Why do pit bulls get so much LOVE? (crime, income)

[tidaldream]

Get mad at the lack of talent the news broadcasts.
Someone with talent could emphasize compassion toward the child getting the viewer to shift their thinking.

[DutchessCottonPuff]

I get tired of the bad owner Cr*p myself. My ex husband raised them and still does today , I was married to him 14 years . He competed in pulling and I in UKC conformation classes . We had fabulous ones and we had ones who were so bad they favored either he OR I and no one else. We had one who I told him I was leaving if he would not rehome him ( I was about to have a child )
Then we had Nanna ,, the ancient bait dog we inherited from an old retiring fighter ( Sorry, I am originally from the south and its part of that history and I cannot change it even if I never participated in it ). She was so glad to be done with that , she stayed the children's constant 24/7 companion until her death at 15 so you never know . I do not like my ex husband at all ,nor does he like me, but he loved those dogs , neither of us were ever mean to any of them . We had all colors, all bloodlines ( although we favored some lines over others) , boys and girls , It totally depended on the dog . ALL of our were obedience trained - ex did that for a living in a professional capacity for Harris County , Texas. So all of ours were first thing - Still some were just really off the hook . NO kids , my cats etc just him . I have no dogs anymore, too much liability and I live in an apt . Nanna was the last for me .

[cmswazey]

It's the nature vs nurture issue.

Here's the thing: you can train and work with animals and change and modify their behaviors. True. But every animal breeder or anyone else who's worked with animals can tell you that there are traits in various breeds and traits that were bred in or bred out.

Pit bulls have certain violent traits bred into them. That's a fact. I think you can do all the nurturing you want but there will always be risks.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by cmswazey

It's the nature vs nurture issue.

Here's the thing: you can train and work with animals and change and modify their behaviors. True. But every animal breeder or anyone else who's worked with animals can tell you that there are traits in various breeds and traits that were bred in or bred out.

s.

Right.
I mean, people have lions, tigers, ligers, tigons, bears (oh, my) that they raise by hand from infancy and seem to get along with, etc.
And one day...they snap.

And when they snap, they can do a lot of damage.

I wouldn't submit my rough collie for police work/schutzhund training. Why? It's just not in the breed nature to go purposely bite someone. You might find a dog here and there that would do it, but it's a terrible fit and just goes against their nature.

[lighthouse7669]

Unfortunately for dogs about every decade and differant breed is label as the killer dog thanks to humans. In the 70's it was the german shepherd. Like pits they were bread to be guard dogs and many were inbread and badly abused and yes there were many people hurt by them. They fell out of favor for the Doberman which received lots of bad press. Then the rothwaller was the bad dog many town band them and every attack was nationally publized. For the last many years its the pitbulls turn not thanks to dog fighting, hiphop, and the internet. Its humans that make a dog bad. Either by abuse, mistreating, inbreeding or yes many times its the victim that was mistreating or somehow provocating the dog. Yes i realize accidents happen and a few dogs are bad. However i have had several pit bulls as pets and are wonderful dogs. I work ems and come across many dogs and honeslty have yet to find a bad pit. I have the most trouble with the smaller breeds. They are just to small to do much damage.
My point is this, we have to treat each dog as an individual and also hold the owner accountable along with the victim. To just label all dogs of any one breed as bad is any differant then label all blacks are killers just becuase of few problem gang issues. Judge each case individually.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by lighthouse7669

Unfortunately for dogs about every decade and differant breed is label as the killer dog thanks to humans. In the 70's it was the german shepherd. Like pits they were bread to be guard dogs and many were inbread and badly abused and yes there were many people hurt by them. They fell out of favor for the Doberman which received lots of bad press. Then the rothwaller was the bad dog many town band them and every attack was nationally publized. For the last many years its the pitbulls turn not thanks to dog fighting, hiphop, and the internet. Its humans that make a dog bad. Either by abuse, mistreating, inbreeding or yes many times its the victim that was mistreating or somehow provocating the dog. Yes i realize accidents happen and a few dogs are bad. However i have had several pit bulls as pets and are wonderful dogs. I work ems and come across many dogs and honeslty have yet to find a bad pit. I have the most trouble with the smaller breeds. They are just to small to do much damage.
My point is this, we have to treat each dog as an individual and also hold the owner accountable along with the victim. To just label all dogs of any one breed as bad is any differant then label all blacks are killers just becuase of few problem gang issues. Judge each case individually.

Doesn't it make more sense that the "top breed" keeps changing bc of prevalence of breed?
Also, based on this CDC data, the same dogs you mention are on the top of the list, with more pit deaths in the 1980s.
Pits and rotties top the data in general: Breeds of Dogs Involved in Fatal Human Attacks in the United States Between 1979 and 1998 - DogsBite.org

I agree that small breeds can be obnoxious, but they generally lack the ability to do any real harm.

Here's the problem:


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.


A review of 82 dog bite cases at a level 1 trauma center where the breed of dog was identified concludes that attacks by pit bulls are associated with higher morbidity rates, higher hospital charges, and a higher risk of death than are attacks by other breeds of dogs. Bini, John K. MD; Cohn, Stephen M. MD; Acosta, Shirley M. RN, BSN; McFarland, Marilyn J. RN, MS; Muir, Mark T. MD; Michalek, Joel E. PhD; for the TRISAT Clinical Trials Group, Mortality, Mauling, and Maiming by Vicious Dogs, Annals of Surgery (April 2011, Vol. 253, Issue 4, pp. 791–797).

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.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Walch1007

Pitbull lovers...you know most standard setting agencies will mention the the temperament of pitbulls right? I agree they can be great dogs if trained properly by a strong owner. However, the chances of you having a pitbull turn on you is exponentially higher than say a poodle or a golden retriever due to their inherently more aggressive nature. That's a fact.

That is something alot of people don't want to admit. I have a neighbor who has a pit bull. They keep the dog on a leash when out. That dog was off of its leash one time, just one time. That dog chased, while I was on MY property. I already have enough trouble trying to jog in my subdivision with regular dogs trying to bark/run after me. I don't need pit bulls doing that. Pit bulls are inherently aggressive, and they're big. Alot of pit bull advocates won't admit that. It is like the love for a pit bull trumps the love for a human.

[DutchessCottonPuff]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

It is like the love for a pit bull trumps the love for a human.

Sadly that is true even though I no longer have any, I have friends from my UKC competition days that have just gone nuts .. Hoarding posing as rescues . I have one who is a 64 year old woman just lost her job. I mean BROKE living in Houston alone who has set up 2 gofund me accounts to help pay for all KINDS of diagnostic tests for two, 13 year old PB's who are covered in cancerous tumors .

When I knew her daily in the 90's she was normal and had one or 2 she would compete with and we would visit with at shows and showed horses together too . I cannot COUNT how many she has now .. she is just totally consumed by it . Husband left over it , I wont contribute even though I so still care for this lady . I'm more concerned for her than two 13 year old cancer riddled dogs who need to be put to sleep who were so aggressive she took them in so they would not be euthanized apparently a few years back. Bad situation

[tickyul]

[quote=green_mariner;47722031]That is something alot of people don't want to admit. I have a neighbor who has a pit bull. They keep the dog on a leash when out. That dog was off of its leash one time, just one time. That dog chased, while I was on MY property. I already have enough trouble trying to jog in my subdivision with regular dogs trying to bark/run after me. I don't need pit bulls doing that. Pit bulls are inherently aggressive, and they're big. Alot of pit bull advocates won't admit that. It is like the love for a pit bull trumps the love for a human.[/QUOTE]



Yeah, I would say MOST dog-owners put their smelly Beasts, way above their fellow Humans.

[DevanXL]

Originally Posted by stan4

Didn't find anything about a rough collie mauling kids to death.
Then I just googled rough collie bite...still nothing substantial.

Unfortunately you gotta look at where these pit bull attacks are happening. Alot are in low income areas were they are trained as guard or attack dogs. I don't know of any pitbull who was raised as a puppy in a loving home attacking anyone unprovoked.