When I started working as a vet tech several years ago I came into the profession not liking pit bulls too much- when I was about 9 yrs old a pack of 3 ran through my suburban neighborhood and killed my pet cat right before my eyes.
I have worked with many pits, and overall they are a very sweet breed. Just like any breed, there's a "bad apple" once and awhile. That said, I have worked with more aggressive labs than pits. The biggest problem with working with pits are the ones who aren't socialized enough- they are usually too scared and uncomfortable in a new situation. One of the biggest problem pits have is seperation anxiety- they can't bare to be away from their family! Like everyone else has said in this thread, they are a dominant breed and need a owner with a firm hand. Also be aware that they sometimes aren't the greatest dog around new dogs (like dog parks) and other small animals, like cats because they have a high prey drive. If you are starting with a puppy it will be easier to train to get along with other animals.
My favorite pit bull story is about a big red intact boy 1.5 yr old named Nacho. (Nacho is a larger "mexican pitbull", the kind with a huge head. There are also traditional (AKC like) pits) Nacho was brought in about 3 pm. His owner's complaintment was he was hit by a car two days ago and was limping, also wasn't eating or drinking. I roomed Nacho and his owners, and they didn't seem to concerned. Nacho was not bearing any weight on left rear leg. Prognosis already didn't look so good. Owners were very concerned about cost, and basically said they might need some "antibiotics."
When it was time for me to get a closer look, I knew we had a big problem. Nacho's inner thigh muscles on his left leg were shredded, and part of his belly and scrotom. You could see part of his femur, and necrosis had already started. He also had other smaller sores across his body. At that point, it looked like broken bones were likely too. With more discussion, it was discovered that Nacho was dragged about 100 feet, and that he "cried" during it, but it terms of pain afterwards, he had none (according to owner).
he was taken in the treatment room right away and the vets took a look. THe owners had NO IDEA that their dog had these extreme injuries. They never bothered to look, and after the accident, they put Nacho back in his backyard.
The vet talked to the owners and told them Nacho needed to be xrayed to find broken bones, and then even if there weren't any, he would need major surgery because he would die without it. THe owners wanted to TAKE NACHO HOME.
We called animal control, and basically the options were for the owner, 1) surrender to hospital, we could do what we liked with him. 2) come up with enough money to cover xrays and the exam that was already done (we had already given him morphine on the house) and we would go from there.
The owner left and finally came back around closing time. The owner signed him over to us, but it was the owners teenage son who was upset (it was actually his dog). The son
wanted his dad to sign him over, because he didn't want Nacho to suffer and die in their backyard.
We stayed a little late and xrayed Nacho's entire back half, preparing for the worst (it was decided with broken bones, the best thing would to be to put him down). By some miracle, every bone was perfect. He seemed like a sweet dog, but it was hard to know because he was weak and sick, and by that time had a nice dose of morphine
over the course of 6 weeks, Nacho had 3 major surgerys to fix his injuries. We neutered him during the last SX and we laughed because part of his empty scrotal skin ended up being used a little on his thigh
He healed faster than a normal dog would, we think it helped that he had such thick skin, and the pit bull in him let him "tough it out".
As techs, we put so much time into Nacho each day, and there was NO WAY we could have done it if he wasn't the sweetest dog ever. We put him on his back in a trough three times a day (then twice after a while) to change his bandages. One person would change the bandages while the other held him and gave him pets. He had a gaping large hole that we had to change twice daily with special packing bandages, and we were using a method of bandaging that "pulls off" that dead skin, but its hurts when you pull it off.
Even though what we were doing to Nacho was painful, he LOVED the attention he got from the second person while we rubbed his belly and scratched his chin and ears. You could tell he never ever had that kind of affection in his life. His big eyes would close and he would start to fall asleep with content while we gave him love. He winced when we pulled off the bandages, but was happy with staying put and dealing with the pain if someone was giving him pets.
Nacho stayed with us for almost 3 months because we were very picky about who he went to- as nice looking pit bull some of the people who wanted him were not the right kind of owners. We eventually found him the right home with someone who could give him all the love he wanted
