Thoughts about pitbulls/pit chat!

[Jazi]

A dog does not need to be left on a chain to be aggressive. A chained dog is not always an aggressive dog.

[Kickin' up dirt]

A dog does not need to be left on a chain to be aggressive. A chained dog is not always an aggressive dog.

That's not what I'm saying. I didn't come here to argue, I came here to talk about pitbulls.

[Jazi]

Replace "dog" with "pit bull" then. Again, genetics, temperament, personality, socialization, fear periods during the puppy stage, past triggers, history, heck even food and health will all make a play at "aggression". It is not always the owner's "fault" that a problem surfaces with the dog. It is, however, the owner's fault if the owner does not see the problem or manage it in a way that makes the dog able to not be a public hazard. If I know my mixed breed muttymutt isn't good with other dogs, it's bad to take her to a dog park, yeah? It'd be *my fault* then if I took her anyway and something happened. But it might not be *my fault* if she doesn't like dogs in the first place.

[Kickin' up dirt]

I'm talking about pitbulls, not other dogs.


I'm hoping to adopt a pitbull from my local shelter, soon.

[Jazi]

What applies to other dogs applies to pit bulls too...

[Dakonic]

I know pleeenty of Pit Bulls who had been chained responsibly and never had a issue with aggression. Their owners gave exercised them, trained them, did not leave them on the chain for long periods of time.

Also, speaking as one who sees a lot of dogs taken into the shelter due to biting people (Dogs held in quarantine), I get to hear the info on each. Many are common sense issues (parents letting kids run up to random dogs and grab them, leaving kids unattended with dogs) but a lot of I hear is people being downright stupid and irresponsible trying to train their dogs to be "protection dogs" from home. But I have yet to experience a dog coming through that attacked just out of pure unprovoked aggression, there's always some human fault at hand.

Aaaaand serious dog attacks really don't happen very often at all. Consider the shear number of dog attacks to the number of dogs in the US.

Good bit on it
http://www.1800petmeds.com/education/pi ... -myths.htm

[Dakonic]

^sort of went on my own little off topic tangent there

[Pastasquid]

Any dog can be aggressive, it can be the owners fault, the way it's brought up and what little things happened in it's life when it was a puppy. It might not just be because it was chained up (Although there is a chance). I watch a programme where they rescue animals from bad owners and lots of dogs were chained up with no food, water or a bed. When the people came over, it was as friendly as can be!

[~Serenade~]

LOVE Pit Bulls! One of the main reasons people are so against them is that they can "Lock there jaws" I get told that all the time in friendly debates about Pit Bulls. "But they can lock their jaws... blah blah blah" Physical that is totally untrue there is no such thing as a dog that can lock their jaws. The only reason people started saying that, is in reference to determination. Dogs with a lot of determination will seem to "Lock Jaw" on prey or intruders until their owner gets there. That doesn't mean the dog has something physical that make their jaw lock. A Chihuahua can have "Lock Jaw Determination" just as pit bulls or any other breed.

Personally I'd rather be locked in a room with 100 Pit Bulls from unknown backgrounds rather than 100 Chihuahuas from unknown backgrounds.

Well, as others have been saying, yes, aggression can be bred into a dog, that's true. However a dogs whole personality is not based on who it's bred to, in fact that is but a VERY VERY VERY small piece of it. Most of it comes down to training, socialization, diet, health, and environment. If a Labrador from an amazing breeder who breeds for the best temperaments in the world is not trained well, not socialized, and is on a horrible diet, your not going to have a sickly sweet dog. Even if the dog did come from an amazing breeder.

That goes the other way also, if you have a dog that was from a horrible breeder that bred dogs to be highly aggressive, but you trained the dog well, got him on a great diet, socialized him well, ect, that could be the kindest dog ever.

I've gotten bitten by dogs quite a few times in my life. Never by a Pit Bull (Though I have been licked to death) I've actually had to go to the hospital because of being attacked by a lab and a chihuahua. And my dog has gotten attack by many small breeds before, but never any large breeds or pit bulls.

Here is what I break it down to. People who get small pocket puppies are a lot of the time (Not all of the time) getting a dog because it looks cute. They don't think about training, or if it could hurt someone if they didn't train it, ect. However people who get Pit Bulls and other large dogs from rescues and such normally are more ready for what they are getting into.

That's why I'd rather be in a room with 100 pit bulls rather than 100 chihuahuas. I've never met a nice, well trained chihuahua (And trust me I have trained lots of them and met lots of them) Though I have seen MANY well trained and nice pit bulls, in fact I've never met a mean one.

It's also mostly the news that gets people so afraid of dogs like pit bulls. They rant on and on about how people are getting killed or harmed by pit bulls, while not mentioning anything about people getting harmed and killed by other breeds, so it makes it seem as if the pit bull is the only dog breed ever to hurt anyone. The news also highly sugar coats things, and leaves out stuff. What you hear on the news "Today another Pit Bull viciously attacked a teen today, he had to be taken to the hospital!" And people think "OH MY GAWRD PIT BULLS BE EVIL" When the real story goes something like this "Today a teen jumped the locked fence of a house and viciously beat a pit bull. The pit bull bit him, and now everyone is freaking out because apparently the pit bull shouldn't have bit him even though he was getting beaten"

Though I know that's not how all the stories go, however they do sugar coat things a lot, so you can never trust the news when all they are out to get is good ratings, not to higher the opinion of a dog breed. If people want to hear about vicious pit bull attacks, that's what the news will give them.

[Katnchainz]

Replace "dog" with "pit bull" then. Again, genetics, temperament, personality, socialization, fear periods during the puppy stage, past triggers, history, heck even food and health will all make a play at "aggression". It is not always the owner's "fault" that a problem surfaces with the dog. It is, however, the owner's fault if the owner does not see the problem or manage it in a way that makes the dog able to not be a public hazard. If I know my mixed breed muttymutt isn't good with other dogs, it's bad to take her to a dog park, yeah? It'd be *my fault* then if I took her anyway and something happened. But it might not be *my fault* if she doesn't like dogs in the first place.

Off topic, but by any chance, are you on Victoria Stilwell's forum for positive based training methods? Just wondering.

And this is exactly what I tell everyone when the ask if I've had my dog for his whole life. I tell them, "I've had him since about 8 weeks. He's been with me and was socialized, but he still started to react aggressively towards other dogs around 6 months old. We didn't know if his age was is real age, but I know he couldn't have been so far off of being 6 months. He likes dogs that he knows, and actually warms up pretty quickly considering his fear, and has very good social skills, as proved with his very good meeting with Titan, but he is dog reactive, and is fearful of large men." I also have a very large brother whom he ADORES and would never even think of harming him, so the large men, I don't know where that came from. Though, we never met his breeder, or the dogs he was bred from. We rescued him from someone who couldn't keep him, (imaging that... only 8 weeks old... ) and they even said they didn't meet the parents, and with his health problems, I'm betting genetics play a role as well.

And with careful monitoring, high quality food, behavioral modification training, or the BAT system, and being overly cautious on walks is helping him turn around. He's a timid dog in the first place, and I that plays a huge role in his fear aggression.