What do you think of Pit Bulls?

[Taylor]

Brutus said he thinks Pit Bulls are short little wimps.

 

[McKelly]

Great, now you people all have me worried. We adopted a Lab/Pit Bull mix from the humane society when he was eight weeks old. He was born there. We have taken him to puppy classes and he is just the sweetest thing and is now 15 months old. He doesn't even bark when people walk by on the street (great watch dog!). He just wags his tail and stairs at them. And when a dog approaches him, he flips on his back(?). But, if they are such a horrible breed, I wonder why the heck the humane society let us adopt him, since we have two young children? We tried to adopt a Chow prior to that, but they wouldn't let us have that puppy because they said the breed wasn't good with kids. Interesting.......

I know I was concerned about the breed and the people at the humane society told me it was all a misconception and it is how they are raised that matters. They said they put dogs through tests to show their aggression or lack thereof. I assumed our dog didn't show signs of aggression and that is why he was able to be adopted out to a family with kids. I believed them, should I not have? Are people qualified at humane societys to make that type of judgment? Just curious.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Great, now you people all have me worried. We adopted a Lab/Pit Bull mix from the humane society when he was eight weeks old. He was born there. We have taken him to puppy classes and he is just the sweetest thing and is now 15 months old. He doesn't even bark when people walk by on the street (great watch dog!). He just wags his tail and stairs at them. And when a dog approaches him, he flips on his back(?). But, if they are such a horrible breed, I wonder why the heck the humane society let us adopt him, since we have two young children? We tried to adopt a Chow prior to that, but they wouldn't let us have that puppy because they said the breed wasn't good with kids. Interesting.......

I know I was concerned about the breed and the people at the humane society told me it was all a misconception and it is how they are raised that matters. They said they put dogs through tests to show their aggression or lack thereof. I assumed our dog didn't show signs of aggression and that is why he was able to be adopted out to a family with kids. I believed them, should I not have? Are people qualified at humane societys to make that type of judgment? Just curious.

Labs are such big goof balls maybe the lab part counteracts the Pit part

 

[jenks0718]

I totally agree. I wouldn't let my child go over there or go there, myself. Does your brother's ex-wife know about these dogs? If I were her, I would re-visit the custody on the weekends issue.

 

[alliecats]

I love animals but I would never have any intentional interaction with a pitt bull. Just too many negative (all negative, no exceptions) experiences with them, and I do mean more than one.

On one of those Animal Planet cops shows, they rescued a bait dog. It seemed so sweet and humble. I felt so sorry for it. And they did also, but the VO said that the bait dog would be put to sleep no matter what, because IT COULD NEVER BE TRUSTED IN A HOME WITH PEOPLE because of its background. Poor thing. But that's just how it is.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I always thought pit bulls got a bad rap (the "no bad dogs, just bad owners" thing), and I still think they get a bad rap, BUT...we inadvertantly adopted a part-pitbull (adopted from the pound, didn't realize he was pitbull until our vet told us) and, based on our experiences with our dog (who is an absolute sweetheart!) I do believe the breed has aggressive tendencies bred into them.

I have had two other wonderful dogs during my adult life, and this dog is by far the most aggressive and protective. If I were you, I would not let your daughter over there without you under any circumstances (can you really trust your brother to lock up his dogs if HE is convinced there's no danger?).

Even the premier Pitbull Rescue organization in the USA warns people to "never trust a pitbull not to fight" around other dogs.

 

[airhead]

Unless he is a dog trainer with MUCH experience with this breed,I
would NEVER let my kids(or other dogs )around his dogs.
And I am so tired of hearing,"there are no bad dogs,just bad owners". The fact is,there ARE bad dogs! When a dog with aggressive temperment has been bred to another aggressive dog over and over again,you get a bad dog!! I don't care how cute the pups are or how sweet this breed appears, their breeding background is not sound. The Pitbull is not a breed that you can trust. This breed is a disaster. I can't believe that a shelter
actually adopted out this animal. How irresponsible!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I wouldn't let my kids there. My dd was bitten a couple of months ago by the neighbor's dog. It was a very bad bite on the hand.

I know dogs, I know the rules, I make sure I follow them....in a moment of weakness I made a mistake. My dd was out back with the dog, alone for a few minutes. We live next door, owners would always reassure how gentle their dog is, what a sweetheart...blah, blah, blah...so I let my guard down.

So dd gets bit, and they say...oh can't go near his paws...

I blame myself 100%. I know better.

I am sure your brother is a great dog owner. But the sad truth is...it only takes one time for an attack to happen.
Since he got a bait dog, it should not be around children.
That is stupid, imo.

 

[gris gris]

Great, now you people all have me worried. We adopted a Lab/Pit Bull mix from the humane society when he was eight weeks old. He was born there. We have taken him to puppy classes and he is just the sweetest thing and is now 15 months old. He doesn't even bark when people walk by on the street (great watch dog!). He just wags his tail and stairs at them. And when a dog approaches him, he flips on his back(?). But, if they are such a horrible breed, I wonder why the heck the humane society let us adopt him, since we have two young children? We tried to adopt a Chow prior to that, but they wouldn't let us have that puppy because they said the breed wasn't good with kids. Interesting.......

I know I was concerned about the breed and the people at the humane society told me it was all a misconception and it is how they are raised that matters. They said they put dogs through tests to show their aggression or lack thereof. I assumed our dog didn't show signs of aggression and that is why he was able to be adopted out to a family with kids. I believed them, should I not have? Are people qualified at humane societys to make that type of judgment? Just curious.

You should trust the people at the Humane Society, they screen the dogs and will only adopt out dogs to families that are a good match. And obviously they knew what they were doing in not adopting the Chow to your family. The fact that your dog flips onto his back shows submissiveness. Don't worry!!! Love your lab/pit mix and continue to tell people how wonderful he is. It will help people understand not all pits are bad! I love my pit mix and will always have one.

 

[Crankyshank]

Great, now you people all have me worried. We adopted a Lab/Pit Bull mix from the humane society when he was eight weeks old. He was born there. We have taken him to puppy classes and he is just the sweetest thing and is now 15 months old. He doesn't even bark when people walk by on the street (great watch dog!). He just wags his tail and stairs at them. And when a dog approaches him, he flips on his back(?). But, if they are such a horrible breed, I wonder why the heck the humane society let us adopt him, since we have two young children? We tried to adopt a Chow prior to that, but they wouldn't let us have that puppy because they said the breed wasn't good with kids. Interesting.......

I know I was concerned about the breed and the people at the humane society told me it was all a misconception and it is how they are raised that matters. They said they put dogs through tests to show their aggression or lack thereof. I assumed our dog didn't show signs of aggression and that is why he was able to be adopted out to a family with kids. I believed them, should I not have? Are people qualified at humane societys to make that type of judgment? Just curious.

Not all pits and pit mixes are aggressive. My Aunt has an 8yr old pit mix and he's never shown any signs of aggression. My parents' year old pug dominates him!

 

[beckmrk04]

Great, now you people all have me worried. We adopted a Lab/Pit Bull mix from the humane society when he was eight weeks old. He was born there. We have taken him to puppy classes and he is just the sweetest thing and is now 15 months old. He doesn't even bark when people walk by on the street (great watch dog!). He just wags his tail and stairs at them. And when a dog approaches him, he flips on his back(?). But, if they are such a horrible breed, I wonder why the heck the humane society let us adopt him, since we have two young children? We tried to adopt a Chow prior to that, but they wouldn't let us have that puppy because they said the breed wasn't good with kids. Interesting.......

I know I was concerned about the breed and the people at the humane society told me it was all a misconception and it is how they are raised that matters. They said they put dogs through tests to show their aggression or lack thereof. I assumed our dog didn't show signs of aggression and that is why he was able to be adopted out to a family with kids. I believed them, should I not have? Are people qualified at humane societys to make that type of judgment? Just curious.

I really wouldn't worry- if you are already at 15 months and haven't had any probs, and the pup was born at the shelter, properly socialized, and has been through obdience school, and is a loving dog, I'm sure you havenothing to worry about.

In fact, I'm pretty sure my lab mix is part pitt too. But she's 70 lbs of puppy love, so I don't worry in the slightest. In fact, just the other day we were at Petsmart, and little girl (maybe 1 year old) came up to her a squealed and giggled!! Jules acted a little nervous (and I was too- she hasn't been around babies), but then she walked up to her, sniffed her face, and gave her the biggest LICK!! It was adorable. Then she promptly rolled over so everyone could scratch her belly. That's the lab, I guess!

 

[andromedaslove]

I remember as a teenager going with my boyfriend to one of his friends houses. There were probably 5 Pitts in the backyard, and a house full of pitt puppies. As I sat there playing with one of the pups (maybe 6 weeks old) she started biting my pants, not usual puppy biting actually attacking and locking down on my pants. At the time I didn't understand why a pup was so agressive, and it wasn't until much later that I realized why he bred pitts. He bred fighters. There are way too many horrible people that breed these dogs irresponsibly, and that is what has hurt this breed more than anything. That doesn't actually mean that the "breed" is bad, it means that the breeders are bad. There are plenty of responsible breeders that have worked very hard to breed the aggression out of their dogs. That is the only way I would own a pitt again, is by going through a reputable breeder.