Posted on 01/02/2015 6:05:59 PM PST by george76
Last weekend in Saanich, B.C., a 16-day old baby was mauled by her family’s pit bull-Rottweiler mix on the same day as an elderly man was attacked by two pit bull dogs outside a Langley, B.C. dollar store
...
there are about three million pit bull type dogs in North America today, representing 6% of all breeds. But about 26 people die from pit bull type dogs in the U.S. every year (out of about 40 from all 400 breeds combined). Pit bull type dogs maul, maim, disfigure or dismember hundreds more. By no coincidence, when pit bulls were few in number — 200,00 before 1970, most clustered in marginal districts — dogbite-related fatalities in the general population were freakishly rare. In my youth, when middle-class neighbourhood dogs ran loose, and average families didn’t own fighting dogs, years went by without a single fatality.
...
Pit bulls are now the second most popular breed of dog in America (Labs happily still rule). Criminals favour them
...
pit bull type dogs are six times more likely to kill humans than all other breeds combined
(Excerpt) Read more at fullcomment.nationalpost.com ...
Well, I'm glad you've had such positive experiences with the breed. Just keep in mind that there's something in the genes of that breed that causes them to be become aggressive in unpredictable ways.
Too many times, we've seen tragic stories about young children being mauled to death by their "sweet and loving" family pit bull terrier. Just a week back, there was a story about a pit bull who mauled his adult male owner to death. According to the story, the guy never mistreated him, and loved the dog like anyone else would. Raised him from a puppy, I think.
For what it's worth, pit bulls are too much of a wild card to maintain as domestic pets. A lot of folks have found that out the hard way, as the never ending reports about them attest to.
Good luck.
They’re not suitable for every one.
A dog and its owner need to be matched on personality and temperament.
People like cute puppies but a young adult dog is far less work has already been trained and you know what its personality is like.
People need to put as much work into finding the right dog for them as they do in picking their spouse.
Yikes. I thought it was a recent development.
Too often, pit bulls and their owners ARE matched up in terms of personality and temperament. That’s part of the reason why pits have the poor reputation they have. The rest is genetics. Pointers like to point, herders like to herd, pits light to fight and kill.
Yikes. I thought it was a recent development.
No, they were originally bred by grain farmers to hunt rats. Through careful selection, the breeders created a dog with incredible killer instincts. The details are on the web.
I've seen enough evidence over the last forty years to convince me that pit bull terriers aren't suitable as domestic pets for anyone.
You and I FRiend, agree totally. I didn’t misinterpret what you meant.
In this wretched apartment complex where we reside, we at one time had the manager and her husband living across the way from us and they had a 140lb white lab. Beautiful dog, but scarey, as the dog would come up to you but stay a leap away and growl. The guy had the dog in the complex OFF the leash while they walked toward the woods. When his dog did his one leap away growl thing at me, I let him know that if his dog tried to bite me, he would be shot in the head. Both of the people tried to reassure me the dog would not bite. I didn’t care for the reassurance, I wanted the dog on a leash, or I wanted to have the contact information for her employer.
People need to keep their dogs completely under control, and if they cannot manage that, they need to get rid of their dogs.
Not most, but a great portion of the men I have seen with pit bulls have convinced me they need the dog to compensate for something, and they want folks to believe they are tough guys with bad-ass dogs. Wearing their undersize t-shirts with their weight lifting muscles showing, perhaps trying to attract attention from the kind of people that are impressed with that sort of pose. It’s pathetic, really.
Most dog owners have no understanding of the psychology of dogs, much of which varies between breeds. But they get a dog and think that feeding it, letting it poop and *occasionally* walking it is sufficient.
For example, one of my “grandogs” is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Nice temperament, Uber laid back. He never gives much, if any, attention to other dogs unless, and this is key, they are loose while he is leashed. Then he gets very protective because he sees the lack of a leash as aggression on their part. They are a potential threat to him and his master. This is not uncommon for dogs. How many of these numbnut owners know that?
Some breeds have no issue with looking at you right in the eye when up close. A Ridgie will not look you in the eye up close, to him this is a sign of aggression and he won’t do it unless he is angry at you.
The other grandog is a pit bull mountain cur mix. Sweet and affectionate, this is a people dog, she likes to get up close and look you in the eye. Just love me and be near me is all she wants (except for squirrels and cats LOL). She also pays little or no attention to other dogs, *except* as we discovered, really small dogs. She goes berserk at a Chihuahua for example. We believe that is because she doesn’t see it as a dog, but as prey like a rodent or such. Point being she is not dog aggressive, but it might appear so to the un-knowledgeable person.
It is endless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.