There is nothing in Vick's situation that disproves the previous post. She said SOME DOGS OF EVERY BREED.
The thing people forget, is that breeders of fighting dogs SELECT DOGS OF UNSTABLE TEMPERAMENT AND BREED THEM. THEY PREFER THEM. THEY SPECIFICALLY BREED THEM.
SURE, quite a few pit bulls become great pets. That is because the breeders have not been totally successful in producing a consistently fighting dog.
First of all, there are a few pit breeders out there that don't breed for fighting, adding to the gene pool.
Second, no effort to breed in ANY trait is 100% successful in all individuals.
Third, the way the fighting breeders select dogs for the fighting traits is rather bass-ackwards.
Fourth, some fight as they want, but don't bite people.
Fifth, some dogs can be retrained when older, and some cannot.
Sixth, get a dog when it's eight weeks old, never allow it to fight, teach it to tolerate other dogs, punish it when it growls (stead of giving it a treat), the 'fighting background' is LESS LIKELY to come out, OVERALL, in ALL INDIVIDUALS. That says absolutely nothing about how any ONE individual is going to be.
The problem with the fighting breeds is that they have a tendency to hang on, and to bite repeatedly, which makes them more dangerous, that and the structure of their jaw, which is blocky with very good jaw muscles. If the individual has that makeup and is trained to do so, he can very easily kill another dog or person.
In some dogs, a 'fighting temperament' means they can be TRAINED to fight. or bite In others, it means they CAN'T be trained NOT to fight or bite. In still others, it means they cannot be trained to fight or bite.
Dogs that fight other dogs are often easier to train to attack humans, as in a drug house dog that bites anything that walks in the door except the man that feeds him. There is a very, very significant difference between those two types of dogs. In some dogs, 'fighting temperament' means they would fight other dogs, unless they're taught not to. In others, it means they can never be left with other dogs.
Breeds bred to fight until a hundred years ago, have fewer fighting temperaments. Breeds still bred to fight, have more fighting temperaments.
Look, I know you all love your pit bulls, but you are trying to deny reality. The pit bull is bred to fight and has been for hundreds of years. Some can be pets and some cannot. 'Training' is not always undo-able in all individuals.
If the dog is an eight week old pup and is never encouraged to bite or fight, he is less likely to bite or fight man or beast.
If the dog is five years old and has been in the fighting ring for three years and in a drug house for two years, he is a lot more likely to bite or fight. And harder to change.
PLUS - you're creating false ideas in less than able dog trainers, who could NEVER do what you have done. What you have done, is, in some measure (we can argue the %'s all day) because you're a good dog trainer, because you get the dogs as pups in some cases, and I'm sure ther are other reasons.
BUT PLEASE - STOP TRUMPETING FROM THE ROOFTOPS THAT ANYONE CAN DO THIS WITH ANY PIT BULL FROM ANY SITUATION AND THAT EVERYONE OF THEM CAN COME OUT PERFECT. You're makign dangerous, inaccurate statements. And you're going to get someone hurt - badly.
It's no different from saying that every off the track thoroughbred is quiet enough for a beginner to ride in a field 3 days after it races or that every stud colt in the world is a lamb, just because YOU HAD ONE THAT WAS. Because you say this, some danged fool with no experience with animals is going to get one and get hurt - enough do no matter what you say, don't ADD to it!
Does it make a great pet? Yes, quite often, as breeding in traits is not a perfect science, and training and early rearing accounts for a lot. 'Genes aren't destiny' as they say, but to be perfectly truthful, for every pet pit bull, we can argue all day about how many OTHERS get put down right when they come out of the drug house or the fighting ring, because once taught to fight and be aggressive, they can't be changed.
A guy I dated had two dogs. One was part Airdale. The part Airdale bit five kids. He bit every time someone got behind him when he was lying down. The other dog was an English Sheepdog mix. Every time someone got behind it, it turned around and smiled at them.
There IS a difference between dog breeds and types. I've had a number of different breeds and types and mixes. And they are ALL different.
I trained a beagle once, I said 'heel' to it, and it jumped up and bit me in the throat. Most beagles, you would not exactly expect that. It was both - untrained/spoiled and it was in addition a very strange beagle that startled every time there was something behind it. Trained a blood hound - equally spoiled and untrained. If you tried to get it to do something it did not want to, it would growl, but it would not jump up and bite you in the throat. Both scent hounds, both typically non dangerous, just determined to hunt. I helped with two greyhound pups(both not track hounds, pets)...one didn't care a fig for people, it had a thousand mile stare in the distance, the other would sit there and stare at you in the face all day, wiggling and wagging its tail with joy every time you even looked at it. The thousand mile starer who cared nothing for people got EIGHTEEN MONTHS of TEAM and other wholistic training starting at 3 months (because the breeder could see it had a BIG problem), wrapped in the ace bandage, the whole nine yards. They put more work into that dog than you could imagine. It got a little bit better, but it was never like the other pup.
The most dangerous type of 'dog you can't fix' is a dog that is afraid. You can socialize and a lot of them get fixed. And some, you can't fix.
They startle - no - I don't mean an abused dog. I mean a dog that hits the whelping room floor like this. You can hold them in your hand, turn them, they brace and start getting agitated, when they are 12 hours old. They become reactive dogs, fear biters, and fear biting is unpredictable, inconsistent, and very, very dangerous. A dog that is truly 'agitation trained' is even more dangerous than a fear biter, because it bites more repeatedly.
Among ALL breeds, there are some that are very, very dangerous, and some that are not.
What makes them dangerous? Well, much temperament and behavior are 'plastic' (can be molded) but some things are innate. If there is someone around to abuse and agitate that dog til it's as erratic as a pinwheel in a tornado, that may be healable by someone, or never be healable.
One thing I've learned as I got older, Tom Dorrance, the old horse trainer, who answered most questions with these words, sure was right:
"It depends"