Brought tears to my eyes

[Mule]

About 1.5 yrs ago I rescued a young male Pit Bull puppy. Having known some of these dogs, I was aware that the reputation of the dog was mainly due to some of the human garbage that aquire the dogs. My dog, as you will hear from most Pit Bull owners is without question the finest, most loving, gentle & overall best dog I have ever owned in my 52 years. I know people have strong opinions on these dogs & they're not for everyone. But after seeing this film I wanted everyone to see it.

Pit Bull Story

[island911]

Mule, that's nasty . .. some of those shots.

While I do agree that Pitbulls get a hyped reputation, and dogs like CockerSpanials surely bite more often. Thing is; when a Pb bites, it is FAR worse than ANY CockerSpanial nip/bite.

[widebody911]

This is something like the 5th pit bull PR piece I've seen pop up.

Welcome to 'racial profiling' for dogs.

[928ram]

I didn't wait for the vidoe to load (dial-up), but I can tell from the comments what it was about.
Here in Charleston, SC area dog fighting is a pretty big problem that they a trying hard to eliminate. News clips from the raids on the dogfight rings always show dogs that haven't been fed properly, dogs that have been wounded and left to heal with no Vet's attention, and dogs that bear wounds from human torture aimed at making them meaner.
There are some sick F@cks out there with no regard for life, and having met many a happy pitbull I can attest that they don't deserve the bad rep.

[Mule]

True Island, but so can a Rottwieler, Dobbie, German Shephard & manny others. All of which bite more often.

Well said Ram. Like I've said for a while, the biggest problem with these dog is that a lot of *********s buy them.

[dd74]

Mule is correct; any dog can be made viscious. Just take a stick to it, don't feed it, don't shelter it and no matter what size, it'll go after yours or someone else's throat when given the chance.

Pitbulls are as nice or as mean as any other breed. A dog's a dog except for one thing with the pit: I've seen them climb trees.

[goat]

Good little video.
It is really sad that people train pit bulls in such a manner to fight in rings and such. A while back I was in central California (Clovis) and was told that dogs are often stolen and used as practice for their fighting dogs.

[Mule]

I saw one climb a telephone pole on the Johny Carson show. Some old redneck, right off the mountain, brings his pit, Flatnose, on the show. And once Jethro(?) gives the command, "git on up air Flatnose, Flatnose climbs about 15 feet up a telephone pole.

[dd74]

Heh-heh. We had a neighbor with a pit. On command he'd get his dog to climb the oak in front of our house to root out the vermin that lived in there. It'd drive the tree-hugging scuzzy Hollywood divorcee across the street crazy. I would have liked to put the dog to her, but I liked the dog too much. The dog was great possum and racoon control.

[Moses]

Couldn't watch it all. I just love animals too much. To inflict pain for sport is perhaps the darkest element of "human nature".

[dd74]

Originally posted by Moses
To inflict pain for sport is perhaps the darkest element of "human nature".

True. I don't care if humans do it to each other (i.e. boxing). If they're stupid enough to smash each other's brains out, so be it. But forcing animals...there should be some sort of manslaughter charge if one of the animals are killed.

[Westy]

Put an end to the hype. I've probably been to more doors of more homes of more types of dogs than most if not all on this board. I've yet to be bitten (or threatened "needlessly") by a pit bull. There are other breeds out there that have bitten me, and yes, it hurts. but like ya'll said...... It ain't the dog, it's the a** hole that raised it.

[notfarnow]

Thanks for that great link Mule. Found it very difficult to watch, but glad I did. I agree with you, the biggest part of the equation in the "pit bull problem" is the owners. The stupid f###ing ba###rds that live behind me have a pit bull that is chained to a small doghouse. I have never, not once, seen them take that dog out for a walk. It just sits there and barks all day long. Initially, the dog really pissed me off. Now I find myself pissed off at the a##hole owners.

My mother in law has a poodle, and it is by far the worst animal I have ever dealt with. I have been bitten by it numerous times, and it has drawn blood. I just avoid the damn thing. Having said that, if a pit bull had a minor freak out, it would be a lot harder to "avoid". That's what scares me.

[notfarnow]

Jeeze, just after I hit "submit", the neighbor's dog barked. Out there chained to the doghouse, -8* celcius.

[bluebullet]

I watched it and it enrages me to see people doing such things. You always hear about it, but you always put it out of your mind because you dont want to think about such a thing.

You know, you do have a right to call the Animal Control, about what the neighbors are doing behind you. That is animal cruelty, and they CAN be jailed or fined heavily, and the dog taken away.


I used to live back in NC for a good part of my life, and a neighbor a few houses down kept a dog locked up in a fenced in area about 20' by 10' Concrete floor and no roof, and a plastic dog house that was too small and probably was stifling to stay in to get out of the sun. We called the cops on him, and they told him to do something about it. So he put a tarp over half of it, but they still left it out in the cold and the heat. We called the cops again, and this time Animal Control came and broke the locks off and took the dog. There was piss and excrement all over the place, as they never cared for it. When my dad asked the owner (my dad was a Charlotte PD officer at the time) why he did such a thing, the owner simply replied:

'So I could exert control over something below me'.

That was the last I heard about that guy. My dad said that he had a history of doing this with animals, and his time was up, and they locked him away, sold his house and everything. I still have a pic of the dog, after it was adopted by its new family. Apparently it now sits in the house all day long, laying in the sun and just eats and sleeps . For a dog that had such a horrible youth, he well deserved to do as he pleases.

My next door neighbors used to have a big Great Dane. It wasnt theirs to begin with (it was their parents in law....they had him on a farm) and the people who worked on the farm said he was too much of a nusiance to everything. So instead of putting him down, they moved him to next door, where he became friends with my Great Dane. Although they cared for him as best they could, they were newly-weds, and they were doing what they do best..going on vacation and partying all the time. They kept him well fed and designed a big wooden dog house for him, shingles and all, but he was left out in the rain one time or another, so he simply stayed at my place..the owners didnt mind one bit. Try sharing a Queensize bed when you are 15 years old with a Great Dane that has paws the size of your hand. You eventually end up sleeping on the floor . Last I heard of him he was back on the farm doing what he did best...chase the cattle and the sheep around, but that was more than 6 years ago, and full pure bred great danes dont have a very long lifespan.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I didn't watch it; the responses here scared me off.

We do a lot of fostering and work with one of the local shelters. What I've seen people do to animals in this town sickens me. I'm glad we've got a sheriff, at least, who's tough as nails on animal abusers.

[notfarnow]

Looks like the dog spent the night outside. Called the SPCA this morning... they're going to look into it.

[cool_chick]

I can't watch that video either. This is a great post. There is nothing in the pit bull's nature that makes them mean. In fact, by nature, they're very loving, great with children, and extremely loyal dogs.

Good job notfarnow! I hate owners like that. One doesn't need to have a dog, it's completely irresponsible to treat an animal like that. Why get one if you're going to treat it like crap?

[notfarnow]

Thanks CC. At the same time I'm a bit disappointed in myself... last year we had a beagle flown from a Newfoundland beagle rescue site. He was old and sick, and was the most likely to be put down so we took him.

What gets to me is that I felt compassion for an animal I had never seen (other than pictures) that was hundreds of miles away, and felt the need to act. Why has it taken me almost 6 months to do the same for the SCARY pitbull next door? Funny how prejudice works, eh? The message has been driven home that these dogs are different than other dogs, that they are somehow less worthy of our sympathy, and that they are to be FEARED. That fear is an obstacle that has to be surmounted in order to sympathise, whether or not the fear is justified. Makes you reallize how powerful fear is as a tool.

[Mule]

Actually for the folks that didn't watch the video, it is a little tough to watch but ends up with some very good shot of Pits being the great family pet that most are, great pictures of these tough looking dogs at home with kids. The first time my dog was around a young child I had him at an outdoor music festival in downtown Chattanooga. A man with toddler asked if my dog was friendly enough for his daughter to pet. I said sure, if anything he's too friendly, he might bump into her but no way will he do anything unfriendly. THe little girl starts petting. Their heads are about the same height. My dog gives her one big lick, starting at the jaw, all the way up her face, opening her eyelid & licking her eyeball in the process. We all laughed & the little girl had a ball with my dog. He's not been around kids much but is particularly gentle with them.