Pit bulls were bred a long time ago to fight other dogs, originally it was for hunting/baiting. They still have the potential to be more aggressive, but who would willingly breed a dog with aggressive traits anymore? There hasn't been a need or a market for aggressive dogs in a long time.
As far as pitbull bite strength is concerned, there are many breeds with stronger bites that also have aggressive tendencies. Notably rottweilers and german shepards.
I land on the fence as they aren't the most dangerous dog around, it's a prime example of sensationalism creating fear.
The stories linked in the OP are of attacks on other dogs. Still terrible, but I'd be interested to see how often dog fights happen in places like dog parks or anywhere else, really. If a dog kills another dog, is it always reported in the news, or just when the attacking dog is a pitbul?
The Following User Says Thank You to Nyah For This Useful Post:
The stories linked in the OP are of attacks on other dogs. Still terrible, but I'd be interested to see how often dog fights happen in places like dog parks or anywhere else, really. If a dog kills another dog, is it always reported in the news, or just when the attacking dog is a pitbul?
I dont think the media is in on the fix. These dogs are what they are, they bite to kill. And I am going to stick my head out here, but this breed attracts a certain crowd of owners as well. Not the best mix.
I dont hold a strong opinion if they should be banned, but no friend of mine would be allowed with a pit bull at my place with my kids around. Just not worth the risk.
Yeah, except one breed of dogs was bred specifically for their aggression and are now therefore more aggressive.
If all dogs are capable of being great family pets, what's the harm in banning pitbulls? Grab another dog.
Pitbulls were not bred for fighting. Eventually people turned them into fighters.
People get these dogs thinking they can control them but are not trained on how to control their dog or how to train them in general. They are extremely popular, that is why there are so many around. So many people get dogs that just aren't right for them, which is sad. Unfortunately these dogs are very powerful and can kill people. Read the studies of other cities who have banned these types of dogs. Other dogs became the biters and kills in those cities.
We have fostered 3 pitbull mixes and a mastiff. We have also fostered labs and shepherd mixes. Of all the dogs we have fostered, I was the most scared of the lab mix. Unpredictable and so much anxiety. The pit mixes were the nicest of them all (we are on our 9th in 2 years), usually just strays that needed a home but so sweet. 2 of our friends adopted 2 of them so we still get to see them. My dog absolutely loves our first foster, who is mainly a pity with a little husky and other large breed in him.
I also blame the owners. I think that anyone who gets these kinds of dogs need to take training classes of some sort. I don't think we will ever see these breeds gone forever though. People should start going to jail when their dog attacks/kills a person. They are ultimately responsible for their dogs behaviour and if more people were punished somehow for having dogs who are out of their control, we would have less of these incidence.
__________________
"You're worried about the team not having enough heart. I'm worried about the team not having enough brains." HFOil fan, August 12th, 2020. E=NG
When you have NRA-type groups who come flying out to their defense everytime there is a pit bull attack it is pretty sickening. Not only that, Calgary gets flown in 100s of pitbulls every year from the States, most of them without any documentation or previous behavioral assessments. That is just insane. The 5th estate did a report on this a few months back. It's hard to watch and it's crazy that a dad who lost his baby to a pitbull is getting online threats.
In both of these incidences, these people are bad dog owners. Plain and simple. Both incidences the dogs were unattended and free to do what they wanted. That just shouldn't happen. My dogs are no free to roam or escape from our house. I absolutely hate it when dogs are off leash walking down the street because most people cannot control them or have 100% recall. Our dogs are never off leash for this reason. I have a 25 lbs cocker-poo and 65 shepherd/mix. Neither would hurt a fly, but you just never know what the other dogs might do.
These incidences are on their owners, they shouldn't be putting their dogs into positions to have this sort of outcome. Yes, something else is up with these dogs, considering they wanted to attack, but these could have been prevented. I would assume that these dogs have bad owners who do not train their dogs and have little control over them. It is possible that these dogs were no properly socialized either.
__________________
"You're worried about the team not having enough heart. I'm worried about the team not having enough brains." HFOil fan, August 12th, 2020. E=NG
The Following User Says Thank You to foshizzle11 For This Useful Post:
I hate this breed sounds awful i know, but I just love it when I am walking my dog (lab/husky) and a pitbull comes running to go see my dog with an owner that is being dragged behind it . The breed is just too powerful and dangerous if they ever feel the need to snap I know my 80 pound dog wouldn't stand a chance
Of course there are other large breeds that could kill a human but once a pitbull latches on, isn't it impossible for them to let go because of their bite strength?
and yes this is a stereotype but I don't want any of these "american" pitbulls in my city!
2016 Fatal Dog attack by Breeds in the US
I would be interested to see how many pitbull breeds there are included in this kind of stat and how many pitbulls there are in the US compared to all other breeds in this chart. Are there like 10x more pibulls in the US than any other breed? I feel like there are a lot more pitbulls down there and hence more frequency. I was surprised to see that labs were 2nd on that list. Never would have guessed that.
__________________
"You're worried about the team not having enough heart. I'm worried about the team not having enough brains." HFOil fan, August 12th, 2020. E=NG
Perhaps a mandatory course on proper training should be required for anyone wanting to own a breed of a dog that is classed as one that could potentially kill a human. We have requirements for driving and requirements for gun ownership.
That would also likely weed out the lazy people that just want the dog for looks.
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Knut For This Useful Post:
In both of these incidences, these people are bad dog owners. Plain and simple. Both incidences the dogs were unattended and free to do what they wanted. That just shouldn't happen. My dogs are no free to roam or escape from our house. I absolutely hate it when dogs are off leash walking down the street because most people cannot control them or have 100% recall. Our dogs are never off leash for this reason. I have a 25 lbs cocker-poo and 65 shepherd/mix. Neither would hurt a fly, but you just never know what the other dogs might do.
These incidences are on their owners, they shouldn't be putting their dogs into positions to have this sort of outcome. Yes, something else is up with these dogs, considering they wanted to attack, but these could have been prevented. I would assume that these dogs have bad owners who do not train their dogs and have little control over them. It is possible that these dogs were no properly socialized either.
Which is why it's crazy we are importing 100s of them a year from California. The reason why there are so many is because in California they cannot adopt a dog that has behavioral problems. That's when theses geniuses from Canada take them off their hands and fly them up here.
The stories linked in the OP are of attacks on other dogs. Still terrible, but I'd be interested to see how often dog fights happen in places like dog parks or anywhere else, really. If a dog kills another dog, is it always reported in the news, or just when the attacking dog is a pitbul?
Dog parks are worst. So many dogs that are out of control just running around. Most owners think they have control, but without 100% recall, they aren't. I have done some training on dog behaviour and it is interesting to go to the dog park to watch how dogs behave around each other and which ones have bad dog manners, simply because their humans haven't trained them. They don't live in a pack to be trained by the alpha, so they just don't know better. I think this happens with a lot of people with powerful breeds. They have no leader to show them how they should behave around other dogs.
I have seen so many dog fights and attacks at dog parks, I bet almost none are reported unless a pity is involved. If I had a pitbull, I would avoid those places like the plague.
__________________
"You're worried about the team not having enough heart. I'm worried about the team not having enough brains." HFOil fan, August 12th, 2020. E=NG
Which is why it's crazy we are importing 100s of them a year from California. The reason why there are so many is because in California they cannot adopt a dog that has behavioral problems. That's when theses geniuses from Canada take them off their hands and fly them up here.
I agree, but we do have some experts at the humane society who decide if they can be rehabbed or not. They put down any dogs who show any signs of aggression. They do testing around food bowls for resource guarding, they test with people and other dogs to see their reactions. They walk them and do training. Without progress or any signs of aggression to a certain level, I would guess they get euthanized at the CHS. I am not sure about other rescues but I know the CHS does do extensive training and offers a lot of education on dog training to the public.
We have fostered a reactive dog (wanted to charge other dogs on walks, etc, more to say hi but probably looked terrifying since he was a mastiff) before and once we introduced him properly to our family and our dogs, he was just a part of the pack. He was a big old suck and was best friends with our dogs by the end of his stay, friends with any visitors we had and we successfully introduced him to our friends dogs during his stay with us.
There are a lot of dogs here already that need our help, I don't understand why we bring in more of them. So that part doesn't really make sense to me . Some people have bigger hearts?
__________________
"You're worried about the team not having enough heart. I'm worried about the team not having enough brains." HFOil fan, August 12th, 2020. E=NG
Of course there are other large breeds that could kill a human but once a pitbull latches on, isn't it impossible for them to let go because of their bite strength?
To be honest I have no idea.
Quote:
and yes this is a stereotype but I don't want any of these "american" pitbulls in my city!
That can be achieved without an outright ban.
Quote:
2016 Fatal Dog attack by Breeds in the US
22 deaths over a year in the entire US?! Maybe we should park this debate until we take care of some of the issues with a much higher body count like guns, cigarettes, junk food etc...
The Following User Says Thank You to iggy_oi For This Useful Post:
Pitbulls were not bred for fighting. Eventually people turned them into fighters.
Care to elaborate? Pit bulls (which is a blanket term for several dogs) came from dogs that were specifically bred to bull-bait. They were then bred to attack small animals like rats or bred to fight bears and other dogs. Is that not correct?
Quote:
Originally Posted by foshizzle11
I also blame the owners. I think that anyone who gets these kinds of dogs need to take training classes of some sort. I don't think we will ever see these breeds gone forever though. People should start going to jail when their dog attacks/kills a person. They are ultimately responsible for their dogs behaviour and if more people were punished somehow for having dogs who are out of their control, we would have less of these incidence.
As someone who has been vocal about making non-hunting guns unavailable, why don't you blame the owners for the use of their guns?
Quote:
Originally Posted by foshizzle11
And another AR-15 used in the car wash shooting linked above. Why are these still available? Get rid of them already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by foshizzle11
Only thing I can think of is destroying all firearms that aren't used for hunting (semi and auto firearms, hand guns, etc). People don't need those types of weapons.
The advocates for auto firearms are saying the same thing as you. It's not the guns fault, it's the owner. Make training mandatory, harsher punishment for bad owners, but don't take away the rights of the good owners. etc.
In a perfect world where owners were responsible, it doesn't matter if they had an AK-47, pitbull, nuclear weapon, there would be concern. But that isn't the case, we have idiots who don't take responsibility and we end up with injuries and fatalities that otherwise would not exist. There's a line between personal freedoms and public safety. I'm not convinced that the personal freedom to own a pitbull trumps public safety at this point, I haven't seen much in way of a good argument preventing someone else from getting a different dog other than "because."
Of course, I realize others see it differently and I can respect that. And as a dog lover I would never wish to destroy or remove a pet from a responsible owner. I just personally don't see a need to continuously breed them.
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Oling_Roachinen For This Useful Post:
I agree, but we do have some experts at the humane society who decide if they can be rehabbed or not. They put down any dogs who show any signs of aggression. They do testing around food bowls for resource guarding, they test with people and other dogs to see their reactions. They walk them and do training. Without progress or any signs of aggression to a certain level, I would guess they get euthanized at the CHS. I am not sure about other rescues but I know the CHS does do extensive training and offers a lot of education on dog training to the public.
We have fostered a reactive dog (wanted to charge other dogs on walks, etc, more to say hi but probably looked terrifying since he was a mastiff) before and once we introduced him properly to our family and our dogs, he was just a part of the pack. He was a big old suck and was best friends with our dogs by the end of his stay, friends with any visitors we had and we successfully introduced him to our friends dogs during his stay with us.
There are a lot of dogs here already that need our help, I don't understand why we bring in more of them. So that part doesn't really make sense to me . Some people have bigger hearts?
I'm at work so I can watch it again now and haven't watched that 5th estate piece in a few months. I don't think they go to the SPCA to get evaluated. As soon as they are here they go straight to the home of the adopting family.
