Temperament is inherited. Carefully bred pitbulls are lovely animals, but many are not carefully bred and some are deliberately bred to be mean dogs. Breed 2 parent dogs together who have unstable temperaments and you get puppies with unstable temperaments. Unfortunately, there are a lot of deliberately bred litters of pitbulls with unstable parent dogs. There is a very large percentage of the population who think it is macho to own a dangerous dog or that want an emotionally unstable dog to guard their drug house. Those people are producing a large number of unstable dogs.
Stray and abandoned pitbulls are very unlikely to be well bred dogs from careful breeders who were diligent about placing their puppies into the correct homes. It is much more likely that they were bred for profit or by accident and then given away out of a cardboard box in front of the grocery store to anyone who would take one, suitable to raise a dog or not.
Humane Societies have no way of knowing whether the stray pitbull was well bred and perfectly raised (which is very unlikely) or whether it is a random mutt who was badly raised. Humane Societies get sued if they place a dog who is emotionally unstable and puts a child into the hospital. Therefore some Humane societies will not place pitbulls. Although, they should have said so before the dog was turned over.
Pitbulls are very difficult to place, and humane Societies who accept and place pitbulls, end up with a kennel full of dogs they can't find homes for. For one thing, approximately 38% of the population are renters and landlords will not permit pitbulls, even if they allow dogs. So humane societies can not place any pitbulls with people who do not own their own home. So, they end up feeding and vaccinating a dog that they are going to put down in 2 weeks anyway.
I'm around a lot of dogs and my experience is about 50/50 on the pitbulls. 1/2 of them are dangerous or quirky to the point that I would not trust them. 1/2 of them are great dogs. The owners of show quality pits or Staffordshires raise a great dog. But many of the pit owners should not be allowed to own a pet rock, let alone a live animal and those dogs are not well trained. Many of them do not recognize when their dog is exhibiting behavior that needs to be stopped immediately.
So add to the humane society problem that many of the people who come in looking for a pit should not be allowed to have any dog, let alone a big strong protective breed.
Stray and abandoned pitbulls are very unlikely to be well bred dogs from careful breeders who were diligent about placing their puppies into the correct homes. It is much more likely that they were bred for profit or by accident and then given away out of a cardboard box in front of the grocery store to anyone who would take one, suitable to raise a dog or not.
Humane Societies have no way of knowing whether the stray pitbull was well bred and perfectly raised (which is very unlikely) or whether it is a random mutt who was badly raised. Humane Societies get sued if they place a dog who is emotionally unstable and puts a child into the hospital. Therefore some Humane societies will not place pitbulls. Although, they should have said so before the dog was turned over.
Pitbulls are very difficult to place, and humane Societies who accept and place pitbulls, end up with a kennel full of dogs they can't find homes for. For one thing, approximately 38% of the population are renters and landlords will not permit pitbulls, even if they allow dogs. So humane societies can not place any pitbulls with people who do not own their own home. So, they end up feeding and vaccinating a dog that they are going to put down in 2 weeks anyway.
I'm around a lot of dogs and my experience is about 50/50 on the pitbulls. 1/2 of them are dangerous or quirky to the point that I would not trust them. 1/2 of them are great dogs. The owners of show quality pits or Staffordshires raise a great dog. But many of the pit owners should not be allowed to own a pet rock, let alone a live animal and those dogs are not well trained. Many of them do not recognize when their dog is exhibiting behavior that needs to be stopped immediately.
So add to the humane society problem that many of the people who come in looking for a pit should not be allowed to have any dog, let alone a big strong protective breed.
