Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So, my husband and I were just watching the news and we saw a story that really upset both of us. As some of you already know, my husband and I are from Florida but we have been in Draper, Utah (Just outside of Salt Lake City.) for over 6 months now. Also, my husband and I have owned and absolutely adore the "pit bull" breeds, especially American Pit Bull Terriers. Our opinion, when it comes to dogs of any breed, is that a dog is going to be as good or as bad, as friendly or as vicious, as it's owner makes it. How a dog turns out all depends on the way it has been bred, raised, trained, socialized, handled and cared for. And again, this goes for any breed.
Anyway, all that being said, I now want to say that I am not posting this to upset anyone or start any arguments. I'm just posting this because it really bothered me and I guess I want to hear other opinions. This news story is about a lady that was attacked by 2 dogs. It is horrible that she has had to go through this , our prayers are with her and I hope she has a full and quick recovery. I in no way think that it was okay that this lady was attacked, so please don't think that that's what I'm saying. But what bothers me about this story is that these dogs have not been caught! There is no video or pictures of these dogs, so how do we know they are "pit bulls"? Most people don't even know that a "pit bull" is not really a breed, it's a term used to describe several breeds. Also, there are 25+ breeds that are commonly mistaken as the "pit bull" breeds. People that have tons of experience with the "pit bull" breeds can't always tell if a dog is actually a "pit bull" breed or not, so how can we expect someone that has little to no experience with the "pit bull" breeds to tell us that these dogs were "pit bulls". Especially when you are in the middle of being attacked, scared to death and desperately trying to get away. There are so many news stories that say that a "pit bull" attacked someone when in reality it was an American Bulldog, a Lab, a Rottweiler, some kind of mix, etc. There are also tons of stories about "pit bulls" that are heros..
But we never hear these stories. We also never hear about any attack that isn't a "pit bull" attack, or that can't be turned into a "pit bull" attack.
My husband and I were loving the fact that here in Utah we didn't here about all of these so-called "pit bull" attacks on the news. Compared to the news that I have seen my whole life, there's not much bad news in Utah at all! Utah has always seemed very "pit bull" friendly to us. We know people in the neighborhood that own "pit bulls", most of the "pit bulls" (and the other dogs) at our local shelter get adopted into great homes, we see people walking "pit bull" breeds often, etc. And I think that's part of why this story is so upsetting to me. I mean, it's upsetting to hear of anyone getting attacked by any breed, and it's even more upsetting to know that these dogs, whatever breed(s) they are, can obviously cause serious damage and they haven't been caught! Who knows who could be next! But it kills me that even though we have no idea what breed(s) these dogs are, we see a news story about 2 "pit bulls" attacking a lady with a picture of probably the most vicious looking dog I have ever seen in the corner of the screen!
So, now that I've typed a novel.. lol .. here is the news story that I just watched a few minutes ago... WVC Woman Mauled By Pit Bulls - KSTU (http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-wvc-woman-mauled-by-pit-bulls,0,6382643.story - broken link)
By the way, I just watched the videos again, and I realized that as usual, they can't even spell "pit bulls" correctly! They Show it written correctly, then also spelled "Pitbulls", and they even have it spelled "Pitballs" in small black letters under the video!
Also, I think that the running away from the dogs as soon as she saw them might have made things worse. It just says that she saw two "pit bulls" and ran! It doesn't say that they were already growling or looking like they were about to attack. Again though, I'm not saying that that changes anything or makes this okay. I'm also not saying that the attack was the lady's fault. I just know that if I saw an unleashed dog, of any breed, I would not just take off running! Any breed that has a high prey drive would definitely react to that. I feel like maybe the Humane Society, or some other organization that is involved with dogs, should try and educate people on how to act around an unleashed dog, or a dog that they think looks like it's about to attack. People need to know what signs to look for to know if a dog is about to attack, what to do to try and avoid an attack, how to get away, or at least try, etc.
I agree its the deed of the people that own the dogs not the breed.
We had a part chow/golden mix and she was a big baby, and very, very
protective of my kids.
Thanks for sharing. This was alot less painless than reading the eating dogs thread.
By the way, I just watched the videos again, and I realized that as usual, they can't even spell "pit bulls" correctly! They Show it written correctly, then also spelled "Pitbulls", and they even have it spelled "Pitballs" in small black letters under the video!
Also, I think that the running away from the dogs as soon as she saw them might have made things worse. It just says that she saw two "pit bulls" and ran! It doesn't say that they were already growling or looking like they were about to attack. Again though, I'm not saying that that changes anything or makes this okay. I'm also not saying that the attack was the lady's fault. I just know that if I saw an unleashed dog, of any breed, I would not just take off running! Any breed that has a high prey drive would definitely react to that. I feel like maybe the Humane Society, or some other organization that is involved with dogs, should try and educate people on how to act around an unleashed dog, or a dog that they think looks like it's about to attack. People need to know what signs to look for to know if a dog is about to attack, what to do to try and avoid an attack, how to get away, or at least try, etc.
Good points. Tried to rep you, can't!
There is on older couple who walks their dog through my neighborhood. Wife holds the leash, he has a large walking stick.
One afternoon I was doing yardwork and my 100lb dog was lose in the yard w/me. This couple rounded the corner, and my dog jogged (not tore off) over to them....
She scoops up her dog and starts CRYING, The husband starts some karate-type whooo-whaa yells and is whipping he stick around like a fighting staff
I kid you not!! WTF?? I couldn't imagine this behavior being anything other than a challenge to my dog!
(everything was fine, my dog stopped and watched them for about 15 sec before coming back to me)
But what bothers me about this story is that these dogs have not been caught! There is no video or pictures of these dogs, so how do we know they are "pit bulls"? Most people don't even know that a "pit bull" is not really a breed, it's a term used to describe several breeds. Also, there are 25+ breeds that are commonly mistaken as the "pit bull" breeds. People that have tons of experience with the "pit bull" breeds can't always tell if a dog is actually a "pit bull" breed or not, so how can we expect someone that has little to no experience with the "pit bull" breeds to tell us that these dogs were "pit bulls". Especially when you are in the middle of being attacked, scared to death and desperately trying to get away. There are so many news stories that say that a "pit bull" attacked someone when in reality it was an American Bulldog, a Lab, a Rottweiler, some kind of mix, etc.
100% agree. While it is upsetting and terrible this woman was attacked I think she just assumed the dogs were pit bull because of the bad rep they get.
Makes me so f*****g angry!!!i LOVE the picture they show everytime theres a "pit bull" attack.Like you said,most of the time its a completely different breed.Ive been working at my job(animal shelter) for years and ive never come across a human aggressive pit.
There is on older couple who walks their dog through my neighborhood. Wife holds the leash, he has a large walking stick.
One afternoon I was doing yardwork and my 100lb dog was lose in the yard w/me. This couple rounded the corner, and my dog jogged (not tore off) over to them....
She scoops up her dog and starts CRYING, The husband starts some karate-type whooo-whaa yells and is whipping he stick around like a fighting staff
I kid you not!! WTF?? I couldn't imagine this behavior being anything other than a challenge to my dog!
(everything was fine, my dog stopped and watched them for about 15 sec before coming back to me)
That was sooo funny! I needed a good laugh! I can just see the moron doing the karate thing!!!!!
100% agree. While it is upsetting and terrible this woman was attacked I think she just assumed the dogs were pit bull because of the bad rep they get.
Yeah, I completely agree! I wouldn't want to hear of anyone being attacked by any dog, but of course, they had to just throw in that these dogs were "pit bulls" and play that up as much as possible, even though they have no idea!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lolagranola
Good points. Tried to rep you, can't!
There is on older couple who walks their dog through my neighborhood. Wife holds the leash, he has a large walking stick.
One afternoon I was doing yardwork and my 100lb dog was lose in the yard w/me. This couple rounded the corner, and my dog jogged (not tore off) over to them....
She scoops up her dog and starts CRYING, The husband starts some karate-type whooo-whaa yells and is whipping he stick around like a fighting staff
I kid you not!! WTF?? I couldn't imagine this behavior being anything other than a challenge to my dog!
(everything was fine, my dog stopped and watched them for about 15 sec before coming back to me)
Wow! That's crazy! I don't know if I'll ever understand people that react like that. Me personally, that's the last thing I'd do. Acting crazy is just going to confuse a dog, and possibly scare it, and could very well provoke an attack that wouldn't have happened otherwise!
I agree its the deed of the people that own the dogs not the breed.
We had a part chow/golden mix and she was a big baby, and very, very
protective of my kids.
Thanks for sharing. This was alot less painless than reading the eating dogs thread.
Yep, I definitely think that how a dog turns out all depends on how the dog has been bred, raised, trained, socialized, etc. A well bred, properly raised, trained, socialized, controlled and cared for American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, etc, will be just as friendly and well behaved as a well bred, properly raised, trained, socialized, controlled and cared for Golden Retriever or Lab. Just like a poorly bred, neglected and/or abused Lab, Golden Retriever, or any other breed can be just as aggressive as some of these "pit bulls" (or so-called "pit bulls") that we see or hear about that have been through hell and back.
I do know that a lot of horrible people that want a dog for all the wrong reasons do tend to want breeds that are strong, or that may look intimidating to some people, such as "pit bulls", Rotties, Dobies, Chows, GSDs, etc. And, because of that, a lot of the so-called "dangerous" breeds do end up being poorly bred, abused and neglected, and/or trained specifically to be aggressive. But, those people could do the same thing to another dog of another breed just as easily. And, simply because a hand-full of breeds tend to be attractive to the scum of the earth certainly does not mean that those breeds are naturally aggressive or bad. Too many people, IMHO, just don't seem to realize that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dogcrazy
Makes me so f*****g angry!!!i LOVE the picture they show everytime theres a "pit bull" attack.Like you said,most of the time its a completely different breed.Ive been working at my job(animal shelter) for years and ive never come across a human aggressive pit.
That's great that you work at an animal shelter! My husband and I have been wanting to start volunteering at our local Humane Society, and hopefully sooner than later we will actually go down there and start volunteering.
But yeah, like I said, out of all of the "pit bulls" that my husband and I have owned and spent any significant time around, we have never met a human-aggressive one. And, even though breeds like the "pit bull" breeds were bred to be animal aggressive, I have only met a hand-full of "pit bulls" that were animal-aggressive at all! And even those pits weren't animal-aggressive to the point where you couldn't have them around other animals, it's just that they would never be unsupervised with other animals. A lot of people don't realize that while the "pit bull" breeds were originally bred to fight animals, rat, bull bate, and do various other jobs, they were also bred specifically to be human-friendly, to be family companions. And if you read what the AKC says about American Staffordshire Terriers (American Kennel Club - American Staffordshire Terrier) and Staffordshire Bull Terriers (American Kennel Club - Staffordshire Bull Terrier), and what the UKC says about American Pit Bull Terriers (United Kennel Club: American Pit Bull Terrier (Revised November 1, 2008) (http://www.ukcdogs.com/WebSite.nsf/Breeds/AmericanPitBullTerrierRevisedNovember12008 - broken link)), as well as what the American Temperament Testing Society has to show about all 3 of those breeds (ATTS - American Temperament Test Society, Inc. - ATTS Breed Statistics (http://www.atts.org/statistics.html - broken link)), you can clearly see that these dogs are not just naturally human-aggressive breeds!
I've got the lady that does my press releases doing the story on Sugar. She will have it complete and out to the media today, including info on National Pitbull Awareness Day. We'll see if it makes it to any of the papers.
It's sad that the only stories that ever get published are those of the negative. But the positive doesn't sell papers because pitties aren't all furry and fuzzy and what the general public thinks of as a 'cute' dog. Can't wait for it to change.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our opinion, when it comes to dogs of any breed, is that a dog is going to be as good or as bad, as friendly or as vicious, as it's owner makes it. How a dog turns out all depends on the way it has been bred, raised, trained, socialized, handled and cared for. And again, this goes for any breed. 
I'm just posting this because it really bothered me and I guess I want to hear other opinions. This news story is about a lady that was attacked by 2 dogs. It is horrible that she has had to go through this 
, our prayers are with her and I hope she has a full and quick recovery. I in no way think that it was okay that this lady was attacked, so please don't think that that's what I'm saying. But what bothers me about this story is that these dogs have not been caught! There is no video or pictures of these dogs, so how do we know they are "pit bulls"? Most people don't even know that a "pit bull" is not really a breed, it's a term used to describe several breeds. Also, there are 25+ breeds that are commonly mistaken as the "pit bull" breeds. People that have tons of experience with the "pit bull" breeds can't always tell if a dog is actually a "pit bull" breed or not, so how can we expect someone that has little to no experience with the "pit bull" breeds to tell us that these dogs were "pit bulls". Especially when you are in the middle of being attacked, scared to death and desperately trying to get away. 
There are so many news stories that say that a "pit bull" attacked someone when in reality it was an American Bulldog, a Lab, a Rottweiler, some kind of mix, etc. There are also tons of stories about "pit bulls" that are heros.. 
Omg
I don't know if I'll ever understand people that react like that. 
