Possession of these dogs should be outlawed. While some perfectly nice people have perfectly well behaved pitbulls, the more typical pitbull owner is someone who owns the dogs because it has a “tough” image, and loves nothing better than walking down the street while his little bundle of sweetness menaces and stalks other dogs.
I have seen this happen too many times to count in parks and other open public areas, and it is obvious the dog is predisposed to be very aggressive toward other dogs. In addition the news stories go on and on about how the wonderful family pet was left alone for one minute with the baby or toddler and turned it into hamburger. The idiot owners are always “Shocked, shocked!” that their bred in the bone fighting machine would harm another small creature.
Enough is enough. You can go on about “no bad dogs, only bad owners” all you want, but at some point it has to recognized that that some animals are more predisposed (and capable) of inflicting grevious harm and are simply too dangerous to maintain as household pets.
We ended up with one by accident. The puppy we adopted from the shelter at 8 weeks turned out to be a pitbull mix. We took the dog to obedience classes and made sure she was well socialized with both other people and other dogs. Our dog is the sweetest animal on the planet and thinks my daughter is some kind of goddess. She merrily sits and wags her tail while my daughter puts tennis balls in and out of her mouth.
I think the only thing that is obvious is that people are horrible pet owners.
From my volunteer work at the animal shelter I have seen people turn almost every breed of dog into something skittish and vicious and liable to bite/attack for no provocation. Shall we just ban all dogs? Where do we stop? If you were to successfully ban pitbulls then these lovely irresponsible people looking for a tough dog would switch to some other breed. After enough banning and time they’d be stuck with toy poodles… sure… but even toy poodles have teeth.
As tanookie pointed out, any dog can be turned into “something skittish and vicious and liable to bite/attack for no provocation.” I’ve even seen that happen with golden retrievers, which are known for being some of the sweetest dogs on the planet. I’ve also known sweet, delightful pit bulls.
I don’t think the solution is that simple. It’s like saying all sports car drivers are more liable to get into accidents and hurt other people, so therefore all sports cars should be banned. You’re proposing a solution that only takes into account half the problem.
I have a poodle that is ferocious. He can be a mean little shit, but I love him. My friend has a pitbull. Her name is Shy. She is such a sweetheart. She is 10 yrs. old. I would trust her pit around a kid before I would my poodle. Now Shy was raised around kids, where as our poodle has not been. So that may make a difference. Still Shy is the most even tempered pit I have ever seen.
I’m not convinced pit bulls are pre-dispositioned to be agressive but in the hands of the wrong owner where that’s encouraged you unfortunately have the combination of a bad attitude and extraordinary lethal physical tools. The damn things can, if they’re inclined, rip you to shreds and it scares the hell out of me to see them around kids outside their family unit.
We recently adopted a pit bull/great dane mix. He’s the sweetest, cutest and goofiest dog. He’s shown no signs of the “stereotypical” pit bull. Not a mean streak in him.
I always thought that pit bulls (or any dog) that attack were either trained that way or were abused.
“In fact, the well-bred American Pit Bull Terrier is a family guardian and protector; an intelligent and obedient pet; a sweet, even-tempered dog that serves well as a help-mate to handicapped owner and friend to small children; and a healthy, hardy dog that complains little and offers much to his family.”
they claim that "The American Staffordshire Terrier is a happy, outgoing, stable, and confident dog who makes a wonderful family pet. "
Oh and a little more about these sweeties:
The thing that riles me most about the OP is the immediate jump to ban these dogs instead of holding irresponsible humans accountable for their own cruelty and carelessness. There are uncountable dangers in the world and we simply can not ban them all. Lets all try for a little personal responsibility instead?
You can take my spork when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
On the OP, I don’t really think the dog is the problem here, it is the people who raise the dog that way. As has been mentioned before, dogs are a product of their enviroment.
I see a Great Debate brewing. As for the OP, I’ve known many wonderful, gentle, smart pitbulls. The only complaint that I can say of the breed is every pitbull I’ve known as had a strong prey drive around cats. You just can’t keep the two together, in my experience.
how exactly will you define a ‘Pit Bull’?
Are you speaking of an Anerican Pit bull? What about Staffordshire Terriers? What about mixes? if a dog has 1/8 pit bull in him, is he destined to be slaughtered? What about a breed like a Boston Terrier, who were somewhere done the line mixed with a staffordshire terrier?
I ask, because if you want a law to be enforced, it must have clear boundries, right?
Also, where exactly do you stop?
What other breeds should be outlawed? Dobbermans? Rotweillers? German Shepards? Chows?
from:
This is America - no person should ever be held responsible for anything so long as an animal, video game, rock-n-roll song, or inanimate object is available to take the rap.
Well, pit bulls are kind of outlawed over here (in the UK). When the Dangerous Dogs Act was brought in (I think in 1991) it became an offence to buy or breed pit bulls. If you already owned one then you had to have it registered, tattooed and microchipped, and also keep it muzzled and leashed at all times. I have heard of a case where a dog was taken into custody under the Act because it was unleashed in a locked car, not sure how true it is though.
Since the act has been brought in, pit bull breeding has gone underground. Breeders cross pit bulls with Staffordshire or English Bull Terriers, often calling them Irish Staffordshire Terriers and implying that they have just bred them to be “leggier” than normal Staffies. The breeders get away with it because they know that if their dogs are taken into custody, it can be extremely hard to determine what a dog is crossed with by genetic testing. I know this because I just found out a couple of months ago that my Staffordshire Bull Terrier is actually a Staffie / Pit Bull Cross, and comes from a bloodline bred for fighting. He was in fact the runt of the litter (which is hard to believe because he is huge!) I only decided to try and find out about his heritage because he had suddenly become extremely aggressive towards other dogs, and has to be muzzled and leashed at all times now.
I was upset when I found out that my dog will more than likely have to be muzzled and leashed when out for the rest of his life, but I’m not prepared to take the chance and have him kill another dog. Having said that though, I have two young children, and I can honestly say that he has never given me cause for concern with his behaviour around them - he is extremely deferential toward them and understands his place in the “pack” in our house.
As other posters have said, you can get vicious examples of dogs with almost any breed, so where do you draw the line? We might not have pure-bred Pit Bulls in the UK any more, but I would say that people are still at just as much risk from dog attacks from any other kind of dog.
As the rather scary-sounding, but actually quite interesting Dog Holocaust states “Punish the Deed, not the Breed”!
We had a pitbull and a cat growing up. As did my grandparents. Neither of the dogs ever bothered the cats. In fact my family’s dog was rather afraid of our cat and would usually leave the room if the cat came in. Our pitbull was also friendly with rabbits.
That’s funny StGermain. We have 4 cats who have cowed the dog sufficiently in her formative years so that she pretty much lets the cats do whatever they want. There’s some good natured chasing in the morning but more often than not they are cuddled up for some mutual grooming. (the slurping is disgusting and the cats look a mess at the end but they all seem happy and no one has been eaten yet!)
My particular dog is a pitbull/shepherd mix. An insurance nightmare to be sure but a lovable dog. We also work very hard at keeping her from circumstances that would get her into trouble.
For example, I’d leave no animal alone with a 6 week old baby… ever.
