Pitbulls? Don't want to have an incorrect understanding of the breed

[Folly's place]

Shelter dogs can be purebreds, or not.
Mary

 

[chickentrains]

Yep, raise them right doesn't even matter. Ever hear of genetics?

 

[chickentrains]

Shelter dogs can be purebreds, or not.
Mary

99.9% of the time, the shelter pit bulls aren't pure bred .. American pit bull terriers are a rare breed, and aren't commonly being dumped in shelters.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

I do have to disagree just a little bit about the "raise them right" mentality some people have regarding dogs. Like I said before, it's possible to love a dog and treat it well and turn it into a little MONSTER.
It's also true that some dogs are downright mean from a young age. When people talk about breeding for temperament I think that people really don't understand what that means. I hands on deal with over 100 dogs every month. And some of the dogs I get in from little tiny puppies have such joyful and wonderful temperaments. And some have such bad ones that theyre miserable animals. Some downright aggressive. Some so anxious and nervous that they can barely function. They really can't. It's shameful what some breeders do.


You can find a wonderful dog with a good temperament whether you choose to shop or adopt. And I've seen Great dogs come from bad situations.

The worrisome thing about bully breeds in my mind is not that they bite. Any dog can do that. The thing that concerns me is the number of instances I've seen where a bull breed turns suddenly on humans or animals they've lived with long term.
I mentioned my friends dog who bit her child. The dog was reared same as her other pits.

I have another friend who also works with dogs. She has 6 of her own. Her bully mix was raised with her 5 other small dogs from the time she was a puppy. At 4 years old the dynamics changed for some reason and she tried to kill her chihuahua sister. From them on any time she would see the smaller dogs she would see red. Broke through a window getting cut by glass to get to them. During one attack she redirected her aggression on her owner and bit her in the leg quite severely. Another instance she bit a man coming to pick up a lawnmower. They won't give up on her. She lives a very "managed" life.

And I have a half dozen similar stories. All dogs raised in loving homes but suddenly became triggered later in life for really unknown reasons.

I think this is more of an issue where I live bc dog fighting is still a thing around here. And the idiots who do it don't really worry if the dogs are people aggressive as well.... It's hard to find a bully mix around here that is several generation removed from fighting dogs.

I had a black lab Australian Shepard mix. He was good until about a year of age and almost bit one of my siblings they are younger. Of course I couldn’t keep him with small children around.

 

[chickentrains]

You made a mistake with this one black cat, nobody even knows what they are taking about.

 

[Folly's place]

Talking about dogs who just aren't 'wired' right, can be of any breed. And I've met two killer golden retrievers, BTW. When we work with and have lots of dog experience, we all have stories like @Halfpasthen , involving dogs of many breeds. Usually there's more to the story, as in warning signs ignored, or people who just won't 'give up' on a dangerous dog until someone dies. Or sometimes the dog develops a disease, like a brain tumor, or some mood altering something.
And a maturing individual may decide to bite a family member for some reason that makes sense to the dog at that moment. And when a big dog bites, it's a big deal!
Mary

 

[Halfpasthen]

Talking about dogs who just aren't 'wired' right, can be of any breed. And I've met two killer golden retrievers, BTW. When we work with and have lots of dog experience, we all have stories like @Halfpasthen , involving dogs of many breeds. Usually there's more to the story, as in warning signs ignored, or people who just won't 'give up' on a dangerous dog until someone dies. Or sometimes the dog develops a disease, like a brain tumor, or some mood altering something.
And a maturing individual may decide to bite a family member for some reason that makes sense to the dog at that moment. And when a big dog bites, it's a big deal!
Mary

Absolutely I have lots of stories of dog bites and the worst I ever saw was a shih tzu that bite a coworkers face so badly she had to have plastic surgery to put her lip back together.

I 100% agree that there are lots of extenuating circumstances. And almost every bite can be explained. And that's why I mentioned that a part of me wonders if some bullies aren't prone to neurological issues that make seemly random, unprovoked attacks more common.

Really though I think they're are lots of breeds more likely to bite than a bully. The only thing that gives me pause sometimes is people saying it's all how you raise them bc with some dogs it's simply not the case. I recently told a client I wouldn't groom her dog any more bc she was simply too aggressive and it was becoming dangerous for me to handle her. The dog? A yorkie mix.
Now I groom 100 lbs dogs that growl and snarl and snap like bears when I try to clip their toenails and they don't worry me. Slip a muzzle on hurry about my job. Unmuzzled them and we are fine. They just don't like their feet touched, no big deal. That little yorkie was so vicious I couldn't get the darn thing out of the kennel without bite gloves lol. She had such a nasty attitude she would bite her owner without hesitation. This was a young dog under a year old. Just bonkers from the get go.

 

[black_cat]

One thing that I definitely saw a lot of when I was training was ppl loving their dog into bad behavior. Just because you love your dog and never raise your voice or your hand to them and you feed them every day does not guarantee a well behaved dog.

Are you,,, not supposed to feed them every day?

 

[Folly's place]

Food does help, and love, and praise, but it's not all that's necessary...
Mary

 

[Halfpasthen]

Just like mistreatment doesn't guarantee a bad dog, love and food doesn't guarantee a good dog.