Thoughts about pitbulls/pit chat!

[Jazi]

Nope :]

While I like positive training, I'm not a fan of any of the currently televised trainers.

Hey, I train a dog named Titan! <3 He's a great big derp but I love him. Baby is the problem child when it comes to being dog reactive, Buster is shy. Mocha used to have issues but luckily we either caught it in time or she grew out of them. And Titan's just a loveable dumbhead <3

[Pastasquid]

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.

I thought lock jaw was a medical illness? I think scissor bite is what you mean, where the dog bites and doesn't let go. Jack russells ahve it but I never knew pit bulls did, if it is scissor bite http://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/commu ... _sheet.htm

[Jazi]

Scissor bite describes the set of the jaw, not the bite style.

Terriers, including American Pit Bull Terriers, molossers (mastiffs), sighthounds and some other hound types, bully breeds (also including American Pit Bull Terriers), and certain protection breeds bite and hold, refusing to let go until given the command or until pried off, depending on dog and training. Other breeds need to be taught to do this as they naturally slash with their teeth instead of grip or bite and release. BTW the bite you'd want if you were to get bitten at all is a one-off inhibited bite&release. Still hurts but does minimal damage.

[Saracirce]

No, the other person is right. There's a myth that pitbulls can "lock their jaws" and will never let go of something which originated because they're game enough to want to hold on despite being kicked, punched, stabbed, etc. A scissor bite is simply where the the upper and lower teeth don't meet but instead one set is slightly in front of the other.

Lockjaw in humans can be caused by tetanus and some other things but is different then what is being talked about here.

[Pastasquid]

Oh, just that there is also an illness called tetanus lock jaw. I knew about the bite and never letting go, I just call it a scissor bite

But I never knew pitbulls had it

[Imzadi83]

Oh, just that there is also an illness called tetanus lock jaw. I knew about the bite and never letting go, I just call it a scissor bite

But I never knew pitbulls had it

Any dog can bite an refuse to let go. Any dog can bite and immediatly release or bite hold and shake. There is no biting style that is unique to one (or even a few) breed(s) of dog.

[Jazi]

Any dog can be taught any bite style, either by training or just experiences the dog has had through wrestle/play. To see what the dog would naturally go to, you have to look at what they were used for. Terriers/sighthounds/bullies/blahblahblah grab and hold and shake to kill their prey, so obviously that's going to be what they use naturally. Some hounds slash instead, some protection dogs bite&release, some molossers don't jump to biting but will pin an opponent first. It all relates back to what the dog was bred to do in the first place ;]

[Lena.]

I think that when it comes to animal abuse there is no blaming the dog and pitbull types are targets of human abuse more than any other breed.

10,728 total canine abuses as of july 16, 2012
77.5% were pitbulls getting abused

so it really unfair to hate pitbulls so much when a lot of the time humans are the cause of them attacking.

[Pastasquid]

I think that when it comes to animal abuse there is no blaming the dog and pitbull types are targets of human abuse more than any other breed.

10,728 total canine abuses as of july 16, 2012
77.5% were pitbulls getting abused

so it really unfair to hate pitbulls so much when a lot of the time humans are the cause of them attacking.

hmm, I agree

[Saracirce]

I think that when it comes to animal abuse there is no blaming the dog and pitbull types are targets of human abuse more than any other breed.

10,728 total canine abuses as of july 16, 2012
77.5% were pitbulls getting abused

so it really unfair to hate pitbulls so much when a lot of the time humans are the cause of them attacking.

Where'd you get those stats? You need to source where you get things from. I also don't trust most shelters and ACOs to know the difference between the actually bully breeds and mixes that just happen to look similar to bully breeds. Or to even be able to tell the difference between all the bully breeds.