So you both missed the “bit in the face by a Rottie”? response? I was just toweling his neck dry. I’ll say this once more very slowly, it’s not the breed. Have you seen the stories where a ferret has killed a baby? I have. How about where a “pet” rat killed a baby? I don’t want vicious animals to run loose. I don’t want tame animals to run loose. This is about human responsibility not about a dog breed. The fact that I work with dogs doesn’t give them any more right to bite me than to bite anyone else. It just gives me more insight.
I had some friends of the family who had horses and a hobby-type ranch and had owned many dogs over the years, and they were always very good dogs, well behaved, fine to have around. These people got a Rottweiler, raised it from a puppy. I knew these people well and know that they were good and responsible with animals. They went on vactation for a few weeks, and my SIL, who has raised and bred dogs -- specifically German Shepherds -- and is also very good with animals, took care of the Rott while they were gone. At the time, it was the only dog they owned.
About a week into the dog's care, the dog started snarling and growling at my SIL. It made her pretty nervous. She mentioned it to the friends when they returned, and they laughed it off. Eventually, however, the Rott became so aggressive even to them that they (stupidly) gave it to a family on a nearby ranch. These friends moved out of state shortly afterward ... and about a year later, my SIL read a news story about a family in the area whose little girl had had her hand permanently maimed (nearly torn off) by the family's pet Rottweiler. We've never known for sure whether or not it was the same dog, but if I was a gambler, I'd lay odds that it was. My SIL would have put the dog down, sadly, but wisely; these friends thought the thing could be "rehabilitated," apparently.
People like you who emotionally blame the symptom instead of the cause, are doing more to make breed banning a reality than anyone. Fans of these war dogs should be the ones spearheading efforts to ensure that these very special and valuable dogs are treasured and owned by folks like Kanawa, who understands and respects what the dogs are and can do. Peer pressure would go a mighty long way -- if you are a Pit or Rott or Presa lover and you see one behind a short fence or running loose, you ought to come down mighty hard on the owner, aggressively and with organized effort. THEN you would be doing something to keep the dogs from being banned, and may save a human life or two while you're at it.
It is about human responsibility but there is more to it with pit bulls. There is a breed difference. Pit bull owners who I have asked about it tell me there is.
Specifically they tell me the problem is that these dogs, after hitting sexual maturity, are generally known to be more aggressive towards other dogs and the “unpredictability” of them going off on another dog or people is noticeably increasned. They also say that getting them spayed or neutered will reduce this (as with all dogs and other animals) because it stems largely from the fact the higher levels of hormones make this kind of thing have a much higher chance of happening.
But it is clear that time and again, we get these stories about pit bulls in particular, and the same kinds of circumstances happening again and again. Generally it’s either someone else’s dog seeking out someone/something to attack out of nowhere, or it’s ‘the family dog’ that ‘never did it before’, nobody ever imagined the dog could do this, and a family member is seriously mauled or dead.