How bad are pit bull attacks now?
I figure “pit bull” belongs in the pit…
sigh This again? :rolleyes:
HEADLINE:
Circumcised pit bull (based on visual identification only) wore doggie-shoes in house while its owners were out having their cat de-clawed at a combination veterinary hospital and assault-weapon shop: Horrified neighbors rushed in to adjust the toilet paper to the proper direction.
There is no such thing as a pit bull, pit bulls never attack, and when they attack they are no more dangerous than a miniature poodle.
From the second link -
Someone from ABC News is writing that badly? What?
Sorry, distracted by the glaring error. I walk a lot in my neighbourhood, and I carry a canister of dog repellent wherever I go because people in my neighbourhood let all kinds of dogs run free, including pit bulls. I’m not sure whether pit bulls are more likely to attack than other dogs that are owned by idiots and assholes, but I’m not sure they’re not, either.
That second story reminds me of something.
I don’t mean to be flippant, but that’s weird. I’ve honestly never heard a story like it.
All dogs are liable to attack. The problem with Pit-bulls, and Rottweillers, and other breeds that are bred for aggressiveness, it that if you don’t train them not to attack – they’re going to fucking kill someone.
If you a have a poorly trained Shitzu, well, who cares (besides the person who replaces your rugs); if you have a poorly trained Pit-bull, you and it, are liablities.
And that all said, it seems to me that most dogs in this country, regardless of breed, aren’t trained particularly well.
I don’t know how true this is, but I’ve read that purebred pit bulls aren’t aggressive toward people at all. It’s the other way around actually, they’re bred to be so non-aggressive towards people that they can be pulled apart when the dog fight is over.
Even if this is true though, I’m guessing most ‘pit bulls’ aren’t purebred pit bulls, and are likely mixed with dogs that are aggressive toward people, so you get the worst of both worlds.
I refer you back to my first sentence, though: “all dogs are liable to attack.” And they attack viciously.
Now, I ask you. Would you rather suffer a vicious attack from a chihuahua or pit-bull?
That’s my main point. No, I don’t think that pit-bulls are predisposed killing people, but there’s a reason why when you read a headline that says, “Dog Kills Old Lady” you can put better than even-money down that it wasn’t a poodle that did the deed. Because when huge, aggressive, ill-trained dogs want to kill you … they will.
I agree with your main point, it was just an aside that I thought was interesting (if it’s true).
Standard poodles actually can be very dangerous. I’ve heard trainers lament that some standards would make good guard dogs, but the intimidation factor is obviously not there.
More’s the point, when a dog that is not a bully breed kills someone, it usually does not make the papers. Instead, it’s put down as a tragic accident, the family grieves, and the world goes on. When a dog that looks anything like a pit bull kills someone, then you’ve got a news story about the inherently vicious animals in our midst.
Have you ever had to use it? How’d it work? We’re now bumpkins and it seems there’s a whole different attitude towards dogs than in the City.
BOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNN FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…
So there are often four or five territorial, meaty pooches (no idea of the breeds, they all look like variations on the kind of dog that would be called a pit bull by the same kind of people who would call any scary-looking gun an assault rifle) roaming this desolate country road. Big, meaty territorial pooches. Nothing’s happened yet, but particularly with the Dudeling we’re a touch nervous.
First off, do sprays work or is more likely to piss them off as they keep chewing?
Second, what happens the next time we see the same dog? Which is more likely:
A) Dog thinks “holy shit, it’s that dude again that kicked my ass–I better get out of here!”
B) Dog thinks “holy shit, it’s that dude again that kicked my ass–I better eat him!”
C) Dog thinks “blah blah blah Ginger blah blah blah blah Ginger blah blah blah blah blah blah Ginger blah blah blah Ginger blah.”
Exactly. Nobody wants to hear about the labrador retriever that killed a kid. Personally, I’m way more afraid of, for example, a chow chow than a pitbull, on average. Plus, 'pitbull kills!!!" stories are often based on no standard at all – any muscular, short-haired dog is at risk of being labeled a pitbull if it attacks.
The only thing that makes pitbulls risky is the kind of people who get pitbulls are sometimes the kind of people who want a vicious, intimidating dog, so they train it to act that way. Self-fulfilling prophecy, that. If we banned pitbulls (or anything that remotely resembled pitbulls and didn’t have breeding papers, more likely), those people would just move on to dogs like German Shepherds and we’d be right back where we started.
Um, huge? You’re under the impression that pit bulls are huge dogs?
True pit bulls (from what I understand) are in the 30-50 lb range and were breed for non-aggressiveness towards humans but are very sturdy dogs. There are many larger dogs that should be significantly more dangerous when they attack. With larger cross breeds you gain the worst of both worlds, combined with owners who are looking for aggressive dogs and don’t know how to train them.
Huge enough to kill me. But throw a “powerful” in there too if it smoothes the road.
You are aware that a standard poodle is much larger than a pit bull, right?
Lamest answer ever.
Sorry, dogs killing people makes the papers regardless of breed. Why would you make such a ridiculous statement?
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20100607/dog-mauls-newborn-100608/
You are aware that when most people refer to poodles as a size comparison they are usually referring to miniature poodles, much the same way as I did in my earlier post, right?