Why do so many people have problems with pit bulls?

Haha, I don't encourage them to play that way with anyone other than me. Hahaha ofcourse i have had a few bloody noses lol. If they are being to rough they go back on the lead and get positive redirection. Well that is what went on when they were puppies. The older one is as calm as it gets... Until, a deer, bear or mountain lions in sight then it's on. The younger pup is calm but, she does get a little hyped up while playing. That is why positive re direction and putting them on leash for a few to calm them down is a great training and redirection method.

 

Lol, it is called a forum. It is here to generate discussions. Sorry if you want simple one sentence answers.... I have no agenda.... I do on the other hand put truthful information out on the topic we are discussing. There is lot's of ignorance surround our breed and I will let someone know if they are being ignorant. My posts are not opinions they are instead factual information on the topic in discussion. We are on the same side here

You on the other hand seem to get a bit butt hurt when no one is targeting you. I posted a response that is all. You apparently do not like my response. My point was you can not generalize that "pit bull" type dogs do not know their own strength.
My dogs play rough too and as puppies they do not know their own strength. That is why it is important to redirect attention when young. That will teach them that too rough behavior is not acceptable. Now as they get older they shouldn't have that problem. My two apbt's play rough together to the point most bystanders would think they are fighting. But, they also play with my 10 lb dogs. But, ofcourse they know they can not be rough with them. The whole playing style changes from wrestling to being submissive and rolling around while the small dogs nibble and jump on them.
I also agreed with yoda (and you ) to an extent and mentioned I have received plenty of bloody noses from my dogs while playing... I allow them to wrestle rough with me and me only.



Well actually after continuing to read your post I realized your part of the problem... You breed these dogs? Great your no different from the rest of the back yard breeders.

I have made my point. I won't be having a discussion with you anymore.

 

From the pit bulls I've been around, their temperament comes mostly from how they were raised. Most are raised by morons so the dogs get a bad rap when it's the owners who should be more responsible. It's a status thing in the hood to have a mean pit bull....so stupid.

 

I worked in animal welfare for 8 years. As someone else remarked, ANY DOG is capable of aggression. I found American Pit Bull Terriers to be more predictable, loving, attention seeking, and intelligent than many of the other breeds I handled. From my own personal experience I am more wary of a Golden Retriever than I am of an APBT. But as many have said on here as well, rarely did we get PURE APBTs, rather they were mostly mixed breeds but because they looked bully they were automatically a "pit bull".

In the 8 years of working with many aggressive animals I've personally never been bitten by any bully. Most people don't know how to read dogs. Dogs have their own language of body signals and if you are attuned to it you can avoid many nasty scenarios. Dogs don't like a lot of what people do to them; they tolerate us hugging them, putting our face in their face, staring at them, bending over them, patting them on the top of the head, etc. Many tolerate abuse and then as soon as the dog retaliates it's off to the pound! I once witnessed a person kicking their bully mix into the building to surrender it to the facility. The dog was shitting itself it was so scared and it wouldn't move. Of course the staff intervened and reported the owner but all we had to do to get her to move was to get down on her level and talk gently. It's amazing what turning to your side, crouching down, avoiding eye contact, and pretending to yawn will do (calming signals). A dog that was trying to tear through a metal door a second ago can calm down just as quickly if you know what to do. But people don't know what to do so they expect animals to know what to do but animals are just that, animals.

Nature X nurture. I've seen both effect the outcome of an adult dog. A dog raised well and socialized might have a mental illness and become aggressive. A dog abused its whole life must learn to either fight or flight- in most cases the dog chooses to flight but sometimes it will fight, especially when it thinks it will die. Some dogs are raised to be aggressive (mostly from bad socialization and abuse). MOST dogs are good. They want to please their masters. We are the ones who let them down. We don't teach them how we want them to behave and then we give up when it becomes too much of a hassle. They go through the shelter system many times trying to find a home that will tolerate their bad behaviors and do the work the previous owner did not do. There are so many variables.

But it still comes back to the fact that ANY dog ANY breed can be aggressive. A co-worker of mine had a pure Golden go after her throat during a behavior evaluation, thankfully she had good control of the dog and it wasn't able to do much damage.

But back to bullies.... the best dog I ever fostered was a bully mix and I regret to this very day that I did not keep her. She was a stray that was full of milk but nobody ever came in to claim her. Her milk became impacted and she was in danger of death from the infection. Our vets had to keep making small cuts in her teats so that we could hot pack her and squeeze the puss out. I'd have to give her injection every morning to get her fever down after taking her temperature. Never once did she ever raise a lip, growl, or resist. She was amazing. All dogs are amazing for putting up with us.

 

Lol once again, I don't think pit bulls are all bad, but I do believe they have a behavioural trait or something in their genetics that make some of them inherently violent. Unfortunately, there was another pitbull video, and before you say that it's the owners, not the dog...

The owners were Ex-Astronaut Mark Kelly and congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUyoU-juHTk]Astronaut Mark Kelly (husband of Gabriel Giffords) Bull Dog Attacks Baby Seal - YouTube[/ame]

 

The key word here is American Pit Bull TERRIER. Pit bull terriers have a high prey drive- as do most terriers- it's what they were bred for. Even little Jack Russell Terriers adamantly chase after prey like groundhogs, squirrels, rats, and other fluffy things. Terriers were bred to seek out pests, varmints, rodents, and unfortunately humans also had them bait bulls- bully breeds. That's why it's important to keep your dog on a leash in order to be a good ambassador of the breed. You don't want accidents like this to happen. Why would they let the dog get close enough to a wild animal in the first place? They obviously didn't have control over their dog if it was able to grab a seal. Other dogs, not just APBTs have the capacity to do the same thing- they are animals and animals should always be thought of as unpredictable. Another human error was yanking the other end of the seal only to unwittingly provoke the dog to tug more. He never transferred his aggression to the people, which I've seen dogs do as well and have had it happen to me and that is scary shit. Some dog breeds, not just bullies, do not do well with other animals or other dogs. It is terrible to watch and it's not something that should have happened because he should have never gotten close enough for contact, but I can't help but wonder if they thought it would be cute to see how the dog would react to the seal pup. If that is the case, then it is the human's fault. I also have to wonder how well socialized with other animals he was and how well leash trained he was. They are strong dogs and if he didn't have good leash manners then he may have yanked his owners over to the seal- in which case they were unable to control their dog which is an owner's responsibility.

 

Oh, and just because you're an astronaut and a politician doesn't mean you make responsible owners.

 

^ great post's sarabelle!

 

I guess you can say they have it in their genetic makeup but, your missing a key point. Your not making out the differences between being a terrier breed and being aggressive. ALL terriers have a HIGH prey drive. It is up to the owner to be able to teach, train and read their dogs. I did not watch that dumb video. The owners don't stand out as good people in my book. Actually, do you see them lobbying against gun rights? All while being gun owners themselves.
If they own a APBT, they will probably fight against them too in support of BSL.
If in the video the dog goes at a baby seal, I don't see why that is a big deal. Lot's of dogs have a high prey drive. My dogs probably swim after seals in the ocean and river.

It is all about managing and knowing how to read your dog. But, they are very predictable dogs once you spend time around them.

 

Pit bulls have a very high chance if snapping compared to some dogs there are good responsible owners out there who's pit bulls one day just snap and kill another dog or a kid as a breed pit bulls are just more aggressive not saying that all pit bulls are bad but a lot of them are

 

That is just ignorant and false. You clearly either can not comprehend what your reading or you are just not reading. The American Pit Bull Terrier is actually, a very tempermentally stable breed. Your probably thinking of a pit bull mutt that has unknown ancestry and has no way to predict how it will turn out. A papered dog, is normally purebred and you can track back generations of ancestors. Sometimes up to 50+ years. This will give you an idea of how the dog will turn out. The general public (and most dog owners) do not even know what the American Pit Bull Terrier is and when thinking of a "pit bull" think of a oversized bully mutt.

I know of more untrained and "bad" golden's and labs then I do American Pit bull Terriers.
I find it ironic how ignorant some marijuana users are.

 

Wish I had time to read all the post since I last visited this subscribed thread.

In summing up the basis of my feelings, there is good and bad in all living species. There are APBT's (both full and mixed, look like) that need to be put down due to aggressive behavior. This aggression is sometimes directed at other animals and/or humans.

The final responsibility and liability lies within each owners hands. If you have never had the opportunity to read Richard Stratton's books about the breed, it is my suggestion that you do.

The APBT has been criminalized, in a sense, by people, as stated earlier that have no understanding of a dog's language. The very first APBT I owned was back in 1982. She was a lovable thing and I in my late teens, thought it was cool to play rough with her. I soon realized that if I encouraged this behavior, I was going to have some serious trouble at a later date. I stopped that and began to take her running, her behind my truck. Sometimes she would run 5-8 miles. A tired Pit is always a great Pit.

The ending of my opinion is that each of us as owners has the responsibility to teach, train and be aware of our own APBT's body language. We instruct strangers to ALWAYS let our dog warm up to them, not visa- versa. I could not imagine the horror and pain of being mauled by a pit or many pits as that two year-old in GA was on 03/30/13, by 7 pits that were considered family pets.

We can't justify this mauling. It only does more to cause contempt for our beloved breed. We as owners must do our very best to promote the breed as a stable, solid breed of canine. We do this with leashes and secure yards.

Just my $0.87 worth.

az

 

I didn't read your whole post. I'm not going to keep stating the same facts. But, you say that "need to be put down to aggressive behavior. This aggression is sometimes directed at other animals and humans."
I just need to say for the last time Animal aggression is a trait that is ACCEPTABLE in the American Pit Bull terrier. Human aggression is not. A high prey drive is common in ALL terrier breeds. That is what TERRIER is. Even jacks chase animals.

Human aggression should never be tolerated. Any dog displaying human aggression should be put to sleep asap.
My dogs are catch dogs. They hunt and take down big animals. Should they be pts. The live happily with eachother and two 10 lb dogs.
By the way apbt and mixes do not look alike. APBT is a very distinct and specific breed standards. If they don't the have faults and most likely are not a well bred example of the breed. ADBA has all the info you need on what is acceptable and what is not in this breed.

As for the baby getting mauled. Accidents happen. Whos fault is it? THE PARENTS they should never of left the dogs unattended with the baby for even a split second. This is dog training and parenting 101. There were most definitely signals leading up to the event. Clearly no one was there to pick up on it and stop it before it happened. It is not the dogs fault. But, I can guarantee like 95% of the articles the dog in question was not an american pit bull terrier. You can't blame the breed as a whole due to poorly bred mutts. There is a big difference between apbt and other bull dog breeds.

 

Click on this link for a dog temperament test study. Done for insurance purposes.

Pit Bulls Pass ATTS Temperament Test With 86.4% | Einhorn Insurance

 

I did read all of yours and enjoyed it very much. All accurate points.

Any dog, regardless of breed that is terrorizing a neighborhood by killing other animals should be put down. If the owner did not have constitutional rights, I would suggest the same for them.

You my fellow GC'er will garner more information by reading top to bottom, of every post you read.

 

Answer this from your own recollection on Pit attacks that make the evening news. What color are most of the ones who maul/attack people?

My answer is the bi-colored ones. Black and white or brown and white. That's my recollection.

 

^ I finished reading it. You do not need to be a smart ass.
I stopped due to the ignorance in the comment I quoted. I can't read ignorance towards anything especially, something that means a lot to me. But. in general I agree with what you have said in this thread. I know you weren't trying to be negative at all towards the bred as you have owned them before.

You really really misunderstand. NO animal should be out in the streets. Proper containment is a MUST as a pet owner. Even more of a serious issue with bull dogs. If your dog is not contained, you should get a second chance but after that it should be taken from your home. I did not say terrorizing neighborhoods is an acceptable trait. I said animal aggression and a high prey drive is what the breed was made for as well as other terriers.
But, if another animal of any size entered my yard, I wouldn't put it past my girls to kill it.

If a dog is not contained or off leash and attacks another animal in public I have no sympathy. The owner is at fault and sadly the dog is the one to suffer.

If you re worded it I think we would agree.
I don't support bad owners.

 

Bi and tri color. Often a brindle of some sort. Even white or fawn....
That really doesnt matter why?