assumed stereotype that bloodhounds just sleep and lay around all the time, does it? I’m not trying to point the finger on another breed. This particular dog had a history of food aggression and was passed on to me as a last resort to keep her in the foster system since others tried to work with her and failed. Sure there are some dogs with a distrust so innate that they can attack but the chances of that being a spontaneous act is slim to none. It is more likely that attacking is a learned behavior they picked up from a bad trainer.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:04 am
[...] Pit Bull is having a great time looking for her squeaky rubber chicken! She looks so happy when she discovers [...]
April 19th, 2008 at 8:00 am
[...] Pit Bull looks like she had a great time playing and is expressing her appreciation of all the [...]
April 28th, 2008 at 7:03 am
[...] Schnauzer has an ice cube stuck to his beard. His Pit Bull and Boston Terrier pals want to help him out, but they seem a bit confused by his [...]
May 1st, 2008 at 8:00 am
[...] adorable Pit Bull Pup is going to inflict some chewing revenge on this Michael Vick chew [...]
May 7th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
[...] of his vehicle. Walter Witthoeft went to top off some fluids when he was greeted by a very cranky Pit Bull. The dog had somehow gotten stuck inside the engine of the Pickup and had gnawed through wires, [...]
May 9th, 2008 at 11:53 am
[...] media has done Pit Bulls and other Bully breeds a huge disservice. Almost every decade a new breed is vilified by the media- [...]
May 26th, 2008 at 7:03 am
[...] Pit Bull beats 4 kids at Simon [...]
May 26th, 2008 at 10:00 am
[...] Stubby was the Pit Bull hero of World War I. He enlisted in the most unlikely of circumstances, wandering onto Yale [...]
June 21st, 2008 at 7:01 am
[...] Pit Bull and a crew of chicks cool off in the pool on a hot [...]
August 12th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
[...] of the Pit Bulls rescued from the now infamous fighting ring run by former NFL star, Michael Vick, will be featured [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 3:15 am
[...] have you considered a Pit Bull? While some breeders are producing gargantuan dogs of over 100 pounds and calling them “Pit [...]
August 31st, 2008 at 3:08 pm
[...] been using backpacks with Reef, my Pit Bull, for years. She’s used to wearing them and gets very excited when she sees a pack coming out. [...]
September 10th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
[...] a 6 year old Pit Bull seized from Michael Vick’s dog fighting ring in Virginia has a whole new battle on his plate. [...]
September 18th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
My Grandmother was given a lab (rescue) that her youngest son decided he didn’t want anymore, and that dog was honestly the most vicious dog I have ever encountered! She would growl at first to warn you then if you ignored her warning she would charge you! The mail lady (who was in a car) reported the dog many times because of the dog trying to get her threw her car! So do I think all LABS should be banned UH NO, I think that poor dog was just old and pissed at the world for the fact she hadn’t had the best life and finally found someone to love her and was protecting her home! I was raised with a PIT BULL who was the biggest baby to everyone, he wasn’t even a good watch dog he didn’t bark at people when they came to our house he just shook his whole back half and tried to lick them! My dad had heard enough of our neighbor complaining about “Butch†getting out of our yard, when you couldn’t drag him out of our yard (we had an electric fence all the way around our yard and he was shocked by it one time when we first got him and never crossed it again!) in fact it was a stray Pit who’s tail hadn’t been docked! Who he said was chasing his cats and pooping in his yard so my Dad found Butch a new home and within 6 months he had grieved himself to death! They had an autopsy done and there was no other reason medically why he passed!
September 21st, 2008 at 9:40 am
A few years back a neighbor had a vicious German Shepherd who could not be trusted. They had had the dog since a puppy and told me the dog had never been abused. My own observation’s of the family’s loving interactions with and care of the animal convinced me this was true.
The dog bit my hand, one day, without provocation. She snapped at my hand and released it immediately, leaving only a small puncture wound. Therein lies the difference between a German Shepherd bite and a Pit Bull bite. A Pit Bull has been bred to have extremely powerful jaws and is predisposed to hang on when attacking. I would be lucky to have a hand left to use had I been bitten by a pit bull rather than the german shepherd. This is what makes a Pit Bull inherently more dangerous.
I heard an owener of a Pit Bull talk about how gentle her dog was. All the neighbor children played with it. Then, one day, her best friend’s five year old son backed the dog into a corner, ‘barking’ at the dog. This supposedly gentle dog grabbed the child by the throat and killed him.
You never know when any animal might feel they have to defend themselves. Do I believe that German Shepherds and Pit Bulls, as a whole, are more vicious than some other breeds? Actually, I think very small breeds are more likely to bite you, waiting until your back is turned and running up and nipping at your heels from behind. But those bites rarely get reported. The problem is that some breeds are just far more dangerous when they do attack. And you never know when that might be.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Instead of attacking the “children”, maybe you need to take a look at the parents. You know it’s funny how my big beautiful pitt bull was found, abused, tied up, and was put on the table to be euthanized BECAUSE he is a pitt bull. If they were trying to make him into a vicious killer, let me tell you they failed. They succeeded in terrifying him of any noises, raised arms, quick movements, etc. and let me guess what you are thinking, he attacks me right? WRONG! He runs, he shakes, he paces, he’s nervous and NOT ONCE has he ever lunged at anyone, growled, or bitten even the most intimidating of them. In fact, it took months before I even heard him bark, so go ahead, blame his breed because he is such a vicious killer. Instead, why don’t you take a look at these ridiculous human beings who look at the breed and decide they want to have a guard dog. When the dog doesn’t do what they want, guess what happens next. This could happen to any dog and it does on a daily basis. Pomeranians are some of the meanest little ankle biters you will ever meet, but because their not pitt bulls or “dangerous”, they are accepted and even called cute! Judge the owners, outlaw bad parents!
December 29th, 2008 at 1:38 am
To Angela-
I believe that picture is NOT of a litter of more pitbulls. It’s a litter of MICE. And you think you should be able to pass judgement on who and whatever you please. Of course you automatically jump to believing they are pitbulls in the picture and that for some reason breeding pitbulls is illegal (which it is not) when if you’d take a second to actually look at what was in front of you, you’d see a “pit bull” laying peaceful with a litter of mice. Judging a dog by it’s breed it just like judging a person by the color of their skin, which I wouldn’t be surprised to hear someone like yourself do. If you did research, you’d find that MOST studys find the most aggressive dog breed to be a DACHSHUND not a pit bull. If you’re not going to do real research, at least Google these types of things before you decided to make an idiotic comment on the internet.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Most stories here are anecdotal and have no scientific or statistical value. It is true that small breeds are far more aggressive ( fear factor) than large breeds and are more likely to bite than large dogs. However, these injuries are usually superficial; to hands,legs and feet and do not result in serious outcomes as they are made by small teeth and a less forceful bite. As far as I am aware no one has died of a Poodle bite – unless the dog was rabid of course.
This is not the case with large breeds with ‘ killer instincts’ like Pit-Bulls and Rottweilers. Most children have been killed by the dog going for the neck or the face. This is what a Pit Bull does best when they fight bulls in a fighting pit (called Bull baiting in UK-hence the name Pit- Bull)) – they go for the bulls muzzle or the neck and does not let go easily, with locking of the jaw, inflicting serious and fatal injuries. Just like the ‘ killer bite’ of a tiger or a lion.
I am sure most Pit Bulls are harmless and some even sweet and docile and the few who are aggressive have been abused or trained to be aggressive. But the fact remains that most deaths due to dog bites involve children and large breeds like Pitt Bulls account for 80% of the reported cases.
All deaths due to dog bites have to be reported and it would be extremely unlikely ‘ to go unreported’ if someone was killed by their pet Chihuahua or their beloved Yorkie.
January 11th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I just stumbled upon this site while researching a topic for my anthropology class (against the pit bull ban)and I think that anybody who thinks that a pit bull or any pit bull type dog is vicious and deadly is a fool.
I’ve been bitten in the face very close to the eye at the age of 5 by my next door neibours cocker spaniel. I was rushed to the hospital and had only one stitch but was emotionally damaged for life. I was the 6th attack the dog had made and evidently the worst. After my attack, the dog was put down because the family was expecting a new baby and they couldn’t let anyone else get hurt. The point is, this family was perfectly responsible (though I wouldn’t have put the dog down) and yet the dog still attacked. Some dogs can be born mean, or could just have certain breed temperaments.
I currently own two retired racing greyhounds (who people also think are dangerous) and they are the most lovable things in the world.
I also agree that the dogs size plays a huge part in the damage it does during an attack.
Kudos to anyone who supports and owns pitties and may your loved pit bull dogs live long, healthy and happy lives.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:37 am
If you want the real story on pit bulls, go to this link to the national canine research council and get real facts.
http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/default.asp
Never get your information from a site dedicated to the breed or against it. Never trust the media, they only tell you what sells stories. Trust government sources and official sites that actually gather facts and analyze them.
If you don’t want to do your own research, here are a few well researched facts. The funny thing is that some of these facts came from the links I found on the dog bite law site that is listed in one of the pit bull haters responses. This is not a scientific site, although it does have links to real sites. This a site created by a lawyer who specializes in dog bite cases. (Just look at the about this site info.) If you are going to do research, please be careful.
The number of fatal dog attacks is always low and has gone down in 2008 (23 fatalities nation wide). There are more dogs and people now than ever rise but dog fatalities have gone down drastically since the introduction of leash laws and animal regulations. 40 years ago only 2% of fatal attacks were caused by pit bulls and rottweilers combined. There was an age when it was the German Shepherd that had the reputation and there was a move to ban the breed. There have been years when Saint Bernards or Great Danes were the major cause of dog attack fatalities in the US. In every generation there is a new dog emerging as dangerous and it can be directly traced to whichever breed is now popular, especially among criminals.
There is one constant over the years, over 90% of dog attack fatalities are found to be the fault of the owners who train the dog to be vicious or abuse and mistreat the animal. No single breed has been shown to be more responsible than another. Look at these statistics for 1974
FATAL DOG ATTACKS IN THE UNITED STATES: 1974
Jan. German Shepherd – OK
Jan. St. Bernard – IN
Apr. St. Bernard – NY
Apr. Northern breed – AK
May Golden Retriever – NC
May Irish Setter – TX
Jun. St. Bernard – WI
Jul. German Shepherd – MD
Jul. Malamute – AK
Sept. Dachshund – NY
Sept. German Shepherd – MI
Oct. Akita – NE
Nov. Border Collie & Labrador – IL
Nov. Great Dane – NY
Yes, you saw correctly, a dachshund climbed into the crib with an infant and killed it.
Notice, no pit bull or rottweiler related deaths in 1974. From 1979 to 1980 there was not a single rottweiler related fatality in the US. From 1993 to 1998 rottweilers caused the most fatalities.
The media really helps to creates scares since many attacks reported to be pit bulls are reported by eye witnesses who mistake one of the 30 look alike breeds for a pit bull. It’s not news to be wrong, so you never see a correction of breed in the news. Many attacks reported as “family” dogs are actually dogs that are abused and tied up without food. These are not family dogs but resident dogs. They may live there but they are not a part of the care or love of a family.
Attacks are most often caused by male dogs that have not been neutered. Only breeders or show dogs have a reason to not be neutered. Most dogs, especially high energy dogs like pit bulls, will not lose their love for life if they are neutered.
I’ve owned both a pit bull and a pit bull boxer mix. Both allowed children to abuse them to the point of pain and, in one case, damage to the hips. (We caught the kids holding the dog’s hind legs and using her as a wheel barrow.) I have had two of the children that abused our dogs bitten in the face by Cocker Spaniels, one requiring plastic surgery. As my husband sat in the emergency room with our 2 year old he noted that on the reported bite list Labs were number one, the cocker spaniel was number 3 and the pit bull was number 9.
Pit bulls are a favorite to use as therapy dogs because of their docile nature and the fact that they have a high pain threshold so that children aren’t in danger of causing the dog to feel threatened. Our present pit bull lets my uncle’s Boston Terrier chase him around the house and cowers and pees if we yell at him too loud. He was a rescued stray. Another interesting fact is that all except one of the abused dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s fighting organization was rehabilitated. Many are family pets with small children or therapy dogs. Some even peacefully share their new families with other dogs.
The Dutch government recently lifted their pit bull ban when they discovered that it made no difference to the amount of dog attacks and bites.
Do you really want to get mad? Read about how people torture these and other dogs by pouring gas on them and lighting them on fire, cutting off their paws then dumping them in a drop box. Tie them with a chain as a puppy, never play with them, rarely feed them and don’t change the collar size until the chain cuts into their neck and eventually kills them. The list is endless. And you wonder why these dogs might attack someone.
You can hate the breed if you want, but please be educated and stop spreading misinformation.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:57 am
There is NO such thing as a “dangerous breed”! These dogs are NOT bad dogs. There are no “bad dogs”, only bad owners!
Properly trained and socialized APBTs are wonderful pets and NOT AGGRESSIVE by nature.
If the dog is aggressive it is the OWNER’S fault, NEVER the dog’s.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:32 am
[...] find my sleeping dogs to be a very peaceful sight. My Pit Bull curls into a tight little ball of dog after turning circles in her bed. My Dogue De Bordeaux will [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
[...] the bill, those who own dogs classified as Pit Bulls, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers or American Bulldogs (or those that [...]
January 27th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I’d just like to point out the recently departed president’s adorable terrier bit a reporter. Are Scotties now going to be on the ban list? Any dog can bite, but few dogs are predetermined attackers. Most often they do what they’re asked to do by their humans (not implying the prez asked Scooter to eat the reporter, but not saying it’s not possible, either…). Pitbulls were originally used as nannies because they’re loyal and protective. Those characteristics will make a dog a good fighter *if that’s what is asked of it.* Look at Best Friends and all the Vicks dogs; in an environment that expects respect and getting along, the dogs are succeeding, because that’s what is asked of them. The whole thing is just silly. Basic high school logic class should tells us “All men are humans, but not all humans are men.” Same concept.
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:53 am
It’s easy to tell when people are uneducated about things. Virtually everyone who has a problem with Pit Bulls describes them as “large breed” animals. They’re medium-sized dogs. The breed standard for an APBT is 30-60 pounds. My dog falls in at 40 pounds (full grown).. certainly not the huge, dripping-fanged monster everyone seems to associate with Pit Bulls. She’s actually quite small. It’s just sad how many people voice their opinions without even looking into the subject first.
I don’t want to point fingers, but lakshman’s comment was particularly interesting to me. lakshman, every dog has a “killer instinct.” This isn’t exclusive to Pit Bulls or Rottweilers. That is a trait of the canine species called “prey drive” and in actuality, MOST animals possess it. Pit Bull’s don’t have locking jaws.. they have the same type of jaw as any other dog. Their bite pressure may be higher than some other dogs, but it’s less than a human’s.
And P. Rickey, I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s son. That is absolutely horrifying and my heart goes out to the parents. However, if more people would educate their children on how to treat an animal (especially a potentially dangerous animal like a dog), there would be far less bites. Barking at a dog while backing it into a corner is certainly threatening behavior. Dogs are good learners, but they don’t understand everything we do- even if it’s a joke. That doesn’t mean the dog wasn’t gentle under normal circumstances- it means the dog felt scared and threatened and reacted to that.
In any case, breed bans and even ordinances don’t work. Generally speaking, vicious dogs are harbored by abusive, neglectful owners- most of which have already been charged with crimes. They’re criminals and criminals don’t obey laws. They are not going to pay attention to the breed bans. Legislation needs to focus on punishing those who have trained the dog to be mean.. and ENFORCE those laws with fines and (in a perfect world) jail time. Only then will you see a decrease in dog attacks.
February 8th, 2009 at 7:02 am
[...] pretty obvious this Pit Bull is kid friendly! For tips on making your children dog friendly, check out this [...]
February 10th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I firmly believe that Pitbulls are more dangerous than most breeds. My reasoning is that you should look at what brought this breed into existence in the first place. Beagles were bred for hunting and nearly all instinctively hunt. Border Collies that have never seen livestock ever in their lives will instinctively circle a flock of sheep, and a Terrier will instinctively go after vermin. These behaviors are all hereditary after countless generations of selectively breeding for the desired traits. Again: what was the original task and purpose of the Pitbull? A docile member of the breed is really not a good indicator of the overall characteristic behavior of the breed as a whole. Thank you.
February 17th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I have a two year old pitbull and she is the most gentle loving dog I have ever had or seen no matter what breed. I also just bought two pitbull puppies and they are the cutest little things. My adult pit bull is so great with them she has taken them right under her wing as if they were her puppies. I am a true believer that it’s all in how you raise a dog no matter what breed it is. I have only ever owned pit bulls and would never change my babies for anything they are the best. You couldn’t ask for a better dog then mine.
February 18th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
My daughter got a pit bull who had been shot and left for dead. i begged her to not take in this killer. she however did. fallon never held a hard feeling to anyone or anything in this world. She had a beautiful litter of pup and my youngest daghter adopted a male (Hoss). He came to our homes four years ago at 2 days old. He lives with myself two kids and to prize doxi. I know he would put his life on the line for me and mine. I would do no less for him. He has no idea people fear him. We have never shared that terrible human behavior with him. He loves everyone and everything.He growls at times but so does the doxies. He is a dog.He acts and behaves no different that his k-9 family here.
February 20th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I HAVE OWNWD PITBULLS FOR OVER 16 YEARS. BEFORE THAT I HAD ALL DIFFERENT KINDS OF DOGS MUTTS AND PUREBRED. THE PITTS STOLE MY HEART. WE HAVE 2 RESCUED ONES CURRENTLY. WE ALSO HAVE THREE OTHER DOGS. WE HAVE 5 HOUSECATS AND CHICKENS. THE PITS GIVE ME NO TROUBLE AT ALL. THEY EAT ALONGSIDE THE OTHER ANIMALS NO PROBLEMS. ALL 5 DOGS GET THEIR BONES TOGETHER NO PROBLEM. THEY ARE LOVABLE LOYAL AND MOST OF THE TIME BIG BABIES. ANYDOG RAISED WRONG CAN BE A PROBLEM. I SAY THE OWNERS OF SUCH DOGS BE FINED HEAVILY AND NOT ALLOWED TO EVER OWN ANOTHER DOG. DRASTIC MEASURES NEED TO BE TAKEN. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE MY PACK TYPE IN GRANITE CITY PET HOSPITAL IN ST. CLOUD MINNESOTA THEN PET GALLERY. OURS SHOULD BE THE FIRST PHOTO. ANYONE WANTS TO TALK PITS I WOULD LOVE TO LISTEN E-MAIL ME cheryl.bird@att.net.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
[...] and Keyra, two American Pit Bull Terriers enjoy posing for the camera in these [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I just have to weigh in on what I’ve read.
To respond to those who say that Pitts have a “killer instinct’: Yes, they do. All dogs do. The house dog is descended from the wolf, which is a predatory animal. Interestingly, so does the other animal we most commonly share our homes with: the house cat, which is one of the most efficient killers in the animal kingdom!
To answer those who cite the purpose for which Pitts were bred: yes, they were bred to fight. Most large- breed dogs were in fact originally bred for “violent” purposes, either to attack intruders (Dobermans, Rottweillers, Mastiffs,etc) or for “bull- baiting”, such as boxers and bull dogs, or to trap and even kill other animals(hunting dogs like the fox hound, greyhound or even most terriers!) I beleive that many of these dogs can become dangerous not only from outright cruelty, but from an owner’s failure to understand the dog’s background and characterisics and train it properly. Early training and socialization is the key for any dog; you can’t leave them tied outside and expect them to be reliable dogs.
And guess what the number one breed for dog bites reported in the US was for several years running? The vicious Golden Retriever!
March 12th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
So pitbulls, are a very contriversal breed. Im 15 and just came onto the pitbull v. USA scene. And i wonder, if the AMERICAN pitbull terrier is in danger of being banned then whats next? Apple pie?
we freaking bred them into what they are so if we have a problem then hello lets be smart and do as every dog trainer would tell you to, and try to help these dogs by using compassion, not a needle. So i wonder where will our ignorant fellow Americans take us next… stay tuned for the update!
March 30th, 2009 at 8:29 am
I own two pits and a shih tzu, and they are everything to me. I believe every dog has the potential to be dangerous my shih tzu is more dominate then both my pits. We shouldn’t stereotype towards a entire breed because of bad ownership. If you put a lab in the situation where pits are often put in, I’m sure the results would be rather similar. If pits were given loving families things would be a lot different. But because of people who are out there for bets these dogs have to pay for it? If you want to talk statistics then you should know that it is more likely for someone to die in a RV accident then by dog bite. If this pathetic law passes, I’m sure one day we’ll all end up having goldfishes as pets. And soon enough labs would probably be the next bad thing. Come on now, change is possible, but it doesn’t have to take away our rights in owning a dog or a breed of dog.
March 30th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I have read through much of the discussion from recent all the way back to 2007. I am an owner of 2 pitbulls and recently a rottweiler that we lost to cancer. My husband and I are pit bull advocates and I read, blog and research as much as I can to defend and educate for a species that can’t for itself. I don’t know how many times I read that this breed was bred to fight… that much is true. They were originally bred and used for entertainment purposes as bull baiters. Once this was proved to be inhumane, people started fighting them against each other for sport. More breeding was done to make these animals fierce, strong, loyal but not aggressive towards humans. This enabled a dog fight to be going on and for the dogs owner to be able to reach in and not be bitten. These dogs had such love and loyalty for their owner that they would die fighting because they knew that made their owner proud and that is what was being asked of them. In almost every breed of dog, the most desirable trait is loyalty to their owner, however, the pit bull breeds have been taken advantage of throughout history and their loyalty has been used against them. As a pit bull advocate I am ashamed of my fellow mad at what we can do to an animal. What kind of pain and anguish we can make an animal suffer through. I spent time as a Humane officer and saw my share of animal cruelty. Never in my time as an officer or investigator did I ever meet an aggressive pit bull. I met many scared, discarded, mistreated and misrepresented pit bulls that required some TLC and they were able to rejoin society. However, as an advocate, it is my responsibility to state that a pit bull should never be left alone with another dog or small child. It should not be trusted to not get in a fight with another animal. It should not be trusted not to bite someone or something. I say this not because it is a pit bull but because it is an animal first and a pit bull second. All animals will act on instint. If scared or provoked they may bite. Unfortunetly, too many times I have seen pit bulls blamed for things that they probably did not do and I have seen news papers blow stories up on the front page to seem as if a massacre occured when a minor bite happened. All the while knowing that if the bite had been from a lab, the story would have never made it to the paper, maybe not even the authorities. I have received many calls during my time as a officer/investigator regarding to ‘vicious pit bull attack’ and when I would arrive it wouldn’t be anything close to a pit bull. This is a big problem that leads me to my next issue with statistics. Statistics are great, but they are not always correct. Many agencies don’t report correct information because they don’t have it. Police stations for instance receive numerous pit bull, rottweiler, german shepard calls,etc. calls yearly when these dogs aren’t even the culprits. Why? People are finding that if they say that a scary breed is running vicious and loose then men with guns will come running. The call is logged as a pit bull, rottweiler,etc. and statistics show these breeds responsible. DNA testing does not occur and therefore any dog can be portrayed as a vicious breed and the blame usually lies with pit bulls. We all know where the Pit Bull breed came from. We all know they are still used in the underground dog fighting, however, more than ever we need to help this breed in a positive way. By shedding light on the people who bring so much hurt and horror to this breed will put the blame where it belongs. The dogs only do what they were manufactured to do. We need to placing blame on the irresponsible breeders and making in more difficult for them to continue to breed these animals that clearly have a rocky future. Pit bulls have a rought past and a dire future but have proven that they CAN and ARE able to co-exist in society. With positive reinforcement and less negative whipping on breed, I think we can move the breed forward to help us all. If we can all live together, our children will be safer, our parents and grandparents will be safer, and we will have peace at mind that these dogs have loving homes and not a chain in some dirt ridden yard. People wonder why these dogs can get so mean…well, I ask you to paint a picture. These are fad breed. To have one is to be someone in certain ‘clicks’, so you pay $50 for pit bull puppy. However, you can’t afford adequate care, shelter, food, nor do you necessarily know how to care for a dog. So, the dog is chained up in the back yard with a dish of food and water (which is spilled constantly due to the chain knocking it over), desperatly cold in the winter and hot and pestered by flies in the summer. Not a lot of affection is remembered. Very lonely life. No walks, no companions, no honest love…very confused. I have to ask, was that picture very pleasant.? I don’t care if you are a pit bull or a poodle- you can’t be pleasant if your life was started and spent like that. Again, during my work through the Humane society, I can into contact with a lot of animals whos life was that picture above. They may not have been physically beat (although some where), but they where emotionally and mentally beat down because they weren’t socialized or allowed the life that all creatures should be given.
My last comment is to anyone who is currently showing a pit some love! They all deserve it and we deserve theirs in return!!! There is nothing better than a big Pit Bull kiss at the end of a long hard day….someone once said that dogs are a wonderful part of your life, however, they are just on loan to you for a short time. So enjoy them as much as you possibly can and don’t forget to spoil em’ every once in a while!!!
March 30th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
P.S. I also want to voice my distaste for those who BUY puppies. Not only is this bad for pit bulls because it continues the cycle of breeding and too many of a species, but there are too many DOGS period. The fact that shelters and humane societies exist is proof of that. Adopt a pet. Not only are you saving an animal, but you are also stopping a breeder from causing over-population and over-breeding(different things).
June 18th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
i have a 3yr old pit an a pekingnese an a yorkie i love them all but my pit is very special to me he is a very loving caring dog an he jst wonderfull
in the past i have been chased by pit bulls once when i was 7yrs old whitch made me be very fearfull of all dogs then when i was 16 after that i decided i needed a good friend by my side so for a birthday my friend gave me my first pitbull she was wonderfull but she didnt like men at all an it was a problem.i had to give her away to my friend because i moved from a house to a apartment so then i had a 2nd pit bull who was BIBO my 3yrd old pit me an my husband bought him when he was 2month old he has been a great pet and i don’t know why some pit bulls r a lil agrrasive then other but i think it has to do with the way u treat them because my previous pit she hated men because the boys from the block use to tont her pook her and throw things i belive its the own americans that made the dogs mean im sorry but if some one bothers me hits me i will attack also…
July 7th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
okay first off … if there were an uprising in red cars hitting people would you ban red cars? NO! do you have any idea how many people die a year due to smoking? have we banned them yet no … do you know how many people and children a year are attacked by golden retreivers and labs? i bet you dont … if you are abusive and treat your animal that way, they are going to grow up to be violent as well, just like if you raise your child to be violent by abusing and neglecting it, it grows up messed up. You people are listening to TOOOO many statistics and watching WAYYY to much TV … grow up .. maybe go down to the shelter and meet with a pit bull first hand, and see how “mean” they really are … yea, you’ll see how loving they are, no more are pit bulls bred to fight with few exceptions … do you know why people picked them to fight and bred to fight? because of their loyalness and eagerness to please, you could beat,stab and starve your pit bull and they would kill to save your life just because they want to please their master, and thats why people pick them, for every one pit that attacks someone there are 10,000 more than wont and dont, all of you people are honestly retarded, you would have to be to say the things that i have just read … open your eyes and minds and shut your mouths, my god … learn the truth before you speak the damn lies.
August 11th, 2009 at 4:52 am
i think you are doing a wonderful thing
August 11th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
i really think that people need to stop judging pit bulls by there breed. give them a chance. if there raised in nice,good homes they will most likely turn out right. please just stop judging.
August 15th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
For those of you who think these dogs are evil and bloodthirsty, I don’t ask that you own one. That’s a huge commitment. Please just go to your local humane society and meet one. Just give one a chance. It might lick your face til you’re soggy, but it’ll steal your heart too.
They’re beautiful, loving dogs whose primary goal in life is to please their human. Too many horrible people have abused that love, and led their adoring dogs to cruel deaths. They don’t deserve to ruin the reputation of the entire sweet breed, too.
August 23rd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
[...] a purpose. It demands a dialog about the realities of dog fighting and the cruelties that face Pit Bulls on a daily [...]
August 30th, 2009 at 5:53 am
It is amazing to me that some people can be so closed minded. People talk about statistics, if you think about statistics and if we when’t by them all the time then our world would come to an end. Think about it, statics show that some races of human are more apt to be murderous or drug lords then others and look at how we veiw people in general. If we all judged people the way we do with dogs then we would have alot less people in our world.
I have been an owner of a pit-bull many times over and I have never once had a problem with them. Like alot of people have said before on this website, you can train any dog to mean or very over protective (watch dog). And all the children that have been mauled by dogs, is mostly because kids without knowing what they are doing are being mean to the dogs on the other side of the fence by taking a stick and running it against the fence, throwing rocks at them or just taunting them. After dealing with that day after day, how would you feel? I have known labradores,(one of the most known family dogs) to be aggressive but that doesn’t mean that they are all like that. So with all this being said, no matter what dog you have, just like any person, every dog has there breaking point. Just dogs are animals that take a little longer to reach that point.
September 6th, 2009 at 5:24 am
first off i just want to say ive had my pit for 12 years and in all the time ive had her shes been nothing but the greatest, she grew up with my pug and she always thought she was his size wanting to be on your lap. i have lots of young cousins that would play with her and shes never shown aggression toward anyone! not even to our gardner that comes in our backyard where she is during the day, the worst that she can do is lick them and turn around so they can scratch her back. but i do gotta say she’s a terrible watch dog only cause if someone was to break in through our backyard or house she would either run or greet them with kisses, but i do love her strong bark! i would and do recommend pit bulls to lots of families that inquire about them. they are all around great dogs!
so for anyone to say that this breed is a “ticking time bomb” is an uneducated fool! you may know all the statistics and so forth, but until you have actually own a pit and experienced their loving nature please do the society a favor and keep your closeminded mouth shut!
oh and by the way those little babies in that picture are not any type of dog they are either baby mice or rats!
thanks
September 6th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I have been caring for my brothers friends pit bull and honesty he’s the most well behaved dog I have ever met. When playing with my sisters dog, a Golden Retreiver whose 1 and loves to play bite, he’d like her and that was all. Yes Pit bulls we’re bred origanlly for fighting, so were mastiffs, and akita’s, and many other breeds. The fact that my Golden/Lab mix is more likely to attack someone then Opey (the pit bull). I believe how a dog behaves is soley due to owner and horrible breeding when people want agressive dogs. I’ve seen a collie(looked just like lassie) who attack someone just becouse she was walking infront of the house. My dog was attack be a border collie mix too. I guess if Pit’s have to go then it’ll only be a matter of time before Goldens and other popular lovable breeds are used for fighting and they will have to go too. People are quick to judge and not listen to the otherside. Have you even noticed most dogs that attack have had owners who TRAIN them to be that way? These attacks out of the blue are crap. Any abused dog would attack if being taunted too. Which I’m sure in quite a few cases they kids where taunting the dog. But they won’t tell you that in the news. Pit bulls and all other dogs being jugded should not be. Cause guess what? People kill, and rape children too but they don’t get the death pently. Not unless it’s an extreme case. I see no reason to destory the whole breed, yes the ones that attack maybe should BUT only if it was a random attack and not someone trying to brake into their home. (Yes if someone tried to brake into your house and you don’t have a beware of dog sign even of it was a Golden that bite them the dog could be put to sleep. Even though it was trying to protect it’s home and family.) All my favorite breeds of dog’s happen to be the “bad ones” why? Cause they really are just big babies most of the time and wouldn’t hurt a fly. It’s how people train and raise their pets. Yes sometimes a dog can be aggressive just because of breeding but thats not to often the case.
P.S. I know a pomerainian who bit someone should they start destroying and outlawing them too?
September 6th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I just want to pass along a quick story that happened to my dog the other day to show what the media and ignorant jerks who run their mouths about things they know nothing about cause. My wife, my dogs and our foster dog had been at the lake and were packing them up in our SUV. As we put them in we take them off leash so we don’t get pulled into the car. Anyway we were putting our last dog in our Blazer and some idiot drove down in his golf cart with his dogs running off leash in front of him. Our female 28lbs Staffordshire bull terrier (who we had just adopted and used to be our foster) she is still learning but, has never had a mean bone in her body. When we brought her home she immediately made friends with our male Stafford and female Boxer. She even cuddled with our cats on the first night and has gotten along great with every dog, person and cat she has met even a ferret. She loves to meat new dogie friends and is very eager to do so. She got away from me at the last second and ran up to one of the off leash dogs that was 3 times her size and sniffed his rear and began to play with him and a stick she picked up. She and our other dogs had just got done using the same stick. the other dog got a hold of the other end of the stick and they started to play tug of war. I was jogging over but, saw no reason for alarm and thought how neat that 2 dogs that just met could get along right away and that if any Pit bull haters saw this they might rethink their opinion. I was dead wrong. I saw the owner of the off leash dogs pick up a large log and go towards my little Staffy w/ it. I began to run. As soon as my dog saw the man with the log she cowered and let go of the stick. I watched the man pause but, he then raised the log and clubbed her across the back. I was sprinting by then and got to her in time to stop the second blow that glanced off my shoulder and then I picked her up. I yelled at the man that what he just did was animal abuse and he retorted no what your dog did to mine was abuse. I then told him that all he saw was breed and in actuality it was 2 dogs playing who just met. I could see the expression on his face as he realized his mistake but, instead of apologizing he went off on me with the usual “those type of dogs” crap and said if I wanted to call the police to make sure to tell them his name is Blank (I knew who he was because his family owns our local paper and owns a lot of land, plus he has been our neighbor for 8 years. his paper was also the biggest supporter of the BSL that we beat, so I should have realized he was a known Pit bull hater.) I let him know who he was doesn’t matter and the only thing that does is that he just abused a dog for Obviously PLAYING with his dog and then asked if my dog was a lab or something would he have bludgeoned her or would he have thought how nice that 2 dogs who just met can get along right away or did he just see breed. He then finally said “Perhaps”. I guess that was his pompous way off staying out of trouble and sort of admitting his mistake with out loosing to much face. I want to add that I had checked our Little dog over during all this and she seemed fine. we took her to the vet and she only received a large bruise that didn’t seem to bother her. she is in very good health and has no long term problems from this. Thanks to me stopping him fro beating her to death. I was sickened by this incident and he accomplished his goal by scaring us with his family name, so even though our vet and everyone I know wanted us to report it I never did except to our home owners association who all love our dogs and know their character. I also reported it to the head of our Humane society that we foster for. I sent the man a bunch of materials about the true pit bull and several websites. I have heard nothing back, not even an apology and this happened more than a month ago. We thought we were 1,000 times more careful than the average dog owner and have many many years of exp. with “Pit bull” type dogs but, now we know we had to step it up to 10,000 times more careful to not only have our dogs as good examples of the breed but, to protect them as well. I just felt I needed to pass this on to show that all the lies and myths out about this wonderful breed can cause people to hallucinate and see even the most benign thing a “Pit bull” type dog does as viscous. We are still afraid to go to the lake that is just in front of our house less than 45 ft at any normal time and always check to see if anyone is there. If there is we turn around and leave.
September 26th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Please tell me, what is the litter of animals? Is it mice??
thank you
September 27th, 2009 at 9:40 am
It’s a litter of baby rats.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Pit bulls and Rottweilers and their mixes are the most popular breeds in our country. A more realistic statistic would be the percentage of pets owned in the breed or # per 1000. This is just spitting out numbers to impress yourself.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:00 am
MICAH- if that would have happened to me and my dogs I don’t think I could have held my fist and foot back from his face and groin! for real. me and my boyfriend just moved and we have three pits and three of my neighbors which one of them is also a distant family member have threatened to shoot my dogs. my dogs got out of the fence and were running around the neighbor hood not hurting a thing just checking it out and i wake up to people yelling at my dogs i go outside and my neighbor says you better get your F’n dogs and if I see em again i’ll shoot ‘em. it’s terrible. and I had to think about what i would do if that happened to me what if I saw it. I would go to jail my dogs are my children.
October 24th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
[...] Pit Bulls, or our Favorite Family Dog [...]
January 15th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
This is bull-crap people shoud not treat pit bulls diffrent than any other dog,just because they where bred to fight dose not mean there are not any good ones out there sitting in a kennle at a shelter!!!!!!!
February 17th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
ok i have something to say i have two pit bulls and one rottweiler they are the best dogs i have ever had but our rottweiler and one of our pitts are dog aggresive but not so mean we cant take them any were some times they might growl at another dogs but thats all are other pitt is the sweatist thing and so are all of my dogs. yes they are protective but have never attacked anyone and never will. we always go into petsmart and the frist thing people think is that there mean and ask if they bit.also they will never let there kids near them, no matter what we say. it makes me mad everone thinks there so mean. this is the only dog im going to have anymore. the only reason you hear about those attacks is beacuse people fight them they get out and they attack people. so what im saying is that its how people treat them. what you hear on the news, its not really them. well i really hope i changed some peoples opinans out pitts because there really good dogs and if you still dont like them then i guess you can think what you want but alot of people dont agree. one more thing did you know more than 85% of the unided states own pit bulls.
February 17th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
ok dogs dont know there size look at all the little dogs that are mean if your going to talk about pitts then you might as well talk about chuauas (spelled wrong) because like i said dogs dont know there size
February 21st, 2010 at 12:50 pm
thank you numberonepitbull
February 21st, 2010 at 3:01 pm
I at one time was one of them people who was scared to death of pitbulls. after years of my husband bugging me and meeting his friends pit i caved in. it was the best decision of my life. I am now the proud owner of two pits. Zeus who is 7 and Laiah who is 2. I have never had such loyal dogs in my life. They are very protective over us but defends us with barking not attacking. They live with a husky, a chihuah and cats. The chihuah is more aggressive then the pits. I am so tired of people giving the dog the bad name instead of the owners. any dog can be mean or nice it is all in how they are raised and loved. Pits are known to be owner pleasers, so if you have someone telling them good dog for fighting another thats what they will do. i live by the quote ” ban the deed, not the breed”.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
I’ve met so many pit bulls, including therapy–yes THERAPY dogs and I’ve never met a mean one. Additionally, I used to go to the local animal shelter every thursday and pet every dog, (many of whom were bully breeds or pit mixes), and wouldn’t you know it, although I stuck my fingers in every cage, I was NEVER bitten. In fact, the only dog bit I’ve ever received in my life was from a Golden Retriever. (I still love Goldens, I own one). Like so many have said before, please don’t judge the breed, judge the deed.
March 17th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
If we all judged people the way we do with dogs then we would have alot less people in our world
March 19th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
might growl at another dogs you who
March 21st, 2010 at 8:05 am
[...] A nose-centric shot of my own 9-year-old Pit Bull. [...]
May 6th, 2010 at 8:03 am
[...] smiling Pit Bull puppy looking for a home at PAWS [...]
May 11th, 2010 at 3:38 am
i dont think there is anything wrong with having a pit bull as long as its raised properly in a loving home then its is just as good as any other dog
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:02 am
[...] small behind-the-scenes look at “Sharky the Pit Bull” – aka the Pit Bull that loves chicks (and many other animals [...]
June 9th, 2010 at 8:01 am
[...] My Pit Bull is *just* like this Rotty! She won’t lie on the ground without a blanket! [...]
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:29 am
[...] Pit Bull is enjoying some live music as she plays and cools off in a ground based [...]
July 1st, 2010 at 4:37 pm
[...] Specific Legislation acts being brought forward in more and more areas across the country, dogs like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers and other “scary” looking breeds are in danger of [...]
July 7th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
I adore my pitbull he is an inside dog. He loves cuddleling with you when falling asleep. He is adorable and very playful and friendly. We need good owners to put a good example of what a pitbull dog really is.
August 10th, 2010 at 7:02 am
[...] An orphaned calf finds an unlikely guardian in a Pit Bull. [...]
August 14th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Regarding Angela’s comment: “If we wait to judge every dog on it’s individual behavior as you suggest then we wait until someone is seriously injured or killed. That should not be an option.”
I had to enjoy that comment insofar as its complete and utter idiocy made me laugh harder than failblog has in quite a while.
Angela, you ARE aware that, following your logic, all people should be considered dangerous because of a few seriously flawed individuals, like Hitler or Stalin. The depths of their atrocities are so extensive, no dog could ever fathom such cruelty. So what do you do in that kind of situation? When one individual agent could kill MILLIONS?
@ Linda: While the breed was created to fight bulls and bears initially, human aggression was NEVER tolerated in the breed. Terriers as a WHOLE are generally tenacious and loyal dogs, very attentive to their handlers and willing to please (although their intelligence sometimes gets them labeled as “stubborn.”) I can’t even tell you how many Golden and Labrador Retrievers I’ve met who were terribly unstable – the breeding pool has become WAY too shallow, the breed is being overbred and people are making the same mistake you are: thinking that, due to their dog’s breed, they can predict any and all potential behavior.
A Golden Retriever sent my dog to the emergency room – 28 stitches to the face. No, my dog was not provoking the GR – he was sniffing a bench and went to pee (not mark, but relieve himself) on it in the dog park. The GR’s owner was KICKING his dog in the head (after vocal commands, physical attempts (i.e. pouring water over his dog’s face), etc all failed) and it took over 2 minutes to get his dog off of mine.
Just the other day, a Labrador (not neutered) was brought into the dog park. As a regular attendee (almost daily M-F for an hour after a 3 mile walk), this dog hadn’t been to the park for months (the owner confirmed the dog hadn’t been in such a setting since the previous summer) and was completely unsocialized. Within 20 minutes, the dog had a small terrier (a Cairn mix, I believe) by the throat.
So, to all the Angela and Lindas of the world: I know you can’t fix stupidity like a flat tire, but perhaps you should educate yourselves to even the most minimal extent before making comments like those you’ve made. At best, you look woefully misinformed and happily ignorant. But to think that all dogs can be categorized on certain attributes not related to individual temperament is beyond overly simplistic – it’s idiotic. And such generalizations are the cause of many negative incidents. A Pomeranian killed a child in 2001. Many Labs and Lab mixes (not mixed with APBT) have been involved in fatal incidents with people.
To use your logic: women are dim (and, before you start voicing your outrage, I AM a woman). Both parties are showing flawless idiocy and the only common trait is that both are female, therefore females are stupid (that’s using your logic, not my own).
Mandate responsible ownership of ALL breeds. You need a license to operate a car, you should need the same to handle a dog. Both are great if you know how to operate them and both can do serious harm if you don’t. Both should be treated as a privilege, not a right.
So, in sum, you can do one of two things: You can remain scared little ignoramuses or you can learn a thing or two.
I wish we could ban stupid people. That’d be fantastic for everyone, especially the dogs.
August 14th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Re: Angela: “In this specific case the dog has been documented by its owner as an AMERICAN PITBULL TERRIER along with a picture of what appears to be a litter of more pitbulls.This would actually be a very easy case for a prosecuter to solve which could result in heavy fines and possibly jail time.”
I actually wish I hadn’t posted my previous comment for the very reason that you are FAR more dense than I could have ever possibly imagined. If you can’t tell what kind of newborns are in that picture, you shouldn’t be anywhere near a vaguely intelligent creature (don’t worry, you-as an individual-would be exempt from that group so you’ll have your own company in addition to a few Sea Monkeys).
You don’t even know how to spell the breed name and yet you want your input about it to be taken seriously? Your blinding ignorance completely negates any and all input you feel compelled to share on this topic.
As a side note, coming from someone who has studied the law AND is going to veterinary school – you know nothing of the legal system OR dogs.
“The issue of irresponsible dog owners is actually compounded by allowing them to propagate dangerous dogs instead of having them spayed or neutered.”
Any creature that has teeth can bite. Period. Can we spay/neuter stupid people? I’d be all for that.
Is there an overpopulation problem with APBTs? Yep. There’s a HUGE overpopulation problem with all breeds of dogs and cats. I am ALL for spaying/neutering. There are millions of loving companions perishing in shelters and suffering as strays in the U.S. alone and yet people endorse the practice of bringing more into this world.
But, again, sadly it seems that you can’t fix stupid…
August 16th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I used to think Pit Bulls and pit bull mixes were bad dogs, then I met my friend’s Pit Bull/Bullmastiff mix. Max is one of the biggest dogs I have ever seen. He alone weighs more than all 3 of my dogs (100 pounds). And yet, he is gentler and better behaved than my dogs (I own two pugs and a boston terrier). My friend has raised him from a puppy (he’s now 7 years old) and she has raised him right. He is not kept chained up in the backyard but lives inside with her in her apartment. He has his own sleeping area and his dishes are kept cleaned and stocked. He is given hugs and kisses, and he goes with my friend to the store, out exercising (he pulls my friend on her bicycle!), and when our city has outdoor concerts, he accompanies her there as well. She does not need to muzzle him because he doesn’t show aggressive behavior. Now, my friend is smart about him. Sometimes children come up and pet Max, and my friend stands over Max and supervises him when that happens, just in case they startle him. He also doesn’t like male dogs that are his size or bigger, so my friend is careful in situations like that. But smaller dogs are fine.
Max is a wonderful dog, and I would hate to see good dogs like him banned because of evil, crazy, stupid owners who need to be gutted like fish. Max has been raised right, and has been well taken care of. What a lot of people don’t understand about Pit Bulls is that it’s their love for their masters that leads to bad situations like dogfighting. Pit Bulls are made to be aggressive towards other dogs, not humans. And, many Pit Bulls and other dogs that attack are antagonized by people that don’t know the first thing about dogs. If you frighten or hurt a dog, it will react, and sometimes violently. People have to be smart with dogs, and that is ever more important with Pit Bulls. They aren’t for everyone, and maybe there should be limits on the kind of person that can own a Pit Bull. But the breed itself shouldn’t be banned.