The Sad Story Of Pit Bulls

[Bun~Bun]

A fantasitic breed - the pit bull is abreed of dog is slowly going to disapear for ever due to it'smiss-understanding and lack of knowledge from some people. It's allwayslabled as the "most aggressive and dangorous dog." Pit Bullsare not born extremely aggressive. No dog is. Infact, there have beenmore attacks from Rottwilers and Labs than pits. It's all on how theowner raises the pit. Becuase of them being used in illegal dog fights,and how owners raise them to be aggressive - is why they are beingmiss-understood. Pit Bulls bred for pets, show, or breeding quality arenot considered "furrosious blood thirsty beats from hell."Becuase of the miss-understanding of this breed, sadly,thousands have been put to sleep, killed, and banned in several statesof America - just becuase it's a pit bull - it doesn't have to beaggressive. Even if it's as sweet as gold, if it's found in an areawhere it's banned from - it will be killed.
1 thing that angers me the most - sterotypism. In the News, if a pitbull attacks some one or some one's pets, it will be bulletened as a"Pit Bull Attack." But if it's another breed of dog, it is bulletenedas a "Dog Attack." Very stupid. The breed should not be stand out likethat!!
And in most cases, these "pit bulls" are mistakend for other breeds.Pit Mixes, Staffys, and any other type of dog that looks like a "pitbull." And these people are as dumb as dirt, they lack so muchknowledge on the breed, it's not funny.

 

[HoneyPot]

Yep - Pitbulls are already not allowed inToronto. For the longest time, every dog at the shelters werePits and I read somewhere recently that tons of them were put to sleepat some shelter or the otherinstead of trying to adopt themout to other cities.

Makes me sad.

__________
Nadia

 

[MyBoyHarper]

I feel sad that the innocent ones areeuthanized, but it's not too hard for me to understand why they arebanned. And to agree with it.

3 weeks ago, my friend's neighbor had pit bulls. They were sweet ascould be. Then they got out and attacked a little 10 year old boy whilehe was playing in his yard. That poor child is still having surgery.

Then last week, that same friend's aunt had two pit bulls. They got outthe front door, went down the road and jumped a fence. Not only didthey attack a young 19 year old girl, but they ripped apart and killedher little dacshund puppy that she was holding.

I was attacked by a pit bull when I was 7 and I have 13 holes in myback. I never provoked it. It escaped its pen and came into my yardwhen I was playing.

Last year, my cousin lost his 2 year old son to a pit bull when a straycame wandering into the yard. The little boy was playing near the deckof his porch with his dad (my cousin) and they ripped the little boyout of his arms and had him before the dad could even do anything.

Someone on my block where I moved to just a few months ago has a bigwhite pit bull they let run loose. I knew it was trouble from thebeginning. Two weeks ago it went into someone's yard, attacked theirtwo daschunds and killed their cat.

So in the end, my sympathy for the breed only goes to deep. :?

 

[*poifect*]

I agree!!!! the pitbulls are notresponsible for their nature, their owners are. Lots of ownerspurposely train them to be angry, and starve them so that they becomeso enraged that they attack anything.


EDIT: it is from the breed being so thoroughly enfuriated that now mostpitt bulls have that streak in them ,it just breaks my heart to seewhat people do to poor innocent animals.

 

[pamnock]

In my opinion, the breed can be very dangerousand has earned its reputation due to irresponsible pet ownership andline-breeding for aggression.

When I lived in Ohio, one of my 4-H member's little 5 year old brotherwasripped to piecesand killed by the family "pet"pit bull.


Similar breeds such as the Staffordshire Terrier and English BullTerrier were historically bred for aggression and fighting.

Is it any wonder that these breedsare favored among drugdealersbecausethey are so aggressive? Idon't see any drug dealerswalking beaglesor poodlesaround the city. Many are also using these dogs in the pitsforfighting.There is no place for such adangerous weapon when innocent people are put at risk and these animalsare being so horribly abused.



Pam

 

[Bassetluv]

While I don't normally like to see censoring,there have been so many reports of horrific attacks on humans - leadingto scars, maiming, and death - that the legislation of pit bulls is(imo) a necessity. I do agree that it is not the animals' fault...itall falls under the umbrella of irresponsible owners, encouragement andeven breeding for aggression. I could not even fathom what it must belike for a family to go through losing a loved one, especially a smallchild, to an animal attack...and the torture they would face every dayknowing that it might have been preventable if the dog had been knownto be dangerous. Unfortunately there have been reports of pit bullattacks where the dog had no previous history of being aggressive.

I have never really felt intimidated by any dog, but there were twotimes when I had moments where I was worried...both times were with apit bull. In the first instance, I was a volunteer dog walker for thehumane society. They had taken in a young pit bull - probably around5-6 months old - and I took him out back to the play area to give himsome exercise. He began to play with a ball, and I was tossing it forhim...on the second or third throw he brought the ball back to me in amad rush, then dropped it suddenly, lunged at my leg, and held on. Icertainly wasn't expecting it. No one else was around and I trieddesperately to get him to let go, but couldn't pry his jaws open.Fortunately I finally did get him to release me after hitting himrepeatedly (something I never do to an animal)...and he kept lungingand snapping at me after that. He didn't break the skin as I had aheavy pair of jeans on, but I was bruised...and I know he was playing,but it far too aggressive. I reported the dog to the supervisor there,telling her I didn't think the dog was a suitable candidate foradoption the way he was (this was a few years before the province-wideban came into effect). Last I heard, he had been taken by apit bull rescue organization. The second instance happenedprobably a year or two before that one; I was out walking my dog andhad just come from a park. I turned onto the sidewalk and was going tohead down it to go home when I noticed a couple of guys standing therewith a rather large pit bull; the dog was not on a leash and he waseyeing my dog. I began to step onto the street to avoid him when one ofthe guys shouted at me, 'Get the hell out of here or I'll sic my dog onyour %$!@ mutt...and he kills when he attacks.' Again, normally I don'tput up with such things, but I knew that if his dog did attack, my girlwould have been torn apart. That incident made me so angry, knowingthat people such as this were allowed to own and encourage aggressiveanimals. (Unfortunately in this area, there used to be a lot of thatsort of thing...I once saved a cat's life from two large dogs (a rottieand a shepherd) who were both attacking it at once, while the ownerstood by and laughed.)

Presently in Ontario there is a province-wide ban of the breed, andanyone who owned a pit bull prior to the legislation must now obey lawsof having it properly confined and muzzled at all times. It soundsharsh, but with good reason...there have just been far too manyincidents of attacks to deem them safe in the hands of the generalpublic...and as Pam pointed out, they are the breed of choice for drugdealers and those who take part in dog fighting.

 

[polly]

I can understand where you are coming from aboutpit bulls and they are dogs that need to be properly trained can i sayjust like any other dog should be!! Unfortunately like anything elsethat us humans have decided over the years we always think we knowbetter so we get an animal but far to many of us don't put the effortinto them and i beleive ultimately that it is the humans faultthatthe dog attacks. And i would like to point out that ANYand ALL dogs have the instinct to attack that is their nature they arewild animals that have been domesticated.

As for staffy bulls and English bulls i feel sorry for them beinglumped with pit bulls. If you actually read up on these two breeeds thestaffy in particular is a nursing dog and loves children, is very goodwith them. I was brought up with English bull terriers and Twiz ourwhite bullie saw me as her puppy she would clean me sit under my pramand keep strangers away but if my mum told her it was ok she was finewith them. They are protective of their owners but what dog isn't.

In my whole life i have seen and played with more English and staffybulls than i can count and in all that time the only bite i ever hadwas off a jack russell!!

I believe they should be licensed and it should be absolute that youtake your dog to puppy training school no buts you have to respect youranimal to get respect back but most of all you have to show you are thepack leader there are to many people getting them for the wrong reasonsand making them into the "beasts" everyone now thinks they are.

I am sorry that so many of you have been attacked or know someone thathas, but i wonder how many of the owners did all they should have totrain these dogs. they do have a fighting streak in them but it is allin how they are trained . A japanese akita has the same instincts itwas bred for protecting the monks and are much bigger and more powerfulthan any bull terrier. I know someone who has one and it slipped itslead one night when it came home it was covered in blood and to thisday they don't know what happened or what it killed!!


I have to edit this to say that it should be the peron who is licensednot the dog cause i think this would be the best way to stop the wrongpeople having them. After all not many drug dealers or dog fighterswant to have their names and addresses know by the police!!!

 

[myLoki]

I've been around "dangerous breeds" my entirelife. We've owned one Pitbull and many Rottwielers. They have been thesweetest dogs I've ever had.

I've been attacked by two dogs in my life. One was a Rat Terrier and the other was a Dalmation. Neither was provoked in anyway.

This is my experience.



t.

 

[Weetwoo_89]

Time to toss in my two cents:


All dogs are decended from wolves. Any dog can be vicious of abused or neglected.

Some pits make me nervous, but not the whole breeds, justthe ones trained to fight/kill things. People do stupid things andabuse the animals to make them angry and mean instead of loyal, loving,and protective. It is wrong. Simple as that.

A pit bull saved my brother's life. It got shot when somepeople were trying to burger his house. The poepl knocked my brotherout of his wheelchair (he is handidapped) and had the gun aimed andready. His pit pup, Prissy, jumped at the attackers when she camerunning into the room. The shot her in the leg and ran off, becausethey heard the two other pits my brother has (Good thing they didn'tknow that one other is a puppy and the other was chained outside, soneither could have done anything else). She is really an amazing dog.Wonderfully trained. My brother can actually hold a treat to her noseand she won't take it until he tells her to. She is beautiful.

<3, Rae

P.S. Yes, Prissy is back on her feet and doing better then ever!

P.S.S. I have only been attacked by one dog and it was a rotty mix. Myblack cat jumped on its back(It was a stray and had me pinned in acorner on my porch) and started clawing the living crap out of it.Needless to say, it ran very fast. (It was still a young dog, otherwiseit might have eaten my cat>.&gt

 

[Bun~Bun]

Back when I was younger, and into pokemon, myfriend all of a sudden got impulsive threw some of my good cards in aperson's back yard. I shouted, "Why the hell did you do that?!" Helaughed. I didn't have time to whoop his rear. I whent overthe person's fence to retrieve my cards. All of a sudden, I see a bigwhite german sheppard running at me. I scampered to get over the fence,but failed, and fell. The dog attacked me, slammed me against thefence, and bit me. I finally got over the fence whith a bleeding armand crumpled pokemon cards. I angryly chased after that jerk whithangry tears.

 

[350nr]

I dont think this helps either...

 

[missyscove]

I volunteer at my local animalshelter. About 85% of the dogs that come in are pitbulls. Sadly, most of the dogs we euthanize are pit buls,occasionally for temperment/behaviour, but usually because what isreally a great dog simply can't find a home and we don't have roomanymore.

I believe that there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. Now, adog that was originally bred to kill other animals can, ofcourse,be dangerous without the obedience training that alldogs require. Personally, however, in a general state, smalldogs like chi's that have the so called "little dog complex" will scareme much more than a large dog.

I have no problem with people fearing pits. They should fearALL dogs because any dog can bite and too often people make theassumption that a dog won't bite just seconds before they'rebleeding.

My problem comes when people stereotype all pits, rotties,etc. That's when I think of dogs like Lena, a 1.5 pit mix whowanted to crawl into my lap, she loved my pets so much, but who hadalready been at the shelter for over a month. Or, a dog likeLucy who spent at least 2 months in the shetler, overlooked because shewas a 5 year old pit mix, but all she wanted was to play ball with you,and she never showed any aggression. She probably would havelet me stick my hands in her mouth to get the ball out, but I wouldnever do that with any dog.

Any dog who shows aggression gets a yellow mark on their card, that, atleast for now (they're looking intochanging things) stays ontheir card for their life at the shelter. Yes, there are somepits or other large dogs who get that yellow mark, but there are alsomany small dogs who get yellowed and there are far more who get no markat all.

 

[Bassetluv]

I believe that there are no bad dogs,only bad owners. Now, a dog that was originally bred to killother animals can, of course,be dangerous without theobedience training that all dogs require. Personally,however, in a general state, small dogs like chi's that have the socalled "little dog complex" will scare me much more than a largedog.

I have no problem with people fearing pits. They should fearALL dogs because any dog can bite and too often people make theassumption that a dog won't bite just seconds before they'rebleeding.

I have to agree, Missyscove, that there is stereotyping of certainanimals, and that the problem lies much more with humans...dogs beingbred for aggression, or trained for it, or abused. And yes, I agreetoo...there's many smaller dogs I've run into that I would steer clearof because of their aggressive/nervous behavior. There is a beautifulgolden lab that lives down the street from me, a dog you'd think -going by the reputation of the breed - that would be gentle and sweet.However, take one step toward her backyard fence and she turns into asnarling fireball of teeth and flying fur. And on the other side of thecoin, there was a Rottie who lived two doors down from me (until hisdeath last year), and he was just the sweetest, most gentle giant. Eachanimal needs to be assessed individually, according to their owntemperament.

That said however, I still tend to agree with the legislation on pitbulls. And it's mainly because the breed, having been so mistreatedover the years, tends to fall into the hands (in this area) of peoplewho want them for their reputation and encourage aggression. Of the pitbulls I've seen around here over the years, the majority of owners wereyounger guys in their late teens-early 20s, those who hang out incrowds and don't have the most wonderful reputations themselves. Theyare not the dog of choice for most owners I've seen in the parks - evenbefore the legislation came into effect - and I do agree that it's ashame, as I've heard they can have wonderfully loyal characteristics.What concerns me are the reports of dog attacks from pit bulls thatwere supposedly totally unprovoked...the dog suddenly turned on afamily member or another family pet. And yes, I agree that any dog iscapable of such a thing...but it is the pit bull that seems to have hadthe most reports of this over the years.

Personally, I'd like to see an unbiased study done on cases of dogattacks over the past 10-20 years...the breed involved, the cause ofthe attack,the way the dog was raised, handled, etc., andthen compare the stats. Many people do own pit bulls and have never hadproblems with them - my best friend adopted a young pit bull 3 or 4years ago and has said he's a sweetheart - but is there any truth tothe theory that pits can be unpredictable? If there is any possibilityin it - and it is the impression I've been given over hearing ofunprovoked attacks - then banning is a necessity to protect the public.There will always be reports of dog attacks from any breed, but theconcern over the pit bull (so far as I am aware) is because of thefrequency and severity of attacks in the past.

On another note, I don't believe that people should fear any dogs, asdogs sense fear quite easily, and a nervous animal could react toit...but a healthy respect is a must. I know what you mean about peopleassuming the nature of an animal; never ever assume any animal isfriendly without knowing theirtrue nature first. (Anotherbeef I have iswhen I walk my dog; some people automaticallyassume she's fine with other dogs, and she's not...she is dominant andwill growl and snap if another dog approaches. So when I warn them notto let their dog come too close, the most common response I get is,'It's okay, my dog's friendly'. Well, that may be...but my dogisn't...not with most other dogs. So havinga healthy respectfor any other creature is oftentimes whatsome people seem tobe lacking.

 

[missyscove]

One thing that I find adds to the pit bullproblem is that pit puppies are one of the most adorable creaturesknown to man. And, of course, given the number of people whocome to a shelter wanting a puppy and the number of pits that come inand have puppies, they are very popular. The problem is whenpeople come back later to return the dog and say something like, Ididn't know she would get so big. I've taken to showing theman adult pit which is where the parents go... oh, I don't want a pitbull. The puppy does have potential to be a great dog, but ifthey're going to bring it back, they shouldn't adopt it.

Also, some dogs have a reputation for not being good withkids. I would never suggest a husky to a family with kidseither. (Actually I would never suggest a husky at all, thehowling is awful). Huskies are known to be unpredictable,especially with children. Same with chows, akitas,etc.