Whats the word on pit bulls?

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Every dog has it's own personality of course, but I once house sat an American Staffordshire Terrier (a kind of Pit Bull) and was offered an opportunity to adopt him; he was an extremely nice dog.

A friend of mine, who was a breeder, remarked that dogs are bred for different purposes, and Amstaffs (as they are referred to) are meant to be guard dogs: the are generally very intelligent, loyal, and protective. They are also extremely territorial and very strong, and can be aggressive if they feel that their domain is being threatened.

In the right situation, they are great dogs. In the wrong situation -- like mine -- they must be extremely well trained and controlled: I live in a city, and I frequently encounter other dogs and small children who want to spontaneously play with dogs where I can walk one or let a dog run.

The analog that hit home finally was when this friend remarked: "If you adopted a greyhound, would you honestly think you could stop him from running away if he wanted to? That's why they're always leashed."

I think Pits have gotten their reputation due more to circumstance than anything: people don't train them well and keep them in confined situations, frequently in urban areas (the shelters here are filled of Pit Bulls). But they have a genetic predisposition to certain behaviors in any case. I passed on the adoption and ended up with a Basset/Shepherd mix, who is about as docile a dog as you can imagine, if a little odd looking.

 
Just like people. Some are born crazy, some are driven there.

Best dog I ever had was a Pit.

Very friendly. But if I was not home and there was a woman in the house the only man he would let in was my Dad. My father in law could not even come in. The dog would block the door and look at you. If you tried to get past he would look at you harder :lol:

Now with two teenage daughters I REALLY miss that dog.....
 
The fault with Pit Bulls is mostly related to the owners. Having said that when a breed has been bred for fighting, some people will own a Pit Bull because they want that personality and that starts a problem. I won't own one, and I do not want my dog or myself to be around them. They are like assult rifles, it depends on who owns them. And like it or not they are here to stay.
 
Pits can be great dogs, I love them. But like has been said they are also very strong, and need to be well trained. Inbreeding, and breeding for people aggression has cause problems. Pits tend to be dog aggressive, and that is difficult to get rid of, but is possible. They usually are people protective, but not always territorial. For that reason they can often not be the best property watch dogs.

We have an English Staffy, which comes from the pit bull line. Best dog ever. We have had three pits, one american staffy. We had on pit put down as it started exhibiting people aggressive tendencies, and you just don't take chances with a dog that can actually snap bones.

rev
 
Late 60's, early 70's, I was in an obedience dog club in LA. One of our members had two pits. They were wonderful dogs to be around as were the other pits I ran into during the period. Fast forward 20 years and all you heard was how vicious pits were. Sorry, it was actually vicious OWNERS of pits, not the pits themselves. I commented, at the time, that I hoped the idiots didn't hear about Rotts. You can get a pit off the ground--and win the fight. Pretty hard to get a Rotty off the ground. Sure enough, someone told all of the idiots about Rottys. They now rank 9th most popular dog in America. Shameful. Americans have done a fine job of ruining several breeds of dogs--by making them "popular." Short list--Collies, Cocker Spaniels, Irish Setters, Dobies...etc. Using Cockers as an example, I have a wonderful old dog training book titled "Gun Dog Training with Elias Vail." He was a very famous gun dog trainer in the 30's-50's. One pic shows 4 Cockers--3 of them were Dual Champions with obedience titles, the 4th was a champion with a UDT degree. Since about 1955 there has not been a dual Cocker and probably never will be one again. Rotts were wonderful companion dogs, until someone decided to turn them into monsters. If you look at the standard, most of the Rotts you see today are over-standard--they could not be shown as Rotts. We now have vicious Rotts, with bad hips and other problems. I have a pit living across the street. He is a cutey! The kids wallow all over him. He's a saint of the Pit world. I have met few "bad" dogs that didn't get that way because someone MADE them bad--and probably bragged about it, too.
The problem is everyone wants to make a buck off of their dogs. You paid good money for the dog, you want to recoup it. Say, your dog is not a great specimen (according to the standard) and he has a few little personality quirks--maybe not bad ones, but... You run into someone who has the same breed. You have a male, they have a female...hey, let's make puppies--we can make money!! The bitch is, perhaps, not a great specimen, and she has quirks, too. So, you breed your, not very good, dog, to their, not very good, dog, and you get a littler of...not very good pups. And guess what? The quirks, say a tendency to be a little too sharp attitude-wise, have been multiplied. You sell the pups. You don't care what they turn out like--you made money!!! You're happy. The pups all have personality PROBLEMS. Guess what? The owners all breed their semi-idiots to other semi-idios and produce MONSTERS. I knew a fellow that produced a litter of 10 pups. He was thrilled! The money he was going to make!!! The pups killed each other--by their 6th week!! That's "the American way" to breed dogs.
I've always been proud that the breeds I really like have never gotten popular. So, the breeders all have an interest in producing GOOD dogs.
I think this was a bit of a rant, wasn't it?
 
Any negativite interaction with a dog breed leads back to a human.

I've been bit by: two Pomeranian, a miniature Schnauzer, a chihuahua, a "min-pin," and a schipperke. None serious, mostly ankle stuff (and once on the hand when I reached down and didn't see the dog). Why was this? They were all the "toys dogs" of someone's girlfriend or wife. They were coddled, ill-behaved, totally out of control fashion accessories. They didn't know they were dogs. I was once bit accidentally by a rottweiler that was playing too rough. His tooth caught the inside knuckle of my left thumb. I was bleeding pretty bad. When he realized what had happened, he layed so low in the grass (so as not to be seen) and had the most pathetic look on his face...I sat on the grass some distance away putting pressure on my thumb, and he crawled, just as low, right up to me and put his head on my lap and looked up at me. Dogs can apologize, which means if they don't, they weren't taught how to be cool. The fact we fail so often with dogs, blaming the dogs first, of course, furthers my concern when I see people with their human pets: or as they should know them, kids. :|

Pits have been wonderful to me. Delicate, smart, strong, warm-hearted. They play hard, and love intensely. They need a firm hand and a good leader...too many times have I seen people being walked by them, rather than the other way around. :lol:

I also hate the fact I'm so deathly allergic to dogs. :(

 
Four simple words:
Obamacare for pit bulls...
Isn't about time, people?
 
Harlock999":1md82su9 said:
Four simple words:
Obamacare for pit bulls...
Isn't about time, people?
Click to expand...
...what an un-P.C. racist thing to say about pitties...they don't choose their owners! :p :lol!:
 
if you are a homeowner you need to check with your insurance carrier as they will likely drop you. also, a lot of area's are zoning against them. I agree 99% percent of the problems associated with them are owner related.
 
Sure is a tidy way for more legislation, control, insurance premium increases and other ways of making money via a community mislead by emotional "what-if" ignorance, though. Fortunately, Reno is filled with happy pit bulls...meanwhile, who's gonna save my ankles from angry toy poodles? :lol:

8)
(wearing snake boots...everywhere)
 
Rob, I barely made it through...thanks to my, then, wife. She was a better trainer than me. I was an assistant to one of the greatest dog trainers--ever. Howard Cross. Man, could he train a dog. In AKC obedience shows for a novice dog, competing for a CD, the point scale is 200 max. If you score above 195 in your fist three shows, at any level, you get a Will Judy award. It's very hard to do. Back when he was showing, Howard had the distinction of being the only person to finish a dog for a CD with three scores of...200. He did it twice, two different dogs. He could train people pretty well, too. That's mainly what our club did. We trained YOU to train your dog. It was really difficult with LA people...they were often not as smart as their dog. Police departments would send people down to our club if their dog was a problem. It was us, or put it down.
 
My son was bitten by a Lab, which I thought were mostly benign.
I wasn't with him at the time it happened, which might have been a good thing.
Not sure how I would react...
But now I know that deep down, all Labs are blood thirsty killers.

Just kidding about the blood thirsty bit... 8)
 
Labs are often energetic, driven dogs that like to work or hunt. Treat it wrong, it's still teeth, fur, wants, likes, dislikes and instinct with no direction. I hear more people complain about getting bitten by a golden retriever, the gentle, blonde family dog of dreams and white picket fences. Yet that's "I got bitten by a dog," not "I got attacked by a bloodthirsty, savage, evil, designed-to-kill (insert breed here)." Victims like an identifiable antagonist--human ones do, anyway. :lol:
 
Burglars are deathly afraid of Labs & Irish Setters -- that they'll trip over them in the dark and wake the house.

:face:
 
Yak":b71uangx said:
Burglars are deathly afraid of Labs & Irish Setters -- that they'll trip over them in the dark and wake the house.

:face:
Click to expand...
Ha, my dad had an Irish Setter when I was growing up. Great dog. Actually raised me more than the parents did, often. Saved me from a large mixed breed intent on attacking me when I was about three (according to my father)...body checked the offending canine and biting its rear until it gave up.
 
Must have been one of the last of the good ones.

A friend had one back when the band was living in tourist cabins strung along some river shelf land in New Hampshire. Every morning he'd wander from his end down to visit the folks on the other end. When evening came he'd start wimpering & getting frantic because he couldn't remember how to get back home again.

He needed somebody to walk him to where he could see where he lived.

Sounds unbelieveable, but whenever people tell you they got the brains bred out of them for the sake of pretty fur, believe it.

:face:
 
"Rusty" as he was known was purchased in 1977, a year before I was born. So, pretty winning over brilliant in 35 years would not shock me in the least. It doesn't take long to breed something into or out of a genetic line.

That's why I dig mutts so much. :)

8)
 
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