Pit Bull mauling and killing in California

"America's first war dog was a Pit Bull named Stubby who earned several medals and the rank of sergeant for his service in W.W.I. He received a hero's welcome and was even honored at the White House. He inspired the U.S. Military K-9 Corps. He also went on to become Georgetown University's mascot."

...from another time and another place.
 
To those is CA...

I just moved from the SF Bay Area four months ago. I don't need to remind you how stupid the laws are around there.

I can't tell you what to do, but I carried a pistol EVERYDAY there. It is a misdemeanor with a $300 fine I believe. That is well worth it to me.
 
Here in Brazil I have a Pit and Pit/Lab mix as guard dogs here at home. My property is 1000 square meters so they have plenty of room to run.

I know Pits get a bad rap and their inherent characteristics make tham bad news when they go bad. They are extremely powerful dogs. My Pit is by far the most obedient and loyal dog I have ever had. He is great with kids, barely even takes notice of them, lets them crawl all over him.

When I let people inside our fence he doesn't bother as long as I am there. He's a great dog. I have no doubt he would shred anyone who jumped our wall. He is exactly the dog I need here and I am fortunate to have him. Mac

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pict,
GREAT post! This is exactly my experience with this breed. Why anyone would want to encourage aggressiveness in this breed I don't know. They are perfect as they are and very LOVING!

Great pic by the way! You have a Beautiful child AND APBT!

Tom
 
Mac,
That pic is absolutely fantastic.

The female that I had, I mentioned her in another post, absolutely loved children. Anytime she could see kids playing outside she starting having a fit wanting to play. The neighborhood kids would come over just to play with Daisy my terrible APBT. She showed zero aggressiveness and put up with things from kids that I don't think I could stand, she was in all senses of the word, outstanding. Chris
 
I have owned many of dogs, Bulldogs, Rottie's, Blue Heelers, and a Pit Bull.

My Pit Bull who I had for over 11 years, was thee most loyal friend I have ever had, never bit a single soul, the kids even as babies would wrestle with him really hard, all that monster would do was roll over and have his belly scratched. He was thee worst gaurd dog I have ever had, he loved people to much, He even jumped into the mail mans truck for a ride (mail man was scared to death until he got a big ol kiss lol).

I raised him from a pup, he didnt like dogs that challenged him, what dogs do?, but he loved other dogs who just wanted to play, and he never played rough. If you were to have seen him, he would scare the hell out of people, he was short, buckskin, black mask and weighed about 80 pounds of solid muscle with a giant head. People use to think I had him on roids lol.

He would sit at my nephews stroller and they would watch cartoons while they both shared a bag of cheeto's. He saved my life numerous times, one from being attacked by a hybrid wolf that got loose, he outweighed my dog by a good 40 pounds, but my dog got between me and the wolf and gave that wolf a old fashioned ass kickin.

He got some pretty bad slashes to his legs in that fight, when I had taken him to the vet to get stitched up, he jumped on the table, and I told him, doc has to fix you up, he layed to his side and stuck his leg up for the vet to fix his wounds. The vet said "This is the easiest dog ive ever had to work on".

He has been gone now for over a year, I miss him daily. Owners who raise these dogs the wrong way are more to blame then the dog. Any dog that is raised bad has a very good chance of being bad, just like humans.

I have seen bad dogs in all breeds, hell ive been bitten by a toy poodle. I'll take a good ol pit bull as a friend over any breed, any day.
 
It's interesting to me the different feelings people have about dogs in different places. But what I really hate is when people demonize a breed because of the crap people beat into a dog. Scumbags mistreat and fight dogs turning them into scarred scared threats. And then ignorant people say, I hate pitbulls or rotts or whatever.

My dogs are part of my family. I keep them leashed when they are out and they get to run around the house and the backyard to their hearts content. If another dog attacked them, I would use the same escalation of force I would use on a human attacker, starting with a firm "back-off" to as many shots as necessary to stop the attack. If a human threatened my dog, I will treat this the same way as someone attacking my child. I am not alone in this. I will always take responsibility for my pets the same as I would for any other member of my family. And deal with threats in the same way.
 
I have had so many different breeds of dogs over my lifetime, from two Beagles to a Great Dane and German Shepherd and many more mixes.

About 11 years ago was my first intro to Pitbulls, with a stray.

ALL the dogs I have owned over all these years were very loving.

But honestly, I swear on everything that is holy, I would play rough with a Pitbull (or any of the bully breeds) without fear of being bitten long before I would with any other breed. Not that any dog breed is particularly prone to biting, but I'm just saying that in MY experience Pitbulls and other Bullies are more stable and less prone to snapping at the owner or someone else.
I truly believe the bully breeds are far less prone to biting for no apparent reason than other breeds.

If I were a vet, and someone would put in front of me two dogs I have never met before, one a pure bred APBT and the other some other breed of dog, and tell me I have to perform some procedure on it like stitches or something, I would choose the pitbull simply because I am sure it's less likely to bite me.

Just the way it is.

These dogs just LOVE humans, they live for human contact and to please. This is one reason why thugs find it easy to abuse them.
They should never be chained up for long periods, they need to be with the human family.
In a loving family these dogs will be the most stable and loving pet dogs you have ever seen.
 
They should never be chained up for long periods, they need to be with the human family.
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Dogs should never be chained up, period, they need to be with the human family.

If you take a dog out in public, you need to keep him on a leash, preferably a short leash, so he understands he has to behave. But if you always keep him on leash, or a chain, or in a locked room, always under restraint, then he will never understand the difference between discipline and self-discipline, doing what he's told and doing what he's learned is right.

Just like a human child. I would hold my daughter's hand walking down the sidewalk, and always crossing the street, but when we got to the playground, she was on her own, to run and play with the other kids.

Whenever I could get one of my dogs to a field where we wouldn't interfere with anyone else, I'd cut them off the leash and let them run. The Great Danes were amazing! They don't run, they leap, they fly! They need the freedom, and being free, they come right back when I whistle.
 
These pics don't do him justice; I can get some better ones in a few days of him in the country (and properly sized, too). Everyone says their dog is the cutest ever, so I'll just settle for saying he's the cutest dog I've ever seen that is his size, and the prettiest in general. I tell ya, he's a babe magnet :cool: Just go out to an outdoor cafe, get a coffee, and have him sit next to you- never fails. He literally sits out in the backyard and makes friends with people who walk by the fence, and they come to visit and say hi to him.
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Emanuel said:
Funny cause none of my pits have ever bitten me, even in play.
And we play and wrestle a lot.
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Yeah, we always said that he was the "most ferocious golden retriever ever", which, while a joke, is somewhat accurate. He was more a spoiled brat than anything, which is why my family could never get a pit/shepherd/guardian dog- we spoil them WAY too much. Again, my point is, I believe people are more scared of the idea of unlikely but quick, hidden, painful, horrifying irreparable damage more than slow, overt, shallow, every day and easily repairable things. Look at consumer culture- credit cards, for instance. We want our credit cards to have fraud protection, be quickly replaced, and do no damage to our credit. Most people desire to have things be quickly repaired, interchangeable, and move on with their lives- look at insurance on cars- it was a lot different when Rolls Royces were just a chassis you bought from the factory and had a coachbuilder build the rest of the car, completely to your specifications. Interchangeable can be good, but it leaves some unique things out, like classic handbuilt, irreplaceable cars, which have been dubbed too much of a hassle in this quick to replace society. Pits, and other breeds, are dangerously close to falling into this category called "outdated".
Zero
 
Emanuel said:
But honestly, I swear on everything that is holy, I would play rough with a Pitbull (or any of the bully breeds) without fear of being bitten long before I would with any other breed.
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I certainly agree with you, Emanuel. :thumbup:

I play rough with Jessie as well....and she definitely "holds her punches". I've seen her play with other dogs...and at the end of the day...if there are any scratches on the dogs from rough play (with each other)...there are more on Jessie than the other dog...every time..without fail.

I believe it is because she has a higher pain tolerance than most other dogs...and a high drive to play - keeps her in the game despite injuries.

I guess part of it is good training too...she knows we don't allow aggressive behavior.

Anyway, it is not in the nature of the breed to be people-aggressive. There is no evidence to support this at all...anywhere...


ANY neglected dog = BAD DOG (regardless of breed)


I cannot dispute that a pitbull would certainly be capable of more injury than a chihuahua....but not necessarily moreso than a similarly sized (or larger) breed.


Also....we need to draw a BIG distinction here that has yet to come up (that I've seen so far).

There is a HUGE difference between a GAME/FIELD dog and a PET/HOME dog...within the same breed.

A "gamey" pit is going to be more aggressive and ambivalent. A "pet" pit is going to be more gregarious and people-pleasing.

My Jessie is "gamey"...so read the above with that in mind. :D
 
I had before talked about my rottweiler. It was actually a dog for a group of guys and the breed was not my choice so I decided to do a little research.

Here was the first pic I found.
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Here was the second pic I found
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Very different side of the same breed. Guess it just says all dogs are different regardless of being the same breed.
 
Daniel Koster said:
I cannot dispute that a pitbull would certainly be capable of more injury than a chihuahua....but not necessarily moreso than a similarly sized (or larger) breed.

:D
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Dan, you make some great observations on temperament and the importance of socialization of any dog. :thumbup:

But I disagree with you on the above statement. Any aggressiveness or owner irresponsibility aside, the pit/rot breeds have thicker necks, stronger more powerful jaws, have a lower center of gravity (less exposed vitals then a taller canine, harder to knock off their feet), athletic, small eared, etc.. They are simply built and designed to do more damage and sustain less damage then the other popular and comparably sized breeds :)

Since this thread can be useful in giving some pointers on self defense for potential dog attacks in general I think these physical characteristics should be taken into account say versus a long legged, narrow muzzled breed.

As has been pointed out, the importance of assuming the alpha or dominant posture behavior to dogs is critical. But individuals may have a natural or heightened sense of fear to this particular breed (or any breed for that matter), warranted or not, when they encounter it which an unstable animal may pick up on.
 
"I would play rough with a Pitbull"

I spar with my dog all the time, he loves it. He grabs ahold of my arm and has yet to leave a mark. I have several scars from little fear-biter dogs.

With a pit bull you must, absolutely must, be the alpha male. When bandit was an adolescent he tried to put me in my place and he got a whupping, as in pinned to a wall at shoulder height. You need to expect it to happen, recognize it when it does, and be well prepared mentally and physically to deal with it. It is a normal phase of development for him, it does not mean he's gone bad or turned on you. He is not attacking a human, he is establishing dominance in the pack. He does not need a scolding or to be put on a time-out, he needs to be physically dominated. As soon as you win, and you must win at that point, he will be your loyal subject for life. Bandit always approaches me in a submissive posture until I recognize him. Pit bulls respect strength and dominance but they have utter contempt for weakness and fear.

That sounds barbaric and oh-so-un-PC and if you can't bring yourself to body slam your dog then don't buy a Pit. Mac
 
ADD - we all have different experiences in life...just relating my own. When I play rough with other dogs of equal size, they tend to bite harder than my pit. The list includes ridgeback, lab, several bird dogs and various mutts. And it's not just because I am "Jessie's buddy"....when other people come over and play rough with her (and don't forget she is very gamey and will knock you over if you let her)...anyway, she does not bite down or sink teeth, etc.

Like I said, I have played rough with many other dogs and the bully breeds are more trustyworthy, IMHO.

YMMV
 
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