Thoughts on Pitbulls?

[Jenni]

I think most of the time it's the people involved that create the issues, not the dogs.

Bingo.

And Clumbars are rather rare, congrats!

[Subby]

I owned a doggy daycare and my great grandmother bred poodles. That's in addition to a family full of farm and companion dogs. My first best friend was a mini schnauzer. I don't associate with people who don't like dogs and I trust dogs more than people.

Pits are wonderful dogs. They used to be known as the "nanny dog". If you Google that you'll be treated to an adorable array of old photos of pits and their kidlets.

Pits are descended from the English bulldogs but in America they were all purpose dogs. They are very human focused unlike the aloof and independent hounds. They are very pack-oriented unlike a Golden who's never met a stranger. However, they don't have the smarts of a Belgian. This makes them an excellent family dog. They don't get into as much trouble as a working dog will and they have more patience than a Chi or terrier. Pits just need the same training and socialization any well rounded pup needs. But for anyone looking to get one please check your local ordinances. Cities found out real quick you can limit certain populations in your area if you outlaw the breed so many have. Even more leasing companies and landlords don't allow them. Airlines often won't fly them or any of the snub nosed breeds. (Its about the breathing in their case.)

All breeds have (in my experience) a weird characteristic unique to them. In pits, it's a high pain tolerance in the face and jaw. This makes for interesting encounters with wildlife and a need to keep an eye on the kinds of bones and toys they get. They will break a tooth before giving up on a cow femur.

Why do you think most fatal attacks are from pit bulls?

[Kansan]

I love dogs. All dogs. I would rather hang out with any dog, even a chihuahua, over people.
I currently have four dogs. Huge Alaskan Malamute, shepard/lab mix, German short-haired pointer, and a goldendoodle/Airedale mix.
All dogs can bite, usually its just defensive or playful, but, just like people, all dogs can get mean.
The problem with Pit Bulls is that if that switch is flipped they can kill pretty easily. It's what their anatomy was developed for. Big thick muscles of mastication and relatively shorter snouts creates a lot of force. Also strong and thick muscles of the anterior body/legs.
I have treated many, many dog bites to the face over the years(As well as other animal bites, such as horse). The last one was from a Golden Retriever, but I have seen them from many different breeds, including Pit Bulls. The Pit Bull bites were the most severe and usually on small children, however I have not seen that many because if a mad Pit Bull gets to your face you will probably die.
I'd still rather hang out with a Pit Bull over a liberal though.

[zinedine kilbane]

America's Most Dangerous Dog Breeds [Infographic]

Animals are dumb and thus prone to violence. Pit bulls are much more effective at violence than other breeds due to their size and bite strength.

Would you keep a cougar as a pet?

[Steven Kalin]

I’ve got a 5 year old, father was a Bernese mountain dog, mother was a German Shepherd/ Doberman. Super smart, kinda stubborn. Looks just like a black lab but 100 pounds. When he was 10 months old, we were walking the bush when this brown streak ran across the trail in front of us, about 30 feet away. Then 2 smaller brown streaks ran up a tree to my left. Yup, a mother black bear and her cubs. Shit. He starts barking and growling, hackles up. Didn’t move forward an inch, didn’t retreat either, until I’d backed away about 20 feet, then turned and followed me. Perfect. I don’t know how you’d teach this. He’s since warned us off several times.

[dalan]

Why do you think most fatal attacks are from pit bulls?

I think it's a couple of things. First, people think any medium sized, smooth coated dog that acts viciously is a pitbull because, well, it acted viciously, it MUST be a pitbull, right?

But there's also the issue of unscrupulous backyard puppy mill "breeders" looking for easy money selling dogs of who knows what lineage to irresponsible people who want them for the wrong reasons. This was a big issue when the breed got suddenly popular in the 90's or so.

"Pitbull" had become a rather generic term but an actual pitbull is the American Pitbull Terrier, a muscular and athletic dog of medium size. It was created by crossing terriers with bulldogs in England in the 1800's. Bulldogs of the time were nothing like the adorable but rather useless English Bulldogs we know today. They were powerful dogs used in activity of bull baiting. When that became illegal and they couldn't pick on bulls anymore somebody said "Hey, let's take the power of the bulldogs and mix it with the tenacity and feistiness of a terrier" and the fighting dog was born. But even in the heyday of dog fighting, human aggression was not a desirable or even acceptable trait and it wasn't a trait that was natural to the breed.

So proper pitbulls are not naturally inclined to be aggressive towards people and I guess you could say that indeed, people are responsible for their downfall for the reasons mentioned earlier.

[Mark Rippetoe]

But even in the heyday of dog fighting, human aggression was not a desirable or even acceptable trait and it wasn't a trait that was natural to the breed.

So proper pitbulls are not naturally inclined to be aggressive towards people and I guess you could say that indeed, people are responsible for their downfall for the reasons mentioned earlier.

This is a very important point. If two men are fighting two dogs in a fighting pit, what is the worst thing that could possibly happen? Your dog bites the other man. Might start a gunfight, since these are not nice people. So, we can't have that, and if one of your dogs shows any interest at all in the other man -- growls at him, looks at him -- you take the dog out to the truck, shoot him, and get another one. This limits man-aggressive behavior quite thoroughly. So an actual fighting dog does not bite you, only other dogs.

[Stump]

-- you take the dog out to the truck, shoot him, and get another one. This limits man-aggressive behavior quite thoroughly.

Interesting.

We had a Samoyed for 13 years (Minsc). Siberian origin. Herding/Hunting dogs. So the story goes the dogs were let into the house to keep the kids warm at night. Any aggressive behavior and the dog was dispatched.

Stupid Americans brought them over here early 1900's and took them on their Arctic expeditions. Docked their tails, which they used to cover their snout with while resting/sleeping, and they froze to death.

Minsc didn't have an aggressive bone in his body... except the one time someone got into a fake altercation with the wife. He thought it was real. You didn't fuck with his person.

[Subby]

This is a very important point. If two men are fighting two dogs in a fighting pit, what is the worst thing that could possibly happen? Your dog bites the other man. Might start a gunfight, since these are not nice people. So, we can't have that, and if one of your dogs shows any interest at all in the other man -- growls at him, looks at him -- you take the dog out to the truck, shoot him, and get another one. This limits man-aggressive behavior quite thoroughly. So an actual fighting dog does not bite you, only other dogs.

The same thing happens if they lose a fight.

[David A. Rowe]

It's also flatly untrue. The highest incident rate of dog bites by breed fluctuates, and the more common bites, fatal and otherwise, are from more common breeds. You can find aggressive behavior and bites from any breed. I can empirically tell you that, of all of the "pitbull" calls I have responded to... one involved a pitbull that actually caused a bite (and it wasn't fatal).

People almost always misidentify breeds, and even in the case of experts it usually requires a genetic test to verify. People call my 110 lbs Cane Corso puppy a pitbull.

The whole reason PBTs were bred as fighting and hunting dogs (boar hunting), especially the culling mentioned here, was so they had no human aggressive tendencies. It's also why the breed standard included a robust base of the tail -- it was something you could grab them by to pull off another dog or game.

I'm also gonna stop here before I fall off my soapbox ranting about how 90%+ of dog owners have no idea what they're doing with dogs, and how neurotic they make their dogs without properly socializing, training and giving breed-specific work.


mk: thank you. I cry like a baby every time I put one down, and I've had three in four years. Those were all rescues, and we were glad to give them a family (pack!) and good lives. They're all buried out at the farm on a beautiful hillside along the fence line. If any creature on this earth can teach us the unconditional love of God, then I don't know that there's any better than a good dog.