Pit bulls in Killeen (Austin, Clifton: renters, insurance, mobile home) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

smallfries · 08-24-2010, 10:11 AM

Okay, so I live in Killeen because my husband is in the military. We have a 7 year old brindle male pit. Does anybody know where I could rent a place that allows pits? It seems everywhere I look they do not allow them. They do not even want to meet him first.

JayBrown80 · 08-24-2010, 11:27 AM

Not to go on an anti-pit bull tangent, but I did just want to provide some informaton so you can have an easier time understanding...

EVERY member of the military has a pit bull. Almost every house in Killeen has one. The animal shelters are OVERFLOWING with abandoned pit bulls. They are as ubiquetous as Naked Lady tatoos.

Many landlords have been burned MANY times in the past on military members and their pit bulls. That is why it is so tough to find a home. They don't want to "meet" your pit bull. They have "met" about 100 million of them.

I am sure you are a responsible pit bull owner. Everyone says they are.

But I am just saying Killeen is a hard place to find accomodating land lords. Is it possible to move out of the area? Or maybe move into more of the rural parts around there? I know some military familes that rent mobile homes out on old farms, and most of those guys don't care about pets. As long as said pet isn't harrassing livestock.

CarnivalGal · 08-25-2010, 08:46 AM

I have to respectfully disagree with the previous poster. Most landlords don't rent to people with them because their insurance company doesn't cover "aggressive breeds," not because they have "been burned."

cheryjohns · 08-25-2010, 10:28 PM

Some Texas insurance companies are not allowing ANY dogs, due to the expense that pits (and a couple of other breeds) have caused. Others are just not allowing aggressive breeds. If you are going to own one, you have to bear the expense of self-insuring - and most renters cannot do that.

It's like telling a landlord that you smoke in bed and often fall asleep while doing so - and then not understanding why he doesn't want to rent to you.

opalminor · 08-25-2010, 10:46 PM

Funny how so many pit bull owners seem to start off the conversation already angry (as expressed by the angry face) about people not wanting to be friends with their pit bull..... it's kind of ironic/fitting/a bad advertisement for their cause, don't you think? I mean, to live up to the stereotype! Property owners have every right and then some- to limit what kinds of breeds they allow on their property. If you don't like it, then you are free to buy your own place. They do this based on actual facts that you may not like, but they are facts regardless. Obviously, if so many landlords are doing this, there.. is.. a... REASON..........

las vegas drunk · 08-25-2010, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smallfries

Okay, so I live in Killeen because my husband is in the military. We have a 7 year old brindle male pit. Does anybody know where I could rent a place that allows pits? It seems everywhere I look they do not allow them. They do not even want to meet him first.

You pretty much have to own a house to have a pit bull anymore because of all the damage the media has done. As much as I love pits, I would not own one for this reason.

JayBrown80 · 08-25-2010, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mm57553

I have to respectfully disagree with the previous poster. Most landlords don't rent to people with them because their insurance company doesn't cover "aggressive breeds," not because they have "been burned."

Which begs the question "why don't insurance companies cover them?"

I am sure every landlord would love to have a pit bull in his neighborhood, around all the neighborhood kiddies. I am sure EVERY landlord would love to have them, if not for those mean insurance companies.

I can't even go to the animal shelter anymore. The last 3 times I have been all I see are cages and cages and cages of Rot/Pit bull mixes, or just pit bulls. Why do they make up 90% of abandoned animals in shelters?

centralaustinite · 08-26-2010, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

I can't even go to the animal shelter anymore. The last 3 times I have been all I see are cages and cages and cages of Rot/Pit bull mixes, or just pit bulls. Why do they make up 90% of abandoned animals in shelters?

Because people are idiots! Because pits are not aggressive dogs by nature, there is no "aggression gene" and domestic animals of all sorts have multiple genes across many domains that have shifted during the domestication process that make it possible for us to live and bond with dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, etc. Pits are not "aggressive by nature" but by man and even then it is a hard go, so nutty people have to try hard again and again to breed "aggressive dogs" shelters are full of their failures, dogs too old, too friendly, too sweet, too non-aggressive to fight! And the mama dogs who are used as puppy factories because puppies can be sold for cold hard cash while the mama dog does all the work. And a small minority of people do not want to turn off that cash flow . . . so the puppies keep coming. Other idiots think that spaying or neutering their dogs will somehow weaken them.

People are the problem with pit bulls. Labs are actually the number one dog for bites (because there so many of them as a popular breed), and there are many smaller dogs on the frequent biter list.

Pit Bull FAQ » Love-A-Bull, Inc. | Austin, TX

Since breeds are so hard to determine and since there is not a single genetic market for aggression, I expect that eventually all insurance companies will eventually refuse to insure any dog of any type. All dog owners will have be financially responsible for any damage cause by their dog.

The shelters are full of pit mixes because something isn't quite right with society, our community is failing people in some way, and people are failing their animals.

capcat · 08-26-2010, 07:14 AM

Not the topic of this thread, but a trainer of police and guard dogs once told me that the difference between a pit and other dogs is the capacity and strength of the jaw, the ability to lock it down. A former classmate's 70 year old mother was dragged from her riding mower in Thorndale and killed by pits. Maybe those were trained to be aggressive, I'm not sure. I know there are some sweet pits. However, I do know this...I wouldn't want to live near one.

CarnivalGal · 08-26-2010, 08:02 AM

Taken from the internet:

"Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, has conducted an unusually detailed study of dog bites from 1982 to the present. (Clifton, Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to November 13, 2006; click here to read it.) The Clifton study show the number of serious canine-inflicted injuries by breed. The author's observations about the breeds and generally how to deal with the dangerous dog problem are enlightening.

According to the Clifton study, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios and their mixes are responsible for 74% of attacks that were included in the study, 68% of the attacks upon children, 82% of the attacks upon adults, 65% of the deaths, and 68% of the maimings. In more than two-thirds of the cases included in the study, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question. Clifton states:

If almost any other dog has a bad moment, someone may get bitten, but will not be maimed for life or killed, and the actuarial risk is accordingly reasonable. If a pit bull terrier or a Rottweiler has a bad moment, often someone is maimed or killed--and that has now created off-the-chart actuarial risk, for which the dogs as well as their victims are paying the price.