maninkari wrote:halogen. wrote:@maninkari-
Yup, as controversial as this may sound, I absolutely never adopt dogs from shelters, or rescues. I don't trust the people or the dog, no matter how nice the dog looks/acts and how convincing people are I'm not taking any shelter dog home around children. And those little 'temperment tests' don't work for me either. If I ever adopt, puppy has to be 10 weeks and under, no exceptions.
I've had shelter dogs and I was always, always ready for aggression issues and triggers. It's not easy rescuing a dog from an unknown backround, my current shelter dog had serious dog aggression and separation anxiety. It's taken a year of work to get him to the point where he won't attack any large dog he sees. Rescuing a dog is a great thing, but it's not for everyone and it's not easy.
Oh, I definitely agree with this. We rescued my dog when he was just over a year old. We had no idea of his background aside from the facts that he came from North Carolina, and (seemingly) enjoyed being around other dogs. Turns out that, as much of a sweetie as he is, he does have some minor dog aggression, but it's all understandable. He is terrified of dogs he doesn't know if he meets them on their turf, and he is mortified of pit bulls. Like I said, I don't know his background, but I'm assuming he was attacked by (a) pit bull(s) when he was just a puppy, because now he just flips out whenever he sees one. He barks, growls, raises his fur, and, if they get close enough, will not at all hesitate to attack and bite. In my old house, our neighbor had a pit bull. First, our dog got out and attacked it, but later it got out and (tried to) attack our dog (Our dog got out without a scratch but our neighbor's dog certainly didn't >.>).
Anyway, the point of this is that sometimes adopted dogs have weird things about them. My dog (His name is Bentley by the way), has awful separation anxiety, and like I said before, hates pit bulls. I think the big thing about adopting a pit from a shelter is a fear of the combination of an abusive background, plus their unpredicatable nature. I do believe that all pits have natural aggression in them, but it's the fault of the a-holes from a hundred years ago creating the poor things sheerly for dog fighting. It's awful, really, and I feel so bad for them :c Of course, just because they were bred to fight, doesn't mean they all will. As a matter of fact, very few dogs conform with the personalities they're known for or bred for. There are vicious golden retrievers, lazy huskies, ignorant labs, quiet chihuahuas, and so on. Pits are also very smart, and a combination of aggressive genes from how long ago, and the ability to remember any bad situation they were in usually leads to an aggressive dog, which is the fault of the people, not the dog.
I am one of the people who tries to avoid adopting pits, or any dog for that matter, over a month old from a shelter, just because how am I supposed to know whether this dog was beaten or used for fighting? How am I supposed to know whether this dog is going to try and kill me? How am I supposed to know whether this dog was left to die right outside a McDonald's where it could associate so many humans with pain and abuse? 90% of the time, a pit bull is aggressive because the crap people do with them. Dog fights are illegal now, but that doesn't stop people from doing them, and guess what breed is the most popular dog fighting breed? Yeah. It's pit bulls.
[i might edit more onto this because I gotta go now]
