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Originally Posted by Disney  I know this old thread, but there a point I wanted to bring up...
Any time any person/animal is attacked by a bull breed dog people say it pitbull. This common misconception. Lots of people don't know the difference between staffy, amstaff and pitbull, so pitbull can get the blame lots when they haven't done anything.
Also, pitbull are very very overbred and mixed. Again, few people can tell what a 'real' pitbull look like. A properly bred pittie is most likely not responsiblr most of pitbull attack we hear.
Just something I feel important to add to conversation.  |
Yesterday I was attacked by a rottie lab cross. I know she was a rottie lab crossed, she looked like an all black rottie, but was lab sized, with a lab type body and a lab coat..
This dog was hanging outside of my oldests' school, and went after me as I went in the door. I am an experienced dog person, I'd seen the dog, I could see the dog was anxious/nervous, and the only thing I did wrong was get too close to the dog while going to the door.
Because I am an experienced dog person, I was NOT bit. I went towards the dog, getting big and loud at her, again, because I had read her as anxious/nervous. Had I screeched and flailed about or tried to run away, I WOULD have gotten bit.
I mention this, because if (WHEN) this dog bites someone, it WILL be reported as a pit bull attack. I am not a pit bull apologist. This is my breed and I know them well. However, I have only ever had one dog that I can say was truly dangerous. Imagine a pit bull raised and treated like some people raise and treat toy dogs. This dog was nasty, snappy, belligerent, and dangerous. I say this as the person that BRED him. But he wasn't bred like that, his whole line (which I bred) was selected for temperament. This puppy tested to be a sweet gentle dog with low dominance. I made the mistake of pairing him with the wrong owner, and proceeded to watch through the years as she ruined my dog, and gave a lot of people reason to believe the stereotype though he never managed to actually bite anyone.
This was NOT an inexperienced owner, and in fact was a friend and one time business partner of mine. To this day I do not know why she raised him that way and allowed him to be that way. The only reason I can come up with is he was her first PUPPY, and all of her other dogs she'd gotten as adults. Well trained adults when speaking of the ones she got from me.
No other dog in that line was dangerous, scary, and a mauling waiting to happen. I truly believe this was a case of nature vrs nurture, and not OMG pit bull/dangerous dog. I truly believe that the results would have been the same for any breed of dog, had the situation been with another breed.
When toy dog are snarly and snappy when someone comes too close to their owner, it's cute. When a 40 lb dog does it, especially when the dog looks like a bully breed, it's NOT cute.
Many people cannot tell the difference between the different bully breeds. Some people say they can tell the difference between AmStaff and APBT, but don't forget, they're the same breed with the UKC, and there are dual titled champion AST/ABPT. There was an ABPT by the name of Tiny Tim. Gr Ch weight pull dog extraordinaire. He weighs 22 lbs and looks like a staffy bull. He pulls for the most weight pulled by body pound, but the giant pits, the ones that go for the most weight pulled look very much like Cane Corsos.
I will say again, while I believe that pure bred pit bull types no matter what the breed (APBT, AST, SB) are wonderful dogs and excellent family pets, they are NOT for everyone. They ARE a bully breed, AND they are ALSO a TERRIER breed. That makes them twice as stubborn. They need a firm hand and people that will DO things with their dogs. Yes, they can be couch potatoes, but they want to DO things, and too many people get these dogs and the dogs hang around the house with no direction, which with any dog is a recipe for disaster.
Add to that a conversation I had with my little brother last night when going over the dog attack. Pit bulls are powerful breeds. You get the strength of a Rottie in a dog half the size. So this is a breed that has all the stopping power of a rottie, but is cheaper to buy (50 bucks on the right drug corner), easier to house, (much smaller than a rottie), eats less, poops less, so easier to clean after, generally healthier (very few of the many pit bull people I know have ever had cancer, even fewer have had hip problems, for example), yet still has the stopping power and fear factor of the rottie. This is why, unfortunately, the pit type dogs are ideal for not just the street thug that wants to show everyone how bad he is, but also for the average city dweller who wants some kind of protection, though most of the pit bulls I know are like the guy pretending to be a dog in the all state mayhem commercials, and will leave WITH anyone that breaks into their home. In this case, it's the reputation of the breed that the owners are relying on.
That brings me back to my first point. When a mid sized dog with a short coat and blocky head bites someone, that bite will be reported as a pit bull attack. Even if in the story you see the attacking dog identified as another breed, the HEADLINES will say PIT BULL ATTACK!!
This is because there IS a media bias towards pit bull attacks. Pit bull attacks are sexy, they sell papers, they garner higher ratings. Even when a retraction is made in a paper, it's buried all the way in the back. Even when the dog is NOT a pit bull, and doesn't LOOK like a pit bull, it's called a pit bull attack.
Dog Attacks Exaggerated, Particularly When It Comes to Pit Bulls Dog In Attack Misidentified As A Pit Bull Pit bull attacks - The Friendly PitbullThe Friendly Pitbull Punish the Deed, not the Breed!
I like this, because it explains what pit people mean about the media bias
Punish the Deed, not the Breed!
Here is a list of news stories in which the attacking dog was misidentified as a pit bull.
Now, will I have a pit bull around my yorkies? You bet I will. BUT it will be one raised and trained by ME, because then I know how safe the dog is. I think though, people should realize it's not the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog. Did anyone see the Cesar Millan episode where they had Diablo/Sammy Davis the chihuahua that completely OWNED the rescue he lived in.. The PIT BULL rescue. All the pits in that recuse walked very carefully around that chihuahua, because he was the boss.
My best friend.. His pit bulls will NEVER be allowed around my yorkies. I don't trust them to not eat my babies. They're the sweetest dogs in the world when it comes to people, but they're highly dog aggressive, and it's not a chance I would risk.
Because we tend to baby little dogs more, we give them a higher position of authority in our homes. We let them get away with things that we would discipline a larger dog for. The dogs translate that into meaning the little dog ranks higher, and that's how little dogs end up ruling big dogs. This is especially true when a larger breed is brought into the house as a puppy.
All in all, I feel that little dogs should be socialized with big dogs, and big dogs especially need to be socialized with little dogs. One of Pixies best friends is a Malamute. Shadow is super gentle with her and was raised by a French Bulldog, so she's toy dog trained, lol. Her other best friend is Nina, another yorkie just a smidge bigger than Pixie. Nina and Pixie are little terrors to each other, and smash into each other with abandon. Pixie beats up Shadow, Shadow is super careful to not step on Pixie, to not roll over on her even when they're rolling around on the ground making ahhhhhhhrrrrrr noises, Shadow never closes her mouth and always lets Pixie win. Nina attacks Shadow, because Nina wasn't socialized with big dogs. Shadow runs away from Nina. Nina attacks all big dogs, not just Shadow, but one day she may attack a big dog that wasn't raised with a small dog. If that big dog retaliates, whose fault is it?
Yes, I know. I just came back and here I am with my walls o' text, lol. I'll try to be more brief when possible, I promise, lol.
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Originally Posted by gracielove The original breed of American Stafford Terrier is a wonderful breed |
I just have to make this one small correction.
The original breed is the American Pit Bull Terrier. When the AKC was formed, the APBT was not invited to join. The UKC was founded by Chauncey Bennett in 1898. The first breed recognized by the UKC was the APBT. It was the APBT breeder John Colby among others worked with the AKC on recognition, and in fact his dog Colby's Primo helped form the bases for the Am Staff standard.
When the breed was recognized by the AKC, the Bull Terrier people claimed people could confuse their breed with the APBT, which is why the name Staffordshire Terrier was used, later changed to American Staffordshire Terrier when the Staffordshire Bull Terrier gained recognition.
The AKC does not accept a breed out of the blue. They have to have a pedigree. They had to have a parent club. All Am Staffs trace down to APBTs and to UKC registered American Pit Bull Terriers.
Petey from the little Rascals was one of the first registered Am Staffs.. But before Petey was an Am Staff, he was an APBT.