Pit Bulls Are Dangerous!

[TooPatient]

That is just too sweet!

It is sad that so many people are afraid of them without bothering to get to know them as individuals. Sure some pit bulls are dangerous, but so are some labs and some rabbits and some ______. So what. Dogs are as individual as people are and deserve to be judged for who THEY are, not on what a breed is steriotypically shown as.

 

[woofmama]

Laurie- I second what ILander said. It breaks my heart to see dogs neglected.
How wonderful to see a lonely dog get a new lease on life. Sounds like he went to a wonderful home, like winning the doggie lottery.

 

[tigian]

Awwww...too cute. I have a huge grin on my face. We have a rescue pit and a pit/lab mix. So sweet and completely misunderstood. Totally my favorite breed, but shhhhh, don't tell our Vizsla.

 

[SCrane]

That is too cute! He really looks like he's smiling!

 

[SB621]

I'm hopin our next dog will be a pit! I think they are so cute!

 

[packrat]

Makes me miss ours. Best dogs.

 

[Niel]

my friends have a few. They just had a baby... one of there full bread pit bulls absolutely love that baby to death!! is constantly watching her gets super protective when the dog is concerned about her, really really sweet with her.

 

[Matata]

I hope someone rescued that poor dog from that murderous chick.

 

[mjr1]

Total DANGER-that you might fall in love!!!! and end up with a whole houseful!

 

[Smith1942]

Actually a 14-year-old girl in England has just been killed by Staffordshire bull terriers, a bull mastiff and an American bulldog - not pits but all dogs of the type discussed. She wasn't a toddler, she was 14 and the dogs all knew her. I'm sure your dogs are all lovely but the point is that they are unpredictable and for me that's enough of a reason not to have one. Full disclosure: I received more than my fair share of dog bites and other nasty dog moments in childhood such as being cornered, so I remain very wary of anything much bigger than a small spaniel!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2299474/Jade-Anderson-death-Atherton-girl-14-eating-MEAT-PIE-4-snarling-dogs-mauled-death.html

My best friend at home was a vet nurse for ten years. One of the vets decided to get and train a pitbull as a pet, and the other vets all told her she was mad. One of the vets said that pitbulls make rottweilers look like lambs. Maybe pits are more acceptable in the States, but at home they are seen as very dangerous. I'm sure they are fine with their owners, but it's the visitor to the house or other random stranger who's more likely to cop it. I didn't know they were banned in Australia. I mean, presumably there's a reason for that.

Just done more research and realised they are banned in my home country too, the UK! I guess that must have happened in the last 12 years or so, since that's how long ago the vet story happened. Also explains my surprise at how many people here own pits! I don't know anyone at home who would have one - I guess that's mostly due to the ban, but I think it's also not very socially acceptable. I'm sure lot of them can be very suitable pets, but as I said they're unpredictable. This applies to all dogs really - I would also be scared to live in a house with a rottweiler, dobermann, alsatian, etc. And the first woman to have a face transplant, the Frenchwoman, had had her face savaged by her own labrador as she slept! No, I'm not one for big dogs or so-called dangerous breeds.

 

[AGBF]

And the first woman to have a face transplant, the Frenchwoman, had had her face savaged by her own labrador as she slept! No, I'm not one for big dogs or so-called dangerous breeds.

If this is true, and for the sake of argument I will assume that it is true, I can only say that once in a blue moon something utterly bizarre happens. Someone who has not put himself in a dangerous position is, nonetheless, struck by lightning. A plane falls out of the sky and lands on someone's house, killing him. But this is not the norm. In the US there has been a concerted effort to breed aggression out of Doberman Pinschers. It has been widely written about because it was so successful an endeavor. Many large breeds are slow to anger. My own dog, a Newfoundland, is a Giant breed, and is the gentlest creature on earth.

AGBF

 

[Smith1942]

I know, it was a weird incident. It is true - her name's Isabelle Dinoire and it was global news when it happened.

 

[webdiva]

Just done more research and realised they are banned in my home country too, the UK! I guess that must have happened in the last 12 years or so, since that's how long ago the vet story happened. Also explains my surprise at how many people here own pits! I don't know anyone at home who would have one - I guess that's mostly due to the ban, but I think it's also not very socially acceptable. I'm sure lot of them can be very suitable pets, but as I said they're unpredictable. This applies to all dogs really - I would also be scared to live in a house with a rottweiler, dobermann, alsatian, etc. And the first woman to have a face transplant, the Frenchwoman, had had her face savaged by her own labrador as she slept! No, I'm not one for big dogs or so-called dangerous breeds.

If you are afraid of all dogs, you should never get one - even a small one. Dogs are not unpredictable, it's humans who are. They don't pay attention to the dog's body language and people are the ones that teach them to fight, etc. I work with many, many dogs that are deemed aggressive at shelters and misunderstood, and all of them are pussy cats once I get them out of there. Dog's don't just "turn" on people, it's a myth. The most aggressive dogs I meet are small ones, because their owners treat them like babies and not dogs. Any dog can become aggressive.

Here are some good diagrams and pictures of dog body language, which everyone should familiarize themselves with:
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/diagrams.html
http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/articles/how-read-your-dogs-body-language/415
http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html

Unfortunately, the breeds you mentioned are targeted by guys who feel the need to look like tough guys, put chain leashes on their dogs and don't train them. Not all breeds are appropriate for everyone, some breeds are working breeds that require more training and attention and a strong, benign leader. I advocate extensive research into what breed anyone adopts and to support rescues and shelters. Many people who are afraid of rescuing mention that dogs are "unpredictable" and that they don't know what the dog has been through. Fortunately, dogs are very forgiving and move on - hopefully more people can be of the same mind.

My dog is a certified therapy dog (a stray found at 4 years old) and we have many, many pit bulls, American Staffordshires, and mixes in the program. My dog is almost 80 pounds and the biggest teddy bear, as are many of the pit bulls in the program. We work with many small children to boost their self esteem and reading levels. Children and dogs love with their heart and I wish more people would.

 

[Smith1942]

I'm not afraid of all dogs, but ones of any size I do tend to feel wary of, due to childhood incidents. There was quite a lot of canine aggression towards me when I was a small child. Maybe I was smaller than average, maybe the owners weren't competent - I don't know. I think in the time and place I grew up, people didn't bother about children the way they do now - my niece is petted and stroked at school for getting the simplest thing right - and in addition to actual incidents I experienced like biting, chasing and cornering, when a large dog ran up to you on a normal day in the park, growling, owners never controlled them. Not once do I remember an owner calling them back, despite being a child. The standard line was "Ee won't hurt ya, love" notwithstanding the snarling!! As I said, children weren't seen to be the precious things back then that they are today. I guess I'm clutching at straws, but I can't think of any other reason for owners not controlling dogs around children as a matter of course! My cousin and best friend were both quite badly injured by Alsatians, and I know two girls from home who have bad dog bite scars on their faces from toddlerhood. One was from the family spaniel, and I never had the nerve to ask the other girl about what happened to her.

All good points, Webdiva. I like most dogs very much, I'm just not used to them. I looked at your pix, and in some of them I couldn't see what the caption meant, although some were obvious. In the first dog, very stressed, why would you not coo and say "It's OK?" How come that is bad? I guess you have to be around dogs for years before you can really read them.

It's interesting that people who talk about dogs from shelters use the word unpredictable. Maybe it's really shorthand for "I don't know what I'm doing." It certainly is for me!

 

[JewelFreak]

Smith, the answer to your question is counterintuitive until you think about it. A stressed-out or fearful dog cannot understand your words. His language with us is voice tone & body movement. So, say a dog hides under the bed, afraid of a stranger. He hears your voice cooing & soothing -- to him it sounds the same as when you praise him. He thinks he's doing a good thing in your eyes; therefore he will continue it & may intensify it if he hears increased "praise" from his pack leader.

Imagine yourself in a village where, for instance, only Arabic is spoken. You don't understand a word. People are talking to you, gesturing -- maybe they're smiling; maybe they're scowling at you. What do they want you to do? How do you manage not to do the wrong thing, keep out of trouble, possibly satisfy them? You haven't the foggiest idea. That is what it feels like to the dog until humans give him tools to figure what they want.

You seem to have grown up in an area with stunningly unsocialized & unsupervised dogs, very unfortunate. It's not the norm -- sure, there are individual dogs with unstable temperaments, but we can't paint the species with that brush. Unassuming people suddenly go bonkers too; we don't run around in terror of all humans as a result. Power is in learning dog body language, what ours communicates to them, and in looking into warm, intelligent eyes containing a soul as valid as our own. Then there's no room for fear, just joy.

--- Laurie

 

[AGBF]

Here are some good diagrams and pictures of dog body language, which everyone should familiarize themselves with:
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/diagrams.html
http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/articles/how-read-your-dogs-body-language/415
http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html

I really enjoyed these links,webdiva. I have been around dogs all my life and have an intuitive understanding of them as well as some understanding of the basics of how dogs express themselves and how one should handle them. The illustrations and explanations in your links took things to "a whole new level", however. I want to study them. I want to be able to remember to stand sideways, for instance if a dog is stressed, and to yawn and sigh. I am not sure what I do naturally. I know I never get a stressed dog agitated, but I am not a professional dog handler, and education is a wonderful thing! Thank you for posting these links!

Hugs,
Deb


PS-My best friend is devoted to rescuing dogs and has eight of them in this state. Several of them are wolf-hybrids and one is a coyote-hybrid. Three were recently rescued from death row in shelters, the latest being a black Pit Bull puppy (the first ones killed) who is only about three months old at most. My skills really get a workout at her home! The wolf-hybrids and the coyote-hybrid want to kill each other, and the coyote-hybrid (still under a year-old and from a shelter) bit a mentally ill human who got down to kiss her when she was eating a bone! She works hard to see that they are socialized and helped to to fit into the home, but it takes time. Keeping everyone safe in the meantime is hard.

 

[Smith1942]

Imagine yourself in a village where, for instance, only Arabic is spoken. You don't understand a word. People are talking to you, gesturing -- maybe they're smiling; maybe they're scowling at you. What do they want you to do? How do you manage not to do the wrong thing, keep out of trouble, possibly satisfy them? You haven't the foggiest idea. That is what it feels like to the dog until humans give him tools to figure what they want.

You seem to have grown up in an area with stunningly unsocialized & unsupervised dogs, very unfortunate. It's not the norm -- sure, there are individual dogs with unstable temperaments, but we can't paint the species with that brush. Unassuming people suddenly go bonkers too; we don't run around in terror of all humans as a result. Power is in learning dog body language, what ours communicates to them, and in looking into warm, intelligent eyes containing a soul as valid as our own. Then there's no room for fear, just joy.

--- Laurie

Yes, good points Laurie. Since being a full-size adult and not a small kid, I've always liked dogs but am just not used to them. The reason? My family doesn't like them so I've never been around them. Guess why? An incident in about 1920 that coloured the family's view of animals over three generations now. Before penicillin and antibiotics, in about 1920, a dog bit my grandmother's brother, who then died of the infection. So she maintained that animals were dirty and wouldn't have anything to do with them. My mother thus feels the same, and so does my sister. My dad loves animals and grew up with alsatians, but doesn't want the responsibility of owning one as he has always travelled a lot and feels it isn't fair to put an animal in a kennel for a month at a time. I think most dogs are cute and cuddly and gorgeous, so I don't share the active dislike of my mother's side, but I am SO not used to them!

It's true about the unsocialised dogs that were around. Here's a weird one: I was 15, and I was at a friend's house. They had an alsatian - a German shepherd, called Silver. My friend, her parents and I were standing around in the kitchen, chatting quietly, and the dog was somewhere behind me. Suddenly, I felt my hair in the middle of my head flick up at the back, and her dad yelled "SILVER!!!!!" Evidently the dog had made a huge leap at me from the back, although as I had my back turned I have no idea if his paw or mouth or what swatted at my head. This was not some kind of doss-house, the owners were professionals, he was an intelligent dentist and they appeared to have trained their dog right, so I'm not sure why the dog would have made such a leap at my head - from the back too! I'm just glad that a) the owner was there and b) I wasn't facing the other way!!!

 

[Smith1942]

Deb - the wolf/coyote hybrids sound fascinating! Do you have any pics? I do think wolves are beautiful animals - albeit a bit scary!

 

[Smith1942]

Oh - I've just remembered a really cute dog moment that I saw at an airport a few months ago. A woman was carrying her dog through security, and she was cradling it like her firstborn - it was obvious that dog and owner were really close. I think she was a single older lady and I imagine this dog was her best friend. It was a medium size light brown dog, and I'm not sure what kind - a mix, I think. Anyway, so they went through security and the owner was sitting on one of those benches that you get after security to put your shoes back on etc. She started vigorously brushing down the calf of her pant leg, and the dog was sitting at her feet. Well, he obviously wanted to help because he raised his paw and started brushing it down her pant leg too!!!! It was the CUTEST thing ever! I couldn't believe my eyes - it was such a human gesture. He only did it couple of times, but still.

 

[wordie89]

Wow, Smith, no wonder dogs are regarded with caution in your family.

I have to say that when I saw the topic my first thought was to jump in and say that not all pits are bad. the pic was very cute. That being said I do think that pits are more protective of their family so they may be more aggressive towards others. I live in soflo so pits and miami have a bad reputation. It's sad to see how many are in the shelters. My neighbors have one and he practically bit off my dogs nose (huge emergency vet bill), chomped a hole through chain link fence and generally sounds horrible when snarling at my dog on my side of my fence.

However, he once escaped from neighbor's house and wandered over to our garage where DH was working. Seemed perfectly friendly since our dog wasn't present. I loved our dog and he was such an important part of our family. But I never forgot he was an animal with deeply developed instincts. So I really discouraged my sons from pestering or bothering him when he was eating or seeking refuge under the bed or in his kennel. He had to have his safe places.

He recovered from nasty bites but died of cancer in October. We miss him a lot.

 

[Smith1942]

So sorry about your doggie, Wordie. Is that him in the picture? He looks very, very sweet.

 

[AGBF]

Deb - the wolf/coyote hybrids sound fascinating! Do you have any pics? I do think wolves are beautiful animals - albeit a bit scary!

Hi, Smith1942-

Easter kept me from replying immediately. I am posting a few pictures of my friend's three wolf hybrids. Faith is the oldest of the three.

My friend and her husband own a home with considerable acreage in Maine and the land is posted. Hunters know that their land is a safe place to leave baby animals. One day they found this baby left on their land, motherless. She is part dog and part wolf. Her mother had been killed. She didn't make a sound for a very long time, having been afraid to do so in the wild. She has acted as a mother to many, many dogs that they have taken in over the years.

Ace and Sequoia come from the same litter of wolf and dog hybrids. They look like and pass for Malamutes. They are gentle, wonderful dogs whom I have known since they were puppies. Unlike Faith, they do not seem to be at all "wild". Faith is clearly a wild creature; although she doesn't bite her friends (like me) and cuddles with us on the bed, she will guard the property.

Deb/AGBF

 

[Smith1942]

Thanks for the photos, Deb. They are all beautiful animals, just beautiful. Now, I can see that Ace and Sequoia are clearly wolf hybrids, but I wouldn't have cottoned on with Faith. She looks just like an Alsatian (German Shepherd) to me. I guess one of her parents must have been an Alsatian.

What is "posted" land?

 

[AGBF]

What is "posted" land?

I am posting a link to explain more about "posted land". Basically, it is land upon which the property owner has posted warning signs against trespassers, usually in particular, hunters. In order for the signs to have weight under the law of the state in which they are placed, certain gudielines may have to be followed.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5450243_post-land-against-trespassers.html

Deb/AGBF

 

[Smith1942]

Thanks! The article makes owning lots of acreage seem way too complex. I'd sell it and buy some diamonds!

 

[iLander]

Thank You Webdiva, for those awesome links on doggy body language!

I'm going to look those over closely!

Speaking of doggy body language . . .

I have 2 dogs, once of which is a Japanese Chin, and she's a total dufus about dog body language. Completely inept. Seriously. Other dogs have no understanding about what she's saying, and tend to either run away or try to eat her. She thinks the way to approach all strange dogs is to jump on their faces. No matter how big or small the other dog is. The word "Chin" means "not a dog" in Japanese, so we think it's just her breed. I always pull her leash back, and let our Papillon do the greeting first. It's really kind of annoying, and the Papillon will get irritated with her too; if she starts to bark at an obviously friendly dog, the Papillon will push her backwards.

Has anyone else heard of a dog that just can't communicate with other dogs?

 

[AGBF]

I uploaded some more photos of two of my friend's wolf hybrids and also some photos of her coyote hybrid, Belle. Belle is the dog who is most like a wild animal. She spent a while in a bad shelter, but not as much time as another adopted dog, Zen, who is older and had an even rougher life. (I didn't post pictures of him.) I think that her nature is based on her being part coyote. I think that that is why she doesn't get along with the wolf-hybrid dogs, too. In fact, she doesn't get along with any of the other dogs yet, although my friend is working...hard...on that.

Oh. Belle does get along well with Zen, but had to be separated from him when she suddenly went into heat! She had supposedly been spayed, but someone must have lied. Zen and Belle got into a mating lock and my friend was afraid that someone had lied about Zen being altered, too, and that she was about to have a litter of puppies. The vet, however, assured her that Zen had been altered and that there would be no puppies coming along. So I guess nature just gave him the idea that he should mate anyway!

AGBF

 

[AGBF]

Here are two more pictures of Belle, the coyote hybrid puppy and one of Leroy, the black pit bull puppy. He is very, very soft and cuddly. I got to hold him the first night he arrived via rescue transport. I was waiting for him at the house with my friend and her husband and son.

Deb/AGBF

 

[Smith1942]

Beautiful animals.

 

[kathness]

i loveeeeeee your dogs ladies & gents!

bumping this thread to share pictures of our dog Shelby he is a American Staffordshire Terrier... some people think they are dangerous but to us he such a friendly dog! its all about how you train them