I only thought one was a pit bull, but I was wrong. Then I tried one that sorta looked like one, and it was wrong. At that point, I just clicked them all until I found one. And it was one of the last I would have picked.
But I knew going in that my only exposure to the pit bull was that dog on Tiny Toons, which I now suspect was not a pit bull, but actually a Dogo Argentino. That’s the face he has, anyways.
I had two (now dearly departed) Bostons (hence my user name). People were always asking me, “Are those pit bulls?” I’d look at 'em like they were idiots :dubious: and say, “Yes. Those are pit bulls. And they are hungry. GTF off my porch.”
I figured if people are that stupid they can confuse a Boston terrier with a pit bull, then they’ve either never seen a pit bull before or they deserve to be licked to death.
It’s been six months since my last old dog died. I’m thinking of getting another dog from the shelter. They have mostly pit mixes. I’m not opposed to this at all.
Naw, dachshounds can be vicious little shits. Same thing with chihauhas (sp), though my theory is that they have brains so small they can’t handle the sensory overload and therefore live in a state of perpetual freak-out.
I realize that’s what the link says and probably what they’re usually called in English, but calling a perro de presa canario a Presa Canario is like calling a German Shepherd dog a German Sheep… (a perro de presa is a hunting dog; presa is prey)
People always think Captain is a pit bull. Because he has a square head. People are stupid.
And the name is even shortened to simply “presa” in English sometimes.
Of course. Dachshund* Saves!*
Well, you said it…
A Boston is going to top out at around 15 maybe 20 pounds. They are pretty small dogs. A “pit bull”* is not a huge dog by any means, but they are going to be about twice the size of a Boston, and a great deal more muscular looking in general. I suppose someone could confuse a Boston with a APBT puppy, but you would have to be fairly ignorant about dogs to do that.
In addition to size, the ears, head shape and (especially!) muzzle of the two dogs are completely different. They are just different dogs; a LOT different. It’s like confusing a Great Dane and a Boxer because they are marked similarly. Possible, sure; but anyone doing it knows little to nothing about dog breeds, and therefore should have their opinion disregarded.
*“pit bull” is not a real breed. I prefer American Pit Bull Terrier, but even that annoys me, since the dogs being discussed are almost never APBTs.
Unfortunately, sometimes it’s the dispatchers that are part of the problem. Back when I found a lost dog in need of rescue, the first question dispatch asked was “Is it a pit bull?”. He seemed quite disappointed when I said I had no idea, but I didn’t think so. (It turned out to be an Australian Shepherd.)
I got curious about this a few years ago during another hate on pit bulls wave. I went to the shelter and they had 18 pit bulls. With all but one I was able to “make friends”. Half of em would just lay their head in my hand.
IMO the problem is not that pit bulls are bad tempered, but what happens if you get a bad-tempered (or ill treated) one.
My neighbor was berated for bringing ‘dangerous pit bulls’ to Petsmart when he had his English bulldog and pug with him.
The noses are remarkably different. Boston ears usually stick up. Unclipped pit ears are usually floppy. Pits are generally 10-15 pounds bigger/heavier. Also, the black/white fur pattern is not as common in pits: mostly you see other combinations, all black, all white, brown/white, brown/brindle.
I’ll give you this, though. Both breeds and all bully breeds, including boxers, descend from mastiffs. Cite. So I can see how one might confuse the two pix above, especially if you only ever see pit bull mixes and have never really encountered a full-bred Boston. Still, that line of questioning rankled me. Because of the thread title. It’s rarely a pit bull. It’s never lupus either.
And I should also add that I didn’t say you were stupid. I said you’d deserve to be licked to death. Bostons cannot hold their lickers.
Uh, if you are indeed taking the contrary position to the OP, I will (once again) take the trouble to fight ignorance. There’s a reason you see “pit bull” in the news that’s not necessarily the one you’re implying.
Here’s a good page to start learning about the media perception problem. A real eye-opener is here. warning – .pdf that might shake one’s misconceptions]
But we don’t have to go far to find an example of how the words “put bull” are used to grab attention. Not far in time or distance. Yesterday, in this very forum, in the other topic containing the words “pit bull,” this was posted. Relevant portion:
Why are we making multiple threads about pit bulls due to a video in which no one was injured, but no one has made a thread about the yellow lab attack that hospitalized a child?
I found a boxer running loose in my neighborhood a few years ago. After I lured him into range with dog biscuits, I grabbed his collar and brought him into my living room to check him out for a tag with a phone number. Couldn’t find any, so eventually called animal control. “Where is the dog now?” the officer asked. “Stay well away form him, he might be dangerous.” Where the dog was, at the moment, was standing with his front paws on my lap licking my face.
It’s too late, see above.
That’s great! Heck, I was almost mauled to death by polar bears! At the last second, only the fact that they were in a zoo saved me.
You’re right – the message is not that pit bulls cannot be dangerous. It is that all dogs can potentially be dangerous. And it’s not the breed that determines whether or not a dog is dangerous (although in my experience, the generally submissive and human-adoring pit bulls are more reliably safe around humans than some others, and there’s a historical record that supports that.
Miniature dachshunds might be a bit lap-doggier. But I do not intend to stigmatize any breed.
Two misconceptions with that statement. Staffordshire Bull Terriers proper were bred for attacking animals, not people. And they (and American Pit Bull Terriers) were also bred to be safely handled even when in an “aroused” state, which is how dogfighters lived through the practice of their sinister hobby. Old-school dogfighters separated fighting pit bulls with their bare hands, just like Michael Vick killed pit bulls with his bare, 100-million-dollar-quarterback hands – without any fear the dogs would turn on them.
That might be the takeaway from this thread. 
Don’t take it personally – not “stupid as a person” but “dog stupid,” in the same way that architecture students would roll their eyes at my stupidity if I confused “baroque” with “romantic” styles.
Call me crazy, but haven’t you referred to Captain as a pit bull before? And not for nothing, but Captain looks just like my Maya, who is part pit bull.
I got bit by a pit bull with lupus. Came down with a bad case of fibromyalgia 
And the vicodin barely takes the edge off…
I won’t argue against that. But I’d like a bulletproof guarantee that these breeds’ instincts can distinguish between “humans” and “other animals”, not between “my pack” and “everyone else”. And since dogs are pack animals who regard their owners as their pack leaders and disregard the species difference, I’d need some pretty heavy proof that their minds are wired according to the first concept and not according to the last concept.
In other words: Will these breeds regard an unknown human as “human - don’t attack under any circumstances” or as “not a member of my pack - may be attacked under certain, dire circumstances”? With my knowledge of canine psychology (admittedly gained from experience with other breeds), I strongly suspect the latter.
No, he’s supposed to be some manner of Catahoula. I did post a furious pit thread about the woman in our dog training class who didn’t want to introduce her dog to my dog as instructed by the teacher because she was afraid of him, assuming he was a pit bull. (Which puts you in that “not that there’s anything wrong with that!” trap.) Meanwhile she was fine with the snarling dachshund who really did seem quite capable of fear biting. That’s probably what you remember.
ETA - and of course he might have some pit in him, but he’s built nothing like a fighting dog. His body is very houndish, it’s just his square flat head people don’t like. And that he’s brindled - for some reason people seem to be afraid of brindled dogs.
