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i agree that pit bull breeding needs to be banned. a lot of those dogs are mistreated and misunderstood.
this breed seems to attract either aggressive owners and / or people who do not know how to handle or take care of dogs. if you go to almost any animal shelter they have a disproportionate number of pit bulls available for adoption. i don't know how many deaths there will have to be (both human and dog) before the situation changes.
I disagree with banning. What I do agree with is licensing and insurance requirements that are so costly that those who are apt to be irresponsible with "dangerous breeds" will likely not go to the effort or expense to own them.Many of these doags are able to be fostered and trained to be perfectly appropriate pets.
IMO, the penalties for breeding of fighting dogs for the purpose of fighting is not nearly harsh enough to be a deterance. Thus, there are thousands of dogs who have been abused, abandoned as breeders, roaming about or abandoned at shelters. If people would get involved at their state level to strictly control puppy mills via licensure rather than breed specific bans, more good would be done.
The case in point here though is of dogs that were in their own home and a mother who used extremely poor judgement in leaving her infant child alone with them. Her poor judgement forever scars her child.
With freedom comes responsibility. This mother was irresponsible with her infant child.
Regardless of how many people will come to the defense of Pitbulls, they should be outlawed. Yes, any animal can become agressive, but they do seem to have a penchant for this type of attack. The mother was an A-hole for having her child in such close proximity to dogs with this well known behavioral pattern. Inbreeding is also a negative factor that most likely occurs often with dogs that are bred for profit and not integrity to a breed. That and the nature of the beast combined with the idiots that buy a dog without administering responsible training and caution, is a recipe for a disaster such as this. Terrible!
Pit Bulls are not naturally aggressive towards humans. Call the american kennel society and ask them about the temperment of the American Pit Bull Terrier and see what they say.
Pit Bulls are bred to feel little pain, which is why they are used for fighting. The aggressive nature, however, is purely trained into them by irresponsible owners.
of course banning the dangerous weapon (pitbull) is only part of the answer. they are incredibly strong dogs and impossible for the average person to control when they get in a "red zone", especially if they have been mistreated in any way.
we obviously need more people willing to turn in the bad owners and they need to face serious consequences. i don't think we have a society that values animals, however. (look at michael vick for just one example of rewarding a sadist).
i personally have never seen a dog mistreated, but i would not hesitate to turn the owner in if i saw it. there should public service announcements on animal cruelty, and an easy number to remember for people to learn and call and turn in animal abusers, and basic kindness and decency should be taught early in school before these children are lost. maybe the next generation could learn to be more kind.
Actually, APBTs intact males are not supposed to be over 65 lbs and females are usually in the 45 lb range. They are generally classified as mid size terriers. When people think 'pit bull' they usually think of the 'gotti' type pits. gotti pit bulls - Google Search
That is what an APBT should look like...not the overly grown 'thug' dogs that most people think of. Personally, it would be nice if that type of dog was given a different breed name to signify it's difference, but I doubt that will happen.
I do have a little pit bull named Lola that we rescued from the pound. She was underweight, had a skin infection and was due to be euthenized the following day. She is, by far, the BEST freaking dog I've ever had. And I've had everything from Queensland heelers to professionally trained ex-police GSDs.
Someone mentioned something about pugs earlier in the thread...my mother has 4 pugs and I leave Lola at their house all the time and she's never been a problem. In fact, my aunt has 3 pugs and one of them (Spanky ) is Lola's best friend and they have so much fun when she visits.
Punish the deed, not the breed. And never, ever, ever leave a child unattended with any type of animal. Period. Not even a bird or cat. Nothing.
pitt bulls kill people, so ban all pit bulls?? negative.
no bans on dogs...just ban irresponsible dog owners.
Bad analogy.
You can control a gun, keep it locked up in a cabinet and not have any bullets in the house....the gun is useless unless you throw it really hard at some one and have really good aim.
A Pit Bull, unless you keep it locked up in a cabinet and remove it's teeth and nails, you've got NO guarantee as to how it's going to act on any single day in any environment. Even if you remove it's teeth and nails you still don't know how it's going to act on any single day, it will just do a lot less harm when GUMMING someone.
My in-laws little piece of crap ****su bit my 2 year olds face, missed his eye by a 1/4 of an inch or less. For nothing. I was right there. I was watching the dog as a favor and the dog decided to stretch out on my bed one morning...fine. My 2 year old and I were watching Sesame Street. When my 2 year old stretched out like the dog did (flat on tummy and arms and legs splayed) the dog opened it's jaw wider than I ever thought possible and snapped at my 2 year olds head causing damage to his head/orbital region.
That dog was lucky I didn't break it's neck while watching my 2 year old bleed (and wondering what bacteria that stupid dog had in it's ass-licking mouth when it broke my son's skin) and the only reason I didn't...was b/c he wasn't MY dog. The thing was banished to the garage for the rest of it's stay and it worked out for him that it wasn't 25F b/c I could have cared LESS if he turned into a ****cicle.
You can control a gun, keep it locked up in a cabinet and not have any bullets in the house....the gun is useless unless you throw it really hard at some one and have really good aim.
A Pit Bull, unless you keep it locked up in a cabinet and remove it's teeth and nails, you've got NO guarantee as to how it's going to act on any single day in any environment. Even if you remove it's teeth and nails you still don't know how it's going to act on any single day, it will just do a lot less harm when GUMMING someone.
My in-laws little piece of crap ****su bit my 2 year olds face, missed his eye by a 1/4 of an inch or less. For nothing. I was right there. I was watching the dog as a favor and the dog decided to stretch out on my bed one morning...fine. My 2 year old and I were watching Sesame Street. When my 2 year old stretched out like the dog did (flat on tummy and arms and legs splayed) the dog opened it's jaw wider than I ever thought possible and snapped at my 2 year olds head causing damage to his head/orbital region.
That dog was lucky I didn't break it's neck while watching my 2 year old bleed (and wondering what bacteria that stupid dog had in it's ass-licking mouth when it broke my son's skin) and the only reason I didn't...was b/c he wasn't MY dog. The thing was banished to the garage for the rest of it's stay and it worked out for him that it wasn't 25F b/c I could have cared LESS if he turned into a ****cicle.
Who puts animals above humans?
What is wrong with people?
I will be the first to say that I am grateful your son is ok. That must have been scary. I am sure your kids are really cute too.
Actually, APBTs intact males are not supposed to be over 65 lbs and females are usually in the 45 lb range. They are generally classified as mid size terriers. When people think 'pit bull' they usually think of the 'gotti' type pits. gotti pit bulls - Google Search
That is what an APBT should look like...not the overly grown 'thug' dogs that most people think of. Personally, it would be nice if that type of dog was given a different breed name to signify it's difference, but I doubt that will happen.
I do have a little pit bull named Lola that we rescued from the pound. She was underweight, had a skin infection and was due to be euthenized the following day. She is, by far, the BEST freaking dog I've ever had. And I've had everything from Queensland heelers to professionally trained ex-police GSDs.
Someone mentioned something about pugs earlier in the thread...my mother has 4 pugs and I leave Lola at their house all the time and she's never been a problem. In fact, my aunt has 3 pugs and one of them (Spanky ) is Lola's best friend and they have so much fun when she visits.
Punish the deed, not the breed. And never, ever, ever leave a child unattended with any type of animal. Period. Not even a bird or cat. Nothing.
i certainly have nothing against pit bulls. my mom had taken in a stray pit bull that was one of the nicest goofiest dogs ever.
i think that legislation to ban breeding, at least temporarily, would be protecting the dogs. as well, who is protecting all of these children and even some adults who are now potentially at risk? it is better to prevent an accident than to clean up after an accident.
there is no excuse when you have an allegedly civilized country that allows this to happen. people can say "let's just control the behavior of the owners" but clearly, TIME AND AGAIN OWNERS ACT IRRESPONSIBLY. until we change as a society that respects animals and condemns abuse, we have a responsibility to try to protect those that are here and to stop others from being born and put into the same sad situation, don't we?
Last edited by floridasandy; 04-13-2010 at 04:53 AM..
I am glad to see well thought out and educated responses to this thread versus the members who know absolutely NOTHING about the breed and only obtain their knowledge (or lack thereof) from the media.
Pit bulls are NOT bred to feel little pain. Yet another myth that is perpetuated by the media. Pit bulls are terriers and therefor are tenacious. A pit bull exceeds at any task given to them and will NOT give up, hence the reason why they were perfect for the fighting ring.
Correct, human aggression and animal aggression are two different behaviours. As a member posted, pit bulls were NEVER bred to be human aggressive. For those of you that want them to be banned and think they are monsters, do you know how long these dogs have been around? Since the late 1800's. Why is it then that the rise of pit bull "attacks" have risen in the past 30 years? Don't you think with all of your wisdom if these dogs were that dangerous there would have been more incidents? A lot more?
I posted this in another thread on this forum about pit bulls but will repeat it for those of you that are ignorant to the breed. When two pit bulls are fought, the owners exchange their dogs with one another to wash them down prior to the fight. Also, at any time an owner had no hesitation getting into the ring to break up the fight if necessary. Do you honestly think if these dogs were a danger to humans, the owners would even attempt to do such things? Any pit bull that exhibited an ounce of aggression toward a human was culled. That is the difference between then and now. The wrong people who own them ignore danger signs and allow bad behaviour. I don't buy into the whole "the dog attacked out of the blue". There are signs beforehand but irresponsible owners don't want to acknowledge them or they are happy to see their pit bull behave aggressively. Many people are breeding these dogs and have no business doing so which allows room for ill mannered dogs. It is very sad that a breed that was so revered has fallen due to incompetent humans.
And for the person that said any parent should be charged with child abuse for having a pit bull in the same house with a child is downright ridiculous. I have a three month old child and would never think of leaving my dog, who is a pit bull alone with a baby. But this has nothing to do with my dog being a pit bull, it has to do with my dog being A DOG! I knew a woman that worked at Children's Memorial Hospital and she saw plenty of children that came in with dog bites and GASP the attacks were not from pit bulls.
Get your facts straight people and stop spewing myths about the breed.
But Pit Bulls are just harmless, misunderstood creatures.
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) is Lola's best friend and they have so much fun when she visits. 
