Pit Bull Owners Defend Breed After Dog Fighting Bust

WNCT ^

[mupcat]

Yup, it’s Ronnie and his “gift” Bouvier des Flandres, “Lucky”.

Thanks, Salamander, thought so.

My inlaws use to have a Bouvier--- great dogs, but boy you'd better know how to handle them. Not for the 1st time dog owner.

[Salamander]

I was attending one of the Mason/Dixon KC training classes with my Dobermann [who was *not* a wuss by any definition] when a young girl dropped the gate on an SUV and out leaped the biggest freaking Bouvier I’ve ever seen.

Dogzilla, for reasons known only to him, went straight for my dog, who, not even recognizing this ginormous Sasquatch-like thing as even *being* a dog, freaked out.

Then, he rallied to battle and I had a rip of a time trying to keep the *much* larger, out of control Bouvier from tearing my dog up.
[*he* listened to my command to “out” from the fight but the Bouvier kept going.]
The idiot girl just stood there and screamed and when it was over, she blamed *my* dog for the fight to the KC president.

Never saw her at the training class again.

I think she got banned.

[mupcat]

Oh how horrible! Yeh, must say they can be an arm full to put it mildly. I heard that their bite is something like 1000 lbs per square inch.

I'm afraid Rufus was killed in a flood in South Dakota along with my in-laws so unfortunately I wasn't around him that much, but I do remember him as a real sweetheart. Wish I could have spent more time with him.

[oldenuff2no]

You have learned something along the way, and that is a good thing. My daughter can get the jeep to the barn and back and she is very young, but not a NASCAR driver yet.
I train for a living. We sell a dozen fully trained border-collies a year and more than twice as many certified ordnance dogs. As I get another trainer up to par we will double the bomb dog total per year.
I sort through and try out over 200 puppies a year to get the dogs I need. I work with border-collies in the stock dog training program and an now working with only german shepherds for Law Enforcement dogs and bomb dogs. The reason for this is simple, they are #1 and #3 as far as intelligence by breed. We start with the smartest and quickest learning dogs we can find and breed out own pups. Then only 10% make make the grade. I need dogs that are not only smart, but that learn quickly. They have to learn and respond to new commands in 5-7 repetitions, remember that command and respond to it that command instantly every time.
You can find the comparative data here.

http://petrix.com/dogint/intelligence.html

I fully understand you like you pit bull, he is valuable to you as your pet and your friend. That breed always ranks in the lower half of all dog breeds for intelligence and only respond to a command the first time half of the time. They take 25+ repetitions to learn a new command and then only respond to it correctly the first time every other time it is given. I can not and will not deal with that.
When they run a bomb dog over a plane prior to an international flight they tell the dog to look for explosives. I want that dog to respond to that command every time he hears it, not half the time. Look at the data from the link and you will be able to easily follow. These are the numbers and the criteria they use in placing the breeds on the chart. You can search for other lists but they all are about the same. This is what professional trainers and handlers know to be true. When you and your family get on that next plane what dogs do you want doing the search.

[LongElegantLegs]

So...lack of training on the part of a pitbull owner *IS* the fault of the breed, because they’re not as smart as border collies? Is that what I’m getting here?

[oldenuff2no]

Two different subjects. The first, from what I see of most pit bull owners they wouldn't know what a well trained dog looked like it it were parked in their driveway. Second, pits can be trained to do some things but it will take a lot more time and energy. Some things are beyond them and always will be. This is true of many breeds so I'm not picking on you. Probably why they are no where near the top of the intelligence list.
Like I said, don't think I'm picking on you, I don't like cats either.