Originally Posted by Azure Hills  I just had to put in my 2 cents, as well. I have known several Pitbulls in my life, and have rescued and rehomed a few. The breed was originally bred to be nothing but a fighter. So, it is instinct for them to kill another animal. They were bred for this and to be non-aggressive to people, because if they were people aggressive no one could break up the fights. But, of course, this is not the case any longer. Many are aggressive to everything and anybody. Many are not. They have been overbred and poorly bred. There are way too many of them and they are way to inexpensive. Any idiot with a hundred bucks can get one, so no wonder they are so bad most of the time. One Pit I rescued was used to fight and she was no good, so they didn't want her anymore. Poor thing, after having her throat ripped nearly to the point of death, she was brought into my home and was not very aggressive to begin with towards other dogs. never towards cats or people. My son used to sleep with this dog. She only took about a week to get acclimated to the other females around her, and once she realized they weren't going to kill her, she was fine. Went to a loving family home and was a wonderful dog for the rest of her life.
On the other side of this, I have an aggressive Pit in my neighborhood right now. This dog is allowed to run loose(well, I should say was allowed-since now it isn't loose whenever I have seen it. As they have been warned-and not very nicely either. I don't play when it comes to my kids or furbabies). I have experience with large breeds, so I pretty much know how to handle this dog. It tried to run up on me one day, needless to say, it went home with it's tail between it's legs. But, that is the point. Not everyone knows how to defend against this type of thing. Children and small animals especially are at risk.
I agree with special permits, the muzzle law someone mentioned, S/N law for them, regulation and inspection, but I do NOT agree with banning completely. Because, simple fact, Pits are not the only breed that people want to ban. Where would it end??? Someone mentioned German Shepherd Dogs...There is something in their brains that is not wired right(not all of them), do we ban them, too? Rotties are one that lots of people want to ban. I just had my precious girl PTS last week. She has lived all of her life with tiny little dogs and never harmed any of them-heck they used to sleep on her back. Another point of fact, there are several breeds that resemble the APBT, how to tell the difference??? Staffordshire Terrier being an example. These dogs are shown in the AKC breed ring and there is very little real difference in them, as far as looks, but the personalities are way different. What happens to those people that own this breed and cannot prove their dog is no Pit, if they are banned?
I can see both sides of this, and do not think these particular dogs should have been returned to an irresponsible owner that could not even keep them contained. The nastiest dog I ever met was a Cocker. I rescued that one, and she was horrid. She would bite me on a daily basis, and not just little nips. She would go up one arm and down the other before you could get away from her. She could only ever be handled if you had a leash in your hand, then you had to actually put it on her to touch her at all. After months of trying, she had to be PTS. The phrase 'there are no bad dogs, just bad people' comes to mind. But, it is not entirely true. Some dogs have real issues. Pits are the one you see the most, because of their size, and their breed, they make the news a lot. We have a lot of countryside here, and wild dogs do a lot of attacking. None of them Pits. I don't care if it weighs 10 lbs or 100 lbs., a vicious dog is a vicious dog. Little dogs kill people, too. Just ask the people whose baby was killed a while back. I believe it was a JRT.
Sorry, so long, I just have real feelings on this issue and hate the word 'BANNING'. If they really start getting into this, no one is safe. |