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I have to say that I disagree with that. All dogs need to be properly raised, trained and socialized, kept under control at all times and shown who's boss. I have owned a Chocolate Lab, a Fox Hound, a Cocker Spaniel, a Black Lab, a Rhodesian Ridgeback/ Rottweiler mix, two Mini Schnauzers and now three American Pit Bull Terriers and my APBTs have been by far the least aggressive all around. They have also seemed to learn quicker and be a lot more obedient. Now, I don't know too much about Rotties, but I do know a lot about the "pit bull" breeds, especially APBTs. APBTs are one of the only breeds that were specifically bred to be human friendly. In temperament testing the APBT tests better than most popular family breeds like Goldens and Beagles. APBTs are one of the most stable people friendly breeds in existence! The APBT is additionally one of the most intelligent and easy to train breed of dogs. The trainer of the show dog Lassie has even remarked on how the APBT is his choice of breed for training. APBTs were originally bred to fight dogs, but at the same time they were bred to be stable, loyal, trustworthy, extremely human friendly, family pets. "Pit bulls" do tend to be dog aggressive, but if they are properly socialized starting at a young age it shouldn't be a problem. As for human aggression, no "pit bull" should even be the slightest bit human aggressive. They were specifically bred against human aggression.
"By no means are these dogs people-haters or people-eaters. Their natural aggressive tendencies are toward other dogs and animals, not people.However if they are properly socialized they will not even be aggressive with them... The American Pit Bull Terrier is a good-natured, amusing, extremely loyal and affectionate family pet, which is good with children and adults. Almost always obedient it is always eager to please its master... A minimum of training will produce a tranquil, obedient dog."
"When treated well, APBTs typically have sunny personalities. They are very sweet, curious, intelligent, and clownish. They are noted for their outgoing, affectionate, eager-to-please disposition and their fondness for people. They adore attention, often relishing the company of humans and are notorious for their loyalty to their masters, even giving their lives for them... Despite the stereotype, the average, sound-minded APBT is not a threat where children are concerned... APBTs were never bred for human aggression or guarding behavior; generally they only will attack if they perceive an immediate threat to their masters or families rather than seeing every person as an intruder upon their territory. They were originally bred against human aggression because in the pit fighting days the handlers had to be able to handle their dogs as well as treat their wounds, and if necessary, quickly pull the dog out of a fight for various reasons. Any dog that did show the slightest sign of human aggression in that day was 'culled', and therefore, not allowed to carry on its bloodline. For that reason stable examples of the breed are generally not suitable as guard dogs. It is important that APBTs who display any sign of human aggression are not bred, in order to preserve the stable and friendly nature of the breed, and equally important that man aggressive dogs are never kept."
Now, the "pit bull" breeds, American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers, are all terriers, they are working dogs and they can be dominate and stubborn at times, but they are not naturally aggressive breeds. Just like every dog (especially terriers) "pit bulls" need a lot of exercise every single day and just like every dog (especially working breeds) "pit bulls" need a "job" to do, they need to be challenged both mentally and physically. Because they are so smart and do tend to be somewhat dominate and stubborn at times they are not good breeds for inexperienced owners, but that doesn't mean that they are aggressive. Also, just like any dog, training and socialization is a must.
To say that these breeds are have aggressive personalities, though I'm sure you didn't mean it in a bad way, can be very hurtful to these breeds and their owners. People believe almost anything that they hear or read these days, especially if it's something negative about these so-called "dangerous" breeds. Breeds like Labs and Goldens were bred for hunting and retrieving, they are large breeds, very active, very smart and very strong, they can be just as much of a problem and/ or a threat as these so-called "dangerous" breeds. I have owned two Labs and they were both more aggressive towards people and animals than our APBTs are. They weren't mean, but they were definitely more aggressive than out pits are. Our pits also seemed to learn a lot quicker than my Labs did and they are definitely more obedient and laid back. Also, I have quite a few "pit bulls" in my life, we have a lot of friends and family members that own some type of "pit bull" breed or "pit bull" mix, I don't know one aggressive "pit bull" and I don't know one person that has been bitten or attacked by a "pit bull". I do however know a lot of people that have been bitten or attacked by other breeds. I was bitten by a Chow and attacked by a Lab, my brother was attacked by a Lab, my neighbors when I was younger had a Lab that attacked 5 people before it was put to sleep and my neighbors across the street from us now (well, they just moved) have three dogs, a "pit bull" and two huge Lab/ Shepherd mixes and one of the Lab/ Shepherd mixes ran into our yard and attacked our male APBT. And that's just to name a few.
I do understand what your saying, but like I said before, you just have to be careful how you say things, especially when it comes to these breeds because people will take any little negative thing and twist it around and run with it.
I apologize. I should'nt have mentioned anything about Pits. I have never raised one so I cant say anything about there breed type. Its just that I have known people who have owned Pits and as they got older never listened to them and eventually got to much for them to deal with and had to get rid of them. I wont give any further opinions on this breed cause I have never owned one myself. I can only speak of my 3 Rotweillers I have raised since they were 9-10 weeks old. I had to raise them a little more agressively (in the nicest way possible) being that there a little more hard headed and stubborn by nature. These dogs also learn very fast. The only thing I had to train my 2 labs were to potty outside and that was it. To me naturally the labs seemed more well mannered.
With all due respect not trying to insult you or any Pit owner, I just hear almost on a daily basis of a Pit or a group of them attacking someone or killing them. My only guess would be inproper handling of these dogs by there owner. I dont often hear of a pack of labs attacking people. I am sure its happened but just not as much as I hear of other breeds. I know my dogs have a bad rep. and the state of Mn. is trying to ban these breeds as well as Pits. Please dont take any of this as a personal attack. I love all dogs and I am not an expert in any way. I support the whole Rotta love program in Mn. they take in pure breed Pits and Rotts and take care of them and try and find a good home for them. They are also fighting against the law trying to be passed to ban these breeds.
JameeLyn, that was a great explanation. I think you, PBM, and everyone else have great insight with each dog we have. Even myself, has a tendency to overly defensive when I hear anyone make any comments on pitties. It's like my neckhair stand on end! I feel it's a long road to getting the public to better understand certain breeds like pitties and the battle has got some of us on edge, especially since events like the horrible Denver masacre on pitties, Mike Vick cases, and all the discarded pitties in shelters.
But going back to the core reason of this thread, I think we all agree PBM is doing a great job and I know I've learned a lot from this thread! Good work doglovers!
JameeLyn, I have Rotties too - six of them - and you are correct, they are hard-headed by virtue of their breed. We recently were going to make an offer on a house in a very small town just east of us - oops, they've banned Rottweilers and Pits! I appreciate your explanation very much, and I would suspect all of us on this thread get defensive about our beloved dogs that sometimes it seems like the whole world is trying to ban without having the foggiest notion what they are talking about.
PBM is always a wealth of information on her chosen breed and has educated no telling how many people through this forum - great work from all the bully breed caretakers.....all we can do is educate, educate, educate.
By the way, PBM - I went to Petsmart last weekend in Conway, Arkansas, and they had the most GORGEOUS pittie mix,maybe had a little boxer thrown in? She was a total sweetheart! Greyhound rescue was there as well - and everyone was nose to nose, just checking each other out. There was a little muttsky of some dubious heritage as well, and she and the Pittie were playing and doing the pounce and play bow - I think a lot of people got their eyes opened during that showing. I know if I didn't have my hands full, she would have come home with me that very day!
I apologize. I should'nt have mentioned anything about Pits. I have never raised one so I cant say anything about there breed type. Its just that I have known people who have owned Pits and as they got older never listened to them and eventually got to much for them to deal with and had to get rid of them. I wont give any further opinions on this breed cause I have never owned one myself. I can only speak of my 3 Rotweillers I have raised since they were 9-10 weeks old. I had to raise them a little more agressively (in the nicest way possible) being that there a little more hard headed and stubborn by nature. These dogs also learn very fast. The only thing I had to train my 2 labs were to potty outside and that was it. To me naturally the labs seemed more well mannered.
With all due respect not trying to insult you or any Pit owner, I just hear almost on a daily basis of a Pit or a group of them attacking someone or killing them. My only guess would be inproper handling of these dogs by there owner. I dont often hear of a pack of labs attacking people. I am sure its happened but just not as much as I hear of other breeds. I know my dogs have a bad rep. and the state of Mn. is trying to ban these breeds as well as Pits. Please dont take any of this as a personal attack. I love all dogs and I am not an expert in any way. I support the whole Rotta love program in Mn. they take in pure breed Pits and Rotts and take care of them and try and find a good home for them. They are also fighting against the law trying to be passed to ban these breeds.
Don't apologize! Your opinions are your opinions and everyone is entitled to them. I learned real quick on here to say "in my opinion" or "that's just my opinion".. lol! The only reason I even said anything is because people will google something and sometimes it will bring up a post from City-Data, that's how I found this site. I googled something about "pit bulls" and it brought up a post where someone said something really negative and completely false about pits so I join CD just so I could respond to that post! I just don't want someone to google something and end up reading a post about pits and getting the wrong idea about them, even though most people already have the wrong idea about them. Also, I'm not offend at all by what you said, what you said is very true. All we do ever hear about is "pit bull" attacks, but the truth is, most of these horrible "pit bull" attacks are either twisted around to be more dramatic or the dog isn't even a "pit bull". A headline like "Pit bull attacks and kills 5 children and an old lady in their homes!!!!" gets a lot more ratings than "Poorly bred, severely abused and neglected, starving APBT/ mix attacks owner" or "Lab attacks". There are just as many wonderful "pit bull" stories as there are bad ones and the good stories are true and have proof behind them, where as the bad stories are not true most of the time and there is not any kind of proof behind them! It's all for the ratings!
First of all, the statistical data on dog bites and attacks are inaccurate. Many dog bites are never reported. There is nothing in place to track dog bites in the US accurately. There are 25+ breeds that are commonly wrongly identified as "pit bulls", Those of us who have been involved with the breed for years have trouble identifying them 100% of the time, so, we certainly can’t expect inexperienced people to be able to properly ID a dog. That said, it leads us to believe that many of the bites that claim to be from "pit bulls" are in fact, inflicted by other breeds. Now, there are a few things that contribute to the negative stories on the news. As often the case, negative stories always seem to get National coverage, where the positive stories only make the local news. The Media is not always very responsible with their stories! I have seen news reports of a dog attack by another breed and, yet the media had a picture of a "pit bull" on the TV while reporting this story. In fact, not very long ago, I saw a "pit bull" attack story where the dog was obviously a Rotty, I saw a story about two "pit bulls" running up to someone and they mad it seem like these dogs attacked when they didn't and the dogs were definitely not "pit bulls" and I also saw a "pit bull" attack story where they used a picture of a "pit bull" that I had seen used in another "pit bull" attack story a few months earlier! I’ve read many stories where the reporter obviously hadn’t done any research, when I asked about their statistics they choose not to reply.
Every 10 years or so a new breed of dog is victimized by irresponsible owners, breeders, bad media coverage, and now it’s the "pit bull’s" turn. In the 70’s it was the German Shepherd, the 80’s was the Doberman’s turn, the 90’s Rottweilers and "pit bulls" had all the bad press, and now it’s the "pit bull’s" time to suffer again. And, unfortunately, in a few years it will be another breed that will be in the spotlight.
Here are a few positive "pit bull" stories. The one in Holly Hill happened about 15 minutes from me. We only live a few miles from Holly Hill.
Oh, and there's also a website that shows you that a lot of these media stories are crap. When I find it I will post it for you.
You own three Rotties? Do you have all three right now or you have had three Rotties? We have three APBTs, they are a medium breed (all of ours are between 38 and 48 pounds) and we have a full house! lol! I would think three Rotties would be a handful!.. Wonderful, but a handful! I have never owned a pure bred Rotty, but an ex boyfriend owned a male Rotty and he was the sweetest thing! This huge Rotty would crawl all the way onto my lap and go to sleep! lol! And I owned a Rodesian Ridgeback/ Rott mix (a female). She was so beautiful, so smart, so sweet and very protective, in a good way. With our Labs, we adopted them and they were already older when we got them, so I'm sure that had a lot to do with their temperaments, but with our APBTs we got Brooklyn when he was 8 weeks, we got Destiny when she was 5-6 weeks (We were told she was 8 weeks. The day we got her we took her to the vet and they told us she was 5 or 6 weeks. They also said if we wouldn't have got her to the vet that day she would have died! So even though she was too young to leave her mom, I'm glad we got her because she would have died if we didn't!) and we took Jayda in when she was 7 1/2 months. So, we have really be able to raise and train our APBTs where as our Labs were already kind of set in their ways to a point.
JameeLyn, I have Rotties too - six of them - and you are correct, they are hard-headed by virtue of their breed. We recently were going to make an offer on a house in a very small town just east of us - oops, they've banned Rottweilers and Pits! I appreciate your explanation very much, and I would suspect all of us on this thread get defensive about our beloved dogs that sometimes it seems like the whole world is trying to ban without having the foggiest notion what they are talking about.
PBM is always a wealth of information on her chosen breed and has educated no telling how many people through this forum - great work from all the bully breed caretakers.....all we can do is educate, educate, educate.
By the way, PBM - I went to Petsmart last weekend in Conway, Arkansas, and they had the most GORGEOUS pittie mix,maybe had a little boxer thrown in? She was a total sweetheart! Greyhound rescue was there as well - and everyone was nose to nose, just checking each other out. There was a little muttsky of some dubious heritage as well, and she and the Pittie were playing and doing the pounce and play bow - I think a lot of people got their eyes opened during that showing. I know if I didn't have my hands full, she would have come home with me that very day!
Aww! I love seeing stuff like that! People need to see more pitties like that! Did you read my post about me taking Jayda and Destiny to the vet recently? I couldn't have been any more proud of my girls! The people that moved away from us when we first walked in were petting the girls, telling me how well behaved, sweet and adorable they were and letting their pets play with them by the end of it all! lol! I was soooo proud and I really felt like we made the breed look good! I can't wait to take Jayda back to the vet in two weeks!
PBM is always a wealth of information on her chosen breed and has educated no telling how many people through this forum - great work from all the bully breed caretakers.....all we can do is educate, educate, educate.
By the way, PBM - I went to Petsmart last weekend in Conway, Arkansas, and they had the most GORGEOUS pittie mix,maybe had a little boxer thrown in? She was a total sweetheart! Greyhound rescue was there as well - and everyone was nose to nose, just checking each other out. There was a little muttsky of some dubious heritage as well, and she and the Pittie were playing and doing the pounce and play bow - I think a lot of people got their eyes opened during that showing. I know if I didn't have my hands full, she would have come home with me that very day!
I know! PBM and a few others have taught me a lot too! Oh, I wish I could have seen that pittie! It sounded like a great pup! Did you really see people respond positively to that show of play?
I know! PBM and a few others have taught me a lot too! Oh, I wish I could have seen that pittie! It sounded like a great pup! Did you really see people respond positively to that show of play?
One lady rounded the corner and couldn't get back fast enough - the pittie and muttsky were doing the play growl and pogo-ing at each other. This lady kept peeking around the corner until the foster mom for the pittie invited her over (after the wrestling match). This lady was so timid...bless her heart, if dogs can smell fear, this lady stunk to high heaven! The foster, lord love her, was so patient...and this little black and white pittie mix just sidled up to her and nuzzled her hand. I thought that lady would have a heart attack - there were a lot of people watching because there was a huge crowd around the greyhounds...I watched for a few minutes while the lady worked up the nerve to pet the vicious APBT. When I left, they were sitting on the floor together and this lady's three teenaged kids were loving the dog almost to pieces. May be very possible a pittie went home that day...they all had the look of love about them!
You know how they play - it's that RAHR, RAHR, tumble, wrestle, pogo, bark, wrestle, bow - at first the foster, who had both the pittie and the muttsky, was trying to keep them from it - but then she just let them roll around - you could tell from watching the dogs they were having a ball, and you could tell from the people that many of them didn't have dogs that do all of that. It didn't put me off at all - my house sounds like World Doggy Federation Wrestling half the time anyway -there were a few folks with big eyes, but when they realized it was just two puppies playing, you could see their whole acceptance level go up.
I'm not good at guessing ages, but I'm thinking both dogs were 6-8 months old....and the foster had done such an excellent job with both of them - they were both very socialized, very happy hounds, pretty obedient. They lost the sit/stay a couple of times just because there were lots of people to meet and greet, but they didn't do any jumping and weren't obnoxious with their licking or meeting and greeting - yes, I would say it was a very positive day for that shelter!
PBM You said that IF you did the breeding YOU would interview & check out the new homes...NO You do not as the owner of the male have ANY say...the owner of the female does all the placing, weather its finding excellent homes or who will pay the most. Sorry the males owner has no say about the puppies...
One lady rounded the corner and couldn't get back fast enough - the pittie and muttsky were doing the play growl and pogo-ing at each other. This lady kept peeking around the corner until the foster mom for the pittie invited her over (after the wrestling match). This lady was so timid...bless her heart, if dogs can smell fear, this lady stunk to high heaven! The foster, lord love her, was so patient...and this little black and white pittie mix just sidled up to her and nuzzled her hand. I thought that lady would have a heart attack - there were a lot of people watching because there was a huge crowd around the greyhounds...I watched for a few minutes while the lady worked up the nerve to pet the vicious APBT. When I left, they were sitting on the floor together and this lady's three teenaged kids were loving the dog almost to pieces. May be very possible a pittie went home that day...they all had the look of love about them!
You know how they play - it's that RAHR, RAHR, tumble, wrestle, pogo, bark, wrestle, bow - at first the foster, who had both the pittie and the muttsky, was trying to keep them from it - but then she just let them roll around - you could tell from watching the dogs they were having a ball, and you could tell from the people that many of them didn't have dogs that do all of that. It didn't put me off at all - my house sounds like World Doggy Federation Wrestling half the time anyway -there were a few folks with big eyes, but when they realized it was just two puppies playing, you could see their whole acceptance level go up.
I'm not good at guessing ages, but I'm thinking both dogs were 6-8 months old....and the foster had done such an excellent job with both of them - they were both very socialized, very happy hounds, pretty obedient. They lost the sit/stay a couple of times just because there were lots of people to meet and greet, but they didn't do any jumping and weren't obnoxious with their licking or meeting and greeting - yes, I would say it was a very positive day for that shelter!
You make an excellent impression of puppy playing, Sam I Am... I know the behavior and it's my favorite. Oh, I love hearing such wonderful stories about people overcoming their fear and learning to love something unknown to them!!! That's so great. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside!
PBM You said that IF you did the breeding YOU would interview & check out the new homes...NO You do not as the owner of the male have ANY say...the owner of the female does all the placing, weather its finding excellent homes or who will pay the most. Sorry the males owner has no say about the puppies...
We would have definitely had say over the puppies and we would have made sure of it before breeding. There is absolutely no way we would ever breed Brooklyn without having something signed. My husbands friend had people that wanted the puppies, but when we were talking about everything we made it very clear that if we weren't 100% happy with the homes they were going to, they wouldn't go to that home. We already talked about getting a contract written up before hand. We didn't go over everything because I said no right away, but we also said that if we did breed, all of the puppies would either be spayed/ neutered by us or would go on a spay/neuter contract. We would have had plenty of time to get everything together because his female is only 1 year and he is waiting until she's 3 years to breed her (3rd heat). He isn't interested in the puppies really (well, as far as the money, etc.), he wants to breed his female before he gets her spayed. My husband and I are the ones interested in the well being of the puppies, so nothing would have happened until we were 150% sure would have say in what happened to the puppies. We definitely weren't going to just rush right into this. It really doesn't matter though, we have decided that we aren't breeding him and he's still going to get neutered on the date we have set.
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Also, I have quite a few "pit bulls" in my life, we have a lot of friends and family members that own some type of "pit bull" breed or "pit bull" mix, I don't know one aggressive "pit bull" and I don't know one person that has been bitten or attacked by a "pit bull". I do however know a lot of people that have been bitten or attacked by other breeds. I was bitten by a Chow and attacked by a Lab, my brother was attacked by a Lab, my neighbors when I was younger had a Lab that attacked 5 people before it was put to sleep and my neighbors across the street from us now (well, they just moved) have three dogs, a "pit bull" and two huge Lab/ Shepherd mixes and one of the Lab/ Shepherd mixes ran into our yard and attacked our male APBT. And that's just to name a few. 
Your opinions are your opinions and everyone is entitled to them. I learned real quick on here to say "in my opinion" or "that's just my opinion".. lol! The only reason I even said anything is because people will google something and sometimes it will bring up a post from City-Data, that's how I found this site. I googled something about "pit bulls" and it brought up a post where someone said something really negative and completely false about pits so I join CD just so I could respond to that post! 
So even though she was too young to leave her mom, I'm glad we got her because she would have died if we didn't!) and we took Jayda in when she was 7 1/2 months. So, we have really be able to raise and train our APBTs where as our Labs were already kind of set in their ways to a point. 
People need to see more pitties like that! Did you read my post about me taking Jayda and Destiny to the vet recently? I couldn't have been any more proud of my girls! 
