Dangerous Pit Bulls

[fragtasticator]

Originally Posted by FoulRon

Point is, it's in every animal's nature to be aggressive when necessary. Unfortunately, we've bred into some dogs breed the inability to distinguish the appropriate moment.

It's a dog. It doesn't have higher order thoughts like humans. It doesn't have introspective moments like we do. It doesn't have the *capability* to distinguish an "appropriate moment". It has to be *trained* to be able to do it!

A dog is an animal. It will react as it's instincts and training tell it to.

Granted, there may be some of these dogs that have built in behavior problems but I guarantee you that very few of those dogs "just snap". 99 times out of a hundred, you, as an owner, know your dog. If you don't, then you shouldn't be an owner.

If you own a breed that has a reputation for having strong aggressive instincts, then the responsibility is on you, *as the owner* to make smart choices for the animal and *train* it to behave. Why? Because the dog cannot make smart choices for itself. This is an animal that regularly eats it's own poop and vomit, for heaven's sake!

The smartest dog on record had the intelligence of your *average* four year old child. I don't know about you, but the four-year-old kids I have met haven't been that bright.

Would you leave a four year old child in a room full of hazardous materials and choking hazards? Who would you blame if you heard hat a child had died in such circumstances? The kid? The parent?

The owner damn well knows if his or her dog doesn't like strangers or is overly aggressive, and as a result, the owner is the one responsible for putting the dog in a situation where it's bad behavior can get out of hand.

If I had a dog that I knew for a fact had a problem, I wouldn't leave it unsupervised where it might interact with others, period.

Now if my dog bites your ass while you are in my house without my permission (far more likely to lick you to death, but whatever), then he'll get a "Good boy!" from me because he's doing his job.

If on the other hand, I take him for a walk, and we happen to bump into each other, and I don't stop you from petting him and he bites your hand, then that is 100% *my fault*.

If he gets loose from the yard somehow, and bites a kid or eats a cat? Also *my fault* for not securing him better.

If you don't think being responsible for your animals is fair, then *don't get one*. Being a responsible pet owner is part of the damn deal.

You don't get to go out and bring home a pitbull, raise it for 7 years and then say "oh the dog was a bad seed, it was totally violent, had the violence in it from birth, but I never saw this coming..." when it bites someone.

Either it's bad from birth, and you should have known better than to leave it unsupervised, or the dog ever showed a sign of violence and you didn't train it for the situation, and shouldn't have left it unsupervised because you, as the owner, know it isn't trained for it.

Blaming the dogs for these events always drives me nuts.

[Gotyour6]

First it was dobermans, then German shepherds and now it is Pit Bulls.

I had a Pit and he was one of the best dogs ever. This of course is when they weren't deemed blood thirsty. His name was Buddy.

I had a doberman as well and she was a fat little thing and that was the time when they were deemed blood thirsty. Again, she was a big puppy and if you gave her the chance and about a month she would have licked you right to the bone.

[MOCHAakaMOCHA]

The APBT is my fave dog (followed by Akita then Siberian Husky).

[bojulay]

Stubby the Pit Bull was WWI's most decorated war dog.

He served in 17 battles on the western front.

He was given the rank of Sargent.

Enlisted men would salute stubby out of respect.

He once caught a german spy that had infiltrated
the allied line.

[Whispers]

I don't think there is any question that the breed has issues relating to the type of animal lit has been bread to be..... I think owning a pit should be regulated and owners required to show specific knowledge of the breed and issues surrounding it, have to prove financial responsibility in owning them to deal with their actions and be licensed to do so.... Like other wild and exotic animals....

I think the avg person owning a pit is irresponsible in doing so if they do not have the financial resources to deal with raising and caring for it properly. housing becomes more and more difficult every month to find for owners.... Often they will not disclose or try to call the dog something else. Insurance Companies are becoming more vigilant in making sure people that keep aggressive breeds are denied coverage.... Home Owners and Prospective Landlords are put at risk for allowing one on the property.

If your neighbors dachshund bites you on the hand and you go to the office with a bandage and someone asks you what happened and you say my neighbor's dachshund bit me.... you get laughed and and called a wuss.... If it was his pit you get a slap on the back and told you just won the lottery and told to find a lawyer!......

None of this is the fault of the animal....

But none of it is going to get fixed either.... It's a problem that will only continue to grow and get worse....

[jj2301]

fragtasticator said it best. IMO, insurance will change things, because they will refuse to accept risk transference. For the most part, owners can't really afford to pay for the potential damages; the dogs will likely become immensely less popular once they're uninsurable.

[gnadfly]

Originally Posted by Gotyour6

First it was dobermans, then German shepherds and now it is Pit Bulls.

I had a Pit and he was one of the best dogs ever. This of course is when they weren't deemed blood thirsty. His name was Buddy.

I had a doberman as well and she was a fat little thing and that was the time when they were deemed blood thirsty. Again, she was a big puppy and if you gave her the chance and about a month she would have licked you right to the bone.

You said you "had" these dogs. What happened to them?

"licked you right to the bone" may not be the best metaphor.

I'm always aghast at these owners who buy these big dogs and leave them locked up in their apt all day. As I posted before, they have psychological problems.