Thoughts about pitbulls/pit chat!

[{Rat}]

you have a better likely chance of getting killed by a falling coconut than a pitbull, thats what i say when people say they dont like pitbulls cuz thier aggresive. and its true

[Sadies]

Pitt Bulls are not aggressive dogs. They were bred to fight dogs. There aggression is not aimed at people. If it was then the cruel people who fight them would not be able to get near the dogs or pull the dogs apart, they would be to dangerous to fight with and train. They are bred to like people not dogs, it's poor owners that make the dogs aggressive towards people. I agree that aggression towards dogs is a problem but there are ways to manage this.

[Dakonic]

They are bred to be dog/animal aggressive/reactive/intolerant. Choose your word. However, the same traits that make them intolerant of other animals also makes them wonderful family dogs. They are intelligent, aim to please, and are general goof-balls with their families. They excel in all kinds of sports from agility to weight pulling to dock diving to flyball and frisbee. They make wonderful service animals and therapy dogs.

I may or may not own one in the future, depends on if I can find a good breeder whose dogs are not dog reactive. I do plan to own other dogs and having a dog reactive dog wouldn't work. ;D

You're not going to find any responsible breeder toting APBTs as "not dog aggressive" or reactive. As those who dedicate themselves to the breed and become responsible breeders were willing to accept that.

Now if you'd like to get a Pit Bull and you want to avoid any sort of DA/DR, my recommendation would be to adopt a fully matured dog from a rescue. That way the dog has been in foster care, the foster parent is fully aware of how the dog reacts in different settings and the dog's genetics are laid out. That way you're not taking a gamble.

[Dakonic]

I have a great admiration for American Pit Bull Terriers, they're athletic, powerful, they have arguably one of the strongest will powers of any dog out there. (Goes back to the fighting heritage) I've spent a lot of time researching them, learning about different lines, pretty much any thing and everything I could learn about them.


I do own a shelter girl, she came into the shelter as a stray while I was working there so I don't know her heritage, but visually she looks pure. So I just call her a APBT mix. She's a very nice girl, dog reactive, absolutely loves every human she meets, very handler soft (does NOT like to make me mad, but it seems more like her previous home was harsh due to associations with certain things),very athletic and smart/eager to learn, very strong prey drive.

Her flaws would be that she doesn't think well when very excited. Which isn't particularly unusual, but can make sports hard. It's part of the reason I'm drawn to German Shepherds more, they work very well when excited or under pressure.

One of the biggest issues with Pit Bulls is the mixing and closely related breeds. There are American Staffordshire Terriers, American Bullies, and Dogue De Bordeaux mixes being registered with the ADBA and UKC as American Pit Bull Terriers to this day. Which really blurs the lines, and the APBT gets the brunt of the anti-pit bull focus since all those breeds are labeled under a nickname that used to only pertain to them.

I'll give you an example...


This is one of the top winning UKC dogs of 09, and her pedigree
http://www.apbt.online-pedigrees.com/mo ... _id=147259

Notice on the top end and some closer gens you see "AKC" in the dog's names, and see a lot of "Gaff" and "Sierra", those dogs are American Staffordshire Terriers. You click on that dog's dam's name and you get her ped, which is also full of Sierra and Gaff. So pretty much you have a Amstaff, winning the the UKC as a APBT.

And you also have lines like Greyline are crosses between Amstaffs and APBTs (pitterstaffs) bred to be overly large.


Here's an actual APBT, one of the top winning ADBA dogs. In APBTs you're going to see fighting dogs in the background. That is fact, as the first registry to allow APBTs was back in the dog fighting glory days and the dogs had to be 3x winners to be registered. So every registered pure APBT can be traced back to one of those dogs.
http://www.apbt.online-pedigrees.com/mo ... _id=371765
APBT Bloodlines are stuff like Sorrells, Garner, Boudreaux, Colby, Carver, Eli, Hemphill, Crenshaw, and a lot more based around specific dogs.




And then there's the other issue with judging the purity of registered dogs.
http://www.apbt.online-pedigrees.com/mo ... g_id=35886
^That dog is a Dogue De Bordeaux/American Bulldog cross, and is still in the pedigrees of many UKC/ADBA dogs to this day. The issue was that he was originally told he could have the dog on a single registry so it could compete in weight pull. The agreements were the dog was not to be bred. But he did it anyway, and they still allowed the offspring to be registered.

Whopper, Chevy, Eddington, Camelot, Dagger and a few more are lines that have mastiff mixed into their heritage.


Aaaand then you have the most common dogs you see, bred willy nilly by backyard breeders, the American Bullies and variants of. They're bred down from selectively bred Amstaff/APBT crosses and if you Google search "Pit Bull" they are mostly what comes up.

The lines are Razor's Edge, Gottiline, and Remyline, though there are some other but they're not sustained yet.
Here's one example, he was a national winner for the ABKC (American Bully Kennel Club)




Hopefully I didn't bore or go too far off topic... that's my mind turd for the day

[Lena.]

I am a little jumpy whenever I go near a pitty but thats is only because i had a bad experience with a staffy (I got bit in the face by one when I was 3) and pittys sort of remind me of them but all my friends say they are great nanny dogs and that they know heaps of really nice ones so I think you should only punish them or do anything bad to them if you know for sure that they are viscious.

[Saracirce]

I am a little jumpy whenever I go near a pitty but thats is only because i had a bad experience with a staffy (I got bit in the face by one when I was 3) and pittys sort of remind me of them but all my friends say they are great nanny dogs and that they know heaps of really nice ones so I think you should only punish them or do anything bad to them if you know for sure that they are viscious.

Okay, let's try to clear this up a little bit:

1. No dog is a 'great nanny dog'. No dog should EVER be left unsupervised with a baby/toddler/kid. Kids do some really stupid things and toddlers and babies just don't know any better. If the child does something they dog doesn't like and the kid doesn't back off or the dog can't get away, even the best dog can nip. They may not mean to hurt them and they're just trying to warn the kid 'hey, back off' but a toddler isn't going to know that, are they? And because the toddler doesn't know any better, you can get into some real deep water. People who leave their kids unsupervised with ANY dog is what makes people think dogs are unsafe around children period.

2. You should NEVER EVER punish a dog for aggression. You just make it worse because they connect the presence of the trigger (aka, what the aggression is directed towards) with punishment. Because we can not communicate with our dogs on the same level as, say, a 10 year old, we can't make it clear to them 'because you do this, you are being punished' they likely won't get it. You have to counter condition the dog. Not punish.

3. If the dog is genetically predisposed to aggression then training isn't going to help much except to POSSIBLY soften it some.

[Dakonic]

Also! "Nanny dog" is not a nickname for Pit Bulls, that's a myth, it only popped up recently in "pro pit bull" articles that had bad info to begin with. Looking back, I've found it to not be clearly attached to any breed, only found stuff of Nana from Peter Pan. Probably cuz folks had a little more common sense about not leaving dogs alone with kids.

[Dakonic]

Good post Sara :3


Every behaviorist (person credentialed in dog behavior) I know says "Thank a dog for growling!" as they're giving you a warning

[Saracirce]

Lol, yep, always respect the growl!

[[.Book Owl.]]

I, personally, adore the dogs and think they are adorable. You shouldn't be afraid of a breed of dog just because there are some, how do put this, 'duds' out there. Every bred of dog is dangerous, but this breed is more commonly called this because of some accidents. I do not own a pit bull or staff, but I have met them and they are adorable and I love them. If you get past all the stereo types and are nice to the dog then you'll be fine and it will be awesome. I own a small dog that is more aggressive than all staffs/pit bulls that I've met. Not to say that you shouldn't be careful though. Please value my opinion, and if your going to quote, then don't say 'your wrong!' because it would hurt my feelings.