Future pit bull tragedy looms

[ckissick]

I take my dog on the beach in front of my office every day. It's a very quiet beach, not many people. No one ever leashes their dog there. It's where dogs go to run and swim.

There's a guy I see once in a while with 3 hyper but friendly dogs. My dog always has a good time with them. Yesterday, a young blond woman, good looking, shows up with a 2-year old boy and 2 pits bulls on leash and wearing muzzles. The lady warns the guy with the 3 hyper dogs to keep away. Her pits are "testy".

I get my dog on a leash. But the 3 hyper dogs come over to play too quickly to get leashed. A melee ensues. Those pit bulls are vicious. So the guy yells at the lady for bringing aggressive dogs to the beach. She yells at him for not keeping his dogs on a leash. When I walk by she complains to me that people hate her just because she owns pit bulls. Right. I hope the kid survives to his teens years.

[masraum]

Wow, we should all keep our fingers crossed that nothing really bad happens. Idiot.

[mikester]

I realize that this is the exception and not the rule (and with regards to your story I feel the same way) but I actually have met well behaved Pits and it surprised the heck out of me.

On my normal dog walking route there is a corner house, kind of run down with two pit bulls. Once is mature and the other is a puppy. My wife and her friends are afraid to walk by this house because of the pits. I don't blame them...

I walk by however and have rarely seen the dogs, I knew they were there but just never saw them. They don't have a back yard and they let the dogs out unleashed but supervised. They do have a lead that they can put the dog on that is attached to the house. You get the picture here right? Pitbull, out front on a long chain. Sounds great eh?

Well I finally got to meet 'Ruger' a few weeks ago as I Was walking my sammy by. My dog is good but likes to get introduced with other dogs and isn't really shy. Ruger is off leash out front with the puppy and their owner (tatted up skinny dude - rather out of place in the neighborhood). Ruger starts to mosey over as we're walking buy and this guy says in a normal voice (I barely heard it) 'Ruger sit'. Ruger sits, ruger stays. Ruger wiggles a bit, he wants to come say 'Hi' to us but he sits and he stays. The pup mosies over to him and just sits next to him. So I've got a rather large put sitting at the edge of the yard where I'm walking my lab with a mini-pit sitting next to it. My lab - well she's yanking on my leash a bit to coerce me into heading over there and playing with the other dogs.

'Ruger sit.'

Fantastic!

Better trained than my dog and she can catch!

Ruger's a nice dog, I see him on occasion and he is always well behaved. Good owners are a blessing for a dog of that 'nature'.

[stomachmonkey]

Asshat owner.

Socialized my last Mastiff pretty much from day one. Used to take her to our local dog park daily without any issues.

There was this one older Great Dane that used to torment her but she was always properly submissive.

When Dakota turned 3 something changed, not sure what but possibly she figured out just how big she was and decided she was done with taking chit and put the Dane in its place. The Danes owner was not upset and even commented that Dakota finally grew a set.

After that she started going after random dogs, was not breed, sex, color specific. She would see a dog and just decide that she did not like it and it was on. Fortunately the first two times she did it she was on a leash.

That was the end of taking her to the dog park and she was never in public off lead ever again.

[jyl]

Why own a dog that you have to muzzle? It seems ridiculous. And, come the lawsuit, don't even bother putting on a defense.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by jyl

Why own a dog that you have to muzzle? It seems ridiculous. And, come the lawsuit, don't even bother putting on a defense.

..because that's "easier" than properly training them.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

What is it about pit bulls that make them magnets for jackasses?

That whole "wanna-be tough guy" image thing again.

If you're going to own one, for crying out loud get them trained well. These are dogs born and bred for aggression, violence and fighting for generations. Unfortunately this "sex appeal" attracts all the wrong sorts of owners.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

What is it about pit bulls that make them magnets for jackasses?

That whole "wanna-be tough guy" image thing again.

If you're going to own one, for crying out loud get them trained well. These are dogs born and bred for aggression, violence and fighting for generations. Unfortunately this "sex appeal" attracts all the wrong sorts of owners.

Yo, beyotch, they're badazzed like me. You got a problem wid dat?

[scottmandue]

Not the dogs fault but I don't get it either... with all the wonderful dogs out there... why go with one that can literaly kill you?

I had a yellow female pound rescure about 30-40 pounds, dumb as rocks but loved everyone, I joked that if a burgler ever broke into my house she would lick him to death... but she hated other dogs, someone walking a dog past the house would set_her_off.

Fortunatly she wasn't very large or menacing and hard to take seriously.

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by cstreit

..because that's "easier" than properly training them.

You hit the nail on the head.

Growing up in a rough town (Passaic, NJ), we had two guard dogs -- a German Shepard (Vicki) and a Hungarian Puli (Pamacs) - a medium sized sheepdog. Both were trained to be guard dogs. yet at the same time could be friendly with who WE wanted them to be friendly with. By guard dogs, I mean very alert and obedient. Two Hungarian words: "Fodg meg." (translation: CATCH HIM) spoken under my breath, and they were at the ready. There were plenty of times when our dogs saved the day and stopped intruders from entering our house or stealing our property.

Now my bro-in-law has a pit-bull mix (mostly pit bull, a little bit of rottweiler.) (Scrappy) That dog is the most docile dog I have ever seen. When they take him to the doggie park, when he interacts with the other pups, he's the first one to lay on his back in submission! He's afraid of mice for crying out loud! Heck - my medium sized Puli would probably give him a good run for his money...

Having said that, I must say, the jaws on a pit bull are nothing like any other dog's I have handled. And his upper chest is all muscle. The combination of those two elements leads to a very, very powerful dog. When he clamps down -- even if he's just playing -- can be a problem. I have never seen a dog EAT a large rawhide bone in one sitting before. Scrappy will do that. He will also tear open a tennis ball -- even a golf ball! Very, very powerful. I can see why folks are leary about pitbulls.

But with all animals, one has to be careful. Do the wrong thing, and no matter how well a dog is trained, it is still an animal, and animal instincts will always come to the front in times of crisis. It is always good to keep that in mind...

-Z-man.

[dentist90]

Knowing that her dogs could be aggressive if confronted, i think she did the right thing by muzzling, leashing and warning other owners (why someone would want a dog like that is beyond me... but I don't like loud Harleys nor tattoos either)

My neighbor last year got really pi$$ed off at another neighbor who was walking their two pit bulls past their house. They were choked because one of the bulls slipped his leash and chased their dog onto their own property and started to attack it pretty hard. What came out later was that both the pit bulls being walked were on leash and muzzled and my neighbors little heinz57 mutt was not on a leash and ran out to the road barking at the two bulls. Their pet mutt was running in circles around the dog walkers, barking the whole time and getting the pit bulls really fired up. The owner of the leashed pit bulls was trying his best to get his dogs past my neighbors house but something on one leash let go. The pit bull owner said he had to put muzzles on his dogs because there are so many loose dogs in the neighborhood that run up to them and he's worried his dogs might/could kill one of those annoying mutts that press their luck. And that was my comment to my neighbour, that they made more effort to control their dogs than she does. She is one of those stand on the porch yelling at her dog (hasn't worked yet) rather than go get him or, better yet, contain her dog. I mentioned that as nice as her dog is he has come close to knocking my kids off their bicycles when he comes barreling down their driveway at them. I like my neighbors and their dog, but I did point out to them that their precious runs out and barks at everyone who walks past their house.


Her response? "Well how could anyone be afraid of my precious... he's sooo cute"

So who is more at fault, the pitbull/rottweiler owner who keeps his animals contained or the other dogowner who does not? As the saying goes, takes two to tango.

[jpachard]

Originally Posted by Z-man

But with all animals, one has to be careful. Do the wrong thing, and no matter how well a dog is trained, it is still an animal, and animal instincts will always come to the front in times of crisis. It is always good to keep that in mind...

-Z-man.

Truer words were never spoken. So many times people try to humanize dogs but in the end, they are dogs.

[Rikao4]

met a Pit owner and his young dog this weekend at the dogpark..
my wife who dispises the owners of such, was suprised & amazed at his behavior..
the pit was funny,social,and caused not one issue with any of the other dogs..
he's a very socialized pet,

having too muzzle hers already ..
will not end well..
her dogs are out of control ..
just on a leash & muzzle..
one ..she couldn't hold them should they want too break after something..
two..should they so much as run at me muzzle or not..
their toast...

Rika

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by Rikao4

met a Pit owner and his young dog this weekend at the one ..she couldn't hold them should they want too break after something..
two..should they so much as run at me muzzle or not..
their toast...

Rika

Rika - if you know how to prevent a dog from attacking you -- good for you. I believe I have enough understanding to keep a dog from jumping on my, and biting my vital parts as well.

However, if you haven't dealt with a pit bull and his jaws, I suggest you check out a friendly pit-bull up close. Play tug-of-war with him. Listen to the sound his jaw makes when it snaps shut. Feel his chest muscles. Keep in mind that once a pit-bull clamps down on something, it is very, very difficult to persuade a pit bull to release his jaws. Yes - they are THAT strong. And to clarify - I really like my bro-in-law's pit - he is truly a wonderful pit. Wonderful, but very, very strong - as in he can bite a golf-ball in half WITH ONE CHOMP! I've seen this firsthand.

So you may want to approach pit bulls with a modesty vs. an "I can handle it" attitude. Just sayin'
-Z-man.

[klaus]

While the following numbers might not be exactly right (sourced from the interwebs), I think from a directional point of view they are correct. Of all dog related fatalities in this United State roughly 59% were caused by Pit Bulls (or Pit related breeds). And that 59% was caused by 3% of dog population, because that is all the Pit's represent.

I am fairly certain if one car or car company made up 3% of vehicles on the road, yet was involved in 59% of all fatal crashes that car or car company would be outlawed in a hurry. I am all for free choice, but with these types of statistic why don't we start a pet alligator movement, at least then the Pit wouldn't be the most deadly house hold pet......

[vash]

admittedly, i am nervous around pits. i had a pair kill my gf's basset hound puppy in front of me. i was kicking them in the nuts, and not even fazing them.

two weeks ago, my coworker's golden was taken to the vet for neck stitches when a pit latched on. my coworker's adrenalin was flowing, because he said he opened the pit's jaws with his bare hands. scary as hell.

but i have met some very sweet gentle pits. my local shelter is full of them. pits and chihuahaus are 90% of the population.

the OP's story. glad the pit owner had the dogs muzzled. have to give her props.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by klaus

but with these types of statistic why don't we start a pet alligator movement, at least then the Pit wouldn't be the most deadly house hold pet......

I'm all for freedom too, but there is a reason we are not allowed to own lions, or tigers, or bears (oh my!)

Don't see the need for a pet that can KILL me.

[ted]

some dogs would be just too much of liability...
I'd chose a pet that can't kill me or anyone else.
Pit bulls' attack on woman under investigation - SignOnSanDiego.com

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by klaus

I am fairly certain if one car or car company made up 3% of vehicles on the road, yet was involved in 59% of all fatal crashes that car or car company would be outlawed in a hurry. I am all for free choice, but with these types of statistic why don't we start a pet alligator movement, at least then the Pit wouldn't be the most deadly house hold pet......

Kindly provide a source for your numbers, especially when compared with other fatalities caused by things other than dogs.

My point is this: your stats were given to prove a point, but they are not quantified. For example, if all of the annual fatalities caused by dogs turns out to be 100 dealths TOTAL, and 59% of those deaths (60 fatalities) are caused by pit bulls, then the numbers don't look that alarming, do they?

Why not ban cars? They cause a lot more deaths per year than dogs. Why not ban living? Living people die more than dead people do, after all....

It is amazing how statistics can be so easily scewed, isn't it?!?

-Z-man.

[Z-man]

klaus: I did some reserach myself, and here is what I found:

33 U.S. fatal dog attacks occurred in 2010. Despite being regulated in Military Housing areas and over 500 U.S. cities, pit bulls led these attacks accounting for 67% (22). Pit bulls make up approximately 5% of the total U.S. dog population.

Source: http://www.dogsbite.org/bite-fatalities-2010.htm

So - in 2010, 22 people were killed because of a pitbull bite. While I do believe that loss of life is very tragic, qualtifying the percentages with actual numbers kinda puts it into a better perspective.

Want to lower the loss of life? Go after drunk drivers and illegal guns.

- Z-man.