Pit bull coming at me, owner screaming "Vicious NO"

[DiverBuoy]

I don't deny it. I just think it can be overcome.

Whew, that's good to know. I disagree in that some traits cannot be overcome. For example, you can not train out the "herding nature" from a herding dog. What training can do is mellow out a trait, but not overcome it. This is well-established in the animal training community, of which I have been a part all my life, and not my personal opinion.

 

[H2Andy]

well, i don't know nothing about dogs

i just like typing the name "pit bull"

it sounds so.... dangerous

i'm thinking of changing my name to H2-Bull

(and yet, some may say... no need, actually)

 

[mania]

i'm thinking of changing my name to H2-Bull

(and yet, some may say... no need, actually)

you are exaggereting

Mania

 

[H2Andy]

well... hehehehe... the joke was meant to imply my propensity
for dispensing male bovine excrement...

as in, b.s.

 

[Potapko]

Blame the owners, not the dogs.

Rachel

Exactly, then quickly put the dog down before someone gets seriously hurt.

 

[H2Andy]

what a waste of resources...

why not train the pit bulls as telephone bill collectors? they'll probably be
both smarter and nicer

 

[mania]

Or IRS employees????

Mania
PS. OK, an example of how much depends on owners not the dogs. There was a horrible story in Poland. German shepherd did some small distaster at home (ate owners shoes or something like this - rather trivial thing). so he was closed outside of the house in the dark small cabin. With no food and no water. It was supposed to be a panishment. He was kept there for 5 days!!!!!!
So finally the dog digged the tunnel, freed himself and attack the first human being he met on his way. Unfortunately it was a child of the dog's owner. He killed the girl.
Despite the extremly dramatic end was it dog's fault??? Or rather owners?
BTW the dog was later killed by police.
Mania

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

mania - it's an interesting story, but it doesn't support the idea that some breeds are not more predisposed to attack than others.

Sure, you can make any dog dangerous if you treat them badly enough. That doesn't mean that some dogs aren't more predisposed to aggression because of their breeding.

Y'all keep losing sight of the real discussion, which is whether pit bulls as a breed are pre-disposed to dog aggression. They are. Everyone in this thread that knows anything about dogs agrees with that. Every link that has been posted to other reputable sources supports this claim.

I don't know why people can't handle the idea that some qualities are inherent to the animal, and are not a result of environment. You can breed seedless watermelon. You can breed hybrid tulips. You can breed tiny little toy dogs that sit on little pillows even though generations ago, they were wolves.

So, accept it, people. You CAN breed a dog with dog-aggressive tendencies simply by selecting those dogs with aggressive qualities over many generations of breeding. Pit bulls are the result of that effort.

This is not one of those "gray area" debates, despite some of your best efforts. Pit bulls were bred to be aggressive to other dogs, and it worked. End of story.

 

[H2Andy]

Humu, remind me some day to tell you about my totally disastrous efforts
to breed a dog-aggressive banana

it wansn't pretty

 

[jonnythan]

Which link was it that showed pit bulls, as a breed, have been bred for aggressiveness? Obviously some dog fighters and others have bred various animals for aggressiveness, but they do the same to chickens and no one is going to argue that chickens should be, say, outlawed.

Indeed, most things I've read about pit bulls state that they are by nature *not* aggressive towards humans and make poor guard dogs.

Wikipedia quote:

"The American Temperament Test Society, Inc. (ATTS) breed statistics as of December 2004 show an 83.4% passing rate for the American Pit Bull Terrier and a 93.2% passing rate for the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, as compared to an 81% average pass rate for all dog breeds."