OMG I did just say that! What are you talking about?

Pit bulls jaws do not lock in place, nor do they go senile earlier than any other dog breed. The media perpetuates this lie, as they did in the 90s with Rottweilers when they were the "bad breed," and with GSDs in the 80s. The AKC actually lists the APBTs as one breed that does exceedingly well with children.

And Rudey, I am not stating that a dog is a human, nor am I stating that they should be treated as such. I am stating that we, as humans, should treat our dogs humanely. This includes love, proper training, vet care, and food, water, and shelter. Most dogs that attack, have been abused. Pit bulls, unfortunately, are one of the most abused dog breeds. Mostly because of the "urban ganster" culture that promotes the dogs as fierce. Dogs that have been trained to fight, I see no problem in putting them down, as early training is very difficult to correct. I do see a problem in banning a whole breed of dog, since all dogs have fighting instincts.

The pit bull is one of many breeds that were bred for fighting, however, we don't have to continue on that path. The bulldog was bred for bull baiting, which eventually was outlawed and the dogs became pets. Just because a dog was origninally bred for a purpose doesn't mean that the only thing the dog can do is that purpose. Otherwise, dogs would only be herding dogs, the original purpose for domestication.

And I'm sorry, People for the unEthical Treatment of Animals are imbeciles. Yes, they advocate the forced extinction of pit bulls, but they also state that we shouldn't keep any animal as a pet or livestock herd.

Ok, I was wrong about the lockjaw.

Are Pit Bulls that much more dangerous than attack dogs such as Rottweilers & German Shepherd, or is it a case of “no such thing as bad dogs, just bad owners?
BOTH SAYS THE RSPCA. Paul Edwards.
Pit Bulls were breed from Staffordshire Bull Terriers & Bull Mastiffs - Not to guard, or hunt, but to viciously rip other dogs to death in pits while their bloodthirsty owners cheered.
“They can literally sever limbs,” the RSPCAs, Paul Edwards said.
Unlike German Shepherds, which lock their jaws, Pit Bulls move their back molars once they have bitten. Their lower jaw scissors back & forth to sever flesh from the bone.
They are not large dogs, but they have an enormous power-to-weight ratio. Their jaw strength is far greater than any other dog.
A Rottweiler will exert 800 pounds-per-square-inch jaw pressure and a Bull Terrier will exert 1200psi. A Pit Bull will exert more than 2000 psi.
You can have savage Labradors and savage Chihuahuas, but none of them has the potential to maim & kill that a pit bull does.
42% of all dog related deaths in the US are from Pit Bulls - & they constitute 1% of all dogs. 70% of those deaths were children.
A Rotty or Doberman are savage because they are
territorial - they will defend their space. A Pit Bull is not savage in that sense-just unpredictable.



http://www.edba.org.au/courier.html

First, you quote a Austrailian article about things that happen in the US and Paul Edwards doesn't even speak for the entire RSPCA; the article goes on to say how loyal a pit is. Not quoting the entire article makes it seem different than it is, which is a media article, not a scientific article.

Second, dog breeds are mis-identified all the time. This morning there was a dog attack and the first articles stated that a pit did it, it turns out that it was a lab.

Third, I've read many conflicting articles about the pressure that dog jaws can exert, and I'm not inclined to argue this point without further research. However, I do urge you to further your research.

Fourth, yes, other dogs do have the potential to maim and kill just as a pit does. I was mauled as a child, and I still bear the scars. I got pushed down by a dog last week in the clinic, and the only reason I wasn't mauled this time was because the owner knew to muzzle their dog. (Those breeds, for anyone interested, were a beagle and a dalmatian.)

Fifth, yes, certain dog breeds are more territorial and certain breeds have higher prey drives. Children are prey, if their parents are responsible and keep them away from untrained dogs, this wouldn't be a problem. Likewise, owners need to be responsible and train their animals, and keep them away from children if they know they have this problem. Also, I want to know how many of those attacks were provoked. Children often don't understand the things they do that annoy or hurt the dog. I don't think that any dog should be left alone with any child, pit or not.

Like I said, dogs respond to treatment. If they are raised being loved, cared for, and properly trained, pits are wonderful pets. I personally am looking for a pit from a rescue or shelter to be a companion to my Rottweiler. Unfortunately, many pits have been mistreated by everything from fighting to simple neglect, and that brings out the worst in any dog.

I'm not saying that you should go out and adopt a pit, I think that people should adopt a pet that fits their lifestyle. While there are laws that currently restrict what type of pets you can own, most of those laws are to enforce the humane treatment of the animal (exotics) or to enforce public health and safety (livestock, vaccinations, et cetera.) I just feel that it isn't in the public interest to ban a dog breed that if properly handled poses no threat.

It is sad that a breed is being punished mostly due to irresponsible owners. I see pits on a daily basis and trust them more on exam than I trust a corgie, chihuahua, damnation (ie dalmation), chow, shar pei, spitz, shibu inu (these are the breeds that we muzzle most often). However, these breeds (at least most) do not have the capabilities to kill me (unless I get rabies or a flesh eating bacteria). I do not trust most pits around other animals especially small dogs and cats unless they were raised with them. Most of the problems I see are due to bad owners that put them out in the yard on a chain, they give them no chance to properly socialize. and offer no training So, we are banning a breed in order to punish these irresponsible o's but unfortunately the good o's are the ones that suffer as the bad ones don't give a $hit. Many of the DRs I work with have pits and they are well behaved, get along with kids and other animals so they are not necessarily inherently bad.

These breeds are not natural. What are we killing here? Someone decided to make a breed that was better at killing. Mutts live longer and don't have as many health problems because they were not bred for special features - ie killing better.

Dog fighters don't throw tiny poodles into fights do they?

I am not saying to kill all pitbulls but there really is no need to allow the breeding to continue if you aren't looking to use them to fight.

-Rudey

No purebred breed is natural. And very few dog breeds are used for their original intent. Someone else referenced the bull dog. I have a cocker spaniel. Cocker spaniels were bred to be hunting dogs. I don't hunt. Neither does my dog.

And again, there have been many dogs classified as "pit bulls" that are not genetically pit bulls. This has skewed the reports of pit bull attacks. Another poster pointed out the reputation of these dogs has been affected by bad owners, newspaper stories and urban legend.

I don't deny that Pit bulls are capable of doing harm. So can any other dog. It is a combination of breeding, temperment and the dog's handler that contributes to the animal's destructive traits and good qualities.

It also goes without saying that no child should ever be left unsupervised with any animal, whether pit bull or golden retriever. And yes, people do come before dogs.

For those of you interested in learning the TRUE nature of pit bulls please check out:


www.pbrc.net

www.badrap.org

www.pitbullproblem.tk

I have two Pit mixes, one permenant resident that I have since she was 5 weeks old and one foster pup who will more than likely become a permenant resident.

BSL sucks. I would not hesitate to let my pits, nor any other pits raised in a stable environment around children. The majority of news stories on PIts are ones that have been chained in backyards and not properly socialized.

My Pit Laney LOVES kids she lives for the days I bring over the kids I babyI babysit for. She plays hde and seek with them under the table. She even loves babies. When i have kids (eventually) I would never worry about her being around my babies.

Here are some pics of my sweet Pittie girls!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...spring0609.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...R/gdparty9.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...R/gdparty2.jpg

Cocker spaniels were bred as gun dogs to flush out woodcock birds according to http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americancocker.htm

They were never bred to kill a large animal in a viscious manner.

And if we can create a breed, we can stop creating that breed. There is no reason to keep it going since it's not natural and it can be dangerous.

Most people would gladly fight a cocker spaniel over a pit bull any day of the week.

-Rudey

One time this girl asked me what I would do if a pitbull (or any other dog with a vicious repuation) cornered me with the intent of mauling me.

I told her I would kick, scream, try and gauge it's fucking eyeball out. Bite back. Choke it out.

She looked at me as if I were crazy.

Hey Bobby, how far away are you from LA?

I'm in huntington beach bro. about 45 minutes away.

That's great that you have a sweet dog, but still dogs are dirty and have germs no matter how clean you keep them. I don't want my dog licking or scratching on or around my baby.

No My Dear, They are cleaner than Humans!:rolleyes:

When was the last time You cleaned Your Body? Well, they do the same thing.:cool:

When have You knawed for such little critters such as Crabs that bother You?

Why do You think Elephants roll in the mud or throw dirt on themselves? They use that to protect them selfs from little critters that try to get them through the skin. What do You use? Oh, scents, Aloe Creams and other offensive odors to animals and maybe some humans.:D

Well whatever, our dog doesn't roll around on our baby. Nothing more to say really.

woof woof

I catch way more things from the humans I work with than from the animals I treat . I would rather be around a cat or a dog than a baby. The Drs that have children bring their kid's illnesses to work and then the rest of the clinic ends up getting sick.

Funny I should see this now because about an hour ago I was talking to my sister and she told me how she got called down to the emergency department last night to operate on a woman who had half of her lip bitten off by her pet cocker spaniel. It was so grisly-looking, my sister said her first thought was "H--y S--t; someone call a doctor!" and then "Oh f--k, that's me!" (yes, we're potty mouths in my family)

Cocker spaniels; who knew???

Yeah. Uhhhh. And I'm sure you don't catch STDs from dogs either right? Unless you are into beastiality

I was attacked by a cocker spaniel two summers ago. It took a nice chunk out of my right leg. They're nasty dogs, and I know about three people who've gotten rid of them because they're so mean. That's probably sterotyping them, but the people who had the dogs raised them correctly.

I really don't support breed bans,but I throughly support leash laws.

Ouch. I would be down with the leash laws. However, I'm tired of seeing smaller women with a huge ass dog on a leash. If that dog wanted to attack anyone, what can they really do about it?

I have a neighbor who has this two fat dobermans (?s). He doesn't walk them. THEY walk him. Scary looking beasts, too. Everyone crosses the street when they see 'em.

OK that's gross. But if it was the rotweiller or pitbull, I bet the woman would be dead. And you know what? If a little dog attacked me I would kill it. I talked about this with my buddy. I would punch the crap out of that dog. I can walk upright and use all four limbs to inflict damage unlike that inferior species. When I was done beating it, I would tie it up and bite it. I would bite that dog just so he would understand that biting hurts.

-Rudey

My family owns a cocker spaniel & she is the meanest bitch you'll ever meet. She is definitely NOT safe to have around children.

Maybe if we didn't put bows in her hair: ;)

http://pics.livejournal.com/crzychx/pic/0006b8zc

In all seriousness, cocker spaniels have a tendency to snap fairly quickly. I'm more cautious of them since I grew up around one, but I'd still trust one more than a pit bull. Because I've seen my own dog get loose & run after neighborhood kids, strangers & other animals I definitely support leash & muzzle laws. But I can't justify supporting the extermination of an entire breed.

The problem is enforcement of leash laws. Animals should be PROPERLY restrained when out of property, and while on property (Fence, or tether although some communities mandate fences for dogs, which is understandable). But who enforces? Police? Humane Society? ASPCA officers? Some places in Ireland have Dog Wardens, responsible for fouling fines (ALSO important!) and leash fines. In order for leash law to stick, it needs to be enforced, and unfortunately, it's not.

I can't believe they'd want to ban them! I've seen some adorable pit bulls, that were just incredibly nice and sweet! I think if anything, they should finally enforce some of those leash laws! I have one of the sweetest dogs in the world, but I live in an apt., and when these kids are outside running around and startling him, or just being annoying (we had kids that were like screaming at him the other night!) he'll turn around and growl at them-not like a "Im going to attack you" type of growl, but a "hey watch it buddy!"-but he could turn on them, I mean, all dogs can!

Maybe they should create laws as to who can own these dogs(background checks, certified to breed, etc-and ACTUALLY ENFORCE THEM!), rather than banning them all!

http://www.badrap.org/rescue/Ohio_decision.pdf

Most of these laws are stupid and outdated.

For instance, I think the only state that has a law against keeping ferrets is California. There might be one or two other states but there aren't many and I know Cali is one of them.

The reason: if too many ferrets are set loose in california, they might create havoc on the environment. You know what creates havoc on the california environment? Freaking squirrels. I've never seen so many squirrels as I have in norcal, they are freaking everywhere.

Ferrets are actually pretty smart animals. I have two, they are litter trained, I can walk them on a leash, they do tricks and a bunch of other cool stuff other stupid animals can't do. Oh, and they don't stink of you care for them properly.

You know why? Because NoCal sucks and is too liberal. NoCal needs to call themselves southern oregon because they are making us look gay.

When I heard this story on the news, I immediately thought of this thread.

The puppy in the story was only 10 months old and reportedly (on the actual newscast) tortured because she wouldn't mate with another dog.

:(


http://www.kdfwfox4.com/

MAN CHARGED WITH MERCY'S FATAL TORTURE

(DALLAS, April 27) -- A 21-year-old North Texas man was arrested and charged Wednesday night in the fatal torture of a 10-month-old dog name "Mercy."

Dallas police arrested Deshawn Brown at his mother's home in the Denton County town of Corinth. He faces multiple charges, including cruelty to an animal.

The pit bull mix puppy was found on Good Friday behind a Dallas apartment complex. Investigators said she'd been stabbed repeatedly and apparently doused with gasoline and set on fire. She suffered burns to 60 percent of her body.

Mercy died Sunday night.

Operation Kindness, the nonprofit organization that took care of Mercy until she died, will hold a public memorial in the dog's honor on Saturday at 10 a.m.

BOSSIER CITY (AP) - Bossier City Police have booked the parents of a one-month old baby after the family's pit bull chewed off four of the baby's toes.

Detective say the parents, Mary Shannon Hansche and Christopher Wayne Hansche, were sleeping on a mattress and the baby was in a car-seat beside the mattress.

The parents woke up to the baby crying and took her to the hospital.

Both parents were booked with one count of intentional or criminal negligence.

The charge applies when a child under the age of 10 years is exposed to danger and they can't protect themselves.

The baby girl is in custody of the state and listed in stable condition.

omg how horrible!! What a sad little baby!
I ride the bus to school. It goes through a pretty run down area and it hurts to see all the dogs (pitbulls too) chained in dirt backyards. Most of these dogs will lay in dirt their entire lives with no human affection. No wonder they turn out mean.

I read through this thread and I just had to laugh every time someone talked about mean chihuahuas. My chihuahua HATES little kids because my nasty little sister used to play too rough (she even broke my dog's legs once and my dog even bit through her lip once when she tried brushing the dog's teeth). As long as it's not a little kid trying to pick my dog up, my dog loves people.

Wow who sleeps on a "mattress"? I sleep in a bed. Where was this baby's crib? It doesn't sound like the living conditions here were too great. The dog probably hadn't gotten fed in weeks either.

I have a friend who works for a lab that processes results for vets on animals. She's told me that pit bulls have a tendency to develop a certain brain tumor. These brain tumors make them snap. A perfectly friendly pit bull could turn deadly because of the tumors.

HMMM, I am a vet and have not heard of this. What kind of tumor? I have to say I treat a fair number of pits and tumors is not a common problem I see. That problem belongs to boxers and goldens.

Totally myth.

http://www.realpitbull.com/myths.html


I have not ever heard of a pit bull attacking someone without there being some reason behind the attack. The large majority of pit bull who are in the media are ones that haven't been socialized well with humans or ones that have been taught to be mean. A great many of the dogs involved in attacks are not really pit bulls, but some other bully breed that look similar to the pit.

As a breed, Pit bulls are bred to be DOG aggressive not HUMAN aggressive.


I have seen the pit puppy article on a couple forums the past few days and pretty much everyone agrees that the parents had to be high on something. It would take awhile for a pup to chew off a baby's toes, and that baby probably screamed as soon as the pup started chewing. Why didn't the parents hear the baby? 6 wks is too early to take a puppy away from its litter. The dog probably was probably either trying to nurse then when he didn't get any milk, he started to chew, or he thought he was playing with one of his litter mates. Poor puppy and poor kid.

[quote=CUGreekgirl;1370848]Totally myth.



I guess I should take those friend of a friend factoids with a grain of salt. :D

I totally agree, as (1) that pup was entirely too young to be away from his mother and littermates, and baby toes are about the size of a nipple, so nursing does seem like the intentions of the dog and (2) those owners/parents had to be on something, as a baby would have cried as soon as the pup started chewing, cause puppy teeth are like needles!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmwaHMzgrKk

Watch with the sound off, that song blows!

This is truely a sad situation.

This once again shows the ineptitude of some parents who are either to poor or on drugs which means they are poor because it it.

Again the name of a breed PIT BULL brings fear and loathing and is usually wrong.

This was just a pup that did not know any better. It was the parents who were at fault, not the dog. But again the name of the breed brings horror to people.

There are other breeds who are worse and one is the St. Benard but everyone things they are great.

I had a pit bull and he was fantastic with the two little grand daughters of the lady I was living with.:D

Even the most docile animal can turn and be mean depending on they are treated.