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Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly  Most of those who have worked for years rehabbing abused/fighting pits say it is usually true of a pit that once they attack, they aren't to be trusted in a normal home setting again. From what I know about dogs with strong prey-drive instinct, I tend to agree with those that work with the pitbulls in trouble. Pound-for-pound and all things being equal, they are far more deadly in an attack than any other dog according to most who work with Rotties, Pitties and GSD/Malinois breeds. Today's pitbulls' shorter, faster size, overdeveloped musculature, reaction time and bite-force & bite-ratio plus ability to sustain an attack outmatch most other dogs whatever their size. |
I have done pit bull rescue and I agree with this. I've learned some terrible things in my pit bull rescue time, but these things help me evaluate the dogs that I dealt with.
There are some dogs that are cold, and there are some that are on. the cold dogs worry me the most, since they show no dog aggression and yet can be "on". You don't really know with the cold dogs.
On dog are easier to redirect, since they let you know when they're targeting.
Then there are the trainer dogs, there seems to be two kind, rolling dogs teach the dogs to fight, they come right out full bore attack, then there are the bait dogs, which are used to teach the dog to bite.
All things being equal, I find the bait dogs easier to retrain and rehome than rolling dogs. The rolling dogs are even harder to retrain than actual fighters, since these dogs typically only fight for 10-15 minutes and in their minds they always win, whereas the actual fighters might fight for over an hour. It's like after they have been in a real fight, they're like OMG I'm glad to never have to go through that again. But the rolling dogs, all they know is they always win, and they want to do it again and again.
I read a line from one book, the guy is a professional K9 trainer, and he started that he has seen a suspect hopped up on PCP walk away with a 40 lb Malinois attached to his arm, but that with a 40lb pit, the perp was going down.
Mondo dog and schutzhund people love pit bulls because they have a ton of intensity, but are very in tune with their handlers, and actually tend to not lose it like some of the other protection breeds.
I have to say though, it bothers me on some level, pits being used as personal protection dogs, since that's not really what they were bred for. Originally, any pit bull that showed any human aggression of any kind was killed, and not only were they killed, usually their parents and littermates were killed as well. The reason given was that man biters were curs, or coward dogs that were not game or didn't have the heart to win when fighting. Because of the rep they have as a breed, I would much rather them NOT be used for biting people in any way shape or form.
You are right in that we have shaped them as a breed. Most "pit bulls" are not what I consider pit bulls. The story about the pit bull bigger than a 90 lb AB.. that had me cringing. The bitch whose pic I posted.. She was 27 lbs when that pic was taken. She showed at 23-25 lbs. Granted she is a bit smaller than the usual pit bull (and exactly what I was breeding for), but you typically do not see many pits over 40-45 lbs at conformation shows.
You have people that are breeding them oversized and grotesque, like the "American Bullys" that look like pit bull/English bulldog crosses, and are probably just that mix. Then before the ADBA banned merles, you had Platinum kennels (Howard Madison) crossing pit bulls and danes to get the merle color and hanging fake papers on the puppies. We in the APBT community actually blame him and his double merle defective dogs for causing the banning of the color within the breed that previously had no color restriction and a history of merles present for history of the breed.
Anyway, I can't convince anyone of anything, just stand sure in how I feel. I can't even see myself hating a dog that has harmed me or mine, even if I would want it put down if it was unprovoked. Example, my youngest child stuck her hand in a gate with a husky and almost got her finger bit off. She knows dogs, she knows how to read them and this dog was behind her own gate with a Beware of Dog sign that my kid was able to read.
Whose fault was it? My kids, completely and totally, but I didn't feel as though this dog should be killed because the dog didn't do anything that a dog should NOT do. It was my kids fault. Now had the dog JUMPED the fence, then the blame would be on the dog.
One thing that bothers me is had it been a pit bull that bit my kid, it would have been in the news as a pit bull attack, even though it was my kids fault for sticking her hand in a fence with several signs that said beware of dog.
But even then I would not be mad at the dog. I would be mad at the owner. I'm sorry, but none of these things happen in a vacuum. I have NEVER known a dog to suddenly turn for no reason, and with no cause. Of course the owners are going to say that this dog was sweet, and never showed a sign of aggression, they're covering their rear, while making it harder on the breed.
But I know these people think back and either they knew of a dogs propensity for being aggressive, or with hindsight pin pointed certain things that were a tell tale. Things like pulling on the leash with high tail is a red flag for me. Dogs that are very intense and "stand tall" around other dogs and even people. Even the slightest raising of the hackles, or even worse, a near total stillness. All of these things are markers of a dog that may attack.
This is why I blame the people, I blame the owners. They are the ones that either train the dog badly, or don't train the dog at all. They are the ones that don't neuter their dogs, even though most dog bites are caused by intact male dogs. They are the ones that breed the wrong dogs for the wrong reasons and the ones that pretty much are ruining my breed.
If I'm going to hate someone, I'm going to hate the people that own the bad dogs, not the dogs themselves, they're just as much a victim as the people they maul.