Do you think all Pit-Bulls are bad?

The only pit I've ever been around for an extended period of time was my friends. Nice dog. Only real aggressive thing she does is lick endlessly. Its almost as if her sniffing is replaced with licking. If there's any curiousity...the endless licking begins. Now with that being said, I'm not much of a dog fan.

 

http://

One of four rescues that are part of our family....amazing pups and so good with kids.

 

Only a complete IDIOT would vote yes on this poll. I have been around and owned pitbulls for the last 20plus years

 

What he said ^

 

Vicious pit-lab-daughter-Tacoma pic
http://

 

I love dogs, and could not agree more that the owner is responsible 90% of the time. I have seen pit bull attacks alongside other breeds attacking people.

For example, I have a Treeing Walker Coonhound. He is a family dog, never trained to hunt, tree, or anything to that nature. Just the family dog. But if we go to the woods to walk trails, he will instinctively tree animals and be on point facing whatever animal is ahead. I think it's pretty cool that he does that, but know he is still an animal.

So with that being said, I would have to agree with some of the above comments and say that 10% of the time instincts play an important role in what is considered "abnormal/aggressive" behavior.

 

Pit bulls just want to make their owners happy. If being aggressive make their owners happy, that's what they'll do. Like most others have said, its all about the way they were trained. Anybody, including my daughter when she was just 6 years old, could reach down and stick their hand in my bully's bowl while she's eating. She will stop and sit down and wait for the "get it" command to resume eating.
Also, you don't hear about dachshund, minpin, or yorkies attacking people because that doesn't sell newspapers or make people watch the news. If ALL dog bites were reported, pit bulls would be real low on the statistics. They are just capable of doing more damage...

Sasha. Best dog ever.



This minpin (wifes) grew up chewing on her face, and now the mini pinscher is very aggressive to other dogs and people.

Minpin all grown up... Cute right?

Not really.





Sasha could easily destroy this little dog. But she is very gentle. If she gets tired of her, she'll just run her down and bulldoze right over her If you were to play rough with Sasha, she will not mouth you. If her teeth even barely touch you accidently she will back off and stop playing. She has a very strong bite inhibition. The minpin is a completely different story. If I grab her for any reason, some times just to pick her up, she will try and nip me. She will lunge at dogs and people and bark her head off, but if I scold her she will piss everywhere and run away and hide.
Most of the Hawaii guys that come to my place or some of the meets have met my dogs. They know how sweet Sasha is

I will admit that the pit bull "stare" is very intimidating tho...

 

the ones that bite me are bad

 

No. The behavior of an animal is correlsted to how it is treated by its owner. My family has owned various different breed of dogs ever since I was a babe. We have never had a problem with any dog breed, whether it be biting someone or a family member. Most of our dogs have been for companionship. But we have had dogs that were used as guard dogs. Our guard dogs were very distinct when it came to behavior. We had trained them to be aggresive and protective of the family, thus concluding my rant/opinion that a dog will behave in accordance of how the owner treats/trains it.

 

The real question is: Do you think all pitbull OWNERS are bad?

And the answer is obviously no.

good owner = good dog

bad owner = bad dog

A dog is an accurate reflection of the personality of its owner.

 

I think a lot of the "yes" voters are confusing dog socialization with providing the dog with a loving home. There is a big difference. I had a female chocolate lab as a kid, and we gave her a great home. She was sweet as can be to us, but if strangers were involved, she was terrifying. A trainer even said that she had gone so long without proper socialization that she needed to be put down (we got a second opinion, of course, and after about a year she had improved considerably). My family had never heard of "socialization" in the context of training a dog before.

Dogs need to be properly exposed to both unfamiliar humans and unfamiliar animals, preferably while they are puppies. Abusing a dog will (obviously) cause problems, but not teaching the dog that strangers (both human and animal) are not enemies will (somewhat obviously) not teach the dog to be friendly to strangers. It sounds simple, but many people don't even think about it. Dogs need socialization training because of how territorial and protective they are, and some dogs need it more than others. As the most hyper-social species on the planet, it's just hard for us to relate.

That said, pit bulls do have a relatively high prey drive, even if is not not the highest. They are also very protective. Combine this with a powerful body, and it is vital to properly socialize pit bulls. There is a reason that so many rescues require you to sign up for socialization training if you adopt.

The negative publicity for pit bulls in the media is due somewhat to improper training and abusive owners, but it is blown out of proportion. The media reports on pit bull attacks because it increases viewership. Have you ever watched an interesting news bit, only to realize later that it wasn't really news? People are scared of pit bulls, so news stories about aggressive pit bulls are catchy. It's like reporting on which celebrity or politician did what. Miley Cirus dressed like Britney Spears did 10 years ago? OMG! It's so relevant and meaningful to my life! Wait, a member of the political party I'm strongly opposed to did something stupid? The (democrats/republicans/tea partiers) are such idiots!

Unfortunately, the negative image of pit bulls in the media attracts people to the dogs who should not be dog owners in the first place, and this perpetuates the cycle. I used to work in a bad neighborhood, and I can't even tell you how many drug addicts and drug dealers I saw who had pit bulls by their sides. I never once saw a shady person on a street corner with a lab.

 

I couldn't agree more. We had a dachshund that sadly had to be put down at 16 yrs old, but he was mean to everyone except his momma (my wife). He was all cute and cuddly to look at until you got close. I got bite by that guy I don't even know how many times. Heaven forbid you get close to his food, it's like a no holds bard fight to the death type of encounter. But in his defense, as a pup my wife didn't socialize him. So he grew up a one woman, one person type of dog.
Our dachshund now is completely different, he can't get enough of people. And has no clue what the term personal space means.

 

Here is a pit bull who was voted a hero dog for 2013: http://www.today.com/pets/bully-her-elle-pit-bull-2013-american-hero-dog-8C11332418

 

people hate on pitbulls all the time.. but werent sharpe's actually bread to fight in pits?

 

I was bit/attacked by a GSD when i was in like 3rd grade. it was a neighbors dog, and was trained to be a guard dog. well the POS neighbor let it out side in an open unfenced yard and it ran on to another neighbors yard that i was in playing and bit me. had to get 8 stitches in my let and still can clearly see the scar today!

 

I feel sick after reading this.

This has to sum up my German Shepherd (& my lack of knowledge on the issue.)

The protection/security she offers to my family/house is nice but, I never
wanted a mean ass, unfriendly animal.

She's never been abused or trained be violent, Ever. & as a pup she mingled with people often.

My previous dog was a Lab, the most lovable,friendly to strangers,loves anybody type dog. Miss her dearly.

 

yep. me and the friends house i was at ran to his door, but it got to me way to fast. they also tried lying about it and all kinds of crap went on.

 

For those that think pitbulls are not dangerous... Enjoy this read I posted up may 2012...

"Tribute to my best friend, he was killed 6 may by 2 pit bulls. Here is my post I put up.

Well, I am sitting here bawling like a school girl. My Chocolate lab is dead. I am stuck in Taiwan and I get a call that my neighbors got 2 pitbulls, they got into my yard and attacked my dog while my room mate was out. He actually killed one of the pitbulls but they tore him up good.

Bites over 90% of his body. Neck partially crushed, left rear leg crushed, intestines and organs crushed and damaged. The police and my roomate rushed him to the vet. I cant afford 10K plus for the surguries and care it would have taken plus there is no garentee he would have made it. If he had he would not have been the same dog.

The worst part is that I got him while I lived in Japan, moved to Korea with him, then washington, california, hawaii, and back to washington. He has been with me as I went to war 3 times, twice to Iraq and 1 to Afghanistan. He has been there every time I came home from my travels for work. As other people have come and gone he has always been there no matter. All he ever wanted to do was be with me.

He was the best natural hunting down that most people had ever seen. He was never gun shy, never barked, never broke from the blind/my side early or without command. There was never a duck, goose, pheasant, and any winged thing he didnt find. His favorite thing was to go hunting and fetch golf balls. If we couldnt hunt we would go to the local ball field and I would pound balls 100 yards down range and he would bring them back and set up for the next one.

When he was a puppy he used to go to the race track with me when I raced motorcycles in Japan. He was our team mascot and would wander the pits around us, everyone loved him. In Hawaii I would put a back pack on him and he would chase after me on my dirt bike.

He protected my house 6 months ago when someone broke in by laying teeth into an intruder. He knew his job was to protect the house when I was not there. My job was to protect him and I failed miserably.

I am having him cremated and keeping his collar. I will put some of his ashes in his favorite hunt site and first place he put his mouth on real feathers. I love him and will miss him so much.
Here are some pictures of him over the years. "







And this is what they did to him... only shaved part of his body and over 300 puncture marks. The vet estimated over 1000 punctures on his body...



Next pitbull will only make it one foot onto my property. Now with new dogs, kids, and my wife I will not hesitate to put one down before anything happens to my family. If your not responsible to keep your beast under control its unlikely you have taught him to not be a killing machine.

 

While I do generally agree with you... to a point, the breed has been so inbred and bred for the wrong reasons that much like rottweilers of the 80's (which my wife was attacked by and mauled as a child), german sheppars of the 90's, that so many of the wrong traits have been bred into them including aggression and insecurity. Couple that with the wrong owner who shouldnt own a pet rock let alone such a strong breed and its a recipie for dissaster.
While I do know one or 2 pits that are great dogs I do not trust them one bit because I would say 9 out of every 10 pits in the general public right now is a ticking time bomb.

 

Its a dog and by nature is good. It's the owners who are bad. I've never had a bad experience with a dog, in fact before I deployed I knew every dog in my apartment complex and would even dog sit for owners when they would go out of town. All breeds can be good and can be bad but like I said before it depends on owner.