Pitbull Ban

[MovingForward]

Originally Posted by HowGoesIt

Pit bulls are just mean, mean animals. No getting around it.

Load of crap.

[dmyankee]

Where there are pitbulls, there is probably a meth operation!

[smarty]

I love dogs... as much as chicken, pigs and cows.

[MovingForward]

Originally Posted by dmyankee

Where there are pitbulls, there is probably a meth operation!

Again, load of crap. Many, many families own pit bulls and have no connection to meth labs.

[future]

Originally Posted by dmyankee

Where there are pitbulls, there is probably a meth operation!

Actually where there is a pit bull there probably is a life or 39+ that just got saved.

[future]

Originally Posted by mapl

The thing is, however, jyoung666, is that poodles aren't capable of inflicting the kind of damage that pitbulls are capable of inflicting. Unlike poodles, pitbulls have much stronger jaws and their bites really tend to penetrate into the musculature of their victim, especially due to the strong back-and-forth "scissor" movement of their jaws and teeth. Inotherwords, they're capable of totally mangling their victim. Also, nobody's trying to ban pitbulls, but there's been a law passed requiring pitbull owners to muzzle their pets while out in public, and to insert warning signs in their place of residence or business. Not much to ask, imo.

The jaw thing is a well known myth. Poodles have killed children and infants. All dogs have and causing no damage. Tell that to the victims of other dog bites and attacks like the girl attacked by a dalmation and many other victims which you can find by going to youtube and typing in pit bull heros. The web wont show up the fast way but you can look at the video with a picture of a jeep. I know more people attacked and seriously hurt by chis and doxis than pits and chis and doxis are easy to tell the breed on. Also tell that to the lady who needed a face transplant because of a lab who attacked her.
As a child I was attacked several times by my best friends doxi,everytime my parents made me visit and my stomach bled seriously every time. They finally locked her in the bathroom. My daughter got seriously attacked by a pom and a chi tried to and no blood was from anyones ankles. The pom ripped off severall wholes in the arm and tummy area and yes almost ripped an arm out.
He did rip her jackets arm out which was a thick jacket and if she didnt take that time to move and had another team member take the leash and put him in a kennell it would have been her arm next. She was a jr underage volunteer at a shelter at the time and not allowed near poms after that but since they one she was asked to play with pits. Most jr. volunteers are not allowed to go near most chis but encouraged to play with pits and take pits for walks, chis are to dangerous for the younger crowd. My kid tricked someone who was gone for a while to let her take her first attacker for a walk after they became friends in other ways and they are now best frinds but he did cause serious damage and was capable of causing more serious damage.

[future]

Originally Posted by HowGoesIt

Pit bulls are just mean, mean animals. No getting around it.

Actually pit bulls and pit bull mixes are just non stop kissing machines and they enjoy kissing kids the most probably because they were bred to be Nanny dogs and you are right there is just no getting around it. If you dont like slobbery wet kisses all over dont go near a pitty.

[miu]

No matter what you say future, I will never own a pitbull or a related breed. I like my small scruffy terrier mixes (never a Jack Russell though) and I love my choc. lab mix. I helped take care of an Am. Staff terrier for a month while her owner was convalescing. And these breeds are not for everyone. While the dog was very loving to her own, she was too strong to walk on a leash comfortably for me. She was about 85 lbs of pure muscle. And I had to constantly watch out for small dogs as she hated them so much. Two years earlier, some small dog had attacked her, and after that she hated all small dogs and wanted to kill them. Yes, they are smart and but also very stubborn. As a woman, I want a dog that I can easily restrain when necessary.

And there are other breeds of dogs that I will never own. So rest assured that pitbulls and similar breeds are not the only ones on my list of dogs to avoid owning. No rotties, boxers, cocker spaniels, Jack Russells...

Also living near the city, I do know a few pitbulls that were conditioned to be guard dogs and they growl at strangers. Unfortunately for pitbulls, because they can look tough, some owners turn them into more aggressive creatures.

I also suspect, as with all dogs, that they are loving to those humans and animals that are part of their familiar household family group. So you as the pitbull's owner see only respect and love coming from your dog. But should a stranger act in a suspicious manner, then it would be a completely different story as it would be motivated to protect you or its turf. Pitbulls also have a reputation for quickly entering a fight or protect mode, and once the dog is in this red zone, it's very difficult to break the dog's mood. I've read and heard about this from a lot of dog owners, so I will take that as being true.

Another problem is that a good percentage of dog owners are actually very poor pet owners. They are lazy with exercising them on a regular basis or even getting them properly obedience trained. With a smaller dog, these faults are minimized. But if you have a larger and more powerful dog, sometimes a small problem can become a serious and dangerous one.

[eevee]

don't worry miu, I don't think anyone will say you're a horrible person just because you choose not to own a pit bull. everyone has breeds they dislike or wouldn't own (I personally could NEVER own a border collie). so long as you aren't using biased, idiotic reasoning to explain why you dislike pits. you are VERY correct in stating that not everyone can properly care for a pit, and it's wise of you to know your limitations (some people can't deal w/ dominate dogs and prefer submissive breeds like labs; some people, like me, can't handle extremely active dogs and prefer couch potatoes).

some breeds are known for being very guarded around strangers, and suspicious of them, but the pit isn't really one of them. there are of course exceptions, but pits tend to be more outgoing and accepting of strangers than some other breeds. some pits, no matter how socialized and good around people they may be, will never get along w/ dogs (a lot of other breeds are DA too). it's important for EVERY pit owner to gauge how dog friendly or dog aggressive their pit may be and to not take chances by assuming otherwise (a dog friendly pit puppy may become less dog tolerant as it gets older). for example, don't take your pit to a dog park unless you are sure the dog is not DA and has been proven ok around dogs. I've heard of people adopting pits from a shelter and taking them to a dog park immediately afterwards, sometimes w/ bad results.

as for the last point, yes, some people just shouldn't own dogs at all. while faults are minimized w/ smaller dogs, the faults are still there. a toy dog is unlikely to kill a grown adult, but have been known to kill children; a bite from a toy dog won't kill, but it can permanently disfigure. a small, ill socialized, ill trained dog is a dangerous dog as much as a large ill socialized, ill trained dog is, just to a smaller demographic. regardless of size, all dogs MUST be properly cared for and trained. I hate it when I see an ill trained toy dogs, hate it when people assume that just because a dog is small, it's ok not to train them or that a vicious small dog is not as bad as a vicious large dog. it's these assumptions that lead to children being maimed and killed (parents seem think it's ok to leave kids alone w/ small dogs. a Pomeranian killed one baby and, recently, a dachshund horribly mutilated a baby boy in IL. this happen more often than is reported, but small dog bites don't get as much media attention as large dog/pit bull bites). all HA dogs, regardless of size and breed are dangerous and should be treated as such. just because damaged is minimized doesn't make it ok

[miu]

Well another important point is that babies and young children should NEVER be around unsupervised dogs of any size or breed. I don't care how well trained they are or how well behaved the dog has been. The wrong sudden stimulus and the dog could hurt or kill that baby or child... maybe not with malice because dogs can play rough.

Like my lab mix. Sometimes he sticks his front paws out suddenly and my boyfriend and I are always careful that his paws don't land in our eye or mouth when he is lounging in the bed with us. And when he is curious about something, he paws it inquisitively. And it's okay for him to do that to one of our cats because they can quickly get out of the way and run, but a human baby can't do that. We don't have children but anytime that there is a situation with other people or kids that don't know our dogs, we are always hyper aware of possible bad situations.

No, I don't consider myself a horrible person for understanding that the various dog breeds have been bred for for different traits and purposes. I love going to dog shows and admiring the fine well bred dogs, but I have always known that not every dog breed is for me. They are live beings to be respected, not just animated balls of cute fur.