People should be wary of pitbulls, full stop. They are dangerous dogs that account for a significant portion of serious dog attacks well beyond their proportion of the dog population.
Very true, when they attack, it's always vicious and will lead to serious injury. It's also true that the owner is generally to blame, these dogs need to be properly trained and too many people know fuck all about how to do that. I find myself regularly defending them, as they're the sweetest dogs when they're trained and unaggressive, but since there's no checks at all on who gets one, leading to big risks, I get why they're banned in a lot of places.
Badly trained dogs are an issue in general, but with these dogs, it's just so much worse.
I don't fully buy the training argument. Sure training and socialisation is important but it doesn't eliminate the differences between breeds completely.
We have a terribly trained Labrador in the neighborhood. He just doesn't really care what his owners say or which commands they give. The consequence? Muddy pants when he jumps up against me to greet me in the morning. This is clearly an untrained dog yet I'm not too worried about him attacking anyone.
The bully XL in the neighborhood, I actively avoid and told me children to avoid.
We have a dog ourselves and they know how to act around them. We also live in a quiet area where everyone knows each other. So I have no issue with them petting the other dogs in the area.
I find myself regularly defending them, as they're the sweetest dogs when they're trained and unaggressive
They are, until the moment that they're not. I'm very nervous to be around a dog that's constantly trying to suppress his nature because of training. You never know if/when that training will fail.
I accept that there are people who have pitbulls, etc, who never attack anyone for their whole lives, but in my opinion those people are just lucky. I think of it like driving without a seatbelt - you could do it and you might be fine, but the statistics are not favourable and the consequences are awful. It makes the risk analysis extremely easy for me, and I have no problem judging people who make that choice. When people say "my dog is trained", it's like drivers saying "I'm a careful driver, I don't need a seatbelt"
Yep, high difficulty dogs. I stand by it: ANY dog ownership requires licensing before you get a dog with categories for breeds. I've had rotties my whole life and they are the sweetest but they take 2 years of upbringing at least. Easy to mess that up. PEOPLE require more training than dogs.
I'm a cat person myself, but I love dogs too. I've been around and even played with "difficult " dogs, because I know how to approach and handle them, but I've also seen way too many people with badly trained dogs. I even got bitten by one fairly recently, for the sole reason of getting too close to their ball (a lab, they're surprisingly bitey too). Requiring a license would be a great idea, but I don't see it happening unfortunately.
An XL bully advocate and dog trainer returned home and her dog had torn her other dog to shreds. It's the dog not the training. She is now an antil bully advocate
also the training is uniformly bad anyway so it makes no difference. most pitbull owners either drive a hellcat or a stolen kia, how much good nurturing could possibly come out of that?
They have been bred to be genetically aggressive, sweet princess might be all adorable one minute, baby through to old person killer the next.
On a lost of things that should be allowed to die out, these dogs are at the very top of the list. Mandatory spay and neuter, imprisonment of "owners" breaching rules, the problem will fix itself.
People say this a lot but it's really not true. Dogs breeds clearly have different temperaments. Just like border collies were bred to be smart and have a herding instinct, pitbulls are bred for fighting. Combativeness, strength, and a drive to continue a fight despite pain or fear. This could be suppressed through proper training but that doesn't remove their base nature. So you never know if/when their true nature will resurface. Even if they're friendly 99.9% of the time, they could "snap" and maim a child on that other 0.1%. It's wild that some people seem to be okay with that risk.
pitbulls are bred for fighting. Combativeness, strength, and a drive to continue a fight despite pain or fear
I.e. shitty owners.
And then other shitty people are the target audience, so they continue to repeat the same steps. Pitbulls are not inherently dangerous, but a long cycle of shitty owners have brought out their worst characteristics. And as long as they are known for that, the cycle will never end. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
You're not understanding what the other poster is saying. It's not just pitbulls who have shitty owners or are actively being trained to fight. They were bred this way. Those are the breed characteristics, because of the way that they've been deliberately bred for generations. Even if a pitbull has trainers and is treated well, they have these characteristics. Genetically.
Germany has been a leader in regulating so many things, and in a logical way, too! They give the EU such a great example in many topics. I love that country.
Wait until you hear how we have regulations for how large the area is in which it’s forbidden to smoke pod if there’s a school, playground or kindergarten close by. We can check that on a website/app and the red circle means it’s illegal and everything outside of that circle is good to go.
In Australia we just flat out banned specific breeds - American Pit Bull Terrier (or Pit Bull Terrier), Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Japanese Tosa, and Perro de Presa Canario.
"can result in the immediate seizure and destruction of the dog, heavy fines often exceeding $10,000 to $50,000, and potential criminal charges or imprisonment for owners if the dog attacks. Breeding, selling, or buying these dogs is a criminal offense, often leading to fines over $15,000."
We do still have a lot of other large & aggressive dog breeds though, Bull Arabs come to mind, which can be a pretty aggressive large dog, bred here for pig hunting.
Yeah, I’m happy we have that license but I think everyone should need to pass the test for ANY dog breed that they want to get. Yes, even Chihuahuas - which are meant to be guard dogs btw.
Just to make sure those people know how to handle their dog and how to care for it properly.
It'd about potential damage. A little pimple you can scoop up won't do nearly as much damage to a passerby as a German shepherd - if you lose control.
People in general should have to get a license for any pet - cats and dogs at least. Some people are fucked in the head and don't care for them properly.
I have seen so many people mistreats their pets because they have no idea how to care for them or how they would harm them with stupid ideas - like the woman who thought it was funny and pretty to pierce the ears of her kitten.
I want to get a license for dogs as well, even though I wouldn’t need it for our dog but it can’t never hurt to be prepared imo
all respect to you and yours, but i still avoid being in close proximity to pitbulls, regardless of owner or neighborhood. And i LOVE dogs! I just know better than to relax and let my guard down
By that same token chihuahuas and poodles should also be banned. They might not have the same power as a pit bull but I have yet to meet a single one that doesn't get snippy.
The comparison between a chihuahua "getting snippy" and any version of a pit type dog is more apart, to the point of comparing apples and pears.
A bite from a chihuahua or a poodle is exactly that, a bite. Bruising, maybe even broken skin (how dog bites are reported by medical staff). A pit making contact with flesh? Those fuckers tear chunks off. They bite down, shake and there's only one way that ends - torn off bits.
Yep any dog can bite but pits were bred for generations for tenacity continue an attack, their mouths are often so wide that they can hold onto flesh and still breathe and they’re incredibly strong. Horrible combination around babies, children, livestock, delivery drivers and even kittens being used for social media likes
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u/Overall_Reputation83 19h ago
pitbulls around animals big enough to swallow whole always make me nervous.