As an owner of several APBT’s I take offense at the thread title. Owning a wild animal and owning a dog are 2 different things.
Thank you, CrazyCatLady. You are absolutely correct about APBT’s. And Jin, I’m sorry that you have had the experiences you have had with the breed. I can assure you that almost without exception it is always the owners fault if a pit bull is people aggressive. The only exception would be if there is actually something mentally wrong with the dog. Anyone that has owned one that attacks a person without cause is a big fucking liar when they say “I didn’t know the dog was like that”. Dogs, or at least pit bulls, (I must confess ignorance of most other breeds) don’t just “turn on you”. It just doesn’t happen. I just recently had to have one I owned put to sleep because I knew she was people aggressive. I adopted her from my vet and she was about 2. Some people had taken her to their kennel last year and just left her there. She was a very sweet dog with people she knew, although she did play a little to rough at times. It was obvious she had been abused and I tried to re-train her but it was just too late. When she almost attacked a child I had to do what had to be done. It broke my heart still the same but I knew I could never honestly say if she attacked someone that “I didn’t know she was like that”. I believe whomever owned her tried to attack train her because she seemed to respond to those kinds of commands. I’ve never had anything die in my arms before. I know I did what I had to do but it still made me cry.
I ask you though, does she look mean? Oh well, looks are deceiving. BTW- She was afraid of male dogs (something not typical of a pit bull) but would attack a man twice my size without hesitation (or provocation I must add). A responsible owner does what has to be done. Someone that owns a tiger as a pet is not a responsible pet owner
Um, I think you need to reread my post. I never said Pit Bulls were a bad breed. Or even said anything about the breed. No need to jump in and defend them. All I said was that it seems too high a percentage of people that won’t or can’t properly care for them buy the dogs. Pit Bulls have a certain “image” that comes with them. A lot of morons get the dogs just because of that. I’ve had a lot of experiences with dumb people in general - and one specifically - that buy them then bitch because they’re high-energy and can be destructive dogs (I’m talking about tearing up your house/backyard) if you don’t pay them enough attention and exercise, and unlike some other breeds have a tendency to get aggressive much more easily if they aren’t raised properly. And the dog scared me enough that even just jumping up on me, I didn’t feel safe trying to push it down because it probably could’ve bit my entire hand off if it wanted. Any animal that can maul me is an animal than can maul me. I doubt I’d have much better odds against an insane Pit Bull than an insane tiger. The only difference is that unlike the tiger, dogs function with a pack mentality, so if properly raised the dog’s much less likely to attack. But they’re both still capable of ripping my tiny ass to shreds.
And yes, IMO, the picture of the dog you linked to looks mean and I wouldn’t want to be around it, even if it belonged to someone I knew. I weigh about 100 lbs. Any carnivorous animals even coming close to half my body weight intimidate me.
I mean, if you don’t want to properly socialize a dog and run it for a mile a day, get a pomeranian, for chrissakes.
And by the same mentality as getting a tiger, I meant in the “look at me, I’m so cool, I have a dangerous big animal” bit.
-Jin
Who has two categories of animals: those that can eat me, and those that can’t.
A few months ago I met an absolute sweetheart of a pit bull at a pet store. She loves kittens. And not for breakfast! Plus she likes people. I was relieved to see one with an owner who isn’t trying to look tough and knows what the heck she’s doing with one of those dogs.
Tigers are spectacular beautiful gorgeous cats. But if I want a wildcat in my house, I’ll get a Bengal kitten. Not a tiger cub.
I can’t believe this story. How can a tiger owner possibly justify keeping an animal like this behind a mere chain link fence? Tigers are worthy of our fear and awe and respect; they belong on a range hundreds of miles across, not in some schmuck’s back yard as a living trophy. There is simply no excuse. I feel awful for the family, but Christ in a sidecar with riding goggles, what was she thinking?
FISH
I know! We found the skin in a bicycle shop in Cairo.
We’re doing it on a bet.
God told us to do it.
To tell the truth, we’re completely mad.
There’s a regular cable show on here about the Toronto Zoo, shows the keepers and the animals behind the scenes and such. Once they were introducing two Siberian tigers to each other, hoping they would breed. The interview with one of the keepers went like this:
KEEPER (Explaining the gate systems that move the tigers around) … and it’s very important we keep the tigers inside the exhibit, of course.
VIDEOGRAPHER: Why?
KEEPER: Well, so they don’t escape into the zoo.
VG: What would you do if one escaped?
KEEPER: We’d shoot it.
VG: You’d SHOOT it?
KEEPER: Oh, yes, absolutely. And these are endangered animals, we certainly don’t want to have to shoot one.
VG: But when that panther escaped a few years ago, you didn’t shoot it. They captured it, didn’t they?
KEEPER: Yes, but this is a tiger. You can try to recapture him, I won’t.
VG: What’s the difference?
KEEPER (motioning towards one of the tigers) The panther ran away. He’ll stay in the zoo, with the guests. Because he’ll try to eat them.
He was absolutely serious.
I feel compelled to chime in here because I am familiar with a similar incident. Two years ago I had the pleasure of teaching a very bright, yet hyper, little guy in first grade. He was an adorable, thoughtful child. He left my classroom once a week on Tuesday afternoons for Physical and Occupational therapy to help him develop better motor control in his right arm and hand. Why? You see, his right arm had been severed and reattached surgically. What severed his arm? His father’s pet tiger. So we have a child permanently handicapped by his own father’s stupidity and poor judgment. I consider it doubly horrific because this child seemed to have escaped the mental incompetence that his father possessed, but will now be physically hampered by said stupidity.
FaerieBeth, your post reminded me of an incident I read in a Bill Bryson book ( the appalachian trail one, IIRC) where a mother at a campground smeared honey on her infant daughter’s hand to get a picture of a bear licking it. The bear, of course, simply bit the child’s arm off.
What are people thinking when they do these things? I blame the Walt Disney company.
Now imagine being the parent that has to explain to your child that they are permanently handicapped because you are a dumbass. Imagine being the child. Imagine the family therapy bills…
Hmmm…foolish
Tiger is one of the most effective killing machines in the animal kingdom, it is designed to wait and then ambush it’s prey, thats pretty much what it did. I have worked with big scary cats and the tigers, or this one in particular, looked at the humans outside the cage as food only. There was no doubt that if you went into the enclosure with that cat that you would get ripped to shreds, dragged into the long grass, partially eaten, retrieved by your wormates and have a closed coffin! I have seen a big cat rip a whole goat to pieces in a few seconds. People who own critters like this for any other reason than conservation should be fed to the animal in question, while alive!
What I don’t get is why you’d trust cats in the first place. Hell, a HOUSECAT would eat you if it got a chance. And tigers are bigger, so it figures they’re more evil.
My wife has all she can handle, literally, with her wallabies. Anything bigger than that gets the “Kibosh”. I thought it would be cool to have a raccoon, but they are pretty vicious also and have the little hands to carry out their evil plans. I can’t even imagine a freakin’ tiger! Just think of the food bills!
When I was a kid we went to a zoo that had gorillas in a big compound with large armoured-glass windows, as we looked through the window a huge silver-back came charging across the grass an ended up banging on the glass in true King-Kong style - scaring the crap out of us.
It became obvious that this was his favourite joke, as he repeated it with other groups of unsuspecting visitors - and we enjoyed watching their reactions.
When we came to leave the zoo we had to pass the compound again - and we saw the glass had broken! The big silver-back had retreated as far back into the compound as he could - he looked miserable and wet - the keepers had use hoses to move him. Apparently when the glass shattered he was as shocked as the people on the outside. Albert and the Lion
How was this person even allowed to own a tiger? Ferrets are freakin’ illegal here in CA; I can’t imagine there’s a state in the Union wherein owning a pet tiger is legal. Sigfried and Roy could get away with it because of the whole conservation angle. How the heck did Ms. Bynum even acquire one?
