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As for the dont F*** with me, I belive most bigger dogs have that rep do they not??
It runs in fashion cycles. Pit Bulls are the trendiest bada** dogs right now, but Rottweilers and German Shepherds, etc. have had their glory days in the past. Pit Bulls are da kine right now. Come on, seriously, you know that's why most people get them, because they ARE bada**.
Quote:
Originally Posted by timbo31958
My pit is a big baby who thinks she is still a puppy. Wants to sit in my lap, and is afraid of her own shadow. But, I must admit that if you were to approach me or the wife, in the wrong way then our baby would probably not like that too much. And, my baby has never been on a chain in her life, she lives a better life than alot of humans do.
The problem is, she isn't a baby, no matter what your emotional attachment is. She's an animal, not entirely predictable, and if a real baby were to suddenly run toward you, the dog *could* instinctively attack the baby. It has happened. There is a very good reason this single breed has been involved in about 1/3 of the fatal attacks on people in the last 25 years or so. And it's the reason so many laws and rules and regulations have been passed specifically to deal with the breed, because it is inherently aggressive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by timbo31958
As I and others have said on here before, it is not the breed of dog, its how you raise the dog.
Sorry, but that's just denial. Certain breeds were developed to be aggressive hunting animals, like pit bulls are. They were bred for bringing down wild boars and bulls. Claiming that they're not is like saying that Great Danes aren't really large. Sorry, but that was the aim point in breeding them. Then even when you raise the dog not to be aggressive, the dog never loses the instincts. Stress the dog the wrong way and instinct takes over. And if it is big enough and strong enough it can be dangerous to people. Same is true of any large, strong animal with teeth and claws
Look at the example of the tiger attack that ended Sigfried & Roy's Las Vegas act... a talented and experienced trainer, with an affection-trained tiger which had been hand raised since birth. Something unpredictable happened, the animal responded instinctively, and Bam! The less powerful human almost died.
Yes every thing you say can be taken as true and it is. But, all dogs were once wild hunting animals were they not? Also you quoted that 30% of deadly dog attacks were by Pit Bull, what were the other 70%?? We didnt get our girl because she was a bad a** or because pits have a bad reputation. We got her because we fell in love with her. I have read your posts on the subject of dogs and bringing them to Hawaii. You say you have owned dogs in the past etc... But I will tell you this you have said not to bring your dog here due to expense health issues and so on, which is bull sh*t. Some animal owners do think of their pets as children and treat them as such. My dog goes to the vet more than we go to the doctor she is taken care of just like a child. She is never chained outside, and only goes outside on a leash. I am a responsible dog owner as are the majority of people who ask about bringing dogs to Hawaii. If they were not responsible they wouldnt consider bringing their dog with them if for nothing else the expense would discourage them. I know that there are plenty of dog owners be it pit bull, rotty, doberman,etc who are not responsible owners and do mistreat their dogs and do teach aggresiveness. But I do belive sir that the majority of us are not in that catagory. Now for a comical twist I get the shi**ts every now and then but it dont make me afraid to leave the house, and I dont live on the toliet in fear that I will get the sh*ts.
Timbo, pitbulls are powerful animals. Any dog can turn on anyone at any moment because they are animals. But if my pug were to turn on you she would have a hard time drawing blood let alone truly injuring somebody. A pitbull is strong enough & powerful enough to kill somebody. I get nervous around pitbulls, because I know that the dog could kill me if it wanted to. I fully believe that it's not a bad dog but a bad owner. Unfortunately there are a disproportionate number of bad pitbull owners. This has been the reputation of the dog for a while now, you had to know the reputation of the dog you were getting before u bought/adopted her.
you are correct they do have a bad reputation. And, you are correct and I agree that it is usually a bad owner that has a bad dog and also true that they are a powerful dog. And, yes any dog could possibly be put in a situation that it could "turn" or bite someone. But, if you do your research,and I believe you have done some from reading a few of your posts, you will find that pit bulls are a very good pet if raised properly, they are very loyal, and very protective of their family. I guess this could be one reason that some owners have the "bad" ones. I know just seeing a pit bull raises fear in some people, I am the same way with German Shepards I am terrified of them due to being bit many years ago. I know that not all shepards are mean biting dogs as I know all pit bulls are not raging time bombs waiting to explode like many believe. This thread started by a simple question from someone needing advice on air travel and it seems to be mutating into a hate the pit bull thread. As new breeds develop so do dog reputations used to be the german shepard was the killer dog, then there was the doberman with the bad reputation, then the rottwiler, when the pit bull came on the scene these other bad rep dogs took a back seat I am sure they still do just as much biting and maming as do pit bulls, I dont know nor do I want to waste my time researching it I'll leave that to someone else. That being said, we have a new breed getting started now, I am not sure of the name I think a mix of pit bull, something, and something else not sure. I have seen pictures of these monsters they would make 2 of my dog. So lets see how long it takes for the pit bull to join the ranks of the other killer breeds and take the back seat to newer breeds. Not so much here in Hawaii but on the mainland everytime a pit bull bites someone it is plastered all over the news, and they never fail to mention it was a pit bull attack but I noticed that if a person was attacked by any other breed they never mentioned what breed only that a person was attacked by a dog. I guess it makes for better press to report on a pit bull attack than to report on a cocker spaniel attack. As I said before I dont know all the stats, and really dont care but I honestly do feel that the pit bull reputation is helped in a bad way by the press they receive.
The pit bull has been a popular dog in Hawaii for decades, it's not a new phenomenon. The rottys came and went, shar pei were popular for awhile, etc., but pits have been popular all along. If anything it is the average type of person who has been enamored of the breed which has changed a bit over the decades. Traditionally, a pit was attached to the end of a hefty chain leash with a local moke on the other end of the chain. The tee-shirt would be pulled up with the hand sort of wrapped in it and a beer belly evident. That's almost a sterotype of a "moke". Now pitbulls can have anybody on the other end of the leash.
You can't take the breeding out of the dog. I have border collies and there is no way to get the herding drive out of these animals. They will try to gather anything into a group, including butterfly shadows and it's fun to watch them try. Herding cars kills more border collies than anything else. You have a pit bull who is a soft darling of a dog, but what was the breed bred for? What instincts does the dog have to overcome to be that soft darling of a dog? If you stress the dog, what instincts does it fall back on? You say the dog would protect your family, and I'm sure it will. However, in a crowded city environment, how often will there be situations where the dog perceives something they interpret as a "threat" that may not be? Should the mistaken perception be towards a youth or child then the results could be very unfortunate. If Katiem8's pug attacks a child, the likelihood is extremely good that the child will survive. Should my border collie interact with the child, it will end up in a group, it won't be damaged. Breed does matter, training also matters. But training just alters the instincts, it doesn't negate them.
And to answer the OP's question, yes, "probably" you can ship a pit bull to Hawaii. Check the specific airlines's requirements. They are going to be more restrictive than the State of Hawaii.
As for the "military" abandoning, their Pit Bulls, Number 1, they cant have them in on post housing any where in the world for some reason... Number 2, just what makes you think it is military people turning them loose? Just because they do have to leave the islands and you see stray dogs and assume it from the military? Get a grip, military people love their dogs, cats, birds, fish, etc just as much as you and me. I am sure that some do abandon their poodles, shepards, and pit bulls, but there are just as many if not more civilians who abandon their pets too. So lets not blame the military for all the abandoned animals. The military get enough bad words here for some reason.
Get a grip, yourself. I come from a military family. As my post said, I was told this by people who lived there longer than I did and I have first-hand knowledge of two such instances. I don't know what your last sentence means. Where is "here"? Hawaii? Or this forum? I haven't seen any "bad words" about the military and I didn't hear any while I lived there.
Now for a comical twist I get the shi**ts every now and then but it dont make me afraid to leave the house, and I dont live on the toliet in fear that I will get the sh*ts.
OK, that is kinda comical, except when you get the poops you are the only one to suffer (except maybe for those of us downwind or those of us who hurt ourselves falling down laughing at you).
But if someone's dog, whatever breed, decides for whatever reason, to remove my face, then you may have some severe financial pain when I sue you, along with heart pain when I have your dog put down, but I'm the one left with no face.
What I'm saying is that you can't fairly equate risk of embarrassment with risk of mauling. Nor can you fairly equate risk to yourself with risk to other people.
You may be the very best pit bull owner in the entire world, but that doesn't negate the unfortunate problem that there are those who raise their pit bulls in awful ways... nor that there will possibly be a fearful reaction from those around you.
I've posted this story before, but once I wanted to go into a pet shop, and there was a big dog laying across the doorway. I hesitated outside, and the owner called to just step over the dog, he wouldn't bite. I just couldn't... maybe the dog would not bite me, but if he get startled awake and take a nip, then I'm the one missing my private parts. And why would the owner have anything, even his big goof of a dog, blocking the doorway anyway?
There's a time to be righteous and a time to do business. Assuring someone that your dog won't bite often won't be enough. If an airline doesn't want to take a risk, then they don't have to, because it's their business. They don't need employees to be fearful of handling the doggie cargo, or have something happen and have to pay wages forever because someone lost a few fingers.
What is it with the pit bulls in Hawaii? We spent so many years there and always wondered why so many people had these dogs? We have been in Boise, Idaho for over a year and have not seen one single pit bull.
Well maybe it's because they have short hair and do better in a warmer climate Did you ever wonder why you didn't see alot of siberian huskies in hawaii?
When I first saw this thread, it made me immediately go re-lookup the pet policies of different airlines, as well as plane ticket prices.
I discovered that to take ANY pet to Hawai'i, you pretty much have to rely on Continental Airlines. They have a program called PetSafe that definitely puts my mind at ease when I will have to travel with my pet when the time comes.
It will cost me $279 + tax to put my 15lb (he's a large cat, not fat XP) in the CARGO area because NO PETS are allowed in cabin on flights to/from Hawai'i, AND I have to buy a kennel/carrier (about $45) that's large enough to where he can sit fully upright and move around freely in the kennel/carrier.
This is after spending all the money on his rabies shot, blood work, and microchip so he can safely enter Hawai'i without risk of quarantine.
It runs in fashion cycles. Pit Bulls are the trendiest bada** dogs right now, but Rottweilers and German Shepherds, etc. have had their glory days in the past. Pit Bulls are da kine right now. Come on, seriously, you know that's why most people get them, because they ARE bada**.
The problem is, she isn't a baby, no matter what your emotional attachment is. She's an animal, not entirely predictable, and if a real baby were to suddenly run toward you, the dog *could* instinctively attack the baby. It has happened. There is a very good reason this single breed has been involved in about 1/3 of the fatal attacks on people in the last 25 years or so. And it's the reason so many laws and rules and regulations have been passed specifically to deal with the breed, because it is inherently aggressive.
Sorry, but that's just denial. Certain breeds were developed to be aggressive hunting animals, like pit bulls are. They were bred for bringing down wild boars and bulls. Claiming that they're not is like saying that Great Danes aren't really large. Sorry, but that was the aim point in breeding them. Then even when you raise the dog not to be aggressive, the dog never loses the instincts. Stress the dog the wrong way and instinct takes over. And if it is big enough and strong enough it can be dangerous to people. Same is true of any large, strong animal with teeth and claws
Look at the example of the tiger attack that ended Sigfried & Roy's Las Vegas act... a talented and experienced trainer, with an affection-trained tiger which had been hand raised since birth. Something unpredictable happened, the animal responded instinctively, and Bam! The less powerful human almost died.
That Tiger was frightened while on-stage and was simply protecting him. It did not attack him...it 'grabbed' him and pulled him to safety...geez..get your facts straight.
Koale
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Did you ever wonder why you didn't see alot of siberian huskies in hawaii?
Oh Stop...
