# I pit people who don't train their little dogs. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 7, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093 "2012-02-07T17:44:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/61 "2012-03-08T06:34:17Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Humane is a matter of opinion, I guess… someone shot two dogs in the back of the head at point-blank range, which seems pretty damned humane (if sad) to me, and he is being sought on animal cruelty charges. Since the dogs are pretty much guaranteed to have felt nothing, I don’t see where the animal cruelty is. Huh. Got any more details? This happened in LA? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/62 "2012-03-08T08:39:47Z")
New Bedford Massachusetts. Google and you’ll get lots of hits. ---
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/63 "2012-03-08T12:05:19Z")
That’s what I told her but she was all, “Well, it didn’t break the skin and we DO have to live here so if I told Animal control and her dog was taken away, it could cause some hostility.” Personally, I’d love to see the yapper accidentally escape into my friend’s backyard so that her German Shepard could have her way with the thing. Whenever we’re in her backyard chilling out and the yapper is in his yard, yapping furiously, you can tell that the German Shepard is clearly annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/64 "2012-03-08T17:13:50Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > New Bedford Massachusetts. Google and you’ll get lots of hits. Assuming [this is the story](http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/02/28/dogs-found-shot-to-death-execution-style-in-new-bedford/), it wasn’t an owner shooting his dog, it is someone stealing a couple of dogs and then shooting them. So, maybe not animal cruelty (at least for the shooting, assuming it was well done), but whoever did needs some face time with the courts. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/65 "2012-03-09T03:07:17Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Assuming [this is the story](http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/02/28/dogs-found-shot-to-death-execution-style-in-new-bedford/), it wasn’t an owner shooting his dog, it is someone stealing a couple of dogs and then shooting them. > > So, maybe not animal cruelty (at least for the shooting, assuming it was well done), but whoever did needs some face time with the courts. Yes, if that is the story, animal cruelty is probably the best charge they can levy on the perp in the way of him actually getting punished, since it wouldn’t be grand theft and probably not B&E. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/66 "2012-03-09T15:03:02Z")
It is entirely possible to train a dog properly without causing him to fear death at your hands. The **Josef Stalin Obedience School** should be closed. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/67 "2012-03-10T01:29:09Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > But they are animals that need to know, as their parents and great-great grandparents knew, that they live only as long as we let them and we, as the Alphas, can kill them whenever we want. They aren’t little humans and they live only as long as we let them live. And how exactly are they to know this? What part of their brain understands this? I think you’ve got the whole wolf to dog thing wrong. And as far as I know, they live as long as they can and probably live longer because of us. Except the purebreds who have been screwed up. Some dogs don’t even consider their owners to be alpha. The little ones especially. That’s why they bite everyone. But since they’re so adorable, it’s so cute when they bite! If that was a Rottweiler, you would not be thinking the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/68 "2012-03-10T01:36:52Z")
I don’t think it’s cute when my cat bites me - I think it hurts, because she has pointy teeth. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/69 "2012-03-10T03:47:08Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > And how exactly are they to know this? What part of their brain understands this? I think you’ve got the whole wolf to dog thing wrong. And as far as I know, they live as long as they can and probably live longer because of us. Except the purebreds who have been screwed up. There is no difference overall in the lifespans between purebreds and mutts. Indeed, due to the explosion of the “designer breed” mixes, there are probably more health problems in the mutts right now since so many puppy mills have switched over to cranking them out. And none of that really applies to what you quoted from **dropzone**. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/70 "2012-03-12T16:04:28Z")
I read this thread when it first came out, and then promptly ignored it. Recently, I was at a friend’s house and decided I should come back to post here in support of the OP. My friend has a chihuahua mix (and some form of spaniel mix, but that’s the good dog). I have a bulldog mix/pitbull. When I first got my dog – four months ago – my friend stopped by my house and made a snide comment about being “scared of Cujo.” She was a little fearful at first, and a bit mouthy, but. IMO, his little Chi is by far more obnoxious. I went over there last week. The damn Chi won’t stop jumping as high as she can to get me to pick her up. I tend to ignore her until all four paws are on the floor, then I will reach down to pet her. No. She demands to be picked up, so when I do, then she starts chewing on my nose. She’s more than a year old and that nippy shit should have been trained out of her by now. But they think she’s cuuuuuuuute, so her training is over and they won’t do shit about it and they don’t put her in her crate when guests come over. She doesn’t actually hurt you, so it’s fine. It’s not fine. If my pitbull jumped up in my friend’s face and nipped at his nose, he’d be in the ER getting that fucker sewn back on. I have a responsibility to my dog to teach her how to act toward people so she doesn’t hurt anyone and so she doesn’t get put down by The Man. Why doesn’t my friend feel the same responsibility to teach their little dog to not be an obnoxious pain in my nose or ankles? (She’s not big enough to be a pain in my ass!) I know what the answer is: she’s cute and she doesn’t hurt when she bites, so that’s why he doesn’t feel the responsibility. I think that’s bullshit and I’m tired of being nibbled on by Little Bit (that’s not the dog’s name; just what I call her because she’s just a little bit of a dog). I am starting to apply pitbull training to the dog whenever I go over there, but she doesn’t always respond because her humans don’t reinforce polite doggy manners when I’m not there. Or perhaps I should let my pitbull gnaw on my friend’s shoes for a minute while we talk about why we train dogs. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kaiwik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaiwik/32/3978_2.png) [@kaiwik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaiwik)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/71 "2012-03-12T22:32:44Z")
There is just no excuse for not socializing and training a dog no matter what the size. I have had big dogs, medium dogs, and now have small dogs. My Pomeranians are well behaved and potty trained. The min pin is too, although she has her terrier traits which make her more a bit more to manage. She is the only one who has ever bitten anyone, and that was a long time ago, but when small children come to the house I crate her just to make sure she doesn’t bite out of nervousness. They all bark when someone is at the door, but I expect that as they were bred as watch dogs. (Not guard dogs.) In fact that is one of the reasons I chose Poms, I am disabled and it’s nice to know that no one can sneak up on me. For the life of me I cannot understand the division between big dog people and small dog people. Dogs are dogs, no matter what the size. My tiny dogs have just as much brains and personality as any medium and large dog breeds, why all the hate for dogs of a different size than what one’s favorite breed/size? I just don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093/72 "2012-03-16T20:54:27Z")
Here’s my question: if your dogs are well-behaved when you are alone, but freak out when company comes over, how are you supposed to train them? It would be rude as hell to keep them out when the company is there, in order to “socialize” them, even if I know they won’t bite (because they won’t get close enough to do so). The barking is still annoying, and prevents the people from doing what they need to do. Honestly, I don’t understand having a problem with people who just put their dogs up when you are around, only if they leave them out. Would you really prefer it that I use you to help train them? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-who-dont-train-their-little-dogs/612093.md?page=3)