>>I apologize in advance for the broad brush but that accounts for at least 90% of pitbull owners.<<
I agree. Interestingly though, if you look up “pitbull attack” on youtube, nine out of ten will be of someone showing their dog playing with their children, thinking their anecdotal story somehow proves their dog is harmless. For crying out loud, I believe many of the ones that attack have had such moments.
When my wife’s first husband died, he left a very cute and loyal doberman that the whole family loved. She had three children all of single digit age. One day the doberman snipped at her. She immediately had it put down.
I don’t know about your maltepoo, but my baby thinks every dog he sees will love and play with him. The bigger the better. When I walk him and see any large dogs- especially pit bulls- approach, I pick him up above my head( if necessary). Once I picked him up by his harness so fast he was swinging in the air( he weighs 9 lbs). Any dog would have to go through me to get to him- and any dog that attacked him would have me go Katrina on them. I would make Mel Gibson-in Braveheart with the blood all over him- look like a harmless fuzzball.
That was an irrational response.
The *only* time my current Dobe ever snapped at me was the night I rushed him to the weekend ER vet where, after a battery of other tests and x-rays, he was diagnosed with Lyme disease and in great pain.
When I awoke him by petting him, it caused the inflammation in his neck [from the Lyme] to hurt him and in his groggy half-awake state, he snarled and snapped at me.
Within 2 seconds, he was all apologies and remorseful kisses but I *knew* instantly something was very wrong with him, physically.
When he hopped off the sofa and walked around, he started yelping, randomly.
Within minutes, we were on the way to the vet.
One shot of Prednisone for the inflammation stopped the pain [even though he never acted anything less than polite and affectionate towards me or the vet the whole time] and he was happy and trying to ‘suck up’ to the female vet techs, as usual.
In fact, now that he was fully awake, the vet couldn’t even duplicate a “vicious” reaction from whatever was hurting him, even by fiercely wrenching his neck and spine around, hence the x-rays.
Two months of Doxycycline halted the Lyme.
Personally, I couldn’t live with guilt of wondering if I’d murdered my own loyal dog without at least giving it the benefit of a medical exam.
A tattoo artist we knew had 2 Rottweilers.
He always warned people to not touch the male as he was “vicious”.
While the artist and hubby chatted, I managed to get hands on the dog and although he did growl and snarl, it was obvious it was not aggression but agony.
I pleaded with the guy to get his dog to a vet but he didn’t listen.
A few months later, the dog died of the agonizing bone cancer that Rotts are prone to.
He wasn’t “savage”; he was suffering.
She may have killed an innocent but ill/hurting dog.
“She had three children all of single digit age”
Triplets?!?