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

[Folly's place]

There are nice Chihuahuas. Really. Not many, but a few.
There are many polite bully type dogs, but most will be the terriers they are, and chase/ kill smaller critters. Mine are definitely like that!
Mary

 

[chickentrains]

There are nice Chihuahuas. Really. Not many, but a few.
There are many polite bully type dogs, but most will be the terriers they are, and chase/ kill smaller critters. Mine are definitely like that!
Mary

I would really like A chih. Mine will be well behaved, thats for sure.

 

[21hens-incharge]

There are nice Chihuahuas. Really. Not many, but a few.
There are many polite bully type dogs, but most will be the terriers they are, and chase/ kill smaller critters. Mine are definitely like that!
Mary

I am sure there are nice ones.

I can 100% say my current group of dogs (only one has bully in her) would definitely chase, catch and unfortunately kill smaller things.
Pretty sure my hens could take on a Chihuahua and win lol.

 

[black_cat]

There are nice Chihuahuas. Really. Not many, but a few.
There are many polite bully type dogs, but most will be the terriers they are, and chase/ kill smaller critters. Mine are definitely like that!
Mary

My friend’s chihuahua is an angel- only nice one that I’ve met.

 

[black_cat]

Okay, y'all are obviously more well prepared for this than me

I was just having a friendly conversation and I hope thats still what this is.

Maybe there are a some bad apples and pitbulls may be better suited for fighting. With the whole alpha thing, I don't even know what to say about that. Its just dominance, almost all animals have an understanding of it. Dogs are smart they can figure out who is in charge, even if it isn't hardwired into their brain. But I don't think its fair to look at an entire breed of dogs and say they are all vicious, aggressive, and malevolent creatures. There are way to many pitbulls that are just the sweetest things you've ever seen.

“Pitbulls” or actual APBTs? I had wanted to learn mostly about the APBTs

I would be shocked if you guys can find a statistic saying that the majority of pitbulls have a natural tendency to kill other dogs and attack people. I don't blame aggression towards cats, that literally like the iconic "dog vs cat" thing. Ive only seen a few dogs that won't chase a cat.

Finn doesn’t :/

 

[chickentrains]

Finn doesn’t :/

Neither do either of my dogs. Unless you've got some sort of high drive dog, the cat chasing is just your fault - aka lack of training

 

[black_cat]

, pit bulls, whatever you want to call them when lumped together are a polarizing breed.

Aren’t those breeds different?

They do not feel pain as other dogs do,

At all? That doesn’t seem right

 

[Folly's place]

Rescue dogs, from wherever, all come with some issue or other. Better shelters and rescue groups do try to screen individuals for common issues, like human/ child aggression, 'bad with cats', especially. My 'good with cats' turned out to 'not perfect' by any stretch. Good with specific house cats, mostly.
Good with people, absolutely!
And I've gotten lazy, have good fencing, and didn't try to 'chicken proof' our last three bully rescues. One of them, the former fighting/ bait dog, would have been about impossible.
And terriers, especially those bred to fight, tend to get more aggressive/ angry when hurt. It's an asset if you want extreme fighting behaviors.
Our dogs listen to my voice, because I always enforce any actual command. My DH is somewhat disabled, and can't get up to personally enforce his commands, so the dogs know it and will ignore him whenever they are so inclined.
These bullies aren't ever going to bite him, but don't respect his wishes either.
Mary

 

[LizzzyJo]

Aren’t those breeds different?

At all? That doesn’t seem right

They certainly feel pain, just not in the same way as other dogs. They have a lower sensitivity to it and that makes them bad candidates for things like pain-related training (shock collar). Here's a citation for the info:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...o-dog-breeds-differ-in-their-sensitivity-pain

yes, the breeds are different, but commonly lumped together (as they even are in this article) just as the king shepherd and the german shepherd are. I am not saying that's correct!

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Okay sorry I didn't see people were still responding to my previous threads. I saw this thread asking for ideas on pitbulls. Also to be clear, it says "Pitbulls". So I kindly wrote my response knowing this was controversial. No, I am not a APBT expert, I did not prepare a list of facts and links like some of you, I didn't even know the whole difference between APBTs and pitbulls. Thats kind of the reason I clicked on the thread. I wanted to see your side of view, and learn more, is that not why we are all on BYC? I got the response from people and expected a kind discussion of the matter. Then someone told others to "ignore" me because I wasn't listening?? Is cancel culture actually seeping into BYC? I hope not. Would I have still been responding if I wasn't listening?? Im on this thread to listen. Obviously Im not going to just give in to your view the moment you gave a few facts. Thats not how multiple sided discussions go. The more reasons you give the more I understand the topic and how you see things. I see now that there are American Pitbull Terriers and the pitbull crosses you see at animal shelters and such. As I did not know much going into this (why I went into this), I responded to what I knew as a Pitbull, a sweet loving dogs. Again, the title says "pitbulls". Then chickentrains told me my dogs are poorly trained because they aren't a fan of cats? Come on people just think before you type these things. Be nice for once. But really people, are the snotty messages and serious arguments really necessary? We are discussing dogs! Dogs are hugely important and amazing and all but arguing over them? I tried to put in as many laughing emojis as I could to show it was all light-hearted. Im still very curious about what you guys say about dominance and order within dogs. And I wanted to keep discussing that. It doesn't make sense to me that there can be no understanding of dominance, or alpha/beta, in dogs. A human commanding a dog to sit is not hardwired into their brain, yet they learn it. We cant CAT scan a dogs brain and see that it understands its name is Indy, or Finn, or whatever it is. Almost all group oriented animals have an understanding of one animal having more authority than another. From bees, to chickens, to humans, to elephants. Why can a dog not learn that one human or another dog is in charge over another. They are incrediblely smart animals. Also, reading your alpha debunking article, I believe the alpha theory and use it but never, never, hit my dogs. I can do things like telling them to stay before they walk through a door, siting before eating and I tell them when they can go. Don't worry I only wait like 10 seconds. It only teaches them obedience. They are some of the happiest most loving dogs you'll ever meet! Im training one for hunting so she needs to understand who gives directions to keep her safe and close by.

Also, is anyone else having problems with autocorrect . Every time I type "pitbull", it tries to autocorrect to "pitfall".