Comments on: Another Day, Another Bad Pit Story

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 13:57:04 +0000

The police have shot a total of six pits within the last year in the course of drug raids in this area.

Gee, I wonder what the salient point is - the pit bull or the drug raid? Potato, potahto.

A pit bull is the only breed that I have ever been forced to kill in defense of a child,...

This sounds like a prime example of what I used to call Pauline Kael Syndrome, until I learned that the quote inspiring it appears to be apocryphal. Most of us have never had to kill any dog in defense of anyone, and I'll bet that hasn't happened too many times to you, either. In fact, I'm going to go out on a really short limb and venture a guess that your own personal sample size is just about 1, which is as close to a textbook example of "not statistically significant" as it gets. According to the Humane Society, there are about 4.5 million dog attacks in the United States every year. Not all are against children, of course, but it's a safe bet that a healthy chunk of them are. Some of these attacks involve pit bulls; most do not. Pit bulls may be a tad over-represented, but that has a lot more to do with their popularity among drug dealers (see above) than with their temperament as a breed. Dobermans had the same problem in the 1970s, when they were the bad dog du jour. Some breed will always enjoy that unhappy distinction, and whatever breed that is will look worse than the others, on average. Dogs aim to please. While you're completely and totally wrong about BSL, I do salute you for doing what you had to do in order to protect that kid. I trust you'd have done the same if the aggressor dog had been a Rottweiler, a Presa Canario, a German Shepherd, a Golden Retriever, or anything else. And they do all bite, and once in a great while, even kill. No breed does this very often (total dog bite fatalities hover around 20 a year nationally), but they all do it on occasion. Even Pomeranians have been known to pull that off in some cases.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:48:45 +0000

23 years ago I witnessed a pit bull terrier attack a ten year old little boy. I grabbed an aluminum baseball bat from one of the kids and used it to KILL the pit bull in question. I dont regret it. I fractured the dogs skull and after 6 blows the viscious dog died and the child was safe.

There is now a 33 year old man alive because I did what I did. I am the alleged “anti pitbll activist” that you refer to in West Virginia. Last year a pit killed a little girl un my hometown, The police have shot a total of six pits within the last year in the course of drug raids in this area.

I am not so much against a breed as long as they don’t attack children or cops. A pit bull is the only breed that I have ever been forced to kill in defense of a child,

By: Jolene

Jolene — Sun, 07 May 2006 16:53:59 +0000

Wow. I just can’t believe how ignorant some people are to the pitbull race of dogs. Do people REALLy believe everything they see/read in the media? I find it ridiculous, first of all, when I hear of a pitbull attack then they show the pic of a shepard/husky or a boxer/lab or whatever. God that drives me nuts. But, most importantly comes the BSL. Why OH WHY, would the goverment actually think this will work. First of all, banning a breed of dog will only cause for another (like presas or Corsos who are much more wary of strangers than the anti-guard-dog-pitbulls…) breed of dog to become popular – and the pitbull owners who have their dogs for the wrong reasons, who do not socialize them, and who breed these dogs in their backyard will NOT be obeying the laws anyway! I love pitbulls – I do not own one though I have fostered some pitbulls – and I must say we had one girl who wanted to EAT our cats, and who fought with our 120lb American Bulldog – but when my 3yr old goddaughter would come over (and the cats weren’t around obviously) she would lick her to death, let her sit on her, pull on her, anything, without one complaint or one strange look – just in pure ecstacy loving the child. THAT’S how I see pitbulls.
Please, punish the deed, not the breed. Stupid Owners are the real problem.

By: mjd

mjd — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 07:24:55 +0000

I should probably read the rest of the comments before I post anything. I did however want to include one statistic on dog attacks. I’ll start by saying that I had a very difficult time finding any dog attack statistics that were recent, so I heartily appreciate the link to the ATTS. Regardless among my findings, both cattle and horses were responsible for more deaths each year than all breeds of dog combined. In addition I think Rottweilers were responsible for more of the attacks. I don’t like to get breed specific though, because it is part of the reason why certain breeds of dog become “vicious” in the first place. A certain breed will get a reputation, and then every person who desire to exude a tough veneer buys this dog for the wrong reason.
I would also like to add a comment about enforcing more stringent insurance policies on “viscious” dog owners. The types of regulations that are proposed in these contracts require the animals to be chained up or in small pens at all times. All animals instinctively have a fight or flight response when they feel threatened, if you take away an animals ability to flee a potentially dangerous situation, he will learn to be ready to fight. These types of laws are inadvertantly creating more dangerous animals.

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 05:19:43 +0000

That’s a breed thing, too, to some extent. That very same tolerance for pain that kept the losing pit fighting to the death, also makes the pet bull more tolerant of kids’ ear- and tail-pulling than other breeds would be.

By: tessa

tessa — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 03:29:13 +0000

i think that its not the dog its self its the owner and how its trained for my sister ows three pit bulls and an otistic child so he is constantly pulling ears (ect) yet they have never had a problem at all and one of the dogs mothers was a fighting trained dog and the pup doesnt show it at all.plus the only reason that pit bulls leave such an impact is beacause thay have very strong muscles in there jaw and rest of there body. For instence there was a dog show in my home town a while back and a small pitt bull maby three feet long pulled over 1220 pounds in blocks im not sure how far but a fair ways and won 1st to say that not all pits are vicious but strong.

By: Stacie

Stacie — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 23:11:26 +0000

http://www.pitbullpress.com/ARTICLES/CASTRO.html

I just wanted to share this article with the “all pit bulls should die” people. It’s about Kris Crawford, who uses her dogs in search and rescue operations. I first saw her on (I believe) Animal Planet. Kris and her pit bull, Dakota, were one of the teams used to find the remains of the astronauts from the Columbia disaster. She also recounted how, during a training session, her dog was wearing the blanket identifying him as a rescue dog was beaten by a man with a golf club because he thought the dog was going to attack him.

People make dogs dangerous, and ANY dog has the potential to be dangerous with mishandling.

By: Tess

Tess — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 20:09:59 +0000

You just haven’t seen it become a problem yet. I am hoping you will never see it become a problem with your pits and kids. It’s a horror you won’t soon forget, believe me.

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 18:42:40 +0000

Of course it’s a problem. It’s just not the same problem you suggest it is. Dog aggression does not translate into aggression against children. Thus, your question “what if it was your child in the jaws of one of these pit bulls” does not make any sense – even setting aside the fact that “one of these pit bulls,” wasn’t. If one of those dogs had been my child, there would have been no fight, and nobody would have ended up in anybody’s jaws. As a result of their unusually high tolerance for pain, pit bulls are, if anything, more tolerant of kids pulling ears, tails, etc.

Ever watch the Little Rascals? Do you constantly cringe thinking Petey could flip out any minute and maul them half to death? I hear that pit bull was so vicious he eventually caused one of the Little Rascals to murder his wife.

By: Tess

Tess — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 17:57:55 +0000

Xrlq, you said, “As to that kind of bad experience with a pit bull, trust me, I’ve had my share. In fact, I’ve had to break up some pretty nasty fights involving one or both of my dogs. At least twice, I’ve had to physically pry open one of their jaws to force her to release the other dog, even while the other dog was practically trying to kill her.”

You don’t see this behavior as a problem? What if it was your child in the jaws of one of these pit bulls?