Pit Bulls Good or Bad?

This is my first post. I live in the SF bay area and we have had 2 pit bull attacks. in one a 12 year old was killed in another a 9 year old was bitten badly on her face. I have had 2 pit bulls in my life and the first was a UKC pit bull and the second a very agressive adba pit. My children were 3,8 and 10yrs old when i bought the ADBA dog. sasha was one of the most loving dogs one can hope to own. she was never people aggressive but when she was young she was very dog aggressive. It took time and hard work but in time she was able to go off leashe. at the local dog walks the only criteria was the dog had to obey vocal commands and she never got into a fight Now the local politcions want to owtlaw the breed I love these dogs i would not think of getting another breed. your opinions and critisisom on how to improve my posting and info on how to add those links. my feelings will not be hurt just be honest





Mod Edit: ALL-CAPS title

[edit on 3-7-2005 by kinglizard]

My personal experience with pit bulls is that they are sweet and loving dogs, but can be very protective. I don't think the breed should be outlawed, any dog can be dangerous if it's not trained properly.

I say get a pit bull at your own risk.

Now the Humane Society in Michigan won't adopt out even part pit bull dogs. They'll put them down.

My sister had a dog, Prince, who was part black lab and part pit bull. He had a bit of an ornery streak in him. You did NOT push or pull him, or he'd growl--you had to ASK him to move.

Prince was NEVER abused by any family member. Yet there came a point where every time my mother tried to go into my sister's room, he'd attack her! So he was put down. I know that my mother and sister never did anything to encourage him to be aggressive. They also had a Great Dane who was a big baby--and he was afraid of Prince!

I don't know what's up with pit bulls--are they bred to be vicious or what? If so it had to have been in recent years, because Petey, the dog in the Little Rascals show, was a pit bull.

An untrained dog is a liability, a well trained dog is more reliable than a mossberg for home defense.

They're like kids though, if you ignore them and let them develop their own personalities free from boundaries and tutelage, they get all whacked out and disrespectful.

There are more violent breeds, and there are more unpredictable breeds, poodles come to mind as an example of both. My vote is for poodles, if we have to outlaw a breed.

As far as posting, don't sweat it too much. Just take a look around and you'll find some threads explaining how to do various things, explaining etiquette, etcetera, etcetera.

If you need some links to help threads, just start an introduction thread, and one of the helpful mods is sure to stop by with a welcome basket of links for you.

I've got friends with pit bulls and they are no different than my golden retriever. They are very lovable and loyal companions and I have never seen any aggression whatsoever. It's how they are raised and from whom they are raised.

Originally posted by Amethyst
I say get a pit bull at your own risk.

Now the Humane Society in Michigan won't adopt out even part pit bull dogs. They'll put them down.

My sister had a dog, Prince, who was part black lab and part pit bull. He had a bit of an ornery streak in him. You did NOT push or pull him, or he'd growl--you had to ASK him to move.

Prince was NEVER abused by any family member. Yet there came a point where every time my mother tried to go into my sister's room, he'd attack her! So he was put down. I know that my mother and sister never did anything to encourage him to be aggressive. They also had a Great Dane who was a big baby--and he was afraid of Prince!

I don't know what's up with pit bulls--are they bred to be vicious or what? If so it had to have been in recent years, because Petey, the dog in the Little Rascals show, was a pit bull.

Certain breeds have more of a propensity for aggression; but then some people are born the same way. That does not mean that they have to stay that way, with the proper training or enivironment pit bulls will never act upon their inborn aggressiveness. In the story above, the pit bull may never have been abused but the owners might never have done anything to curb his aggressiveness. When he showed aggression and they backed off they were helping to assert the dogs dominance. He was aggresive and they backed off. It's how a dogs mind works, it has to do with aplha dog mentallity. Had they reacted differently, and showed that they were the alpha dog by asserting dominance the dog probably wouldn't have done what he did.

My mom has a pomeranian who had since he was a puppy displayed aggression especially when he was sleepy, and he had even bitten people on the hand before. We finally hired a dog trainer who was an animal behavior specialist, and she taught us how to reassert ourselves as the alpha dog. It worked amazingly well!

Dogs are a product of their owners. Any breed of dog is good unless its owners wish to train it otherwise. You can have your pet Pitbull eating out of your hand, or you can have your pet Pitbull eating someone's hand! It's the owner's choice. The last thing we need to do is blame the dogs. They are doing as they were taught and as they were raised.

It's a shame... some people just should never be allowed to have a pet. These are the same people who also should have never been allowed to have children!


This is Bob Barker reminding you to have your pets spayed or neutered!

I'm generally more concerned about the owners of these dogs than the dogs themselves. That said, there are dozens of breeds that make better family pets than pit bulls.

bull terrier for the win!

lil stocky body, sharkhead, good friendly social doggie

and they know how to surf, drink beer, and party down and get all the hot girls.


/rip spud

Originally posted by djohnsto77
My personal experience with pit bulls is that they are sweet and loving dogs, but can be very protective. I don't think the breed should be outlawed, any dog can be dangerous if it's not trained properly.

I agree 100%, I would like to add that if they are raised as lone animal they tend not to like other animals, its part of it protective side.

[edit on 3-7-2005 by SpittinCobra]

and for the sake of everything that is totally sweet:

Don't stick them on a damn chain for the rest of their life! God that pisses me off when I see a doggie stuck to a damn chain and you know damn well he hasnt been off the chain in MONTHS!

/rage

I have to question why anyone would BUY a pure-bred dog. When there are millions of mutts waiting ot be adopted for free, and often are a lot more healthier and freindlier then any pure bred.

Too often people buy pit bulls because it is an agressive dog. I knew a person at work who BRAGGED how his dog could pull out a 4 foot spiral stake from the ground and get loose.

A better soultion is to have Animal Control have a certification program for known agressive breeds, and that in a certain number of years tehy come a visit and see if the dog is properly trained. if it is, you get a certificate and allowed to have the dog breed

Cats? they jsut sleep and ingore everyone unless they want to get food

I am a proud Pitbull mix owner, and i have to say he is the most loving dog i ever had. He is also the toughest and bravest.

Pitbulls can be great dogs, you must have a strong hand on them and teach them the right stuff from a puppy. The problem with pitbulls is the way people raise them, feeding them kitties, other puppies and giving them led and gunpowder to make them bviolent for pit fights...

A pitbull can be your best friend or your worse enemy ...its the owners choice.

also i think they ahve an exagreated bad rep, because there are alot of attacks by Rotts, and German shepperds too, but ppl just seemed to be fixated on pits.