Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

Pit bull terriers

381 replies

Freckle · 01/01/2007 11:32

Can anyone explain to me the attraction of owning a pit bull terrier? Why would you choose that breed over any other? Especially when there are children around and the breed has a reputation for unpredictable behaviour - and don't forget that the breed was developed to take on bulls, so it's not going to be a pussycat in any circumstances.

Another child has been killed by one, apparently owned by her grandmother - here . I don't like flagging up bad news on here, but I'm struggling to understand the mentality of people who choose to own such dogs.

OP posts:
nothercules · 03/01/2007 14:37

I dont know why the figures are more - only what I heard some bloke from some organisation on a morning tv programme.

Boobooroastingonanopenfire · 03/01/2007 14:40

I think someone else mentioned further down that people with toy breeds - or particularly 'baby-like' dogs - are more likely to treat them like babies. That's when aggression problems tend to occur, as the dog gets ideas above it's station.

That's certainly been my experience.

So I don't suppose it's all to do with pure numbers.

bluenosesaint · 03/01/2007 14:41

Unfortunately i have no idea of the statistics involved ...however, i'm sure that it would make very interesting reading ...

I was merely suggesting that a percentage of dogs attacking would be a fairer way to look at it rather than say that such and such a dog is more likely to attack based on the amount of attacks reported??

It would stand to reason that popular breeds such as labs would have more reported cases than rare breeds - would it not?

However, I don't think that this warrants putting labs on the dangerous dogs list ...

JMO

xx

winestein · 03/01/2007 14:45

It would be fairer to put some of the dog owners on a dangerous persons list than the dogs on a dangerous dogs list.

(Come to think of it, they are probably already on one though...)

ruty · 03/01/2007 14:53

Inbreeding is not a healthy thing which ever way you look at it. Dogs need a healthy cross section of genetic make up as much as human beings do. the problem with creating pedigree dog 'breeds' is that you are amplifying certain genes over and over again, some of them faulty ones. EG. German shepherds have congential hip problems. Bulldogs have problems breathing. And pitbulls and various other breeds are bred to fight and be extremely aggressive. It is quite simple. Small breeds too are bred to catch badgers, foxes, rabbits, etc, and that is why they can be snappy and bitey - but they are much less likely to kill a human being because of size and strength. Why anyone would breed a particular strain of dog is beyond me - it is stupid, artificial and playing around with the health of the dog for the vanity of dog owners. Get a cross breed.

Upwind · 03/01/2007 15:07

With mongrels you don't know what you are going to get. I want a dog from a breed that is known to be good with children.

People usually want a dog that will be good at something specific e.g. guarding, herding, playing. And some just can't cope with a dog that needs a huge amount of exercise.

Pit bulls tend to be vicious and have been bred good at fighting - anyone who breeds them or knowingly buys them should be prosecuted imo.

Boobooroastingonanopenfire · 03/01/2007 15:14

You do if you know the cross, and still there are no guaruntees with any breed.

Our dog is quarter jack russell, quarter whippet, quarter ridgeback and quarter staffy. She weighs 15kg, and is beautiful.

I'd always go for a good healthy cross. (Although, as I type, she's under general anaesthetic at the vets having an X-ray to see if she's got an obstruction in her stomach - sob).

ruty · 03/01/2007 15:16

with cross breeds the dogs genes will be diluted, the more, the better. I personally think all aggressive breeds should be allowed to die out - perhaps only the military and the police should be allowed to have german shepherds and rottweilers. I grew up with a collie/terrier cross - and he was an amazing dog - even if he caught a rabbit he would just lick it all over. I have a few bad experiences with other dogs, bull terriers being a repetitive theme. Some breeds are better than other, granted, border collies, for example, are a relatively new breed and as a working dog have a more diverse and healthy genetic make up. Other breeds, such as toy breeds, are bred entirely for the vanity of the owner. I still think cross breeds are the best solution, if you allow breeds like pit bulls to die out.

2shoes · 03/01/2007 15:20

Boobooroastingonanopenfire do hope your dog is ok

bluenosesaint · 03/01/2007 15:21

But how would you know which of those four very different personalities yours would be likely to get??

You do have a better idea if you get a pure-breed particularly if you get to know the breeder. We met our breeder several times as well as the dire, sam and two dogs from previous litters ...this gave is a good idea of how our dog would be likely (but not certainly) to turn out.

A safer bet for us with children in the house.

I do love mongrels though and would love to have gotten a rescue dog. I would have given it serious thought if i didn't have children, although, there is still no way i would ever get a dog with any sort of guarding/protecting/fighting instinct. So without that guarantee i'm afraid that i would have probably stuck with a pure-breed ...

xx

bluenosesaint · 03/01/2007 15:22

Yes - i hope shes ok xx

Boobooroastingonanopenfire · 03/01/2007 15:25

Thanks 2shoes!

I should find out in an hour...

tbh, bluenose, we got her as a puppy, and didn't start trying to conceive until she was pretty much grown-up. We did this so that a) we could see how she was with children and b) we could make sure she was properly trained and socialised when our LO arrived.

Personally, I won't consider getting another dog until all the children in our house are around 9/10 or over. That way they're old enough to learn to be consistent with the dog.

Currently, the children in our house are all under 0.

buktus · 03/01/2007 15:32

we had to travel over 2 hours to find our current dog, when we got there we had to have an interview, show her pics of our house and garden show her pics of our other dogs she really gave us a good going over to make sure we were suitable, she wanted to see what vets would tend to him etc, perhaps if more breeders did this there might not be so many inappropriate people with the more at risk dogs

hope your dog is ok ours had an obstruction a year ago, it turned out to be a pebble, 2 lollisticks and my little boys sock

winestein · 03/01/2007 15:33

lol at your dire and sam Bluenose

bluenosesaint · 03/01/2007 15:39

pmsl - sire and dam ...

sameshitdifferentyear · 03/01/2007 15:56

Does anyone know of a Golden Retriever that's bitten anyone. I keep hearing this about Goldies. I've got one myself, and I just can't imagine this breed being in the least bit aggressive.

gooseegg · 03/01/2007 15:57

We rescued our radiator-loving Staffy from a cold concrete shelter 5yrs ago. She was there because she had been badly treated by young thugs and hadn?t been socialized with either people or with other animals as a puppy. Perhaps she would have been put down if we hadn?t stepped in. I?m sure many of you would have preferred her to have been.
Actually when we got her we had a one year old ds and she was one of the few dogs in the rescue centre who the vets there said was perfectly suited to families with young children.

ruty · 03/01/2007 16:08

well ours was a first cross, just two breeds, so we knew what we were getting. I know you can't do this with all mongrels but i don't get the obsession with breeds, i really don't. If you let the aggressive breeds die out then mongrels won't have their genes anyway.

Twinkie1 · 03/01/2007 16:15

See on the news today that a 'lovely' staffy type dog attacked two boys this morning!!

this

sameshitdifferentyear · 03/01/2007 16:25

Oh God, this is horribly similar to the Rottweiller attacks late last year, first one report, then more..

Upwind · 03/01/2007 16:29

Dog bites don't normally make the headlines. Neither do incidents where children are injured by cars.

There's an article on the BBC website pointing out that some dog breeds need more work than others. If you are not used to dogs and are considering getting one, do your research!
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6223911.stm

nothercules · 03/01/2007 16:32

Yes, my sisters golden retriever was fairly aggressive e.g didnt like strange men and often growled at people. She eventually ended up biting her ds. THey rehoused her with rescue.

winestein · 03/01/2007 16:39

Sadly Twinkie, any bull terriers seem to be in the limelight where papers are concerned as people just lap it up, particularly after this pit bull terrier attack. As was said earlier on the thread, put it into context with all dog bite attacks. There is the argument that bull terriers do more damage but do they in reality? I bet not (I have to add pit bulls aside that is).

ruty · 03/01/2007 16:51

When i was a baby my parents owned a bull terrier, until she pinned my older sister to the ground. then she was rehomed. As an older child, my own cross breed dog was attacked by a bull terrier twice [different bull terriers] and was seriously mauled both times. In one of these incidents my arm was bitten to the bone by one of these bull terriers as i tried to get it off my dog. As an adult my old boyfriend's dog was again, seriously mauled by a bull terrier and he needed stitches. Just chance and co incidence that all of these incidents involved a bull terrier? Er, nope.

Caligula · 03/01/2007 16:54

Hello I didn't suggest muzzling of all big dogs, I said there is a case for muzzling all dogs in public places except for exercise areas in parks.

Will now read the rest of the thread.

Out of interest, why are dog-owners so upset by the idea of muzzles? Do you think it will hurt the dog? I have a friend who has a collie and she muzzles it when she goes out because she is heartily sick of children running up to it and threatening it (they don't realise they're threatening it because they haven't been taught how to behave round dogs, but that's how the poor dog sees it and he's got into trouble for snapping at them as a warning, so it's more for his protection than theirs)