Pit bulls aren’t a “bad” breed but they are an aggressive breed, and it’s my observation that the majority of people who own pit bulls do so because of that trait. If you want a dog to take hunting you get a lab or a golden retriever, not a collie. If you want a dog that’s smart and highly trainable, you get a German Shepard, not an afghan. If you want a dog to train to be vicious, make you look tough, and scare the shit out of people, you get a pit bull, not a beagle.
It’s not unreasonable for people to feel more uncomfortable around a strange pit bull than other breeds all things being equal. That’s because people who want to own mean dogs are more likely to own pit bulls. At the same time it’s not unreasonable for someone to have a different first impression of a pit bull owner than the owner of other breeds. kp_72110 I’m sure that you are fine person and your pit bulls are well mannered, but I can’t say the same for many of the other pit bull owners I have known.
We were actually at the Toronto Zoo a few weeks ago, and all the big primate cages had had camouflage nets draped over the bars and glass, so you had to look through the holes in the nets. Big signs saying “Please do not lift the nets.” A research institute was conducting an experiment on how more isolation from tourists would change their behaviour.
I asked a keeper at the gorilla exhibit how the gorillas liked it. Her response: “They hate it. They’ve been depressed ever since - moping, bad appetite, getting snarly with each other. They like seeing people. We’re an exhibit to them.”
They are extremely “musky”. Very very strong, enough to trigger your gag reflex. Ugh.
Though, I’ve only seen (and smelled) them in shipments, on their way to zoos, on the old “Flying Tigers” shipping company, maybe with Tigers slated to be pets, they “de-musk” them or something.