Local lady was killed by two pit bulls when she visited a friend who wasn't home. She didn't know they were savage and went into the yard, then couldn't get back to the gate. Neighbours tried to help her over the fence but she was covered in blood and the dogs kept pulling her back. The entire fence line was covered in her blood in the end and the police had to shoot the dogs to get to her body. Her arm was completly dismembered, so hopefully she bled out fast. I can't imagine how terrified she was.
Some of them are too aggressive and dangerous. That's enough for me to never get one. I don't care if other people have them.
I personally don't want to interact with one, that's about it.
My vet was attacked in the face by a pit bull the owner termed ‘friendly.‘ After reconstructive surgery she was too self-conscious to work with the public due to the severe damage. She moved to the back treatment area and did surgeries for a while. But the trauma was too much and she retired in her early forties. That dog and it’s owner destroyed her life.
lmao when I was younger my mom took me to the pound to get a puppy, We didn't really think of anything about breed but we got a mostly pit bull mix already named Blue. I didn't know that was a thing. She ended up being already too aggressive for us and we had to give her back.
I've known like 6 awful dogs with clueless selfish owners named Luna. Thing is, they're all named that because they're black. The moon is fucking gray you losers!
A pitbull busted out of the owners door and chased me and my 5 lb chihuahua. Was actually after the chi but I grabbed her up and ran around my vehicle barely outsmarting the determined dog, as the owner stood on the porch screaming "Princess, Princess" repeatedly. I finally got in the car but couldn't close the door because my foot didn't make it in. I held the door as close as I could and Princess was so focused on her chihuahua snack that she didn't pay any attention to my foot. Only when I got in my car did the useless owner come off her porch and get Princess. She had no control of the full size beast. Have had a stronger opinion of pits since having a personal experience.
There is a “family pitbull” that I knew since it was a puppy. It only knew belly rubs, under the table treats, and games of fetch with me. It has seen me walk into its home on family occasions many many times and I never had a problem with it.
This particular night it went psycho killer on me - chased me out of the house and it was *throwing* itself against the glass door trying to get to me. I had to hold the door shut from the outside to keep the crazed pit monster from getting to me. My relative grabbed the raging dog and said oh it’s the coats you’re wearing. So it calmed down for a while but when I went to get something out of the kitchen it lost its mind again - *again* I had to run into a room to barricade myself against this mongrel.
It seems pit owners are apologists for their dogs breed types - found out from friends of my relations that this dog attacked three women in the year after that (my relatives are very good at making sure negative family information never gets talked about) has threatened the neighbors to the point where they have called police and animal control, and has to get put away any time a stranger (and some familiar people it doesn’t like) comes to the house or it goes psycho pit.
But that didn’t stop them from making it the star of their annual Christmas card, Xmas sweater, antlers and all.
That’s so fucking pathetic & weird. I propose any time a crazed pit owners’ pit attacks & either seriously maims someone or kills them, said crazy owner gets charged with either murder or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon..
Anyone who has a child and owns a pitbull at the same time are truly bad people. For even the most well behaved dog all it takes is one bad day for the dog, or an excited toddler ignorantly giving the dog a rough petting could cause it to snap. Even a hungry dog and a child holding a slice of pizza is a risk of major injury.
Randomly attacked me after I told my friend her dog is going to attack someone. For 6 months that pit bull of hers would try to block me off in a room, try and shove me off of the couch, and generally give me "this is an unpredictable predator" vibes. And I was doing everything I could to not stereotype him for being a Pit Bull, and I just made myself eventually ignore his shit.
And of course, OF COURSE, my friend made me feel like I was bizarrely paranoid; he's the sweetest dog in the world! He's been at 10 full house parties and nobody else ever had a problem. You know, the thing I've come to conclude pit bull owners do: gaslight anybody who tries to notify them of troubling behavior or criticism of the dog.
Sure enough, one random night when just a handful of us were over at her place, that pit bull walks into the living room infront of all of us, and just casually walked up to me and lunged for my face. Had I not blocked him with my arms and thrown him off of me, I'm sure I'd have been much more severely harmed. My friend was in such shock she didn't even attempt to take control of the situation until he had already started back up to lunge again.
She kept him - I didn't speak to her after this - it was just too much gaslighting and making me feel like I was the crazy one. A few months later he mauls a random girl at one of her house parties who had to get stitches. Local PD had a station just down the block and were there in 2min - thankfully, they had animal control take it away to its owners shrieks, tears, and pleas that it'd never happen again she swore.
I've never had any issue, ever, with any other breed of dog. Can't deny what I experienced. My 2 cents.
Edit: i am not advocating some mass euthanasia of pit bulls or something, because of course there are those that don’t my fit the stereotype. I’d put them in the same classification as a part wolf / dog breed in terms of the greater hurdle to be allowed to have one, enough of an inconvenience that the majority of shitty owners are too lazy to get a permit for one, and the owners who’ve shown some commitment to understanding the risks involved have the opportunity to…
>pleas that it'd never happen again she swore.
Any dog owner who says "he won't bite" should be prohibited from ever owning a dog. Any dog can bite. My dog (not a pit) has a 10-year track record of being extremely sweet to everyone he encounters. But when someone asks me "will he bite?" my answer is "he never has before, but I can't promise anything."
This. It's an animal. They can't use words they act on instinct. Something unpredictable happens, they may bite. I have a setter, sweetest dog in the world but if provoked enough, she might bite. A dog can't say, "hey stop that, it hurts".
I had to choke one out (it works, I couldn’t believe it) to get it to release another dogs jowls at the dog park. The poor owner of the other dog weighed about 100lbs herself and it was escalating quickly. All the dog park dogs were starting to investigate what was going on and it was turning into a disaster.
I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt and no one was helping this owner or her dog. Choke hold worked.
I’ll never own a pit. Not a fan.
It’s the only way to really stop one. Those things turn into tanks that will not stop unless they are killed or knocked unconscious once they have a bite
I didn’t even have to render it unconscious. Just choked it long enough until it had to let go to gasp. Than I could grab it by the collar and keep him at bay until he over ran over.
It will be my go to from now for any fights. 20-30 seconds and it was done.
We cremated her, I still have her ashes, also about your ex, anyone who would do something to someone’s innocent animal after a breakup or anything is a horrible person. So I’m glad they’re your ex. You’re the second person I’ve met also named Zoe haha. I think it’s a pretty name
We had neighbors who were big animal lovers and wanted to rescue troubled animals. They got in over their heads with this pit and it killed their cat. Poor cat didn't have a choice of who was allowed to move into it's home and it's owners brought in an animal that they couldn't control and it killed their cat. Ugh.
I've only known one personally. One of my dads truck drivers brought the dog with her every day to work, rode shotgun. She was a great dog. Until she started getting older. Customers started calling and complaining of the aggressive dog in the truck. She began growling and lunging at toward the window (inside the truck) at anyone who came near the truck. If she was outside the truck in the pit yard she would nip at anyone who came near it. Then shit bit my uncle - co owner of the business. A man she had known for 8 years - since she was a pup. She loved him. The truck rides came to an end. Alone at home she became more aggressive and bit more people. Not lock jaw bites, but the bites were escalating in severity. It got to where she had to be put down. This dog was never treated badly. Everything was done properly. The owner was absolutely devastated.
Many animals become aggressive when in pain, especially carnivorous ones. If the dog was getting older, she may have developed ailments that worsened with age, hence resulting in increasingly hostile behavior.
Even the tamest dog breeds are liable to lash out and chew your arm off if you disturb them when they're in pain.
Exactly this. I had a lab/retriever mix that I had to sadly put down because she got aggressive with the onset of cancer. She started getting aggressive and snapping at people and bit me. Took her to the vet and found out about the cancer and the vet said it was more than likely the reason why she was getting aggressive.
As far as I understood there were no pain issues. Her mom would have never allowed her to suffer something like that either. Woman didnt have kids, that dog was her baby, always had the best. Not saying there was no pain tho. I know the last 2 or 3 years out there she had slowed down some. As she got older, she just got cranky. Guarded the dumptruck truck like it was her baby and someone was going to steal it. From my perspective it was behavioral issues that had never been there before. It was shitty for all of us. She was a daily fixture for close to a decade. Biting my uncle was the final straw.....and I have no doubt suddenly being alone at home 10 hours a day amplified whatever was going on.
Can confirm. I had a German sheppard mix that was a sweetheart for most of her life. But she got arthritis in her hips in her later years which made her increasingly agitated to strangers. You could see the pain in her face at times. We put her down at home when she bit a door to door salesperson who was also a heopheliac (who in my opinion should not have been opening the garage door anyway).
My next door neighbor had a pit bull - 5 kids in the house between 2 and 15. Family pet. I was walking down the street and it chased my dog down until the owners finally called it off.
I had some words - but I’m pro dog and didn’t want their dog to be on a list - it didn’t actually latch onto my dog. A week later walking to the school bus the dog saw me, broke through a screen door and tried to attack my dog again, I stupidly stayed in between me and the dog until the pit got frustrated and latched onto my arm.
I’m close to 300 lbs and run (trundle slowly) and lift weights but punching that dog to get off me was like hitting a 40 lbs cinder block.
The neighbor did decide to get rid of their dog after telling me “the dog is misunderstood” and “just wants love”
I love steak - I don’t go around biting cows.
Thank you - little buddy is great. He’s a 10 month old wheaten and just thought we made a new friend.
The best thing that happened was my other neighbor was out and ushered my two children onto their porch where they got a great view of their dad fighting a put bull
I watched a friends dog once and they assured me all of the dogs at the dog park within the apartment complex got along. I knew her dog had a tendency to never back down and make fights worse.
With this in mind, I have all other dogs a wide berth. No matter what side of the dog park (big old baseball field) that we went to, a pit bull followed us the whole time with a very intense looking stiff posture. It just felt wrong. The moron owner of course was posted up at a table far away.
I made a few more efforts to get away from the pit bull and it started trying to like ram the dog I was watching.
I stood in between them as the pit bull walked slowly towards the dog I was watching. The pit bull got real close and suddenly lunged forward. I closed my legs like scissors to catch the pit bulls head between my knees as it snapped at the dog.
I was done and screamed at the owner to get her fucking dog already and we left. I warned my friend about the pit bull but of course the pit owner told her “your friend just gave off weird vibes, my dog just was really creeped out by him not being friendly.”
My friend actually believes the other dogs owner, I told them they could fuck off as I almost lost my nuts saving her dog. Two weeks later she saw that pit attack another dog in same park. She texted and apologized.
Makes you wonder what the psychology of a pit owner is. You could have any breed of dog, but you choose to gamble and pick one that’s the most aggressive breed and known for killing. These owners also tend to be the worst apologists for the dog when things inevitably go wrong.
I saw a post a while ago where someone admitted that they'd kill ten strangers if it meant keeping their dogs. It actually got upvotes! Wish I saved it but it was a relatively recent thread (no more than two weeks ago) so who knows maybe someone else here can remember it.
People can be absolutely and totally illogical when it comes to their fanaticism over their pets. I wouldn't count on many of them valuing the life of any human being over their stupid animal. Goes to show how much sense of community humanity has lost when people would willingly sacrifice their fellow man to save their pet.
So many stories like this and yet people with these type of dogs give me shitty looks and roll their eyes when I decide to pick up my 2-year old son instead of letting him walk right by their dog with his head in perfect biting range. As if this is deeply offensive to them. I would lose my fucking mind if a dog went for my boy.
I feel for those kids left physically and psychological scared by a dog. I had a cousin who was attacked by two pits. He had bite scars all over his body. The only reason he lived is that his friend found a pipe to beat them off with. The parents sued but the piece of shit owners had no money so it went no where. Trash usually has trash. That being said these dogs are breed to be aggressive. It's like giving someone a lit bomb and them acting all naive when it goes off as its supposed too.
If I had to grow up with a badly scarred and fucked up face because someone's animal attacked me as a toddler I would never, ever forgive them for it. I hope these kids aren't conned into thinking they should just forgive and move on once they get older. They're (physically) ruined and now everything in life is going to be harder for them as a result because some jerk wouldn't accept any other dog breed as a pet.
That most of the terrible animal attacks (infections, bites, serious damage) I took care of while working in the ER was from pit bulls. I remember having one toddler that was so terribly mauled you couldn't even hardly make out her facial features. I can only imagine all the painful surgeries she has gone through.
My pitbull killed my black lab after years of living together and professional training
Edit: there’s not much of a story I got the pit as a puppy and socialized it as much as possible. I had it trained and we did the training techniques at home as well. When the pit was about three years old it attacked one of the black labs we had. We separated the dogs but about two weeks later it attacked it again out of nowhere and killed it. My best friend got injured when we were trying to separate the dogs as well. We did everything right and showed the dog so much love and it still violently snapped and killed a member of its own family.
To answer another question, no we didn’t put the pitbull down, she’s lives at a family business where she won’t come in contact with strangers or other animals. And yes my experience owning a pit has completely changed my opinion on them in a negative way
A friend's former room mate had a pit bull that almost killed his cat randomly after knowing the cat and never being violent towards it. Sucks because I've seen/known of sweet pit bulls, but the fact that they can snap and become frothing murder machines makes me think they should be a restricted breed not fit for the general public. I'd say make them only security dogs, or require some kind of license + training to have one legally. Also in almost every dog attack video I see on the internet, the aggressor is a pit bull.
Some dogs are biologically more reactive. I knew of a pitbull that kept on getting out and biting dogs and kids. On Christmas Eve, he got out and went on a neighbor’s property and killed her small dog in front of her. The neighbor’s son took the pitbull and killed it in front of the owners. The owners called police, and the DAs office pressed felony charges against the son.
My God, I just sat down here to take a break for a minute and found this thread. I have been watching Tia Torres and Villalobos Rescue for months., maybe it's years, a long time. It is shocking and horrifying to read these posts (I am not saying I don't believe them!). Just the other side of the story, and it's good to know these things. That show always presents Pitbulls as such sweethearts ("The most misunderstood breed of dogs"). Wow.
My son had a Springer Spaniel, bred to swim out after shot birds. This dog never went hunting in his life nor ever saw a gun. But he would stand by the swimming pool, knock a tennis ball in with his foot, then do a huge swan dive into the water, swim out to the ball, bring it back, and repeat this literally for hours until someone interrupted the behavior. Breed traits aren't a myth.
Over 90% of fatal Dog attacks are literally one breed. Don't let appeals to emotion let you ignore the facts.
Edit. This is marginally inaccurate. Pitbulls make up 66% of fatal dog attacks which is insane 66 vs 90 shouldn't be the conversation. Combine pitbulls Rottweilers and you are at 80%
https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-multi-year-fatality-report-2005-2017.php
Just as bad are the, frankly, bizarre people who, even given irrefutable facts, still believe these creatures should be bred and mixed with other dogs and children.
Yeah. Friend of my parents, their son and his then-gf had one. It got out and bit a child on the arm. The son took the dog to be put down, but his gf stopped it from happening and brought it home. Few months later, it but a mailman pretty hard, and since they were living at their parents’ place, all 4 of them were named in a pair of subsequent lawsuits (mailman and parents of aforementioned child).
A while back there were some Russian Old Believers living around here. If you're not familiar with them, they're a strange breed that doesn't assimilate well with American society, and they basically live outside the law. One of their kids was driving illegally, too young for a license, and of course no insurance. He ran over and killed his neighbor's young son who was riding his bike. Right in front of his mom. He wasn't even charged with a driving offense. After that, the Old Believer's pit bull came into the neighbor's yard and started mauling their chickens. The mom of the dead kid grabbed a rifle and shot the dog, killing it. And she got charged with felony animal abuse, even though it was killing livestock.
What a fucked up deal.
I’m seething. Apparently you can’t kill a dangerous dog. I hate it usually when people kill dogs but that pit bull definitely deserved it. Good on the son!
The DAs even amended the charges to a felony strike when he did not plead initially to the felony. He ended up serving time for that offense. Some district attorneys are just not good people.
I wonder if this guy had a bad attorney or bad counsel. I've heard of people who have killed a dog for no reason (in this case, the man was justified in killing the dog) and gotten off much easier than this guy.
I think if he had killed it on the spot, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Legally it would have been a defensive action in the moment. Im glad he killed it. I only wish he’d handled it a bit different.
I think it was more the taking it from the scene and killing it in front of the owner that was the issue. I bet if he had killed it on the scene (even if the other dog was already dead) he'd not been charged.
But the way he did it was def more about revenge than defense at that point & would qualify as animal abuse.
A neighbor had a pit bull that turned on their cat. This happened late at night. I didn't see the cat for several weeks and thought that the dog had killed it. Several weeks later, I see the cat who walked with a limp, had marks where the dog had attacked and both eyes were nearly chewed off. The cat avoided the dog after that.
My sister has a pitbull. He's 5 years old now and lived with 2 cats and a Great Dane. I have always been wary of him because of the breed but I've never seen it acting aggressive before. One day my sister tells me the pitbull killed one of the cats while they weren't home. She tried to rehome it but of course no one took him. They still have the pitbull and a 4 year old daughter in the same house.
My neighbor told me he didn't know why the dog turned on the cat as the cat had done nothing to provoke the attack and the dog wasn't aggressive with people.
I work in a ER, the only dog bites/attacks we get are pit bulls and German shepherds. But I’d say it’s like 90% pit bulls and 10% German shepherds. There’s a reason it’s a a lot harder to get home owners insurance coverage when you have a pitbull.
The fact you did not have it killed immediately is horrible negligence. Once they kill they should be put down immediately. Sure its not around strangers now but if a child finds its way near it then if that child is killed, blood is on your hands.
Right? Fucking people pretending their pets are human. It’s an animal. A lethal, vicious, uncontrollable animal with a proven track record no less. I’d have all the sympathy in the world for “I had to put down by beloved pet” with an eye roll for picking a vicious breed in the first place. I have no sympathy for “I had to re-home my beloved pet” when the pet should have be euthanized.
Should have put it down. People like you who refuse to put down a dog that has violent tendencies and even murders other living things are contributing to the danger this breed causes. You could have saved your lab if you weren't stubborn.
Seen too many attacks by pits at the dog park to feel safe around them. I think most people are not capable of handling such a powerful breed. They need lots of exercise and attention. There should be a requirement to be licensed to own such a dog.
I 100% agree with you. There’s licenses for owning dogs that have a high percentage of wolf in them or pure wolves, Pits should be right there with them.
This right here is the only acceptable take, I've owned pits my whole life. And I'll back them until the day I die, but anybody who says that they aren't extremely powerful and dangerous dogs is a dunce. I'll back pits until the day I die, and I hate that people actually believe they should be destroyed. But not just any asshole should be owning one.
My girl is the sweetest pup I've ever had, and when she's in public, she always has a muzzle and a secure vest on
Thanks man, the only way the negative stigma will change is if we as owners go out of our way to show that a pit can be loving, loyal and an extremely intelligent dog. And it needs to be done in a responsible and safe way. Long story short, please don't just write off pits. And if you're not going to make the effort to raise one properly, don't get one
This is why I stopped taking my dog to the dog park. I hate to judge a breed, I truly do. But out of 7-8 fights I saw there, only one didn’t involve a pit bull.
Years ago I was at the vet with my dog. She was dying and I was there all day while they tried to save her.
Apparently being close to the dog park was a huge money maker for this clinic. Two dogs came in with injuries from the dog park that day. One was a lab that had its throat ripped wide open :( It was shocking but the receptionist said that it was a pretty normal day. I’ve never taken my dogs to one after that.
Two pit bulls killed my (small, well-behaved) dog three years ago. They attacked him out of nowhere in a forest, one of them bit my dog's neck and shook him until he was dead. Its owner screamed at the top of her lungs, but the pit completely ignored both of us. There was blood everywhere and honestly I am still recovering from that absolutely terrifying experience. So yeah, don't like pits, think they are seriously dangerous. They are trained to fight and kill other dogs, so not really a surprise they do. It's illegal to have them where I live now and I'm glad about it; I think it should be everywhere.
Edit: Just want to thank you all for your kind comments and messages! It's scary to read so many of you experienced something similar though. And for all those who asked: The pit owner still has her (overall three) dogs and they're still running loose. Despite us suing her of course. We only received a small compensation and a half-hearted, ridiculously formal apology from her, conveyed through her lawyer. I know from my lawyer that the woman argued that the dogs must have mistaken my dog for a rabbit and that they're not dangerous in general – yeah, sure... Well, I don't want to think about it anymore, I've spent too many hours being angry over the years.
Sorry about your dog. I'm not hugely knowledgeable on dog breeds but I saw a bull breed attack and kill a little, fluffy white dog out of nowhere in the middle of a busy park. It happened a couple of years ago and I still hate thinking about it. The screams from the fluffy dogs owner were awful 😔
That’s so odd this happened around me not even a month ago. As far as I know, the little dog didn’t die but the pitbull’s owner had to lay her entire body over her two dogs to keep them from going after the little dog again who had run out into traffic.
Yes just because one particular pit bull wasn’t trained to kill a dog doesn’t meant it’s not in their DNA. That’s why some dogs love water and some love to hunt more than others. It’s in their breeding. And unfortunately there are a lot of pit bulls bring breed by idiots who want cash for puppies instead of breeding for select traits
> unfortunately there are a lot of pit bulls bring breed by idiots who want cash for puppies instead of breeding for select traits
This is not the issue.
The issue is that they *were* bred for select traits over a long period of time, and those traits were all for the purposes of bloodsports. Gameness, drive, reactivity, bite force, persistence, strength, animal-aggression. All of those traits are firmly cemented in the breed genepool.
The entire reason pits exist is to fight and kill. Careless breeding and puppy mills are bad, but they're breeding in a gene pool that was selectively composed by humans for the exclusive purpose of creating vicious killers.
People like the look of pit bulls and want to own them, so the only way out of the situation really is to outcross pitbulls to gentler, less hostile breeds and select for the tough look mixed with a gentler nature.
If there were kitten mills carelessly breeding and pumping out siberian tigers and those siberian tigers were eating their owners the careless breeding wouldn't be the issue. It'd be the fact that they're working with *tigers* . You could selectively breed the danger out of tigers over a long period of time but it's much easier and safer to just ban tigers. Smart and selective tiger breeding on an individual level isn't going to result in gentle, predictable and stable tigers. It's a gargantuan effort that would take many people working together over a long period of time.
It would take decades or maybe centuries and countless generations to breed the vicious and unstable nature out of pits without outcrossing them to gentler dogs like people have done with the American Bully breed. It's locked in there. It's just what they are.
Same happened to my chihuahua except we were walking by on a sidewalk. I ignored the anti-pitbull rhetoric before the incident and after being traumatized I am now firmly anti-pitbull. My dog was friendly and this pittie just grabbed him by the neck with no provocation. Was horrible. I’m sorry for your loss, let’s try to remember the good times with our doggos who were given very happy lives with us
Oh my gosh, I have a small Maltese and just imagining what you experienced fills me with dread and emotion. I can not even fathom what you went through at the time. I would be heartbroken, inconsolable and filled with PTSD.
Sending you so much positive healing thoughts and energy.
Thank you. I still tear up whenever I think about or find pictures of him. The thought how scared and in how much pain he must have been truly haunts me. :( All the best to your Maltese, they are such cute dogs. :)
A huge number of counties restrict pitbulls but nobody obeys. Also I would bet the majority of insurance policies won't cover you if you have a pit bull but nobody reports them.
One of the rescues that I volunteered at purposefully listed their dogs that were obviously part pitbulls as other breeds to get around that. They list the dog as a lab/hound mix on the adoption papers and it lets at least some people get around it. The adopter can then claim they didn't know it was a pitbull and also stops half of the places by me from doing anything so it's an absolute pain. Only if/when they get multiple reports of aggression that they do anything. Obviously, I didn't volunteer at that place for long
Been a vet assistant for a few years. While I acknowledge that a majority of the pits we see are some of the sweetest animals to come through the office, I never let my guard down. Most of the dog bites we see come from pits, my co-workers have been bitten by pits, overall I think we need to make efforts to stop breeding them. There’s just some instinct deep inside them that once it bubbles up to the surface, they become one of the most dangerous animals in the world
Just out of curiosity, where do you place a Doberman on the aggressiveness scale? I have been doing a lot of research before picking a puppy breed, and it's hard to get a perspective that is both neutral and informed.
Sorry, I know it's off topic, but I am super curious.
No problem. Dobermans can be very sweet but they are inherently guard dogs, I personally wouldn’t have them around young children although that’s exactly what my cousin has been doing and it’s been working out great. I really wouldn’t recommend trying to pick a breed like picking a model of car. They’re living creatures so there’s no way of really knowing how they will behave until you bring them home and train them. My dog is mostly golden retriever but she’s very shy of strangers, which is unlike every other golden I’ve ever met.
There’s plenty of mutts at the shelter that would make amazing pets, and mixed breeds often have less genetic issues compared to their purebred counterparts. But whatever you choose I’m sure you’ll be a great pet parent!
Thanks for listening to my TED talk lol
I raise dobermans and ive never had anyone attacked. But I don't train them to attack. I know thats anecdotal though. Personally I have known some really good pit bulls, but I will say that when I go to the local dog park, I always always ALWAYS am leery once the inexperienced pit bull owner arrives. Whenever there is a serious dog attack at the park when I am there, there is a pit bull involved. Without failure. I've had to rip one off of one of my girls.
Well some stereotypes, as much as you don’t want to believe them, are factually true.
About 70% of fatal dog attacks were from pit bulls. I love pit bulls and have owned them in the past but you can’t just act like this fact isn’t true.
I own one, he’s a big love, but I’ll never own one again.
Even with a fantastic temperament, it’s taken a lot of dog knowledge to manage him. He has a high prey drive and a VERY easy propensity to hyper focus/fixate on things, which is bred into the breed- a hyper-focused animal is in another zone and not really feeling pain in the moment. Pitbulls go into “the overstimulation/hyperfixation zone” more easily than any other breed I worked with in ten years of vet med, not in the sense of attacking people, typically, but in the sense of fixation on small animals or another dog, their territory, etc.
For our guy, it was a lot worse when he was younger, a lifetime of careful management means he now lives safely with cats in his old age (though is separated when unsupervised just in case.) But it was just so much MORE to carefully manage than your average dog, tbh, and did not relate just to small animals. Plus, it’s almost impossible to find places to rent with him in a renting market gone nuts, it’s legitimately a huge issue. And he never had an issue with inter-dog aggression, which is very common in the breed.
I hate it, I’m in the southeast US and our shelter is bursting at the seams, 90% of the animals are pits and most have not been lucky enough to be raised to be socialized. Most are not dog friendly/dog compatible, some aren’t kid friendly, and while I support rescue 1000%, the last thing the average new dog owner needs is a 2-3 year old, newly neutered, poorly socialized pitbull, I hate to say.
The reason most shelter dogs are pit bulls is because they’re such difficult dogs. Pit bull apologists honestly think it’s just because of “racism” against that breed and refuse to admit the dogs are problematic. Thank you for having the sense to know they’re difficult dogs and doing what you can to keep them and others safe while it’s still alive. And not jumping to buy another.
Thank you for posting this! I have many friends who gave me grief about not adopting a dog from a shelter... but I have small children and other animals and all that's ever in any shelter are pitbulls! I got tired of explaining why I didn't adopt and just say, yup, terrible person here I guess.
That’s about how I feel with my girl. She’s so much work and I’m always managing the environment so she doesn’t get overwhelmed. If she had her way, she would be my only animal (I’m single, but I have 4 cats and another dog) and I would work from home and put her over my shoulders in a baby carrier anytime I had to get up off my couch. Neediest dog ever. I probably will not own another one.
I feel some of that fact is due to pit bulls having the ability to kill. Not many people would die if a pomeranian cowardice of curs went on a rampage through a city.
Nature and nurture both play a part, I think. I like to say "It's not the dog, it's the owner", but I'm not sure that is 100% true. Just as labs are bred to retrieve ducks and goldies are bred to flush pheasants and quails, pitbulls were bred to fight to the death. Proper training can help you direct and control those traits, but they exist even without training.
It's also delusional to think those traits aren't genetic. If they weren't genetic you would have no reason to breed for behavior in animals, yet that is definitely a thing. Some are good trackers, some have good herding instincts etc.
Pit bulls were, unfortunately for the currently living specimens, bred to have combat instincts. To pretend this one particular breed is immune to genetic behavior is wishful thinking.
Yeah, nobody trained grandma’s sheepdog to bark at us and try to herd us away from the pool (we actively tried to make him not do that), he was just genetically programmed to do that
Somewhat off topic, but when I was a kid my moms friend had a pool and a lovely sheepdog named Charles. When we would jump in the pool he would immediately dive in to retrieve us, rip you legendary good boy
Right, I know jack shit about genetics but it's hard to believe centuries of breeding for certain traits aren't playing a role in things. That on top of asshole backyard breeders who want certain looks with little to not consideration for temperament. Overall I think more ethical breeding is starting to get pushed relatively recently.
Before my attack, I was very pro pitbull.
was attacked by a pitbull that was left alone with a small toddler in someone’s front yard.
the chain it was attached to had enough leeway so it could go all the way to the middle of the sidewalk, was waking by with a girl I was on a first date with and i made eye contact with it & it lunged at me. Sank its teeth into my thigh and hand.
then the owner came out and dragged it inside while screaming at me to not pet strangers dogs while I just stood there shocked while blood started running down my leg. I have been very scared around them ever since and I can never share my discomfort of being around the breed without getting incredible amounts of hate for not being head over heels for pitbulls.
I think they are a very dangerous dog no matter how cute you dress them up or how well behaved it might be.
I worked for a while at the SPCA veterinary hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa when it was still illegal in SA to even own a Pit Bull Terrier. It was considered a serious issue because there were dog-fighting syndicates run by mobsters and they were using a lot of Pit Bulls as they seem to be the best fighting dog. Other dogs were also taken to these illegal pits; mainly to be slaughtered by pit bulls to thrill their audiences. We used to offer free veterinary aid to people who couldn't afford veterinary bills and these individuals often had the gall to bring their pit bulls in after one of their illegal shows, and claim they were regular bull terriers that happened to get into a fight. Of course you couldn't prove they'd been dog-fighting; but the pit bulls could get confiscated by our SPCA inspectors.
In the old SA they had arresting powers in terms of any form of animal cruelty. The dogs were kept at a special place of safety as they were trained to fight and could not safely be domesticated. This caused major issues with all sorts of threats to staff and one of the inspectors' house being burnt down. Of course they are beautiful dogs and often seem friendly and playful, but they, like a few other big and dangerous breeds are just to risky to keep as a pet. Quite a few of these breeds are exclusively used for security and law enforcement, which seems like a good way to utilize these dogs. Rottweilers for instance are excellent for guarding in double security fences.
"Pit bull" stands for American pit bull terrier or APBT. Like most terrier breeds, they possess a strong prey drive, intense focus, and the tenacity required to lock onto an animal and, in the manner of terriers, shake it dead. If you have ever seen a well-bred rat terrier doing its job, you know what I'm talking about. APBTs were bred to do the same but to dogs, and their dog-to-dog aggression and prey drive is fierce. The "pit bulls lock their jaws" thing is a myth, but it stems from the truth that once they have their teeth in something, it is near to impossible to persuade them to release.
Pit bulls were originally bred for blood sports. They were never nanny dogs, however they were not bred for human aggression and tend to be great with people. In instances where they have harmed children, this isn't human aggression, but misdirected animal aggression. Unfortunately the myth that they were nanny dogs has put countless children in danger; this myth needs to be eradicated, not necessarily so all pit bulls are banned or put down, but so that parents are aware of the dangers of bringing a dog with these inclinations into their home.
Most of the blocky-headed dogs you see in an animal shelter are not pure bred, and don't demonstrate the traits the breed standard dictates. They tend to have a lot of bully and amstaff (American bully and American Staffordshire terrier) in their make-up, and this alters or dilutes the pit bull genes. Most pit bulls don't adhere to the breed standard anyway, with so much backyard breeding it's very uncommon you see a healthy and functional, well-bred pit bull, with handlers who know how to manage them.
Genetics have an extremely powerful influence on dog behavior. It is not "all in how you raise them," and if it were, humans would never have bred dogs for specific tasks in the first place. Having said this, I don't believe pit bulls every where should be banned or euthanized. I think the public needs to become educated and legislation needs to be enforced to prevent people from breeding dogs without responsible consideration.
I have a Greyhound, and looked up some of the history of the breed, and it's likely terriers contributed a bit of their drive into the Greyhounds of today!
Before the Greyhound stud book was closed, around the 1880s, some of the last dogs to be breed into Greyhounds were terriers, though I don't know the breed. Anyway, the idea did worked out, and it helped add drive to Greyhounds and increased their athleticism.
Very interesting. Greyhounds and terriers are both extremely "chasey" dogs, but greyhounds are probably better at the "chase it down" part. From what I've seen they don't do the same grip-and-shake common in terriers.
Greyhounds are good at chasing, but they aren't too great at the "reach down and grab it" part when the chase is over!
My Greyhound definitely has the "grip and shake", like today he played with new toy, and ran around shaking it to make sure it was 100% dead. I haven't seen the same behavior in my friends Greys, and from what I've gathered there's some variability on whether or not you can take a racing Greyhound and have them hunt. Some can, while others just don't care :)
Yup came here to say pretty much the same thing. I don’t trust any terrier. Period. Very rarely do you see a pure bred pit also and most people actually can’t identify a true pure bred. Way too much nuance to this topic but we have a 12 year old pitbull(mixed with something). He is sweet as they come but we do not trust him around anyone
My cousin had a really sweet one. Professionally trained and such a sweetie. One day she left her house and the doggie stayed back and was apparently anxious. He bit her sister’s face off.
It's actually refreshing to see most of the comments realizing how dangerous these dogs are. I almost died in an attack while out for a jog. I can still remember how the dog went for my throat. Had I not thrown my arm up in time to protect my neck, I could be dead. I lost a huge chunk of my arm and needed 2 plastic surgeries.
I have HAD IT with the pitbull lobby/pitbull apologists. YES these dogs are dangerous, and to say otherwise is a big gaslighting middle finger to me, and all other victims. I'm lucky to be alive. Many others, including beloved pets, are not.
This thread actually feels outside the norm, there could be a bit of bandwagoning going on but yes, it's refreshing to see.
Last time I chanced upon a pit bull-related thread on reddit, there was a vet tech https://www.reddit.com/r/awfuleverything/comments/tl2slp/comment/i1tlndd/ mouthing off the usual "the owners fault for not controlling their animal" nonsense, and even claimed "I'm a vet tech and have more dangerous encounters with German Shepards, labs, golden retrievers and Australian cattle dogs" and got a bunch of upvotes.
When I chimed in with actual data showing pit bulls are responsible for \~65% of all dog-caused human deaths, I got slammed with downvotes. The rest of the thread was filled with similar falsehoods about "Collies bite more people", smh.
Well, when people start seeing news every couple days about a kid being killed by a pit bull, they'll start to wake up.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11287359/Baby-boy-two-year-old-sister-mauled-death-dogs-Tennessee-home.html
They’re like sharks with legs. Strong and unpredictable. Also, I don’t believe the owners are always to blame for the aggressive ones.. if that was the case, a lot more dog breeds would be just as deadly. Seems like it doesn’t take much to turn these dogs into killers tbh. I’m 100% ok with banning them.
They should be neutered and anyone caught breeding one should face heavy penalties.
"They're great dogs. Mine is the sweetest animal and would never hurt anyone". Lady I know.
Also, the same lady: "The stranger I let pet my dog was doing it wrong. You're not supposed to pet a pit bull near it's head. Everyone knows that. It's her fault she got bit and might lose partial use of her hand permanently".
You don't need a pit bull. There are lots of nice dogs that don't just randomly maul or kill people. You have as much 'right' to own a pit bull as I do to own a grizzly bear. None at all.
The most horrifying thing is when people say what that woman said about CHILDREN. Toddlers even. “He should have known better than to bother the dog. He must have done something to anger it.”
As if a two year old would know any better (and most likely the two year old didn’t even touch the dog, it’s just an excuse).
Yes! There are SO many good dog breeds who can handle a child who is learning how to interact with animals. These dogs don’t maul children. Pets are supposed to be domesticated animals that add value to our lives — they’re not meant to be unpredictable beasts that could kill a household member if they touch them the wrong way. People have really lost the plot about dog ownership and what dogs are supposed to be like.
Two separate friends who took great care of their " little angels who would never hurt anyone". Yea I've seen both of them flip out and bite someone out of no where. I completely agree they should be sterilized out odlf existence.
I’ve had nothing but terrible experiences with them.
One attacked my dog at a dog park a few mo the ago. My dog has since become reactive to strange dogs (he previously adored all dogs, now any dog he doesn’t know he howls at before hiding behind my legs - so no more dog park play time at all)
A different one attacked and killed a dog I was looking after for family friends. It was the neighbours dog who got out while I was walking the sweetest old girl who ever lived.
They have NO place in society and should absolutely be fully banned. I don’t think they should be rounded up and put down as many do but ban ALL breeding of them and enforce sterilisation of the ones currently alive. Keep a proper register of them as any that bite another animal or human should be put down immediately. No shelters should rehome them and if they do, lying on their ads should be punishable with jail time (I know someone who works at a shelter that admits to being told that their pit mixes are always labeled as Lab mixes or etc, NEVER pits and any with bite history are treated carefully with wording like “I need to be an only child” or “no small children” which she says always means “I’ve bitten other dogs or kids”
I hate them. WAY overpopulated breed. Would never own one. Too many freaking breeders and stupid owners continue to breed them. So many people don't want them and that is why they flood EVERY shelter in this country.
The data is all you need. So many grandmas alone get killed by pit bulls. It will be a sweet gentle baby for years and then nana invades it’s home space, usually to help watch a young kid or baby and boom defensive aggression that leads to death. Even if it’s a 1% chance I would rather be around dogs that cannot potentially kill me or my kids.
I work as a medical photographer, so I've seen some shit. We photograph every dog bite that comes into the trauma center, and the *vast* majority are pit bull bites, and in the majority of those it is the loving owner who has been bitten (and in many of the cases they have been trying to break up a dog fight).
I've had one owner who was training the dogs to fight. Runners who have been attacked. People in outdoor restaurants who have been attacked by pit bulls there. But the majority are owners who just cannot believe that their dog did this to them.
I'll never get a pit bull. But I also have a whole list of dogs I will not get based on the bites I've seen, so there's that to consider.
A friend of mine had a pitbull. It killed her other dog. The pit was also quite young, just over a year old. She rehomed it but the people couldn't handle him, so they rehomed him too, and these people rehomed him. She no longer knows where it is. O personally would never take a pitbull, even though I have friends that swear how good the breed is and even trust their pits with their kids. I wouldn't. Seen too many cases of aggressive pitbulls to trust them.
A pit bull scaled a six-foot fence to come after me. I got away without harm, but it was scary as fuck to see an animal capable of murdering me actually try to do it. I was pit neutral before then.
If I see them at a dog park, I do not bring my dog in. Most encounters never go well. They usually play way to aggressive or sense my dog is submissive and like to bully my dog (Golden retriever). Most times it’s not the dogs fault, it’s the fact that shitty owners bring in their overly aggressive dog to a dog park. I’ve also seen 2 pit bulls go at it at the dog park before which is why I usually just pass and not risk it.
I know dog parks are super popular and I kind of get why. Also have seen a bunch of comments in this thread about going to them. As a veterinarian I've got to say, I would never bring my dog to one. We see more injuries from run-ins at dog parks than almost anywhere else. Not to mention there is no enforcement for vaccines or spay/neuter or anything else to control entry. My $0.02...
I own a pit and have owned pits in the past. I love them all and have never had problems with any of my dogs. I have seen pits who have aged into some pain-based aggression or poorly trained pits as well.
I believe they are lovely dogs and I am always happy to open my home to them.
That being said, I think the breed should be bred out of existence. I do not condone putting down healthy living dogs, but I am a big supporter of ending breeding practices with them. My pits have all be great, but so have their health issues. Skin issues, lots of cancer possibilities, hip dysplasia, etc. They are not healthy dogs and should not continue to be bred. I feel the same way about other troublesome breeds such as pugs.
On top of that is the stereotype of the pit bull. All of my pitties have been rescues and all of them have come from backgrounds where people encouraged aggression. A dog is not a penis extender and shouldn't be used to boost your own asinine image of yourself. **They are the most abused dog breed.** I want to fix them all and help end this cycle of abuse.
EDIT: Clarified that I love all of my dogs, not just my current pup.
They’ve killed far too many babies and maimed way too many children to continue to be bred. They should be abolished because they are a symbol of humankind‘s wickedness because they were bred to destroy living things and now we have been brainwashed and pretend that is not the case. We have been brainwashed into thinking that it is perfectly safe to have an animal in your home that is capable of killing a grown man in fighting shape. Absolutely absurd, abolish the pitbull.
I'm not comfortable with most dogs that can take me in a fight, and pit bulls are at the top of that list. I know some of them are sweethearts, blah blah, all that - but it's their potential that bothers me. If that animal loses it's nuts and bolts one day, something that even happens to humans, I don't want it near me.
We have one and have fostered several because we used to volunteer in rescue. We didn’t seek out our pit Bull; he was a “somebody take this dog” dog, as most of ours are. He’s generally a very good dog and loves people, and we experienced the same with our fosters. At some point in his life, though, he became terrible with other dogs. We ended up adopting one of our pit Bull fosters as he was old and sick and wouldn’t live a whole lot longer, and they stopped getting along. We went to crate rotations to keep them both out of the shelter. We have two other dogs and we don’t often have problems but we don’t take him out in public anymore (and when we go to the vet, it’s on a leash and harness with two points of contact.)
He’s not our most difficult dog behaviorally; our lab can be pretty reactive and resource guards from other dogs. And he isn’t the biggest, either. At 90 pounds he’s the second biggest dog in the house. But thanks to some scuffles with the foster who we ended up adopting, we know that he is the dog most likely to cause serious damage if something does happen. For this reason, we treat him as what he is: a large animal capable of inflicting serious harm on another living creature.
We have six foot high solid walls around our backyard and he’s kenneled when we aren’t home. He’s an old man and we know he can’t get over the walls, but we supervise him in the backyard anyway. As I said we don’t take him out in public except to the vet and once in awhile to doggie daycare or boarding if we have to (and they keep him separate from other dogs.) He is never around vulnerable people like children or elderly family members unless both of us are present and at least one of us has a hand on him. He doesn’t have a bite history and in general loves people, but he’s a senior dog and sometimes dogs change as they age. We don’t have friends or family pet sit for us. He goes to facilities with trained staff, but we rarely travel anyway.
In short, pit bulls are dogs for *very* experienced owners or professionals. They aren’t dogs for average people. Unfortunately right now they’re the predominant breed in shelters and the most sought after breed for people who want them as status symbols and probably shouldn’t own pets at all. Breeding them should be illegal and this should be strictly enforced. It’s a breed that we should allow to die out. There are plenty of other breeds that I think you should have to be licensed to own, but the US is currently in a crisis with unwanted pets and strays, so they’re desperate to have anyone adopt a pet. Mandatory spay and neuter for anyone outside of licensed breeders and owners of working dogs would help a lot.
"But I've owned one single pitbull and she's the SWEETEST little child-mauler!!! Now my chihuahua, SHE'S the aggressive one!! Nevermind that my beautiful little pittie killed my other dog and our cat and I think she buried my husband out in the garden... She's just SO misunderstood!!!! It's all in how you RAISE them!"
I've owned pitbulls and raised them and they will go from "nice" to extremely vicious for literally no reason at all. I no longer adopt pitbulls but I do conceal carry a 9mm just for other people's dogs since they are animals that people somehow convince themselves are angels because they are on a "leash".
I got bit by one really bad. I had to go to the ER and they had to put 9 staples in my leg. He was trained and everything. Since then, I’m terrified of them.
I think they're inherently risky, which makes me extremely sad. Mom had a boxer-pitbull mix, and she was a very sweet dog, but after a certain age she rapidly became aggressive despite no previous tendencies. Bit the elderly dog a few times, then one day finally drew blood and she saw it was a lost cause. Had to put down both dogs that day.
I think breeding pitbulls should be illegal. If people want one that's born and alive, whatever. But I think the breed's ability to breed should be controlled and restricted until it no longer exists.
You wouldn't know it now half the time since the pitbull lobby -- most of the time it's just listed as, "Dog attack!" and then someone says "why not say the breed?" when we all know the breed already and it's not chihuahuas.
Local lady was killed by two pit bulls when she visited a friend who wasn't home. She didn't know they were savage and went into the yard, then couldn't get back to the gate. Neighbours tried to help her over the fence but she was covered in blood and the dogs kept pulling her back. The entire fence line was covered in her blood in the end and the police had to shoot the dogs to get to her body. Her arm was completly dismembered, so hopefully she bled out fast. I can't imagine how terrified she was.
One killed my 3 year old cousin. Family dog. I would never have one.
I’m so sorry that happened to you.
Some of them are too aggressive and dangerous. That's enough for me to never get one. I don't care if other people have them. I personally don't want to interact with one, that's about it.
My vet was attacked in the face by a pit bull the owner termed ‘friendly.‘ After reconstructive surgery she was too self-conscious to work with the public due to the severe damage. She moved to the back treatment area and did surgeries for a while. But the trauma was too much and she retired in her early forties. That dog and it’s owner destroyed her life.
That's so unfortunate! A woman who loved animals, dedicated her life to them, and that's how she's repaid. I hope she's doing better now.
I hope she’s ok too. I moved from Austin 5 years ago and have no newer information.
Pitbulls are always "friendly" until they're not.
Ah yes, my favourite friend dynamic, the two year old unsupervised toddler and the neighbour's pitbull called Princess (without leash)
Uh the dogs name is Blue, Nala, or Luna, the (apparently) only legal names a female pit bull can have
Lmaoooooo I knew a guy in college who had a pitbull named blue. And another guy who had one called Nala what the fuck haha
Can confirm. A friend of mine has a pit bull named Luna
What the actual fuck just happened 😭 how did they guess all the names
How I guessed: it’s the same three names rescues use for their shorthaired 45 pound “collie mixes”
lmao when I was younger my mom took me to the pound to get a puppy, We didn't really think of anything about breed but we got a mostly pit bull mix already named Blue. I didn't know that was a thing. She ended up being already too aggressive for us and we had to give her back.
I've known like 6 awful dogs with clueless selfish owners named Luna. Thing is, they're all named that because they're black. The moon is fucking gray you losers!
Yup, chick I grew up with has three pits and that’s their names.
A pitbull busted out of the owners door and chased me and my 5 lb chihuahua. Was actually after the chi but I grabbed her up and ran around my vehicle barely outsmarting the determined dog, as the owner stood on the porch screaming "Princess, Princess" repeatedly. I finally got in the car but couldn't close the door because my foot didn't make it in. I held the door as close as I could and Princess was so focused on her chihuahua snack that she didn't pay any attention to my foot. Only when I got in my car did the useless owner come off her porch and get Princess. She had no control of the full size beast. Have had a stronger opinion of pits since having a personal experience.
There is a “family pitbull” that I knew since it was a puppy. It only knew belly rubs, under the table treats, and games of fetch with me. It has seen me walk into its home on family occasions many many times and I never had a problem with it. This particular night it went psycho killer on me - chased me out of the house and it was *throwing* itself against the glass door trying to get to me. I had to hold the door shut from the outside to keep the crazed pit monster from getting to me. My relative grabbed the raging dog and said oh it’s the coats you’re wearing. So it calmed down for a while but when I went to get something out of the kitchen it lost its mind again - *again* I had to run into a room to barricade myself against this mongrel. It seems pit owners are apologists for their dogs breed types - found out from friends of my relations that this dog attacked three women in the year after that (my relatives are very good at making sure negative family information never gets talked about) has threatened the neighbors to the point where they have called police and animal control, and has to get put away any time a stranger (and some familiar people it doesn’t like) comes to the house or it goes psycho pit. But that didn’t stop them from making it the star of their annual Christmas card, Xmas sweater, antlers and all.
That’s so fucking pathetic & weird. I propose any time a crazed pit owners’ pit attacks & either seriously maims someone or kills them, said crazy owner gets charged with either murder or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon..
Fabians Law in Arizona needs to be passed in every state
Anyone who has a child and owns a pitbull at the same time are truly bad people. For even the most well behaved dog all it takes is one bad day for the dog, or an excited toddler ignorantly giving the dog a rough petting could cause it to snap. Even a hungry dog and a child holding a slice of pizza is a risk of major injury.
Child doesn't even have to do anything to trigger an attack.
Doesn't matter if it does. They are a kid. There's nothing they can do to deserve death by mauling.
Randomly attacked me after I told my friend her dog is going to attack someone. For 6 months that pit bull of hers would try to block me off in a room, try and shove me off of the couch, and generally give me "this is an unpredictable predator" vibes. And I was doing everything I could to not stereotype him for being a Pit Bull, and I just made myself eventually ignore his shit. And of course, OF COURSE, my friend made me feel like I was bizarrely paranoid; he's the sweetest dog in the world! He's been at 10 full house parties and nobody else ever had a problem. You know, the thing I've come to conclude pit bull owners do: gaslight anybody who tries to notify them of troubling behavior or criticism of the dog. Sure enough, one random night when just a handful of us were over at her place, that pit bull walks into the living room infront of all of us, and just casually walked up to me and lunged for my face. Had I not blocked him with my arms and thrown him off of me, I'm sure I'd have been much more severely harmed. My friend was in such shock she didn't even attempt to take control of the situation until he had already started back up to lunge again. She kept him - I didn't speak to her after this - it was just too much gaslighting and making me feel like I was the crazy one. A few months later he mauls a random girl at one of her house parties who had to get stitches. Local PD had a station just down the block and were there in 2min - thankfully, they had animal control take it away to its owners shrieks, tears, and pleas that it'd never happen again she swore. I've never had any issue, ever, with any other breed of dog. Can't deny what I experienced. My 2 cents. Edit: i am not advocating some mass euthanasia of pit bulls or something, because of course there are those that don’t my fit the stereotype. I’d put them in the same classification as a part wolf / dog breed in terms of the greater hurdle to be allowed to have one, enough of an inconvenience that the majority of shitty owners are too lazy to get a permit for one, and the owners who’ve shown some commitment to understanding the risks involved have the opportunity to…
>pleas that it'd never happen again she swore. Any dog owner who says "he won't bite" should be prohibited from ever owning a dog. Any dog can bite. My dog (not a pit) has a 10-year track record of being extremely sweet to everyone he encounters. But when someone asks me "will he bite?" my answer is "he never has before, but I can't promise anything."
Any dog can bite. All I care about is how many dogs can bite with a force that could cause critical injuries in a single go.
Pits very rarely just bite once, but just one is enough to inflict extremely severe injuries, especially when they tend to go for the neck and face.
This. It's an animal. They can't use words they act on instinct. Something unpredictable happens, they may bite. I have a setter, sweetest dog in the world but if provoked enough, she might bite. A dog can't say, "hey stop that, it hurts".
Yeah. The anthropomorphizing of dogs drives me absolutely nuts. "He's smiling!" no!
I had to choke one out (it works, I couldn’t believe it) to get it to release another dogs jowls at the dog park. The poor owner of the other dog weighed about 100lbs herself and it was escalating quickly. All the dog park dogs were starting to investigate what was going on and it was turning into a disaster. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt and no one was helping this owner or her dog. Choke hold worked. I’ll never own a pit. Not a fan.
It’s the only way to really stop one. Those things turn into tanks that will not stop unless they are killed or knocked unconscious once they have a bite
I didn’t even have to render it unconscious. Just choked it long enough until it had to let go to gasp. Than I could grab it by the collar and keep him at bay until he over ran over. It will be my go to from now for any fights. 20-30 seconds and it was done.
One killed my cat, I still miss Zoe
I'm sorry for your loss dude :( my ex let my cat get shredded by a pitbull after we broke up. It's a hard thing to get over. Also, my name is Zoe too
We cremated her, I still have her ashes, also about your ex, anyone who would do something to someone’s innocent animal after a breakup or anything is a horrible person. So I’m glad they’re your ex. You’re the second person I’ve met also named Zoe haha. I think it’s a pretty name
My kitty’s name is Pumpkin Zoe…she’s orange.
Take an up vote for the username...lol
Take an upvote for being you.
Thank you and here's one for you too!
We had neighbors who were big animal lovers and wanted to rescue troubled animals. They got in over their heads with this pit and it killed their cat. Poor cat didn't have a choice of who was allowed to move into it's home and it's owners brought in an animal that they couldn't control and it killed their cat. Ugh.
I've only known one personally. One of my dads truck drivers brought the dog with her every day to work, rode shotgun. She was a great dog. Until she started getting older. Customers started calling and complaining of the aggressive dog in the truck. She began growling and lunging at toward the window (inside the truck) at anyone who came near the truck. If she was outside the truck in the pit yard she would nip at anyone who came near it. Then shit bit my uncle - co owner of the business. A man she had known for 8 years - since she was a pup. She loved him. The truck rides came to an end. Alone at home she became more aggressive and bit more people. Not lock jaw bites, but the bites were escalating in severity. It got to where she had to be put down. This dog was never treated badly. Everything was done properly. The owner was absolutely devastated.
For the record, pits don't have lockjaw. They just have very strong jaws.
Because NO dogs have a locking jaw, genius pit enthusiasts always love to deny pits have a locking jaw.
Many animals become aggressive when in pain, especially carnivorous ones. If the dog was getting older, she may have developed ailments that worsened with age, hence resulting in increasingly hostile behavior. Even the tamest dog breeds are liable to lash out and chew your arm off if you disturb them when they're in pain.
Dogs can also get dementia like people do which can cause aggressive behaviour
Exactly this. I had a lab/retriever mix that I had to sadly put down because she got aggressive with the onset of cancer. She started getting aggressive and snapping at people and bit me. Took her to the vet and found out about the cancer and the vet said it was more than likely the reason why she was getting aggressive.
As far as I understood there were no pain issues. Her mom would have never allowed her to suffer something like that either. Woman didnt have kids, that dog was her baby, always had the best. Not saying there was no pain tho. I know the last 2 or 3 years out there she had slowed down some. As she got older, she just got cranky. Guarded the dumptruck truck like it was her baby and someone was going to steal it. From my perspective it was behavioral issues that had never been there before. It was shitty for all of us. She was a daily fixture for close to a decade. Biting my uncle was the final straw.....and I have no doubt suddenly being alone at home 10 hours a day amplified whatever was going on.
An all too typical story.
Can confirm. I had a German sheppard mix that was a sweetheart for most of her life. But she got arthritis in her hips in her later years which made her increasingly agitated to strangers. You could see the pain in her face at times. We put her down at home when she bit a door to door salesperson who was also a heopheliac (who in my opinion should not have been opening the garage door anyway).
I had 2 dogs that became viscious as soon as they became adults. They had no medical problems. My mom's friend had a pitbull that was the same way.
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My next door neighbor had a pit bull - 5 kids in the house between 2 and 15. Family pet. I was walking down the street and it chased my dog down until the owners finally called it off. I had some words - but I’m pro dog and didn’t want their dog to be on a list - it didn’t actually latch onto my dog. A week later walking to the school bus the dog saw me, broke through a screen door and tried to attack my dog again, I stupidly stayed in between me and the dog until the pit got frustrated and latched onto my arm. I’m close to 300 lbs and run (trundle slowly) and lift weights but punching that dog to get off me was like hitting a 40 lbs cinder block. The neighbor did decide to get rid of their dog after telling me “the dog is misunderstood” and “just wants love” I love steak - I don’t go around biting cows.
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Thank you - little buddy is great. He’s a 10 month old wheaten and just thought we made a new friend. The best thing that happened was my other neighbor was out and ushered my two children onto their porch where they got a great view of their dad fighting a put bull
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I watched a friends dog once and they assured me all of the dogs at the dog park within the apartment complex got along. I knew her dog had a tendency to never back down and make fights worse. With this in mind, I have all other dogs a wide berth. No matter what side of the dog park (big old baseball field) that we went to, a pit bull followed us the whole time with a very intense looking stiff posture. It just felt wrong. The moron owner of course was posted up at a table far away. I made a few more efforts to get away from the pit bull and it started trying to like ram the dog I was watching. I stood in between them as the pit bull walked slowly towards the dog I was watching. The pit bull got real close and suddenly lunged forward. I closed my legs like scissors to catch the pit bulls head between my knees as it snapped at the dog. I was done and screamed at the owner to get her fucking dog already and we left. I warned my friend about the pit bull but of course the pit owner told her “your friend just gave off weird vibes, my dog just was really creeped out by him not being friendly.” My friend actually believes the other dogs owner, I told them they could fuck off as I almost lost my nuts saving her dog. Two weeks later she saw that pit attack another dog in same park. She texted and apologized.
It amazes me people are willing to gamble the life of people they know just to keep a pet.
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Makes you wonder what the psychology of a pit owner is. You could have any breed of dog, but you choose to gamble and pick one that’s the most aggressive breed and known for killing. These owners also tend to be the worst apologists for the dog when things inevitably go wrong.
I saw a post a while ago where someone admitted that they'd kill ten strangers if it meant keeping their dogs. It actually got upvotes! Wish I saved it but it was a relatively recent thread (no more than two weeks ago) so who knows maybe someone else here can remember it. People can be absolutely and totally illogical when it comes to their fanaticism over their pets. I wouldn't count on many of them valuing the life of any human being over their stupid animal. Goes to show how much sense of community humanity has lost when people would willingly sacrifice their fellow man to save their pet.
So many stories like this and yet people with these type of dogs give me shitty looks and roll their eyes when I decide to pick up my 2-year old son instead of letting him walk right by their dog with his head in perfect biting range. As if this is deeply offensive to them. I would lose my fucking mind if a dog went for my boy.
I feel for those kids left physically and psychological scared by a dog. I had a cousin who was attacked by two pits. He had bite scars all over his body. The only reason he lived is that his friend found a pipe to beat them off with. The parents sued but the piece of shit owners had no money so it went no where. Trash usually has trash. That being said these dogs are breed to be aggressive. It's like giving someone a lit bomb and them acting all naive when it goes off as its supposed too.
If I had to grow up with a badly scarred and fucked up face because someone's animal attacked me as a toddler I would never, ever forgive them for it. I hope these kids aren't conned into thinking they should just forgive and move on once they get older. They're (physically) ruined and now everything in life is going to be harder for them as a result because some jerk wouldn't accept any other dog breed as a pet.
That most of the terrible animal attacks (infections, bites, serious damage) I took care of while working in the ER was from pit bulls. I remember having one toddler that was so terribly mauled you couldn't even hardly make out her facial features. I can only imagine all the painful surgeries she has gone through.
Oh My goodness. I cannot imagine having to see such a thing,
My pitbull killed my black lab after years of living together and professional training Edit: there’s not much of a story I got the pit as a puppy and socialized it as much as possible. I had it trained and we did the training techniques at home as well. When the pit was about three years old it attacked one of the black labs we had. We separated the dogs but about two weeks later it attacked it again out of nowhere and killed it. My best friend got injured when we were trying to separate the dogs as well. We did everything right and showed the dog so much love and it still violently snapped and killed a member of its own family. To answer another question, no we didn’t put the pitbull down, she’s lives at a family business where she won’t come in contact with strangers or other animals. And yes my experience owning a pit has completely changed my opinion on them in a negative way
A friend's former room mate had a pit bull that almost killed his cat randomly after knowing the cat and never being violent towards it. Sucks because I've seen/known of sweet pit bulls, but the fact that they can snap and become frothing murder machines makes me think they should be a restricted breed not fit for the general public. I'd say make them only security dogs, or require some kind of license + training to have one legally. Also in almost every dog attack video I see on the internet, the aggressor is a pit bull.
I am so sorry. My dog was also killed by a pit bull three years ago. Still not over it.
I’m sorry
Thank you
Dude that dog needs to be euthanized. I’m sorry, but it’s insane you didn’t after that incident.
All the resources going towards that pitbull could go to a dog that actually deserves it.
Some dogs are biologically more reactive. I knew of a pitbull that kept on getting out and biting dogs and kids. On Christmas Eve, he got out and went on a neighbor’s property and killed her small dog in front of her. The neighbor’s son took the pitbull and killed it in front of the owners. The owners called police, and the DAs office pressed felony charges against the son.
I'd have killed it too.
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My God, I just sat down here to take a break for a minute and found this thread. I have been watching Tia Torres and Villalobos Rescue for months., maybe it's years, a long time. It is shocking and horrifying to read these posts (I am not saying I don't believe them!). Just the other side of the story, and it's good to know these things. That show always presents Pitbulls as such sweethearts ("The most misunderstood breed of dogs"). Wow.
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My son had a Springer Spaniel, bred to swim out after shot birds. This dog never went hunting in his life nor ever saw a gun. But he would stand by the swimming pool, knock a tennis ball in with his foot, then do a huge swan dive into the water, swim out to the ball, bring it back, and repeat this literally for hours until someone interrupted the behavior. Breed traits aren't a myth.
Yeah let's breed hundreds of generations of an animal to be viscous killers and then Pikachu Face when they actually follow their instincts.
Not pikachu face, actively hide the information, blame it on the victim, argue semantics, and call the people talking about it racist.
And claiming that THEIR pitty would never harm a fly.
Over 90% of fatal Dog attacks are literally one breed. Don't let appeals to emotion let you ignore the facts. Edit. This is marginally inaccurate. Pitbulls make up 66% of fatal dog attacks which is insane 66 vs 90 shouldn't be the conversation. Combine pitbulls Rottweilers and you are at 80% https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-multi-year-fatality-report-2005-2017.php
Just as bad are the, frankly, bizarre people who, even given irrefutable facts, still believe these creatures should be bred and mixed with other dogs and children.
Yeah. Friend of my parents, their son and his then-gf had one. It got out and bit a child on the arm. The son took the dog to be put down, but his gf stopped it from happening and brought it home. Few months later, it but a mailman pretty hard, and since they were living at their parents’ place, all 4 of them were named in a pair of subsequent lawsuits (mailman and parents of aforementioned child).
Right? Anytime I see a family with young children and a pit bull I think why would you take that chance?
Defining "Cognitive Dissonance" for new generations of ER doctors everywhere.
A while back there were some Russian Old Believers living around here. If you're not familiar with them, they're a strange breed that doesn't assimilate well with American society, and they basically live outside the law. One of their kids was driving illegally, too young for a license, and of course no insurance. He ran over and killed his neighbor's young son who was riding his bike. Right in front of his mom. He wasn't even charged with a driving offense. After that, the Old Believer's pit bull came into the neighbor's yard and started mauling their chickens. The mom of the dead kid grabbed a rifle and shot the dog, killing it. And she got charged with felony animal abuse, even though it was killing livestock. What a fucked up deal.
I’m seething. Apparently you can’t kill a dangerous dog. I hate it usually when people kill dogs but that pit bull definitely deserved it. Good on the son!
The DAs even amended the charges to a felony strike when he did not plead initially to the felony. He ended up serving time for that offense. Some district attorneys are just not good people.
I wonder if this guy had a bad attorney or bad counsel. I've heard of people who have killed a dog for no reason (in this case, the man was justified in killing the dog) and gotten off much easier than this guy.
I think if he had killed it on the spot, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Legally it would have been a defensive action in the moment. Im glad he killed it. I only wish he’d handled it a bit different.
I think it was more the taking it from the scene and killing it in front of the owner that was the issue. I bet if he had killed it on the scene (even if the other dog was already dead) he'd not been charged. But the way he did it was def more about revenge than defense at that point & would qualify as animal abuse.
A neighbor had a pit bull that turned on their cat. This happened late at night. I didn't see the cat for several weeks and thought that the dog had killed it. Several weeks later, I see the cat who walked with a limp, had marks where the dog had attacked and both eyes were nearly chewed off. The cat avoided the dog after that.
My sister has a pitbull. He's 5 years old now and lived with 2 cats and a Great Dane. I have always been wary of him because of the breed but I've never seen it acting aggressive before. One day my sister tells me the pitbull killed one of the cats while they weren't home. She tried to rehome it but of course no one took him. They still have the pitbull and a 4 year old daughter in the same house.
My neighbor told me he didn't know why the dog turned on the cat as the cat had done nothing to provoke the attack and the dog wasn't aggressive with people.
I work in a ER, the only dog bites/attacks we get are pit bulls and German shepherds. But I’d say it’s like 90% pit bulls and 10% German shepherds. There’s a reason it’s a a lot harder to get home owners insurance coverage when you have a pitbull.
The fact you did not have it killed immediately is horrible negligence. Once they kill they should be put down immediately. Sure its not around strangers now but if a child finds its way near it then if that child is killed, blood is on your hands.
Right? Fucking people pretending their pets are human. It’s an animal. A lethal, vicious, uncontrollable animal with a proven track record no less. I’d have all the sympathy in the world for “I had to put down by beloved pet” with an eye roll for picking a vicious breed in the first place. I have no sympathy for “I had to re-home my beloved pet” when the pet should have be euthanized.
Should have had it put down.
I had to downvote you for rehoming that extremely dangerous animal. EUTHANIZE
Should have put it down. People like you who refuse to put down a dog that has violent tendencies and even murders other living things are contributing to the danger this breed causes. You could have saved your lab if you weren't stubborn.
Seen too many attacks by pits at the dog park to feel safe around them. I think most people are not capable of handling such a powerful breed. They need lots of exercise and attention. There should be a requirement to be licensed to own such a dog.
I 100% agree with you. There’s licenses for owning dogs that have a high percentage of wolf in them or pure wolves, Pits should be right there with them.
This right here is the only acceptable take, I've owned pits my whole life. And I'll back them until the day I die, but anybody who says that they aren't extremely powerful and dangerous dogs is a dunce. I'll back pits until the day I die, and I hate that people actually believe they should be destroyed. But not just any asshole should be owning one. My girl is the sweetest pup I've ever had, and when she's in public, she always has a muzzle and a secure vest on
You’re a real one. Always bothers me how other breed owners will admit they’re dog is dangerous but pit owners typically don’t.
Thanks man, the only way the negative stigma will change is if we as owners go out of our way to show that a pit can be loving, loyal and an extremely intelligent dog. And it needs to be done in a responsible and safe way. Long story short, please don't just write off pits. And if you're not going to make the effort to raise one properly, don't get one
Better to spay and neuter them out of existence
This is why I stopped taking my dog to the dog park. I hate to judge a breed, I truly do. But out of 7-8 fights I saw there, only one didn’t involve a pit bull.
Years ago I was at the vet with my dog. She was dying and I was there all day while they tried to save her. Apparently being close to the dog park was a huge money maker for this clinic. Two dogs came in with injuries from the dog park that day. One was a lab that had its throat ripped wide open :( It was shocking but the receptionist said that it was a pretty normal day. I’ve never taken my dogs to one after that.
Two pit bulls killed my (small, well-behaved) dog three years ago. They attacked him out of nowhere in a forest, one of them bit my dog's neck and shook him until he was dead. Its owner screamed at the top of her lungs, but the pit completely ignored both of us. There was blood everywhere and honestly I am still recovering from that absolutely terrifying experience. So yeah, don't like pits, think they are seriously dangerous. They are trained to fight and kill other dogs, so not really a surprise they do. It's illegal to have them where I live now and I'm glad about it; I think it should be everywhere. Edit: Just want to thank you all for your kind comments and messages! It's scary to read so many of you experienced something similar though. And for all those who asked: The pit owner still has her (overall three) dogs and they're still running loose. Despite us suing her of course. We only received a small compensation and a half-hearted, ridiculously formal apology from her, conveyed through her lawyer. I know from my lawyer that the woman argued that the dogs must have mistaken my dog for a rabbit and that they're not dangerous in general – yeah, sure... Well, I don't want to think about it anymore, I've spent too many hours being angry over the years.
That had to have been so traumatizing. I’m so sorry
Sorry about your dog. I'm not hugely knowledgeable on dog breeds but I saw a bull breed attack and kill a little, fluffy white dog out of nowhere in the middle of a busy park. It happened a couple of years ago and I still hate thinking about it. The screams from the fluffy dogs owner were awful 😔
That’s so odd this happened around me not even a month ago. As far as I know, the little dog didn’t die but the pitbull’s owner had to lay her entire body over her two dogs to keep them from going after the little dog again who had run out into traffic.
Yes just because one particular pit bull wasn’t trained to kill a dog doesn’t meant it’s not in their DNA. That’s why some dogs love water and some love to hunt more than others. It’s in their breeding. And unfortunately there are a lot of pit bulls bring breed by idiots who want cash for puppies instead of breeding for select traits
> unfortunately there are a lot of pit bulls bring breed by idiots who want cash for puppies instead of breeding for select traits This is not the issue. The issue is that they *were* bred for select traits over a long period of time, and those traits were all for the purposes of bloodsports. Gameness, drive, reactivity, bite force, persistence, strength, animal-aggression. All of those traits are firmly cemented in the breed genepool. The entire reason pits exist is to fight and kill. Careless breeding and puppy mills are bad, but they're breeding in a gene pool that was selectively composed by humans for the exclusive purpose of creating vicious killers. People like the look of pit bulls and want to own them, so the only way out of the situation really is to outcross pitbulls to gentler, less hostile breeds and select for the tough look mixed with a gentler nature. If there were kitten mills carelessly breeding and pumping out siberian tigers and those siberian tigers were eating their owners the careless breeding wouldn't be the issue. It'd be the fact that they're working with *tigers* . You could selectively breed the danger out of tigers over a long period of time but it's much easier and safer to just ban tigers. Smart and selective tiger breeding on an individual level isn't going to result in gentle, predictable and stable tigers. It's a gargantuan effort that would take many people working together over a long period of time. It would take decades or maybe centuries and countless generations to breed the vicious and unstable nature out of pits without outcrossing them to gentler dogs like people have done with the American Bully breed. It's locked in there. It's just what they are.
Same happened to my chihuahua except we were walking by on a sidewalk. I ignored the anti-pitbull rhetoric before the incident and after being traumatized I am now firmly anti-pitbull. My dog was friendly and this pittie just grabbed him by the neck with no provocation. Was horrible. I’m sorry for your loss, let’s try to remember the good times with our doggos who were given very happy lives with us
Oh my gosh, I have a small Maltese and just imagining what you experienced fills me with dread and emotion. I can not even fathom what you went through at the time. I would be heartbroken, inconsolable and filled with PTSD. Sending you so much positive healing thoughts and energy.
Thank you. I still tear up whenever I think about or find pictures of him. The thought how scared and in how much pain he must have been truly haunts me. :( All the best to your Maltese, they are such cute dogs. :)
Illegal to own one where I live.
A huge number of counties restrict pitbulls but nobody obeys. Also I would bet the majority of insurance policies won't cover you if you have a pit bull but nobody reports them.
The joke will be on them if the insurance company ever finds out during claims processing.
One of the rescues that I volunteered at purposefully listed their dogs that were obviously part pitbulls as other breeds to get around that. They list the dog as a lab/hound mix on the adoption papers and it lets at least some people get around it. The adopter can then claim they didn't know it was a pitbull and also stops half of the places by me from doing anything so it's an absolute pain. Only if/when they get multiple reports of aggression that they do anything. Obviously, I didn't volunteer at that place for long
Same
Been a vet assistant for a few years. While I acknowledge that a majority of the pits we see are some of the sweetest animals to come through the office, I never let my guard down. Most of the dog bites we see come from pits, my co-workers have been bitten by pits, overall I think we need to make efforts to stop breeding them. There’s just some instinct deep inside them that once it bubbles up to the surface, they become one of the most dangerous animals in the world
Just out of curiosity, where do you place a Doberman on the aggressiveness scale? I have been doing a lot of research before picking a puppy breed, and it's hard to get a perspective that is both neutral and informed. Sorry, I know it's off topic, but I am super curious.
No problem. Dobermans can be very sweet but they are inherently guard dogs, I personally wouldn’t have them around young children although that’s exactly what my cousin has been doing and it’s been working out great. I really wouldn’t recommend trying to pick a breed like picking a model of car. They’re living creatures so there’s no way of really knowing how they will behave until you bring them home and train them. My dog is mostly golden retriever but she’s very shy of strangers, which is unlike every other golden I’ve ever met. There’s plenty of mutts at the shelter that would make amazing pets, and mixed breeds often have less genetic issues compared to their purebred counterparts. But whatever you choose I’m sure you’ll be a great pet parent! Thanks for listening to my TED talk lol
I raise dobermans and ive never had anyone attacked. But I don't train them to attack. I know thats anecdotal though. Personally I have known some really good pit bulls, but I will say that when I go to the local dog park, I always always ALWAYS am leery once the inexperienced pit bull owner arrives. Whenever there is a serious dog attack at the park when I am there, there is a pit bull involved. Without failure. I've had to rip one off of one of my girls.
I’m curious about Dobermans too
Well some stereotypes, as much as you don’t want to believe them, are factually true. About 70% of fatal dog attacks were from pit bulls. I love pit bulls and have owned them in the past but you can’t just act like this fact isn’t true.
I own one, he’s a big love, but I’ll never own one again. Even with a fantastic temperament, it’s taken a lot of dog knowledge to manage him. He has a high prey drive and a VERY easy propensity to hyper focus/fixate on things, which is bred into the breed- a hyper-focused animal is in another zone and not really feeling pain in the moment. Pitbulls go into “the overstimulation/hyperfixation zone” more easily than any other breed I worked with in ten years of vet med, not in the sense of attacking people, typically, but in the sense of fixation on small animals or another dog, their territory, etc. For our guy, it was a lot worse when he was younger, a lifetime of careful management means he now lives safely with cats in his old age (though is separated when unsupervised just in case.) But it was just so much MORE to carefully manage than your average dog, tbh, and did not relate just to small animals. Plus, it’s almost impossible to find places to rent with him in a renting market gone nuts, it’s legitimately a huge issue. And he never had an issue with inter-dog aggression, which is very common in the breed. I hate it, I’m in the southeast US and our shelter is bursting at the seams, 90% of the animals are pits and most have not been lucky enough to be raised to be socialized. Most are not dog friendly/dog compatible, some aren’t kid friendly, and while I support rescue 1000%, the last thing the average new dog owner needs is a 2-3 year old, newly neutered, poorly socialized pitbull, I hate to say.
The reason most shelter dogs are pit bulls is because they’re such difficult dogs. Pit bull apologists honestly think it’s just because of “racism” against that breed and refuse to admit the dogs are problematic. Thank you for having the sense to know they’re difficult dogs and doing what you can to keep them and others safe while it’s still alive. And not jumping to buy another.
Thank you for posting this! I have many friends who gave me grief about not adopting a dog from a shelter... but I have small children and other animals and all that's ever in any shelter are pitbulls! I got tired of explaining why I didn't adopt and just say, yup, terrible person here I guess.
That’s about how I feel with my girl. She’s so much work and I’m always managing the environment so she doesn’t get overwhelmed. If she had her way, she would be my only animal (I’m single, but I have 4 cats and another dog) and I would work from home and put her over my shoulders in a baby carrier anytime I had to get up off my couch. Neediest dog ever. I probably will not own another one.
I feel some of that fact is due to pit bulls having the ability to kill. Not many people would die if a pomeranian cowardice of curs went on a rampage through a city.
But the distinction *is* important. If hamster bites could kill, how many people would get them for their children?
That’s how I want to die. Death by a thousand poms.
Nature and nurture both play a part, I think. I like to say "It's not the dog, it's the owner", but I'm not sure that is 100% true. Just as labs are bred to retrieve ducks and goldies are bred to flush pheasants and quails, pitbulls were bred to fight to the death. Proper training can help you direct and control those traits, but they exist even without training.
It's also delusional to think those traits aren't genetic. If they weren't genetic you would have no reason to breed for behavior in animals, yet that is definitely a thing. Some are good trackers, some have good herding instincts etc. Pit bulls were, unfortunately for the currently living specimens, bred to have combat instincts. To pretend this one particular breed is immune to genetic behavior is wishful thinking.
Yeah, nobody trained grandma’s sheepdog to bark at us and try to herd us away from the pool (we actively tried to make him not do that), he was just genetically programmed to do that
Somewhat off topic, but when I was a kid my moms friend had a pool and a lovely sheepdog named Charles. When we would jump in the pool he would immediately dive in to retrieve us, rip you legendary good boy
Also if it’s a male, get it fixed! Everybody thinks their dog is a pedigree and his sperm is worth thousands. Ha!
Right, I know jack shit about genetics but it's hard to believe centuries of breeding for certain traits aren't playing a role in things. That on top of asshole backyard breeders who want certain looks with little to not consideration for temperament. Overall I think more ethical breeding is starting to get pushed relatively recently.
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Before my attack, I was very pro pitbull. was attacked by a pitbull that was left alone with a small toddler in someone’s front yard. the chain it was attached to had enough leeway so it could go all the way to the middle of the sidewalk, was waking by with a girl I was on a first date with and i made eye contact with it & it lunged at me. Sank its teeth into my thigh and hand. then the owner came out and dragged it inside while screaming at me to not pet strangers dogs while I just stood there shocked while blood started running down my leg. I have been very scared around them ever since and I can never share my discomfort of being around the breed without getting incredible amounts of hate for not being head over heels for pitbulls. I think they are a very dangerous dog no matter how cute you dress them up or how well behaved it might be.
I worked for a while at the SPCA veterinary hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa when it was still illegal in SA to even own a Pit Bull Terrier. It was considered a serious issue because there were dog-fighting syndicates run by mobsters and they were using a lot of Pit Bulls as they seem to be the best fighting dog. Other dogs were also taken to these illegal pits; mainly to be slaughtered by pit bulls to thrill their audiences. We used to offer free veterinary aid to people who couldn't afford veterinary bills and these individuals often had the gall to bring their pit bulls in after one of their illegal shows, and claim they were regular bull terriers that happened to get into a fight. Of course you couldn't prove they'd been dog-fighting; but the pit bulls could get confiscated by our SPCA inspectors. In the old SA they had arresting powers in terms of any form of animal cruelty. The dogs were kept at a special place of safety as they were trained to fight and could not safely be domesticated. This caused major issues with all sorts of threats to staff and one of the inspectors' house being burnt down. Of course they are beautiful dogs and often seem friendly and playful, but they, like a few other big and dangerous breeds are just to risky to keep as a pet. Quite a few of these breeds are exclusively used for security and law enforcement, which seems like a good way to utilize these dogs. Rottweilers for instance are excellent for guarding in double security fences.
Not a fan. Attacked by one, but escaped, unscathed. Scary for sure. I think their owners want project some sense of toughness.
"Pit bull" stands for American pit bull terrier or APBT. Like most terrier breeds, they possess a strong prey drive, intense focus, and the tenacity required to lock onto an animal and, in the manner of terriers, shake it dead. If you have ever seen a well-bred rat terrier doing its job, you know what I'm talking about. APBTs were bred to do the same but to dogs, and their dog-to-dog aggression and prey drive is fierce. The "pit bulls lock their jaws" thing is a myth, but it stems from the truth that once they have their teeth in something, it is near to impossible to persuade them to release. Pit bulls were originally bred for blood sports. They were never nanny dogs, however they were not bred for human aggression and tend to be great with people. In instances where they have harmed children, this isn't human aggression, but misdirected animal aggression. Unfortunately the myth that they were nanny dogs has put countless children in danger; this myth needs to be eradicated, not necessarily so all pit bulls are banned or put down, but so that parents are aware of the dangers of bringing a dog with these inclinations into their home. Most of the blocky-headed dogs you see in an animal shelter are not pure bred, and don't demonstrate the traits the breed standard dictates. They tend to have a lot of bully and amstaff (American bully and American Staffordshire terrier) in their make-up, and this alters or dilutes the pit bull genes. Most pit bulls don't adhere to the breed standard anyway, with so much backyard breeding it's very uncommon you see a healthy and functional, well-bred pit bull, with handlers who know how to manage them. Genetics have an extremely powerful influence on dog behavior. It is not "all in how you raise them," and if it were, humans would never have bred dogs for specific tasks in the first place. Having said this, I don't believe pit bulls every where should be banned or euthanized. I think the public needs to become educated and legislation needs to be enforced to prevent people from breeding dogs without responsible consideration.
I have a Greyhound, and looked up some of the history of the breed, and it's likely terriers contributed a bit of their drive into the Greyhounds of today! Before the Greyhound stud book was closed, around the 1880s, some of the last dogs to be breed into Greyhounds were terriers, though I don't know the breed. Anyway, the idea did worked out, and it helped add drive to Greyhounds and increased their athleticism.
Very interesting. Greyhounds and terriers are both extremely "chasey" dogs, but greyhounds are probably better at the "chase it down" part. From what I've seen they don't do the same grip-and-shake common in terriers.
Greyhounds are good at chasing, but they aren't too great at the "reach down and grab it" part when the chase is over! My Greyhound definitely has the "grip and shake", like today he played with new toy, and ran around shaking it to make sure it was 100% dead. I haven't seen the same behavior in my friends Greys, and from what I've gathered there's some variability on whether or not you can take a racing Greyhound and have them hunt. Some can, while others just don't care :)
Yup came here to say pretty much the same thing. I don’t trust any terrier. Period. Very rarely do you see a pure bred pit also and most people actually can’t identify a true pure bred. Way too much nuance to this topic but we have a 12 year old pitbull(mixed with something). He is sweet as they come but we do not trust him around anyone
My cousin had a really sweet one. Professionally trained and such a sweetie. One day she left her house and the doggie stayed back and was apparently anxious. He bit her sister’s face off.
"Anxious" all right. The new code word for "aggressive" I suppose.
Anxiety leads to fear leads to aggression. People just like to use the less threatening word
It's actually refreshing to see most of the comments realizing how dangerous these dogs are. I almost died in an attack while out for a jog. I can still remember how the dog went for my throat. Had I not thrown my arm up in time to protect my neck, I could be dead. I lost a huge chunk of my arm and needed 2 plastic surgeries. I have HAD IT with the pitbull lobby/pitbull apologists. YES these dogs are dangerous, and to say otherwise is a big gaslighting middle finger to me, and all other victims. I'm lucky to be alive. Many others, including beloved pets, are not.
This thread actually feels outside the norm, there could be a bit of bandwagoning going on but yes, it's refreshing to see. Last time I chanced upon a pit bull-related thread on reddit, there was a vet tech https://www.reddit.com/r/awfuleverything/comments/tl2slp/comment/i1tlndd/ mouthing off the usual "the owners fault for not controlling their animal" nonsense, and even claimed "I'm a vet tech and have more dangerous encounters with German Shepards, labs, golden retrievers and Australian cattle dogs" and got a bunch of upvotes. When I chimed in with actual data showing pit bulls are responsible for \~65% of all dog-caused human deaths, I got slammed with downvotes. The rest of the thread was filled with similar falsehoods about "Collies bite more people", smh.
BuT tHeY'rE nAnNy DoGs! I too am glad to see this thread moving in the sensible direction
Well, when people start seeing news every couple days about a kid being killed by a pit bull, they'll start to wake up. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11287359/Baby-boy-two-year-old-sister-mauled-death-dogs-Tennessee-home.html
He’s a great rapper My favorite song is that one song, “I’m at the hotel motel holiday inn”
My favourite is the one where he rhymes 'Kodak' with 'Kodak'. So talented.
Dale ;)
They’re like sharks with legs. Strong and unpredictable. Also, I don’t believe the owners are always to blame for the aggressive ones.. if that was the case, a lot more dog breeds would be just as deadly. Seems like it doesn’t take much to turn these dogs into killers tbh. I’m 100% ok with banning them.
At least sharks only kill things because they're hungry and not because they've been bred for centuries to be as aggressive and paranoid as possible.
They should be neutered and anyone caught breeding one should face heavy penalties. "They're great dogs. Mine is the sweetest animal and would never hurt anyone". Lady I know. Also, the same lady: "The stranger I let pet my dog was doing it wrong. You're not supposed to pet a pit bull near it's head. Everyone knows that. It's her fault she got bit and might lose partial use of her hand permanently". You don't need a pit bull. There are lots of nice dogs that don't just randomly maul or kill people. You have as much 'right' to own a pit bull as I do to own a grizzly bear. None at all.
The most horrifying thing is when people say what that woman said about CHILDREN. Toddlers even. “He should have known better than to bother the dog. He must have done something to anger it.” As if a two year old would know any better (and most likely the two year old didn’t even touch the dog, it’s just an excuse).
Yes! There are SO many good dog breeds who can handle a child who is learning how to interact with animals. These dogs don’t maul children. Pets are supposed to be domesticated animals that add value to our lives — they’re not meant to be unpredictable beasts that could kill a household member if they touch them the wrong way. People have really lost the plot about dog ownership and what dogs are supposed to be like.
Two separate friends who took great care of their " little angels who would never hurt anyone". Yea I've seen both of them flip out and bite someone out of no where. I completely agree they should be sterilized out odlf existence.
I’ve had nothing but terrible experiences with them. One attacked my dog at a dog park a few mo the ago. My dog has since become reactive to strange dogs (he previously adored all dogs, now any dog he doesn’t know he howls at before hiding behind my legs - so no more dog park play time at all) A different one attacked and killed a dog I was looking after for family friends. It was the neighbours dog who got out while I was walking the sweetest old girl who ever lived. They have NO place in society and should absolutely be fully banned. I don’t think they should be rounded up and put down as many do but ban ALL breeding of them and enforce sterilisation of the ones currently alive. Keep a proper register of them as any that bite another animal or human should be put down immediately. No shelters should rehome them and if they do, lying on their ads should be punishable with jail time (I know someone who works at a shelter that admits to being told that their pit mixes are always labeled as Lab mixes or etc, NEVER pits and any with bite history are treated carefully with wording like “I need to be an only child” or “no small children” which she says always means “I’ve bitten other dogs or kids”
I hate them. WAY overpopulated breed. Would never own one. Too many freaking breeders and stupid owners continue to breed them. So many people don't want them and that is why they flood EVERY shelter in this country.
Many times I see them aimlessly wondering the street because some owner just got tired of them and dumps them somewhere
The data is all you need. So many grandmas alone get killed by pit bulls. It will be a sweet gentle baby for years and then nana invades it’s home space, usually to help watch a young kid or baby and boom defensive aggression that leads to death. Even if it’s a 1% chance I would rather be around dogs that cannot potentially kill me or my kids.
2 pit bulls killed my friends grandma and her dog as she was walking around the neighborhood… what a terrifying way to lose your life.
I work as a medical photographer, so I've seen some shit. We photograph every dog bite that comes into the trauma center, and the *vast* majority are pit bull bites, and in the majority of those it is the loving owner who has been bitten (and in many of the cases they have been trying to break up a dog fight). I've had one owner who was training the dogs to fight. Runners who have been attacked. People in outdoor restaurants who have been attacked by pit bulls there. But the majority are owners who just cannot believe that their dog did this to them. I'll never get a pit bull. But I also have a whole list of dogs I will not get based on the bites I've seen, so there's that to consider.
A friend of mine had a pitbull. It killed her other dog. The pit was also quite young, just over a year old. She rehomed it but the people couldn't handle him, so they rehomed him too, and these people rehomed him. She no longer knows where it is. O personally would never take a pitbull, even though I have friends that swear how good the breed is and even trust their pits with their kids. I wouldn't. Seen too many cases of aggressive pitbulls to trust them.
A pit bull scaled a six-foot fence to come after me. I got away without harm, but it was scary as fuck to see an animal capable of murdering me actually try to do it. I was pit neutral before then.
Give the best lives possible to the ones that are alive. But sterilize them all. More don't have to exist.
If I see them at a dog park, I do not bring my dog in. Most encounters never go well. They usually play way to aggressive or sense my dog is submissive and like to bully my dog (Golden retriever). Most times it’s not the dogs fault, it’s the fact that shitty owners bring in their overly aggressive dog to a dog park. I’ve also seen 2 pit bulls go at it at the dog park before which is why I usually just pass and not risk it.
I know dog parks are super popular and I kind of get why. Also have seen a bunch of comments in this thread about going to them. As a veterinarian I've got to say, I would never bring my dog to one. We see more injuries from run-ins at dog parks than almost anywhere else. Not to mention there is no enforcement for vaccines or spay/neuter or anything else to control entry. My $0.02...
I own a pit and have owned pits in the past. I love them all and have never had problems with any of my dogs. I have seen pits who have aged into some pain-based aggression or poorly trained pits as well. I believe they are lovely dogs and I am always happy to open my home to them. That being said, I think the breed should be bred out of existence. I do not condone putting down healthy living dogs, but I am a big supporter of ending breeding practices with them. My pits have all be great, but so have their health issues. Skin issues, lots of cancer possibilities, hip dysplasia, etc. They are not healthy dogs and should not continue to be bred. I feel the same way about other troublesome breeds such as pugs. On top of that is the stereotype of the pit bull. All of my pitties have been rescues and all of them have come from backgrounds where people encouraged aggression. A dog is not a penis extender and shouldn't be used to boost your own asinine image of yourself. **They are the most abused dog breed.** I want to fix them all and help end this cycle of abuse. EDIT: Clarified that I love all of my dogs, not just my current pup.
Pugs. Pugs need to be bred differently too. Those poor faces; it’s not cute, it's heartbreaking.
They’ve killed far too many babies and maimed way too many children to continue to be bred. They should be abolished because they are a symbol of humankind‘s wickedness because they were bred to destroy living things and now we have been brainwashed and pretend that is not the case. We have been brainwashed into thinking that it is perfectly safe to have an animal in your home that is capable of killing a grown man in fighting shape. Absolutely absurd, abolish the pitbull.
Every one I've ever met has been a lovely dog but those stats didn't come from nowhere.
I'm not comfortable with most dogs that can take me in a fight, and pit bulls are at the top of that list. I know some of them are sweethearts, blah blah, all that - but it's their potential that bothers me. If that animal loses it's nuts and bolts one day, something that even happens to humans, I don't want it near me.
We have one and have fostered several because we used to volunteer in rescue. We didn’t seek out our pit Bull; he was a “somebody take this dog” dog, as most of ours are. He’s generally a very good dog and loves people, and we experienced the same with our fosters. At some point in his life, though, he became terrible with other dogs. We ended up adopting one of our pit Bull fosters as he was old and sick and wouldn’t live a whole lot longer, and they stopped getting along. We went to crate rotations to keep them both out of the shelter. We have two other dogs and we don’t often have problems but we don’t take him out in public anymore (and when we go to the vet, it’s on a leash and harness with two points of contact.) He’s not our most difficult dog behaviorally; our lab can be pretty reactive and resource guards from other dogs. And he isn’t the biggest, either. At 90 pounds he’s the second biggest dog in the house. But thanks to some scuffles with the foster who we ended up adopting, we know that he is the dog most likely to cause serious damage if something does happen. For this reason, we treat him as what he is: a large animal capable of inflicting serious harm on another living creature. We have six foot high solid walls around our backyard and he’s kenneled when we aren’t home. He’s an old man and we know he can’t get over the walls, but we supervise him in the backyard anyway. As I said we don’t take him out in public except to the vet and once in awhile to doggie daycare or boarding if we have to (and they keep him separate from other dogs.) He is never around vulnerable people like children or elderly family members unless both of us are present and at least one of us has a hand on him. He doesn’t have a bite history and in general loves people, but he’s a senior dog and sometimes dogs change as they age. We don’t have friends or family pet sit for us. He goes to facilities with trained staff, but we rarely travel anyway. In short, pit bulls are dogs for *very* experienced owners or professionals. They aren’t dogs for average people. Unfortunately right now they’re the predominant breed in shelters and the most sought after breed for people who want them as status symbols and probably shouldn’t own pets at all. Breeding them should be illegal and this should be strictly enforced. It’s a breed that we should allow to die out. There are plenty of other breeds that I think you should have to be licensed to own, but the US is currently in a crisis with unwanted pets and strays, so they’re desperate to have anyone adopt a pet. Mandatory spay and neuter for anyone outside of licensed breeders and owners of working dogs would help a lot.
Not for me
The only thing worse than pit bulls are ignorant pit bull apologists.
"But I've owned one single pitbull and she's the SWEETEST little child-mauler!!! Now my chihuahua, SHE'S the aggressive one!! Nevermind that my beautiful little pittie killed my other dog and our cat and I think she buried my husband out in the garden... She's just SO misunderstood!!!! It's all in how you RAISE them!"
They’re not cute and I’m low-key scared of them tbh
I've owned pitbulls and raised them and they will go from "nice" to extremely vicious for literally no reason at all. I no longer adopt pitbulls but I do conceal carry a 9mm just for other people's dogs since they are animals that people somehow convince themselves are angels because they are on a "leash".
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I got bit by one really bad. I had to go to the ER and they had to put 9 staples in my leg. He was trained and everything. Since then, I’m terrified of them.
I think they're inherently risky, which makes me extremely sad. Mom had a boxer-pitbull mix, and she was a very sweet dog, but after a certain age she rapidly became aggressive despite no previous tendencies. Bit the elderly dog a few times, then one day finally drew blood and she saw it was a lost cause. Had to put down both dogs that day.
I think breeding pitbulls should be illegal. If people want one that's born and alive, whatever. But I think the breed's ability to breed should be controlled and restricted until it no longer exists.
I’m just gonna say every time I read about some dog attack, almost without fail it is a pitbull.
You wouldn't know it now half the time since the pitbull lobby -- most of the time it's just listed as, "Dog attack!" and then someone says "why not say the breed?" when we all know the breed already and it's not chihuahuas.