Do you think all Pit-Bulls are bad?

You To answer the OP's question: No canine is inherently "BAD" it's the [IRRESPONSIBLE] owners and breeders that are. The dogs themselves can't just be bad, for the sake of being bad. Owners/breeders control that.

For those of you who have time to read and possibly learn a little something about a breed that I have spent nearly 15 years of my life owning, go ahead and read below(thanks for your time in advance!)

NOW let's clear a few things up....

1) The term "PIT BULL" has lost it's true meaning, and it's 100% the fault of the media and a term NOW used for anything resembling a tightly-jowled molosser dog. This could not be further from the truth.

Now for a brief history lesson on this breed... Every single Boxer/American Pit Bull Terrier/Boston Terrier/American Staffordshire Terrier/Staffordshire Bull Terrier/ETCCCC all genetically lead to one dog, the ORIGINAL BULLDOG. No, not those stubby, snub nosed English Bulldogs we are so familiar to associating the word "bulldog" with, I am talking about the original Bulldog. The "Bull" in "Pit Bull." The Irish took these bulldogs and began breeding them to the original white terriers----creating the 1st of what we now know as "pit bulls" that were first dubbed "bull and terriers" but were more commonly known as BULLDOGS. By selective breeding, these bulldogs began seeing "the box"(aka THE PIT) to be proven by dogmen/gambling men...............when a bulldog won, then and ONLY then it would prove itself A TRUE 'PIT' BULL. Back in those days, all these fighting dogs were known as BULLDOGS UNTIL PROVEN, then the bulldog became a pitbull.

This lack of knowledge about the breed alone has led to the obnoxious slander of the breed(or what the media THINKS they know as the breed) by media over decades upon decades. If you look up the dogs that fall into the molossoid category, you'd see just how oblivious most people are to what really is a "pit bull" which leads me to the next issue...

2) There is only *1* kind of "pit bull," and that is the AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER[APBT]. BREED STANDARD FOR AMERICAN PITBULL TERRIERS DOES NOT ---UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES--- ACCEPT HUMAN AGGRESSION AS A BEHAVIORAL CONFORMATIONAL TRAIT IN THIS BREED, AND BREEDERS OF APBT MUST NOT BREED ANY WAY OTHER THAN FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE BREED. 10 minutes of research on the internet can literally learn you something new on this breed. Thus, the often publicized "pitbulls" who are man biters in the news are usually what social media likes to call "pitbulls" when they are really mixes or misclassifications of different breeds that fall within the generic "pitbull" breed label. Again, research is key. It's very rare you'll see a purebred, fully documented(pedigree) APBT as a creature that instinctively that attacks humans. 9/10 people wouldn't be able to pick out a TRUE AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER if the dog told them itself in English.

Fact: REGISTERED PROOF OF PEDIGREES ARE THE ONLY WAY TO DETERMINE IF A DOG IS AN AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER. UKC & ADBA are 2 legitimate registries which recognize the American Pit Bull Terrier through bloodline pedigrees. It's really that simple. Now let's go look at all those dog mauling cases involving "pit bulls" and see if those truly were bloodline derived APBT's or one of media's reckless mislabelings again.....were they really pitbulls???

Here's an example of how utterly useless reports on "pitbull dog attacks" are:



Would most people have guessed that the "Mostly Pit Bull" dog was the truest to breed of all those dogs? Likely not. Again, media ignorance leading to more slander of the true breed.

Some stats:




3) SO what are these "pits" that are biting people and giving the true breed a bad rep? Easy.....they're mishandled, horribly bred, horribly owned mutts bred nothing more than for looks---and if not that, they're a lot of the time a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BREED AND NOT PIT BULL!! How can breeding for looks create a man biter? When you breed SOLELY for cosmetics, you will successfully pass on the "color" you want, but you will also unknowingly AMPLIFY undesirable traits like HA(human aggression). Again, a true American Pit Bull Terrier bred correctly and soundly will never ever be human aggressive.


4) American Bullies. Aka designer dogs. Aka a lot of BLUE dogs. Anytime you hear about a "Razors Edge PITBULL" or a "GOTTILINE pitbull" these are NOT pit bulls. Not a drop of blood of pit bull in them. Not even close. Don't let anyone tell you their "blue nose pitbull" is a pit bull. APBT's NEVER EVER have blue in their bloodlines. Blue is a mutation of the black color(so can you imagine what happens when you breed FOR a mutation???) These dogs are heavily bastardized genetic mutations(via cross breedings of other breeds of dogs) of what was ONCE decent stock of bloodline until backyard breeders saw a quick buck was to be made by peddling off these kinds of dogs. More often than not, you probably see an American Bully on the street than you would a true APBT....and more often than not these dogs are NOT bred for health much less temperament. Of all the "pit style" dogs, these are the ones that bite the most people, and it's simply because of TERRIBLE breeding practices amplifying human aggression. This is what happens when breeders focus solely on phenotype rather than genotype.

Think you know what a pit bull is? Think again...



(the X'd out dogs on the bottom are ALL American Bullies)


5) American Staffordshire Terrier vs American Pit Bull Terrier....difference? Well before the Irish landed onto American soil with their bulldogs, there was NEVER a difference between the 2 breeds. They started all from the same stock. They were all "pit bulldogs." Registries essentially created the American Staffordshire Terrier. The distinctive "branch split" between the 2 breeds happened when the American Kennel Club(AKC) refused to associate themselves with "pitting" dogs and the gambling that surrounded the gentlemen's 'sport.' As a result, the American Staffordshire Terrier NAME was created to water down the fighting reputation of the original dog. Over selective breeding, AST's were bred more and more for show and less for performance. By "performance" I'm referring to the time period dating PRE-1976 before the U.S. Animal Welfare Act was passed outlawing dog fighting altogether in our country. A "performance" APBT before 1976 was a fighting dog. Simple as that. With performance being last on the list of breeder requirements, it created a much less dog aggressive dog, but with a little more surface muscle(mainly for looks)----now known as the American Staffordshire Terrier. Looking solely at registered pedigrees, a lot of show AST's will have RUFFIAN or GAFF or X-PERT in their bloodlines.


6) American Pit Bull Terriers & dog aggression....is it how you raise them? TO a small extent, possibly, but for the most part NO. Dog aggression has been bred INTO this breed for HUNDREDS of years, some pit bulls are 'hotter' than others, but you simply cannot rule out genetics, period. There is no form of socialization(AT ANY AGE) that will extract the dog aggression out of a true pit bull. Can you manage it? SURE, and every responsible APBT owner should! Most pit bulls do not start 'showing' this behavior until 1-2 years of age. Again, some pit bulls can be hotter than others so varying degrees of dog aggression is expected---it all falls back on the pedigree. This leads me into another topic...

7) SOCIALIZATION. This is what separates a lot of 'dog' people from 'people who think they know dogs.' You cannot humanize canine. Dogs are animals, they have instincts whether it be genetically or driven by stimulus. "Socialization" of dogs DOES NOT mean your dog or any other person's dog needs to love every-single-dog he/she encounters, but rather, conditioning/exposing them to be aware of different venues, animals, situations, people & their dogs(not necessarily interacting), and having them successfully CO-EXIST with humankind in social settings. This is why I personally avoid dog parks---especially with any bulldog(bulldogs, pit bulls, pit mutts, etc) breed. Not only are these parks hot beds for new outbreaks and strains of canine disease, but the majority of owners do no know how to read canine body language much less are 100% supervising every move of their dog. Again, set your dog up for success, not failure. What your dog plays with as a puppy(and again, this is with the mindset of a pit bull owner), forecasts nothing into how they will be in adulthood. A properly socialized dog does not necessarily have to be an "interacting" dog. Police K9 dogs are all properly socialized, but you don't see them having play dates(that's a dog park frequenter's mentality).

Most people will not agree with me, and that's fine. I choose to be a proactive owner rather than a reactive owner. That said, to those who own dogs PLEASE don't set them up in situations to fail. From chihuahuas to mastiffs---unless you have an unbreakable RECALL(ie: "COME!"/"HERE!" etc), your dogs should be leashed at all times. Do not be *those* owners who say "oh don't worry my dog is friendly!" to complete stranger dogs/people and then act puzzled why it has to be yanked off another's neck.


With all this said, this is why Breed Specific Legislation is complete and utter bullshit. The media only perpetuates ignorance from calling anything under the sun a 'pit bull' only to further show these animals as uncontrollable mauling beasts with no regard to humans. Oh, how little they know.

Unless you have own one of these dogs yourself, to wrongly blanket every GOOD pit bull with the often pubished bastardized mutts/shitty irresponsible owners is simply wrong.

The bigger picture here is to EDUCATE YOURSELF. I've done my best here to shed a new light, and perhaps show a little bit of how the pit bull came about, but I can only do my part to fight the breed specific legislation. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion as I am mine, but owning 4 mixes and 1 current APBT(which I will post about), it comes down to the responsibility of the owners. We(pit/pit mix) owners are held to much different(strict) standard, and we have a duty to go far beyond what the normal dog owner would ever do just to show our dogs are not what the media says they are.


HERE is my current pup, King. He is 8 months old, and just passed his AKC CGC(Canine Good Citizen) test 2 weeks ago with flying colors. He is 100% American Pit Bull Terrier and a face-licking monster. His favorite toy could not pry him away from meeting a new face or a face in general.











For those of you curious, here is his registered pedigree:

http://www.apbt.online-pedigrees.com/public/printPedigree.php?dog_id=450029

 

I would agree. I have read the entire topic, yes there are good dogs, bad dogs good owners bad owners and whatever emphasis you place on upbringing.

Regardless of the reason, you will never convince my wife otherwise to trust dogs with certain facial features.

She was attacked and bitten while walking our dog, which was also attacked and should have died, but somehow did not, that any of the dogs posted here, the owners whether responsible or not are not with a time bomb.

The post explaining the breed is the best proof against these mutt dogs that are badged as pitbulls.

I would bet the dog that attacked my wife was some form of mutt and yes the owner was a worthless POS that insisted his dog was the most loving harmless animal, though he had absolutely no control over it once it attacked. Even he could not stop the carnage.

My wife was a dog lover and owner for most of her life. Since the attack, she is terrified to the point of tears some times by loose dogs, all breeds.

From reading all of this, it sounds like the pitbull does get a bad reputation from those that own mutts. Now that it has been posted that mutts may not be stable, are those that post here 100% committed to defend their dog and take responsibility if the dog attacks another dog, animal or a person.

I am working on a solution, trying to convince the wife to carry more than dog spray, thereby ensuring her safety when a loose dog confronts her.

We also bicycle hundreds of miles each month. With the recent dog owner disrespect to keep their dogs leashed or fenced, and the wifes fear of loose dogs, I'm starting to consider the best solution may be to deal with explaining to police why the dead dog in the street has been put down as it came after us. Let the bad owner deal with police and his dead dog.

Ultimately though, we both still enjoy dogs and have a difficult time considering some of them as bad.

With the topics title being brought up in other posts, how many of those defending their pitbull, have a true pitbull and not a mutt. And as I asked before, are you willing to defend the mutt but most importantly, now that the pitbull facts are posted, how well do you really know what your mutt will do.

PK

 

I think that people actually hate on bad pitbull owners who make loaded weapons out of their dogs.

 

they are not very good looking dogs. I have seen good owners dogs flip in a second while playing. I wouldnt own one much less have a child around one. But that is just my opinion and we all know about opinions. Sad the stigma is already there where people feel the need to even ask the question. But again its there for a reason right?

 

A lot of different breeds were used to fight in pits. Sharpes were definitely one of them.

Same here, got torn off my bike by my neighbor's GSD when I was 8. Fortunately, once I fell, the dog ran away. Neighbor was an ass and had no business owning that dog. He now has a very aggressive mutt but he keeps that one fenced in after many complaints about it coming into people's yards fighting with other dogs and growling at the homeowners.

 

I agree. Some dogs make better loaded weapons than others because they have larger calibers and lighter triggers. And bad owners enjoy the pits' intimidating threat to others in the same way they'd enjoy owning an assault rifle.

 

Said many times before but for me it's an issue with the owner, not the dogs.

 

That's a pretty big misconception.
The fact is, they're one of the most popular breeds in the US, but there's relatively few attacks per year. Add to that the media often misidentifying dogs involved in an attack (kind of like how they do with "assault rifles"), and the numbers skew even further from "9 out of 10"
Saying that 9 out 10 pit bulls are ticking time bombs is like saying that 9 out of 10 returning military veterans are ticking time bombs, or that 9 out of 10 gun owners are.
On the other hand, any dog that's poorly raised is dangerous. I've got a dimpled scar on my leg from where a Golden Retriever bit me when I was a kid, but I don't think that all Goldens are ticking time bombs.

While I sympathize with losing your dog, the two that attacked it are simply not representative of the breed as a whole.

 

The premise that "all pits are bad" is ridiculous. Of the hundreds of dogs we have fostered, we failed (won) with 4. 2 are super damaged and stay at home, the other 2 pictured in my sig come to work with me everyday at a high traffic showroom on South Congress in Austin. I have to keep my lab locked in my office, he can be a little weird with kids but the pit runs the show. I've literally never met a dog as sweet, loyal and behaved as he is. Granted we are probably better educated owners than most but the pits we foster in general are total sweethearts.

 

Its a fact that Pitbulls are genetically engineered to be more of a killer dog. They have more hormones and stronger jaws than most dogs. Not to say they are all bad, but they are definitely more capable than some dogs when it comes to lethal power. I'm sure there are poodles that would eat a person if they could, but they cant...realistically.

So it boils down to the fact that IF a pitbull becomes bad....then it is more capable of killing than a poodle that becomes bad.

Everyone i've ever known that owned a pitbull had confidence compensation problems in other areas. Not to say that's everyone...but history often does repeat itself.

 

I don't feel like reading all the responses, but if you answered "yes", you are a moron.

 

You've obviously not heard of the dreaded pit poodle.

 

It is completely 100% how you raise the dog. I have been around dogs my entire life. My grandma and my mother both run a animal shelter for abused and neglected animals and its all about how the dog is raised. I have had a so called "Pitbull" (Not the actual breed name) for 4 years now and it is the most loyal, friendly dog i have ever owned which means a lot when considered i've seen mostly all of them. He minds every command i say and has been around other animals/kids/people his entire life with no problems. I have a 7 year old niece that it would not cross my mind 1 time to not leave her alone with my Pit.

The breed is known for having muscular body features and when raised improperly can cause some damage which is no different than any crazy human being out there. If you want a mean breed of dog, go grab you a chihauhua. If they were big enough to do anything, you would being opening a thread called "Do you think Chihauhua's are mean".

Just like everyone else's response i have read, for those of you that answered "Yes" has obviously never been educated on the breed or have never raised one.

 

Voted "no" their not bad, at least when i had to make mine release the other dog he was tearing into i could see in his eyes he didn't exactly know what all the commotion was about even tho he also bit the other dog owner for getting in the way...

Most common explanation when one attacks is "I raised him since a puppy i knew he would never hurt anything" goes for most types of dogs. just happens to be these like to shred things apart and have the strength to do it rather quickly.

 

Worst dog you can own around kids. Poodle's are assholes. Never meet a single one that wasn't a total nightmare. At least the full sized ones are. The little ones seem to be more mellow.

 

Lol indeed. I love dogs, but only some dogs. The permanently defensive ones are useless.

 

Our vendor trailer security at Parker this weekend! Turbo!

 

Beautiful Pit! ^

 

Haha, awesome! Thats one beautiful dog!

 

Statistics from 2012:


http://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-fatalities-2012.php?gclid=CJauo_yzj7oCFXBo7AodEV4AQw