Not in the shelter near me. They have a very strict behavioral test that they put the dogs through before they allow them to be up for adoption. They said in the newspaper that most pit bulls that are surrendered to the shelter are aggressive or otherwise don’t pass the behavioral test. The dogs that fail the test are euthanized immediately. So at the shelter there are very few pit bull type dogs.
It seems to vary widely from shelter to shelter.
My pound pup is some sort of border collie/shepherd/chow/something else mix. And she is the gentlest, kindest dog in the world.
I always get a kick out of the fact that they never say a negative thing about any breed on those telecasts! No breed is inbred, neurotic, unpredictable, aggressive, prone to health problems…
Some of what “they said in the newspaper” is deceptive. It may be that most pit bulks surrendered to the shelter seem to the shelter workers to be aggressive (note that there are two entirely unrelated forms of aggression, human aggression and dog aggression, that people get confused about), but the vast majority of pit bulls in shelters nationwide were not surrendered to the shelter. Rather, they are strays or seizures. It’s also possible that people dropping off a dog they do not want to pay for/are tired of can say a dog is aggressive to make themselves feel better.
The American Temperament Testing Society tests dogs for how well they get along with people, and keeps breed statistics. As a generalization, pit bulls have historically scored quite well on the ATTS tests, placing higher than many breeds thought of as “family dogs” like beagles.
Also bear in mind that many of the dogs (of any breed) that fail a temperament test do so as a result of having been systematically abused – and that because they are popular, and popular with the worst sort of people, you are likely to see more abused pit bulls enter your shelters than abused examples of other breeds.
Sure. There are some active right now if you look around the forums, including dog threads I have posted in, including dog threads in which pit bulls are mentioned. Look for threads about training and “I rescued this dog” type threads, for example.
What you can’t have is a scapegoating thread, like “what kind of dog is the worst?” without someone making unsupportable claims about the “evil” pit bulls…and in the interest of the Board’s ignorance-fighting mandate, some of us will come in and try to patiently counter the nonsense.
I mean, it’s much like asking like “what race of neighbor is most likely to kill my children?” In other words, it’s a provocative topic in and of itself.
[QUOTE=Sailboat;12147619
What you can’t have is a scapegoating thread, like “what kind of dog is the worst?” without someone making unsupportable claims about the “evil” pit bulls…and in the interest of the Board’s ignorance-fighting mandate, some of us will come in and try to patiently counter the nonsense.
I mean, it’s much like asking like “what race of neighbor is most likely to kill my children?” In other words, it’s a provocative topic in and of itself.[/QUOTE]
??? I don’t think anyone HERE has said anything about pit bulls being evil. You’re fighting against a non-existant enemy here. I think you are so eager to fight this battle that you’re swinging at ghosts.
[Moderator Note]Do not continue a debate that doesn’t belong here in the first place. Take it to the thread already open in Great Debates.[/Moderator Note]
I’m in no way a dog expert, but there are some fairly objective considerations that can be discussed without getting into a this-breed-is-always-vicious this-breed-is-good-with-children discussion.
For instance, different breeds have different length coats, which make more or less of a mess, and require more or less grooming. That’s a pretty objective standard. Different breeds have fairly objectively different average lifespans. They are also (of course) different sizes. Etc, etc, etc.
And, just for the record, I recommend Basenjis, which are short coated, medium sized, generally healthy (there’s one known bad genetic trait… avoid it and your dog will live a long time), and (and this is a key point for anyone not living on their own 20 acre plot) they do not bark. Ever.
They’re also adorable.
Drawbacks include being fairly destructive and reasonably high-energy.
I would say, best would be a shepherd/retriever mix, those are really nice dogs, trainable, love kids.
Worst, some kind of terrier, those wreak havoc. A terrier/chow mix would be absolutely horrible, although they are nice fluffy=looking dogs.
You have to keep in mind that no matter how good the dog trainer is, you also need to train everybody who will be handling the dog. The dog trainer could do an excellent job, which could be undone almost immediately by any member of the family.
What I got, without quite that many children, was a German/Australian shepherd mix–wonderful dog, very protective, she did have the problem of really not liking it, when we were hiking, if the family members got too far apart. And she could be too protective, on occasion. She needed a lot of walks, but the kids couldn’t really walk her by themselves because if someone on the other side of the street talked to them, or appeared to talk to them, she would start growling and get really aggressive. (Which, in the neighborhood we lived when we first got her, was not necessarily a bad thing.)
When I was single I had a beagle/dachsund mix, also a nice dog. I got her because the people who had raised her had a baby, and it turned out she really didn’t like babies.
Worst dog ever: My next door neighbors, growing up, had a chow mix. For his first three or four years he was an adorable teddy=bear-like dog, then he got to the point where he would bite just anybody. Family members, the mailman. They had to keep him in the crawl space under their house. For the rest of his life. Which was years and years. Really sad.
I am looking for a dog, and I asked my veterinarian when I took my cats in for their vax. She said she had never met a Shelty she didn’t like. But she also said, get it from a breeder who does the hip check. Apparently pound puppies used to be mixes who were pretty much exempt from hip issues and other results of overbreeding/backyard breeding, but now that’s what constitutes most of the puppies at the pound. A dog that’s in pain is not going to be a good family dog.
Seriously? If you kept me in a crawl space I’d bite every damn person I saw, too. And twice for the person who put me there.
Anyway. I’m a big fan of the poodle breeds. I think a standard poodle (the big size) in a simple puppy clip is a great choice. They’re smart, affectionate & playful. They don’t shed but you do need to keep them professionally clipped. They’re easy to live with, not as neurotic as a herding dog. They’re alert watchdogs, unlike the goldens & labs. They’re not really guard dogs but the standard size is big enough to give an evil doer pause.
For a smaller dog, I’d probably get a bichon over a middle or small size poodle. Bichons aren’t quite as over bred as the more common poodles. They’re about the same size as the mid-size poodle.
Teacup dogs of any breed are right out.
Goldens are the classic family dog, and with good reason. Poodles, though, are the classic circus dog, and they’re a lot of fun to be around.
Wha? My Golden was, and my friends’ Labs are, perfectly good at barking at noises.
About Chow Chows, my own view must be skewed. The first one I ever met lived on a street I used on my way to and from middle school. When walking home, he’d meet me at one end of the block, walk with me to the end of the block, then turn and go back home.
My daughter has a Golden, and he never barks except on command. He’s also a pretty lousy watchdog - never alerts us to visitors, and an intruder’s greatest danger would probably be getting beaten to death by his wagging tail.
That said, I think he’s a wonderful dog. We never had a dog when my daughter was growing up, so this is her first real experience with one, and my first since I was a kid. This dog is very calm and easy to train. He gets excited and distracted when there are people or dogs or other animals around, but he’s only six months old, so I think he might grow out of that at least somewhat. I’d recommend a dog like him to anyone.
In a classic Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown, passing Snoopy dozing on the floor, asserts “Snoopy is the kind of dog burglars fear most. They’re afraid they might trip over him in the dark.”
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